Fleischmann for Hannan

			2010/2011 NHL Statistics
To Colorado	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Tomas Fleischmann	Forward	26	23	4	6	10	1	$2.7 million
--------------------
To Washington	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Scott Hannan	Defense	31	23	0	6	6	1	$4.5 million

The Avalanche remain busy on the trade news this week, as they have made another deal, this one recognizably larger than the deal that went down on Monday afternoon. The Avalanche have sent veteran defenseman Scott Hannan to the Washington Capitals for scoring winger Tomas Fleischmann.

The Avalanche just lost the services of their current scoring leader, Chris Stewart, and they were in need of supplementing their offense with a bit of a boost.  Fleischmann has been on the outs with the Capitals line-up of late, spending some time in the press box as a healthy scratch, due to a lack of production.  There is little doubt that the skill level is still there, it is just questionable how much desire he had left, playing for the Capitals.

As for the Capitals, they have been rumoured to have been in the market for a big name defenseman to help bolster their lacking blueline and they have seemingly found one in the shutdown services of Hannan.  Hannan will bring a veteran presence to the team and some good physical play to a Caps defense that is bulking up in that department.

This definitely appears to be a deal that plays to both teams wants and desires.

In the deal, the Avalanche actually manage to drop a bit of their current cap hit, which wasn't a concern when they picked up Matt Hunwick from the Bruins on Monday. I have the Avalanche's estimated annual hit, with Hunwick and Fleischmann in the line-up at only $40 million, which includes a buyout still on the books.

The Capitals are not in terrible shape with this deal in place, in the annual sense. If the season were to have started today, the Capitals would have a projected annual cap hit of only $57.8 million, with Hannan in their line-up. Of course, there have been injuries, call ups and other miscellaneous movements in the organization in the first eight weeks of the season, which would alter their number, but I have the feeling that the Capitals are in fine shape with this deal.

This is the kind of deal that Clayton was looking forward to in the draft, as Fleischmann was underachieving in Washington and spending all that time in the press box. If the Avalanche have done well with players like Peter Mueller or Kyle Quincey, why not Fleischmann?  At the very least, Fleischmann will get a chance to take Stewart's spot that was left open by the injury, so that will be some top six minutes with the new club.  This may have saved Fleischmann's bacon from getting dropped in the second round of the waiver draft.