Brewer Heads Down to Tampa

			2011 Season				2011	Remaining
To Tampa Bay	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Cap Hit	Years	Cap Hit
Eric Brewer	Defense	31	54	8	6	14	$4.25 million	0	UFA
--------------------------
To St. Louis	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Cap Hit	Years	Cap Hit
Brock Beukeboom	Defense	18	0	0	0	0	Unsigned
2011 3rd Round Draft Pick

With the St. Louis Blues falling further and further away from the playoff race, it should have come as no surprise that they would eventually become sellers in the market. The Lightning, on the other hand, are in a tight race for the Southeast Division lead with the Capitals, so they were going to be buyers, so their deal on Friday afternoon was a good match.

The Blues ending up sending their captain Eric Brewer to the Lightning for a prospect, Brock Beukeboom and a 3rd round pick, which looks to be a solid rental price for a big defensive defenseman.

Brewer is as healthy as he is going to be in his career and when he is healthy, he can be a positive force for wins, not just on the scoresheet.  Brewer was a plus player on a Blues team that was falling out of the Western Conference playoff race, so that has to say a little bit of something towards what he brings to the team and will bring to the Lightning this time around.  Another point that has been thrown out there is the Olympic connection between himself and the Lightning GM, Steve Yzerman, and a little familiarity should breed some quality play.

In return, the Blues do already get some idea of what their futures hold, as Brock Beukeboom is a hulking 18-year old defenseman, who has plenty of upside, a 2010 3rd round pick for the Lightning.  In essence, the Blues do come away with two 3rd round picks in this deal and one of them is already drafted and is an extra year along in his development.  That's good news, as the Blues might be looking to retool this time around at the trade deadline... or earlier (almost a spoiler).

With this deal today, the Blues moved a step closer to the salary cap floor, but I believe this would be sorted out by a move to recall a player or two to fill in some gaps, while the team works another deal in on Friday night.

The Lightning moved ever-closer to the salary cap ceiling, as they are going all out for this season and the playoffs, in quite the turnaround from a dismal 2010 season.  Everybody appears to be buying in and that's exciting news.  If the Lightning are going to go out and make more moves, which seems unlikely now, they would likely have to move some cap space.

And finally, in the pools, Brewer only belongs to the selection sheet, as his numbers were a tad too poor to help him climb into the draft this year.  With a poor 2010 season, Brewer likely didn't hit too many radar screens for bounce backs and only 14 points this season wasn't going to make him any friends later on in the year.