Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Defensemen Deal


The Avalanche have acquired Ruslan Salei (Don) from the Florida Panthers for defenseman Karlis Skrastins (Box 11) and a 3rd round pick in 2008.

To ColoradoAgeGamesPointsContract (July 1st)
Ruslan Salei, D3365232-years, $3.025 million
To Florida
Karlis Skrastins, D334341-year, $2.4 million
2008 3rd Round Pick

This is a straight up move for an upgrade offensively on the blueline for the Avalanche. This acquisition was to bolster their blueline for more points, instead of keeping a more defensive presence around. Obviously, the Avalanche are going to be paying for their new offense, increasing their cap hit over their next couple seasons, but offense from the blueline is quite valuable.

The Panthers are now re-tooling and added some more defense in front of Tomas Vokoun (Aaron), so they can build a good offense in front of them.

The Avalanche are clear winners, if they can get the goals. Pool-wise, Don may get a little bit more offense out of Salei with a more offensive team to play with, but it isn't really a pool-breaking move.

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