Canucks and Panthers Deal at the Draft

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To Vancouver	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Keith Ballard	Defense	27	82	8	20	28	5	$4.2 million
Victor Oreskovich	Forward	23	50	2	4	6	1	$575,00
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To Florida	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Steve Bernier	Forward	25	59	11	11	22	1	$2 million
Michael Grabner	Forward	22	20	5	6	11	1	$843,000
2010 1st Round Pick (25th overall)

Well, if you have been keeping up with the Canucks at all, their General Manager, Mike Gillis, has been working the phones, looking to acquire some more help and depth on their blueline and during the first round of the Entry Draft, they were able to do just that by acquiring Keith Ballard from the Florida Panthers in a fairly big deal.

In the deal, the Canucks sent Steve Bernier, Michael Grabner and their 1st round pick on Friday night to the Panthers for both Ballard and prospect forward, Victor Oreskovich.

If you were to strictly look at the points from last year, which is not a fair description of the trade, but one nonetheless, Ballard shows up pretty well in this light and is thought to be a valuable piece of any puzzle as a good skating defenseman.  Ballard hasn't exactly been flourishing in his situations so far in the NHL, starting his career with a floundering Coyotes team and then getting dealt to a Panthers team in the midst of constant rebuilding, so his potential as a former 1st round pick hasn't been able to shine like some of his other classmates.  Ballard's career high in points is 39 in his rookie campaign in 2006, but only finished with 28 in 2010, so there definitely is some room to move.

The Panthers, on the other hand, get to upgrade their forward ranks in this deal, acquiring some size in Bernier, some speed in Grabner and some more potential in the draft pick, where they took Quinton Howden with the 25th overall selection.  With the Panthers already dealing away Horton to Boston in the last week, the Panthers did trade away some size, which Bernier would be used to fill, but there is no question that the skill of both Bernier and Grabner don't replace Horton's, but that's what this draft is for, right?  The Panthers do get some depth and open up some more cap space with this deal.

In terms of the 2011 season, this deal against the salary cap is really two players to one in the trade. I don't expect Oreskovich or Howden to come up and make a splash next season with either team, just the three main pieces. So, the Panthers in essence cut almost $1.4 million in cap space with this deal and the Canucks pick that up with one less player for their active roster (and I don't think Grabner was a lock for the 2011 team, so you could say it was even in the body count).  Saying all of that, I have Grabner making the Panthers due to their shallow depth at forward, giving the Panthers 16 players signed (10 forwards, 4 defense and 2 goalies) for a cap hit of about $43 million for the 2011 season, just $400,000 below the cap floor.  The Canucks, on the other hand, are now up to 15 players (7 forwards, 7 defense and 1 goalie) for about $47.9 million, which currently ranks 7th in the league.

Both teams are expected to be very active this Summer and arguably, Florida already has been with a few deals for picks at the Draft, so this is really just a precursor to a busy Summer ahead.  There is plenty of potential for this to be better on either side of the equation, the Canucks get a better suited defenseman to anchor the team and the Panthers get some size and some speed, plus a little more potential in their other 1st round pick.  There are plenty of arguments that the Canucks have paid too much for Ballard, which are all fair, but no one has seen what he can do in the green and blue uniform yet.