I like the trade, it's a great deal for the Sens, and Bryan Murray is smarter than people give him credit for.
To make a trade in this market at all is tricky enough. For Murray to land a guy like Campoli who has all the potential in the world to be what Mezsaros should have been, and at 600K comes at a fraction of the price....this is a good move. Let's break it down:
Comrie for McAmmond is a win for the Sens. Both are unrestricted at the end of the year, and Comrie is much more than a 4th line center, and 6 years younger. He's gonna contribute, and play his way in or out of Murray's favour. He left Ottawa with dollar signs in his eyes, realized how much losing SUCKS on the Island, and will relish the chance to play for a team that, while not making the post-season this year, DOES have a chance to be a solid team for years to come.
The 1st rounder for Campoli is the other part of this trade. And here's the part I find interesting. Look at it as a 1 for 1 trade: GM's are gonna look at this deal as essentially the 1st rounder for Campoli. With 26th to 30th pick overall in the first round, are you gonna find someone who's got more potential than Campoli? Maybe, but it'd be a big gamble. This is a safe move that helps the team, and, more importantly:
It drives up the price up puck moving defensemen with less than 2 weeks before the deadline, which, if this is Murray's plan all along...is genius. Now that he's defined what these d-men are going for, he can command a HEAVY price for Kuba, and land somewhere higher than 26th-30th overall. You KNOW teams are gonna be clammoring for Kuba, and since Murray spent a 1st rounder for Campoli, there's no doubt Kuba's gonna come with a hefty price tag.
And for those skeptics who say Campoli was a 7th round pick for the Isles....this is a ridiculous argument, considering how late some of the best NHLers have been drafted, and what monumental flops have emmerged out of the first round of any given NHL draft.
Let's not forget too, some GMs are really stupid, fear for their jobs, and would deal more than just a solid first round pick to tighten up their D for the post season. Remember what the Thrashers paid the Blues for Tkachuk for a run at the post season? (Not a D-man, ok, but you'll see my point) The Blues received: a first in the 2007 draft, a 3rd in the 2007 draft, a 2nd in 2008, and a conditional 1st in 2008 if Tkachuk resigns in Atlanta. Oh, and Metropolit. The Thrashers went on to get swept, and Tkachuk strolled on back to the Blues that summer.
This is nothing but a win-win for the Sens. Comrie gets a 2nd chance and will be more likely to resign now that Murray's shown faith in him (unless he plays like crap, and then Murray can wash his hands of him....I honestly think Comrie will be a good fit, and will take a small discount to resign in July), and, we acquire a solid D-man with potential in Campoli.
AND we drive up the price of puck-moving defensemen in the process.
I like this trade.
M@
I think Murray is trying to save his job. But I also think it's a good deal for both teams (the Islanders now have 5 or 6 picks in the first two rounds this year).
ReplyDeleteBut I don't understand how the trade means Murray drove up the price for a puck-moving defenceman. If he traded a first and second rounder for a grinder, than doesn't mean he's going to get more for Chris Neil because of it. The market would be the same for Kuba regardless of this trade, because it would be determined by how many teams are after Kuba come trade deadline day.
P.S.- Does this mean you'll now have to find a way to get Comrie's picture back on the Citizen team photo?
ReplyDeleteYa, maybe not, hard to say about Kuba's value increasing. The idea came to me when I heard the TSN panel discussing (albeit briefly) about how Gainey set the bar for the price of a Dman by spending a 2nd rounder on Schneider. But ya, who knows. I do like the trade though.
ReplyDeleteAs for the poster, ya, I mentioned the problem to Ryan on Friday after he told me about the trade....think I'll print out a colour headshot of Comrie and paste it over his X'ed out face....
lol, you still have that thing up? Awesome!
ReplyDeleteSadly, I have to agree with M@ on this one. I think this deal gives other GMs an idea of what price will have to be paid for a puck-moving defenseman going in to the trade deadline. Right or wrong, it's exactly these types of deals that GMs use to establish values for certain types of players.
However, having said that, I'm not sure the Murray did it to increase the value of Kuba, I think that may be a little far fetched. On top of that, I don't think the Sens will even trade Kuba. This season it has been blatantly obvious that they lack a certain type of player, and Kuba has been the one exception to that.
Now that Campoli is on-board, they have addressed their weakness a bit more, but moving Kuba would be another step backwards, unless somehow this deals gives them an injured or slumping puck-mover in return (Visnovsky?).