The Jack Johnson saga isn't quite over yet. Carolina finally pulled off a deal, trading Jack Johnson and defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky for defenseman Tim Gleason and center Eric Belanger per TSN(aka Canadian ESPN minus all the know-nothing jackass talking heads, except for Pierre McGuire who kinda sucks).
My initial reaction to the trade is that Carolina didn't get as much as they're giving up. I really like Tim Gleason as a player, but they're essentially trading one of the top prospects in all of hockey for Gleason straight up. Gleason does give them immediate value, but in the long run, I think they'll regret not having Johnson on their blueline. It seems like they gave up a lot, just to get someone that can play right now.
Johnson being traded to the Kings brings up an interesting scenario. Michigan fans already have ill feelings towards the Kings organization after they poached Mike Cammalleri, Jeff Tambellini, and recruit Trevor Lewis. Ever since the Kings have been under the management of new GM Dean Lombardi, the Kings official position on college has pretty much been "We don't hate college hockey, but...". And keep in mind when reading that sentence that there is a lot more emphasis on the word 'but' than there is on the word 'don't'
Johnson is already skating with Michigan and his season will start soon. The only real concern is Johnson leaving Michigan midway through the season, since most everyone expected him to leave after this year, anyway. It will be interesting to see if Los Angeles will make offers to him during the year, but even if they do, given what Jack Johnson passed on to come back to Michigan, I'd be very surprised if he accepted.
Update: Carolina is getting almost universally panned for this deal, which makes sense since they got way less for Johnson than most people thought they could. Not that I necessarily agree with it, but here is probably what Hurricanes GM Jimmy Rutherford was thinking: Carolina wants to make one more run, and possibly repeat as champions this season. There were probably three things Carolina needed to have a legitimate chance at that. First was another defenseman, and they get a pretty talented defenseman in Tim Gleason that can contribute right away as a 3rd or 4th defenseman. They also needed a grinder, similar to the role Matt Cullen played on last year's championship team. They picked that up in Eric Belanger. Finally, the Canes needed a little more cap room to possibly make a deal at the deadline like they did last season. They got that by dumping Oleg Tverdovsky and his massive contract. Getting rid of Tverdovsky is really addition by subtraction for the Canes since he wasn't in their top 6 and was taking up a lot of money. Carolina probably gave up a little from LA in order to get him thrown in that deal.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I think that Carolina is the loser in this deal, all they had to do was wait till the season was over and Jack probably would have signed.
I think this deal was done on the basis of Jack not reporting last year for the playoff run. He and the Hurricanes had a nasty fight then, which was never resolved. I'm surprised he wasn't traded to Pittsburgh for Staal, but I suppose it was Pittsburgh who turned down the deal. Jack may leave Michigan sooner than you think if the deal is right!
Jack's family will keep him at M for the four years. You folks just don't understand that he is a big Michigan man and the pros can wait. he had a connection to LA, Murray was the coach.
He needs to mature and coach Berenson can help that.
Is this just an issue of him not wanting to play in Carolina? Didn't Carolina offer him the max and he turned it down. Thus the most LA could offer is the max, so why is everyone saying that he could be leaving if given "the right deal"? or does it have to do with the signing bonus?
I think that it's clear that Carolina will be better THIS year because of this trade because they received 2 players who will play THIS season for 2 players who would not at the same salary cap cost.
Long term is a different questions, because if Johnson does develop into the NHL player that he has the POTENTIAL to be, the Kings are getting a great deal. Johnson could be a great piece for the FUTURE which is what the Kings have been doing all off-season: stocking up on young talent/prospects which will only pay dividends 2 or 3 years down the road.
Right now it is a win/win for both teams, if it will be that long term is another question. But the Canes believe that they can make another run this year and that's not an opportunity to pass up. Because it's better to make another cup run now and then suck in 5 years (and get another group of top-level draft picks) then it is to be average over that whole time and get mid-first round picks.
I feel that this will benefit the Kings over the long run more then the Canes over the short term, provided that much of the talent that the Kings have stockpiled develops in to quality NHL players.
I was tempted to ask him about it tonight, but it just wouldn't've been right.
Post a Comment