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Trade Talk: Toronto's Roman Polak a Fit in Tampa?

February 25, 2015, 11:44 AM ET [101 Comments]
Michael Stuart
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, one of the best in the business, it might make sense for Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman to target Roman Polak, currently with the Toronto Maple Leafs, at this year’s trade deadline.

From Friedman’s weekly ‘30 Thoughts' column:
Was thinking about Tampa GM Steve Yzerman’s comments about not liking the rental market. If he prefers a defenceman with term, Roman Polak might be the fit.

Based on the wording, it doesn’t sound as though this is a concrete rumor, but nor does it come across as an overly baseless rambling. The idea makes some sense, if you truly believe that Steve Yzerman is firmly anti-rental. Polak is a defenceman with term left on his deal. Further, Friedman notes that he fills a need left vacant on the Tampa blue line when Radko Gudas went down with injury:
Yzerman is tight with Armstrong, who traded Polak to Toronto, and would get an honest appraisal. The Blues did not trade Polak because they disliked him, they traded him because, in a cap world, you have to make choices. He is not a perfect copy of Radko Gudas, who may be out for the year, but is from the same mold.

With all that said, a quick look at the numbers sends up a few red flags. Consider his with-or-without-you numbers this year with the Maple Leafs, courtesy of Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com:

Being good in the room and having leadership skills doesn’t excuse bad on-ice play (See: Morrow, Brenden). The Lightning need someone who can contribute to what will hopefully be a long run in the spring. The question is whether Polak can be that guy. I’m not sure that he can. Those numbers show clearly that Polak does very little to help the fortunes of his most common icemates. In fact, in a lot of cases, he’s only holding them back.

Some people may point to the fact that Toronto is bad as a reason to take a chance on Polak. I’d be more inclined to buy that argument if Polak wasn’t sitting near the bottom of the barrel on that Toronto squad. Cream rises to the top, even on the worst teams in hockey. If I’m Steve Yzerman, I’m thanking Friedman for the idea but politely passing.

As always, thanks for reading.

Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.
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