Late last night, I heard that a major trade I have been chasing for ages may finally be coming to fruition. The deal involves a superstar player and a few major markets who possess keen interest, the players to dangle as trade bait, and the financial ability to make it happen. I will go into more specifics when I am confident the deal is imminent.
I will say this: The deal involves one of the elusive "top 6" (in my opinion top 3) players that we hear every GM say they are seeking out if they are to part with certain players they would otherwise not consider dealing. It is the kind of trade that rarely happens but is often rumored for the obvious reasons we have discussed before. If there weren't teams trying to get better by discussing players there wouldn't be rumors.
There will always be more discussions than finalized deals....
Making a blockbuster trade has been tough to pull off since the salary cap was born. For several years now the Cap wasn't rising as fast as teams who could spend to the limits desire to spend. Until this season. This season is a very different animal.
This season, most of the teams with a shot at the Cup have cap space and aren't afraid to spend it. And with a CBA negotiation looming which many feel may either grant amnesty for a team to get out from under a big contract, and/or shorten term limits on contracts the mood is very much set for the most interesting deadline in years.
Right now, we are in sellersville. Prices are way up there as the sellers are trying to capitalize on desperate teams. The lack of movement so far is not about teams without cap space or a lack of interest in big players ... it's all about price.
That is why this deadline is shaping up nicely in terms of both quantity and impact of the moves. When push comes to shove teams with pending UFAs will move them and teams with cap space will gab them. We have always seen this to be the case.
Of course many out there will tell you nothing is or will be happening.
It's very easy to sit back and predict the sky won't be falling. I love people who simply say a trade will not happen every time presented with a rumor. It's an easy bet. It's playing the odds. You will almost never be wrong by stating things will stay the same. Yet every year trades do indeed happen. A small percent of those discussed, but they do happen.
So I could end every rumor I write by adding "the likelihood of this trade not occurring exactly as is written is far greater than this trade happening" OR I could not insult your intelligence and put everything out there so at least the patterns in what teams are looking to do is something we can all consider.
I find trade rumors a hell of a lot more fun when you look at them this way. I honestly still get stoked whenever a source calls and tells me what he hears. I don't say to that source, "Are you joking? that will never happen!" and go on to list all the reasons why logic, and cap space, and my own bias tells me it won't ever happen.
When a source calls I listen and say, "That's interesting." Then we discuss it, both fully knowing the odds of it actually happening against a deal of any kind, so we then get back to wondering "Why is this being discussed then?"
Onto the rumors....
*The two big defensemen right now who are drawing the most intrigue are Sutton in Edmonton and Kubina in Tampa, and there are three teams out there who I keep hearing are most interested..Chicago, St. Louis, and Philadelphia. There are other d-men... Grossman being perhaps ingest of the others, but I think Sutton is the lead Domino in this game. There is also an outside shot the Rangers or Capitals get into the top tier D game.
*Sanford or Nabakov for the Red Wings. The extent of Howard's injury aside, it wold make zero sense for the Wings to not take a little of their cap space and get the insurance that either goalie would bring. We have seen far too many examples of teams needing two goalies to go deep and make a Cup run.
*Ruutu sweeps intensifying? I keep hearing Chicago, Ottawa, New Jersey and San Jose. Many are saying Toronto, but I a not yet hearing the Leafs as a big player for Ruutu. Not even a small player to be honest. The Leafs may trade for Ruutu, I think they should trade for Ruutu, but right now they are very much looking at another possibility.
*Leafs standing pat? Bob McKenzie has said the possibility exists Toronto won't make any moves and of course we have seen that be the case in the past with the Leafs. It is possible, but it won't be for lack of continuing to try and make a trade to better the team.
In my opinion the Leafs WILL make a deal. They have gone down some long roads already. I do not believe Burke will overpay however, and as discussed earlier to get the best price Burke will have to wait until deadline is almost here. That's not what he prefers to do, but what he will have to do with this many legit players and legit buyers with skin in the game.
More to come...
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