Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Caps Trade Zubrus, Helbling To The Sabres

The Caps have traded Dainius Zubrus and Timo Helbling to Buffalo for Jiri Novotny and a first round pick.

More on Novotny - an RFA at year's end - here and here.

KB relates this paraphasing of TSN's Pierre McGuire: "I want the bandit mask that George McPhee is wearing."

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

For Novotny and a first-rounder? Interesting.

Unknown said...

The comments at Tarik's are an f'ing joke.

If I were the indistinguishable trio that is Laich, Suts, and Beech, I'd figure that this is the beginning of the end of me, me, and me. Training camp battle for third-line C.

Abhinav said...

TSN says Novotny's a third-line center. Don't we already have a ton of those (i.e. what Tyler said).

JP said...

Per my buddy in B'lo who is a huge Sabres fan:

"dont like novotny... 1st round bust, limited upside imo... maybe 3rd line center potential"

Anonymous said...

you like the trade tyler?

Debcapsfan said...

We couldn't get him signed. That's a player and a pick for a rental. Drury must not be coming back. People need to calm down on Tarik's blog. Sheesh.

Unknown said...

I like the trade from this POV: Guerin is a better player but we got more than the Blues did.

I like this too: The deal sends a loud, clear message to 24, 16, 21, and 27: Earn your spot or bye-bye next year.

And I look at the Caps' draft and think that they're positioned to trade picks for players later in the spring.

Abhinav said...

Re: trading picks

Don't we say that a lot around here? Not trying to argue, but it seems like wishful thinking on all of our parts.

JP said...

Rage -

Yes and no. The team hasn't traded picks before because they were stocking the system. The question is, is it stocked enough now to start making some bigger moves? I think so.

Unknown said...

I agree with JP.

And could we have had Yannic for a second-rounder? He signed that rumored extension earlier this year, right?

I also think that the Caps could, in theory, package a bunch of picks to move into the top three if they wanted to.

JP said...

Crappy draft, though, by all accounts, with a big drop at #20 or so. But who knows for sure?

Abhinav said...

Tyler, you mean in addition to the top 5 pick we already have?

It seems to me that lately (maybe forever, but I'm fairly new to this), the top 5 picks have been playing almost immediately in the NHL. That would preclude most teams from taking NFL draft type of deals (i.e. #3 overall for rounds 1, 2, 3, and next year's 2).

What are the lines going to be tonight?
Ovy - Beech? - Brashear?
Semin - Laich? - Pettinger (out of position)?
Clymer? - Gordon - Bradley

And defensively? Do we see Eminger again? What's the point in his continued benching now?