Monday, October 06, 2008

Bolts Blueline Gets Worse

Just when you thought Tampa had the worst group of defensemen you'd ever seen, they go out and get worse by basically (from an on-ice standpoint) trading Shane O'Brien to Vancouver for Lukas Krajicek. O'Brien, who played 77 games for the Bolts last season, was benched for yesterday's game and shipped out today.

So how much of a downgrade is Krajicek? Well, last season he had a worse plus/minus (LK/SO), played against weaker competition (LK/SO) and was on the ice for more goals against per sixty minutes of ice time (LK/SO) while playing on a team that gave up far fewer goals on the year. He's far less physical than O'Brien, registering fewer hits (LK/SO) and PIMs per game (LK/SO), and had just slightly more points per game than O'Brien (LK/SO).

Of course, Krajicek does have "upside," but the move seems a bit risky for a team that has given Jamie Heward more than 40 minutes of ice time through two games. Oh well - at least SO'B got some killer frequent flyer miles for the Prague trip.

5 comments:

Reed-CK said...

So how long until Olie starts throwing fits and temper tantrums in net?

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Krajicek Florida's throw-in in the Luongo deal, much like Kucera was the Penguins' throw-in in the Jagr deal? I'm not sure getting dumped by the Panthers is the best resume a guy could have.

Anonymous said...

Isn't this all trivial? I thought TB already claimed the first place?

The Peerless said...

Hey, we're available...

Signed,
Ivan M.
Bryan M.
Joe R.

Unknown said...

This team is a joke....

And Melrose is already ripping his stars...after two games


http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/06/na-melrose-blasts-offense/