HockeyBuzz.com – Matthew Barry – Crazy Trade Idea!
To Kings: Rick Nash, Jeff Carter, that Sanford goaltender
To Columbus: Jon Bernier, Anze Kopitar, Jarret Stoll, Thomas Hickey (they won’t give up Voynov, they just won’t)
A few things about Matt’s trade proposal (note: this is not a rumor; it’s just food for thought):
- I seriously doubt Columbus would make this deal. Yes, Kopitar is on the level of Nash or Carter, but Bernier and a rental (Stoll) and a 1st round bust (Hickey) do not level this thing out.
- I guess Matt’s reasoning is that Carter is toxic and so his value is way down. That still kind of looks like a deal that gets a GM fired. “Hey, watch me deal away ‘the franchise’ and admit that my Big Move was a disaster!”
- Obviously, this deal doesn’t do anything for the Kings if Carter is not going to be healthy any time soon.
- I still have hope for Thomas Hickey. He has just about no value as a major piece in a big trade right now, but he’s having an excellent season in the AHL (finally) and I hope Lombardi re-signs him.
- I would just note that Kopitar, Brown, Quick and Parse are the last remaining non-Lombardi era acquisitions.
- Re dealing Kopitar: yeah he’s “great” and all, but at $6.8MM we’re still paying for potential.
- Does Lombardi think he has time to wait for that potential to be realized?
- What would a Nash/Carter/no-Kopitar Kings look like?
Nash – Carter – Williams
I don’t really know if that’s better than
Brown – Kopitar – Williams
Penner – Richards – Stoll
Clifford – Loktionov – Lewis
Richardson – Fraser – Hunter
The more I think about it, the more I think the plan should be to trade a defenseman (e.g. Jack Johnson) in order to bring in top-line firepower without giving up top-line firepower in the bargain.