Eastside's Hockey Elite Collide

To Calgary: Scott Niedermayer(85)

To Columbus: Ryan Stoa(79), Rene Bourque(64), Dmitri Jaskin(60)



Scott will now serve as the new Calgary Flames' captain.
Sucks to trade a player that's been as good as Stoa was for me last season, but I feel that a healthy Nick Bjugstad can fill this role. I was also looking for a way to ease Laraque or Winchester back into the lineup and also move Filippi up. Bourque is more of a salary dump since he makes more than what's allowed to play him in the minors, so he was kind of useless. Jaskin is a project that I will let Adam take care of.

Look for the Flames to trade a defenseman now that everybody moves down a spot on the depth chart.
I'm honored I can now call Scott a Flame.

Initially, Bjugstad was the target, but due to finances for this season, it was going to be hard to make a deal work. I have enough talent to possibly be a playoff team, but I won't do anything if I get there and I've got some young defensemen who are going to be pushing for roster spots either after the preseason or a couple months into the season. I gave it a shot with Niedermayer and missed. There's no doubt that he's a valuable player, with near-90 LE, and one of the few 80 OF defensemen in the file. I do have worries about him regressing and I wanted to trade him before he lost value.

Stoa's got 99 SH, nearly 80 CON, and a HI that makes him serviceable defensively. There's some extra development that can be milked out of him, specifically with stickhandling and positioning, so I'm hoping I can make him into an even better player. Stoa should be a great fit with Brassard and Kitsyn, and while I'm worried about forward defense, I'm hoping the line restrictions open the scores up a little. Stoa should also help my powerplay, which was one of the causes of my demise in the playoffs.

Bourque was a throw-in to balance salaries. If this trade is approved, and anybody wants him, feel free to inquire. I'll keep him around as NHL-caliber depth if not. I have the cap room for it.

Jaskin's an interesting player. He has mid-70s OF upside, but he'll struggle a little bit defensively and with his skating. He's almost a poor man's Zherdev with a low CON and good offensive skills, so I'm hoping that he's one of those EHM anomalies as a player who overperforms his attributes. After doing so many arbitration cases and seeing a lot of those players, it's definitely a possibility. If nothing else, he'll be a dominant AHL player and I've neglected Springfield for too long. My biggest issue now is having enough underager spots.

Also, a minor reason, but there's a decent chance that Calgary and LA could meet in the first two rounds of the playoffs and holding LA's 1st gives me reason enough to make the competition a little bit stronger, even if it magically bites me in the ass down the road.