Many things have happened since our season was cut off in... Well, not it's 'prime', but you get the idea. My point is that the season once again ended too soon, and once again Calgary continued on, and unfortunately so did Vancouver. Now, yes, Calgary choked as per usual, and Vancouver lost to the very same team in the next round, but still. I've almost forgotten what it feels like in this city when the team's playing really well; let alone when we win a playoff series. Hell, I'd settle for a win streak beyond four games at this point. Oh, and a couple less blowouts where we come up on the wrong end; especially the kind where our goaltenders let in 4 or 5 goals a piece.
Any way, like I said there have been a lot of things that have happened. MacT was fired, Pat Quinn and Tom Renney were hired, several free agents have been topics of hot discussion, and big name players have been rumoured to be available. My, my, but aren't we a regular gossip train?
First I'd like to go through a superficial analysis of the players we *do* have. I'll start with the defensemen today, and move to the forwards next. After which I'll browse through our goaltending situation.
Let's get this train moving, shall we?
The Boys on the Blue (and sometimes the other team's red line, but that's beside the point...)
The way I see the defense situation is this: We've got three proven offensive defensmen, two defensive defensemen and one guy who's not entirely sure what he is. This is excluding Peckham, Chorney and Strudwick, who are all guys that I don't see in a full time position on our current roster. The three offensive guys are Vishnovsky, Gilbert, and Grebeshkov; two defensive guys are Staios and Smid; and the guy who's confused is Souray. I'll explain a little more in each of their respective sections.
Sheldon Souray (5.4M cap hit for 2 more years*)
There's one thing that complicates the issue of discussing the idea of trading Souray, and that's his No Movement Clause. What a b---- that thing could potentially be. Regardless, if I had my choice of which defensemen to ship out in hopes of either landing a top 6 forward in trade (i.e.: Heatley) or shedding salary in hopes of signing a valuable UFA (i.e.:Bouwmeester) Sheldon would be my choice. What's he got going for him? Let's see: He's got one hell of a slapshot from the point, and when he gets angry you best not be the pest who's angered him because you'll be going down; and you'll be staying down. He's also, from what I can tell, a good leader and a possible future captain of a club. But when I think about it, I think we've got players who can cover his upsides without having to add another player to fill the hole he'd leave.
Lubomir Visnovsky (5.6M cap hit for 3 more years*)
If I'm choosing between getting rid of Visnovsky and getting rid of Souray there's no way I'm choosing Lubo. First of all, his nickname is Lubo. Come on, now that's just plain awesome. But seriously, they're the same age, so I can't argue anything regarding age, but Lubomir is a character guy, and he's also got a bullet of his own from the point. He makes breakout passes like a champ, and if I had to choose one of our Dman to go one on one against Zetterberg it would be Lubo. Yes, he is more expensive (but a whole 0.2M), but we've got him for another year, and he seems to like Edmonton, and if I recall correctly there haven't been any reports of him requesting a trade. But really, I don't know that many players coming from L.A., where they would have issues selling out playoff games, would complain about our city. Unless they can't handle the cold. Poor babies.
Tom Gilbert (4M cap hit for 3 more years*)
If told that we had to trade a defender, and it couldn't be Souray, then I would take a serious look at the market for Tommy. Now, I wasn't the biggest fan of Gilbert this season, but there are some decisions he makes sometimes that just aren't NHL calibre decisions. Granted, he is still young in terms of NHL experience, but he is not young age wise. He has a very good understanding of the offensive side of the game, and he's one of the best breakout passers on our backend, but his defensive skills are lacking, and when we're icing a lineup that doesn't consist of a lot of defensively responsible forwards his lack of defensive prowess is a liability.
Denis Grebeshkov (RFA)
Here's the issue I have: We have a defensive core that seems to be too good for any one new to penetrate it. And 3/4 of these guys are offense first-defense second type of players. In my mind Grebeshkov and Gilbert are virtually the same. Grebeshkov traditionally starts out slow and gets better through the season, and I think he's a bit more defensively responsible than Gilbert is, but they're both third-year offensive defensemen who make their share of mistakes. If I had to choose between the two of them I'd likely see what the market is for both of them first. I tend to lean towards keeping Grebeshkov though.
Ladislav Smid (RFA)
Now, granted, I tend to be rather biased towards Smid, but with a lineup full of offensive guys I think we can stand to all have a little bias for Laddi. The issue here is that he's getting to the point where he's ready for some big responsibility; top four kind of responsibility. I'd also like to see him on the penalty kill. For that to happen though, we have to lose one of our top four and we have to leave that spot open. If we're looking at Bouwmeester, then we'd have to trade two of our top four defensemen to fit Laddi into the top four. Smid has grown a lot since his detrimental sophmore year, which followed a brilliant rookie year. He makes more smart plays, he's calm under pressure, he sticks up for his team mates, and he protects the goaltender's crease like no one else on our team. He's also got size *and* weight to his advantage; he's a big guy, and that's something you can't teach.
Steve Staios (2.7M cap hit for one more year*)
I'm traditionally very hard on Steve. He's a guy that I could see the team getting rid of in the near future; his prime has long gone, and he's not really benefiting any one any more. Despite the fact that Smid really likes playing with him. I think his 2.7M could be better spent elsewhere.
Theo Peckham
From what I saw of him last season he looked like he might be ready to take a spot on the big club; should the opportunity arise. I'm not one to keep up with the farm generally, but I've heard a lot about this kid, and he's another player with size, which is always a plus. He's not one to put up points, but most of the defensive guys, and I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of goal scoring for some goal prevention.
Taylor Chorney
Speaking of kids I know nothing about... Well, maybe not nothing, but very little. I tend to feel that if I don't hear a lot about a kid, he's probably not worth looking at that much. And when most of what you hear is all: potential, potential, potential; and no: performance, performance, performance, then you have to wonder if he's worth clearing a roster spot for. In my eyes the answer is no.
Jason Strudwick (UFA)
When MacT benched Ladislav in favor of this guy I wanted to kill someone. Who benches a youngster with promise for an old guy who isn't the kind of guy who holds a regular spot on a team? Of course, eventually Laddi was playing again, and it seems to be that everytime Ladislav is benched he plays better directly following; more fire I think. Regardless, is it worth it to have a guy signed to play occasionally to spark another player? I mean, sure, when Ladislav got injured it was kind of nice to have him there. At the same time it became plainly evident as to why it is that he shouldn't hold a regular spot on the team. He is; however, one heck of a fighter.Summary:
So, how does this all play out? Guys I'd prefer to keep: Visnovsky, Smid, Grebeshkov. Bubble guys: Gilbert. Guys I wouldn't mind see get on a plane: Staios and Souray. I think that if the team finds itself in a position where they need to shed salary they shouldn't be afraid to get a bit lighter salary-wise on the back-end. Peckham can come up, and Laddi's been rumoured to have already expressed a want for more responsibility. I think we're in a really comfortable position regarding our defense, and providing we don't gut what we've already got completely I don't think we'll screw this up going into next season.
* All contract information taken from nhlnumbers.com
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