Friday, September 29, 2006

WHAT!?!?!?!?

Canes traded Jack Johnson and Oleg Tverdovsky for Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason.
My first reaction: WHAT!?!?!?!? (I screamed this so loud my mom had to yell at me... oops...)
My second reaction: Who the heck are Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason?

Now, as said before in this post, I thought that trading Johnson would be something that we will look back on in horror. Tverdovsky, I thought, played like crap in preseason, so I won't be sorry to see him gone.

But who are the people that the Canes traded their best defensive prospect for?
The answer: I HAVE NO IDEA!
And that is what scares me, the fact that I have never heard of these two guys before. I figured, if/when the Jack Johnson trade went down, it would be for some other gem of a player that I had at least heard of and could say "Yeah... okay... this might work out."
I can't say that. This is what the NHL.com article said:
Enter Gleason, a promising 23-year-old with a season-and-a-half of NHL experience under his belt with Los Angeles. Last season, Gleason had two goals, 21 points and 77 penalty minutes with the Kings. A first-round pick of Ottawa back in 2001, Gleason has untapped offensive potential and plays with the physical menace that was partially lost when the hard-hitting Aaron Ward left Carolina through free agency this summer.

In 125 NHL games, Gleason has 28 points, 98 penalty minutes and a plus-1 rating.

The Hurricanes also received the 28-year-old Belanger, a solid two-way center with five years experience in the NHL. Belanger had 37 points last year.
Y'see, these guys' stats don't really stick out at me like Jack Johnson's 149 penalty minutes. And that's what scares me.
And Rutherford's quote, according to the TSN article, doesn't make much sense.
"We just felt that we're getting a very good NHL defenceman in Tim Gleason," Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford said. "He's still a young guy, he still has an upside, and both of those players will come in and be with us now, instead of waiting for the development of Jack Johnson, who in my opinion is going to be a very, very good, if not great, NHL player."
If Jack Johnson's going to be such a great player, why did you trade him?

Perhaps this would look better than the way I am viewing it if I actually knew what the players were like. I mean, yes I can look at the stats, but I can't actually say what these players are like - offensive/defensive/good on power play - whatever.
Actually, even if I would know what these players are like, I still wouldn't like this trade.

Anyways... Canes play Columbus tonight at the RBC Center. I will be trying to understand and come to terms with the fact that the Canes traded Jack Johnson for two guys I don't know.
Think of the Positive, Ashley! The Canes managed to get rid of Tverdovsky and his 2.5 mil contract!
Score!

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