Sunday morning brought excitement to the hockey world as smoke over the past couple weeks turned into a major volcano eruption that has turned at least two cities on it's head.
Brian Burke's Toronto Maple Leafs made two big trades that saw the team send a signficant portion of it's offense and yet another "goalie of the future" away in return for a star NHL defenseman and a goaltender who's career as a legitimate starter is somewhat in doubt.
To summarize:
Trade #1 - The Blockbuster:
To Toronto: Dion Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom, Keith Aulie
To Calgary: Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers, Ian White
Trade #2 - A Pretty Big Deal:
To Toronto: J.S. Giguere
To Anaheim: Vesa Toskala, Jason Blake
Despite the fact that, if Twitter posts were any indication, some hockey bloggers and fans were left shaking their heads, the deals do make some sense for all teams involved. Both the Leafs and Flames needed a shakeup and the Ducks needed to move Giguere after signing Jonas Hiller to a four-year extension a day before.
I have also seen many hockey experts quick to announce Brian Burke and the Leafs as the clear-cut winners in both trades. I say hold on. The Toronto-Calgary trade will take some time to really play out. Let's break it down a little more:
Toronto: The Leafs add a 50 point defenseman who has a booming shot from the point and will be a great benefit on the powerplay. Phaneuf is also a bit of an adventure in his own zone and is most certainly a defensive liability on the ice. In fact it should be worrisome that although he's still only 24 years old, Phaneuf is well into his 5th NHL season and his defensive play hasn't progressed, even while playing for demanding coaches in a defense-first system and a rock-solid defensive specialist in Robyn Regehr to teach him. The immediate comparison in my mind is to Bryan McCabe, a defenseman the city of Toronto couldn't run out of town fast enough. Now, I'm not saying that Phaneuf isn't better than McCabe - he is - but at this point in his career he's not a whole lot better. To further complicate matters there are some very strong suggestions that Phaneuf has had issues getting along with teammates and was not well-liked in the Flames dressing room. Early in his career he was allegedly given the nickname "2-10" by his teammates suggesting he's "been in the league for 2 years but thinks he's been in the league for 10". To throw out another warning to those believing the Leafs stole Phaneuf in this deal: The Flames decided to trade Dion Phaneuf.
All of this aside though, Dion Phaneuf is a young defenseman who is a proven offensive threat with, potentially, some untapped potential to become even better. He is also the most talented player in this trade which is why most hockey analysts are awarding the win to the Leafs. He can be a difference-maker. Is a change of scenery all he needed to turn things around?
Toronto also added Fredrik Sjostrom and Keith Aulie. Sjostrom is little more than a depth player who will fill a roster spot for the Leafs and likely drive Brian Burke nuts until they can find a warm body with a little more "beligerance" to replace him. Keith Aulie is a very solid prospect defenseman who is almost NHL-ready. At 6-6, 210 lbs, he's a towering physical presence on the blueline and has the sandpaper that appears to be the prerequisite of Burke's.
Calgary: The Flames needed some scoring and certainly helped themselves out with the additions of Matt Stajan and Niklas Hagman. While neither player is a star or will be challenging Alex Burrows in the goal-scoring race (I kid, sort of) both players provide experience and will almost definitely help the offensively starved team. In White they get a player to replace Phaneuf and the ability to hand the reigns over to Jay Bouwmeester. White is better defensively than Phaneuf but while he does possess a great point shot he doesn't have the howitzer that Phaneuf owns, lacks Phaneuf's size, and doesn't have the natural offensive smarts of Phaneuf. Jamal Mayers was requesting a trade out of Toronto anyways so he was essentially a throw-in to make the deal work money-wise.
Calgary Flames fans will be quick to note that both Stajan and Mayers are UFA at the end of the season, which will clear about one million dollars in addition to the 6.5 million they just shed by moving Phaneuf. The Flames also have other players with contracts set to end this summer including Olli Jokinen (5.25 million), Rene Bourque (1.35 million), Craig Conroy (1.05 million), and a few others adding up to a couple million dollars more. In fact the Flames have 14 players and about 40 million dollars tied up next year which leaves them with room to significantly alter the look of their team.
As I said, it's too early to definitively rate this trade.
Fantasy Hockey Implications: Offensively speaking, the Flames as a team just got better while the Leafs just made it harder on themselves to find goals. Stajan should see an immediate opportunity with Jarome Iginla because neither Langkow or Jokinen were fits. Does this mean that Stajan's points will increase? Possibly. The same was said about the aformentioned Flames centers at one point, but the chemistry was never right and both players never reached the point potential that many hockey observers expected. So, in Matt Stajan's case, he will get the opportunity to increase his point totals by playing on the #1 line in Calgary but as history has proven, chemistry will have a lot to say in whether he is successful or not.
I would expect Hagman's totals to stay about the same. He's a streaky player who will play in the top-6 in Calgary and if he finds himself with Iginla and Stajan, it has the potential to be a boon.
White's value just went up, in my opinion. He will assume Phaneuf's role on the powerplay and therefore affect the PP time that Mark Giordano was getting. That being said, Phaneuf was a fixture on the first unit, and if White doesn't get it done, it could mean more time for Giordano. Such is the way it works in hockey.
Remember the days when Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe were putting up huge seasons while running a powerplay that consistently saw Kaberle assisting on goals scored by McCabe's booming slapper? Well, those days may be back but this time it is Phaneuf taking the set-ups from Kaberle. This should turn Phaneuf's season around.
Toronto: The Leafs get a former Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup winning goaltender who has in the past put a team on his back and handled extreme pressure with aplomb. The downside? It was nearly three years ago since J.S. Giguere was considered an elite NHL goalie and he's battled personal and mental issues that has contributed to less than stellar play over the past 2+ years.
Anaheim: This trade was more about moving the distraction that Giguere was as a back-up to newly signed Jonas Hiller than it was about the pieces coming back to the Ducks. Anaheim gets back Vesa Toskala who will be looked at as a back-up to Hiller, and Jason Blake who will help provide some offense to a team that needed help in that area. Blake still has a couple of years left on his contract with a 4 million dollar cap hit, which has to hurt a bit considering most would label him as overpaid.
Fantasy Hockey Implications: This is obviously a boon for J.S. Giguere, who gets new life to prove he is still a capable netminder. He will get the bulk of the load in Toronto which will give Jonas Gustavsson some time to develop.
Keep an eye on where Jason Blake ends up playing. He will slide into the top-6, potentially with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf on the top line. If that is the case Blake has an opportunity to increase his value immensely. Joffrey Lupul is out with a concussion and when he is back will provide competition in the top-6 along with Teemu Selanne, Bobby Ryan, and Saku Koivu.
Vesa Toskala may find himself as a back-up for the long-term and what value he did hold in fantasy hockey leagues is almost gone completely.
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