Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch released his first Insider Trading column of the season and as always, many topics were covered. The full piece is certainly worth a read but here are some of the highlights:
- Red Wings center Riley Sheahan has drawn inquiries from several teams around the league as some anticipate that he will have to be moved if the team can agree to terms with restricted free agent winger Andreas Athanasiou. Sheahan’s struggles last season were well documented (he took until the last game of the season to score) but before that, he put up three straight years with at least 24 points. He’s in the final year of his contract with a cap hit of $2.075MM and will require that as a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent in June. If Athanasiou were to take Detroit’s two-year offer at an AAV of $1.9MM, moving Sheahan out would be enough to squeeze him in, as long as he was dealt for a prospect or draft choice.
- Avalanche GM Joe Sakic continues to hold firm on his asking price of a top defenseman, a high-end prospect, plus a draft pick for center Matt Duchene and eight teams have been in talks with Colorado about his services. Duchene is off to a nice start to his season with two points through his first two games and if he can keep up a level of production even close to that, Sakic will at least have a bit more leverage in trying to land that high price in a return.
- Islanders blueliner Calvin de Haan has been involved in trade speculation before and his one-year, $3.3MM deal signed in the summer won’t do much to change that. The Isles figure to be a bubble team in a highly-competitive Metropolitan Division and if they find themselves on the outside looking in at the playoffs by the trade deadline, de Haan should be one of the most sought-after rental players around the league. While he won’t put up the points, the 26-year-old can log top-four minutes and serve as an important shut-down player which is something many contenders covet in late February as the deadline approaches.
If the B’s can attach enough to Beleskey, de Haan would be a good add.
Trade Sheahan now! What are you waiting for? Get room for AA.
Even PK would agree
I agree with you 100% Dog. Sheahan is a waste of an NHL sized body with very little offensive & defensive skill. Holland will probably screw this up in some way. Let Sheahan go weigh down another team with his less than NHL skills. You got it Dog!! It is one thing to be able to handle the AHL but a different monster to be able to play at an acceptable level in the NHL. Sheahan has NHL size with a 12 year old skill set.
I need to revise my comments from above. Sheahan does have defensive & penalty killing skills. Like so many players in Detroit, the coaching staff has not made the most of the skills that Sheahan does have. Also, Ken Holland has ruined Sheahan’s career in Detroit by not utilizing him in the right way. Not only did Holland tell Mike Babcock how to use the players in Detroit, but he seems to be literally dictating to Blashill who should not be coaching an NHL team.