Now less than two months before the trade deadline, teams are starting to get a sense of what might be out there on the trade front. Early indications are that it’ll likely to be a relatively thin center trade market on the trade front. Between that and his strong track record, the Ducks are receiving a lot of trade interest in middleman Adam Henrique, reports ESPN’s Kevin Weekes (Twitter link).
The 33-year-old has been a consistent second-line center for the past decade, reaching the 20-goal mark six times, the most recent of which was last season. He’s on pace to come close to that this year with 12 goals and 14 assists in 44 games; his 26 points rank fourth on Anaheim.
Of course, Henrique is also known for his two-way play as he has been a dependable matchup center and penalty killer for most of his career, a trend that has continued this season. He’s averaging nearly three minutes a night shorthanded and is over the 50% mark at the faceoff dot for the sixth straight year.
With an ability to play up and down the lineup, it comes as little surprise that the interest in Henrique has been strong. He’d slot in nicely on the third line on several contenders and could fit on the second line on a team that’s a bit more balanced while also giving a big boost on the penalty killing side. Players with the ability to do that are often coveted for the stretch run.
However, it must be noted that Henrique is on the pricey side from a salary cap perspective as his cap hit checks in at $5.825MM, an amount that matches his salary this season. While Anaheim can hold back half of that to help facilitate a trade, that would only pay down the pro-rated cap charge to $2.9125MM, an amount that would be difficult for some cap-strapped teams to take on. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Ducks get asked to take a player back to help offset the rest of the cost or to try to get a third team involved to hold back another chunk of Henrique’s contract. Either way, expect his name to be in the rumor mill for the foreseeable future as he’s a strong bet to be moved by the March 8th deadline.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Henrique would be a solid add on a contender.
You have spent countless posts babbling about guys of similar age with similar or better stat line and how they should hang up the skates. Suddenly this guy is a solid add. You and logic rarely seem to cross paths.
I clearly stated that Henrique is a solid add for a contender, I never remotely hinted at signing the guy longterm for an obscene amount of money.
I know you did not hint at that, thus the reason that it was not in my post. I simply mocked your babbling history of yapping that guys should retire while putting up similar stat lines to Adam Henrique but suddenly he is a solid add.
I’m excited about the trade deadline this year. Shaping up to be pretty hot.
There are too many players worse than Henrique making more. He’s still producing, and his defensive numbers are strong on a lousy team. I wouldn’t give a first rounder for him (after all, he’s on an expiring contract), but the Ducks should be able to get some good assets for him.