Happy Holidays!!! Now Who Do We Trade and For Whom???
By: Jeff Little • December 24th, 2008
Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah to all of you followers of my blog . . . both of you. 
Let this be deemed the official Year End Trade thread. Post your comments with who you would give up, who you would take, and why.
I’ll seed the discussion with a couple:
3rd Round Draft Pick for Doug Weight — not a long term investment, but at under $1 million for the remainder of the season, he brings experience and toughness, and can create havoc in the middle.
Picard and Klesla for Jason Spezza — Probably not happening, for a lot of reasons, including too much salary for us to take on, and probably not enough offered in this deal. However, with a 2nd pair defenseman and some young talent, who knows? This is Christmas, isn’t it?
Let’s hear your ideas!
A native of the SF Bay Area, my first exposure to hockey was the SF/Oakland/California Golden Seals, including Charlie Finley and the white skates. Fast forward to the late 1980's when Gretzky and the Kings came up to the Bay Area for an exhibition game at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, for which we had glass seats. I was at the first San Jose Sharks game in the Cow Palace, and followed them for their first few pathetic years, before moving to Columbus in 1994. I attended the first pro-NHL rally downtown, and have been a season ticket holder since Day 1, wife & I are active in the Jacket Backers, and son is an avid fan as well. I cover the Jackets for Inside Hockey, and contribute regularly to a variety of hockey sites. I maintain contact with the Jackets organization, and like to dig into stories, bringing a fresh, and sometimes irreverent perspective to hockey.
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Comment by chunx on 24 December 2008:
love your blog…
here is what i will do … first ill make a list of players i feel we can not trade/get rid of… then a list of players i feel we should trade/get rid of…
list 1
# 61 nash
# 93 voracek
# 20 huse
# 25 chimmer
# 15 dorsett
# 51 tutyn
# 2 russell
# 3 methot
# 28 filatov ( even though hes coached by hitch and will be held down except when on the powerplay )
list 2
everyone else… seriously…
umburger- spotty/inconsistant
novotny- not a regulal nhler/soft
manny- not enough production
peca- penalty prone/slow
boll- good at taking punches
murray- grimy but thats it
modin- SOFT/slow/fragile
backman- where to begin
klesla- slow/dinosaurish/weak
commodore- not nasty enough
picard- grimy too but not enough
pazzy- where to begin part 2
norenna- oh yea…
okt- fragile/no production
hitch- i love him but i think hes not aware this is the NEW NHL not the trapping,hooking,holding league he won his cup in…
assistant coaches- obviously not doing a good enough job as well…
somewhere there needs to be acountability…
as far as players i would love to see on our club…
anyone who competes at a consistant level and can FINISH
Comment by goooooood girl on 24 December 2008:
your blog is feel good……
Comment by Rick on 24 December 2008:
After that performance last night, I don’t think the powers that be are going to be willing to part with any $$$ for anybody. That was just a horrible game. The fact that we didn’t get a top 6 center this past summer is coming back to haunt us. This team seems to “talk” a great deal about what needs to be done, yet they can’t seem to finish very well. I thought the guys we picked up this summer had some experience?
Comment by JAL on 24 December 2008:
The CBJ made a real run at both Brendan Morrison and Brad Richards. Morrison has been a disaster so far for Anaheim, and while Richards is producing for Dallas, it really hasn’t been markedly more than Huselius, who we likely could not have gotten had we signed Richards.
We can’t just snap our fingers and get centers in this league. Columbus is not a prime destination yet, and the pickings are slim. Go through the rosters of all 30 NHL teams and find any team with centers to spare. Not happening . . .
It is way too early to pull the ripcord on the season. We have some cap room, and the owners will part with some $$$ where it makes sense. Again, we can’t mortgage the future for an 8th spot this year. However, there are deals out there that could make sense, and Howson will explore those.
I have to chuckle, because while last night was a horrible game, the games we call horrible today we would have called “close” a year ago.
We are in a scoring slump, exacerbated by the absence of Brassard and Chimera, and the grinders (Murray, Dorsett, Boll, Picard, Peca) are not enough. These three days of practice will be spent experimenting with some different lines from 2 through 4, and don’t be surprised if a different look emerges.
Keep in mind that offensive opportunities also start from the back end, and last night Klesla was awful, Hejda was not much better, and Tyutin had a rare bad game.
This is an 82 game marathon, not a 12 game NCAA football sprint. Throwing in the towel with every loss, even a bad one, is not the way to fly.
Comment by JAL on 24 December 2008:
Chunx – I like your list of people to keep, though I would add Umberger. As he gets more comfortable with a role, whether that be center or wing, the consistency will come. Right now, though, he may be our best finisher.
I am not as high on Dorsett as everyone else seems to be. He is an energy guy, but I need to see more skill.
Commodore is a keeper in my book. He is not flashy, but he can quietly dominate a game on the back end and has shown more puck savvy than I projected.
The Pazzy situation is a tough one. With his current stats, his value is not as high. I would rather see him go back to Syracuse for some work, come back and show some stuff, and then see what we do.
I agree with Methot, and I would not have said that at the beginning of the year, particularly after he mouthed off to the press just before final cuts. However, he has shown more skill than ever before, and has a fair amount of grit.
Good stuff, chunx!