NFL Free Agency: D’Qwell Jackson Would Like More Money, Please
March 4, 2010SABR-Toothed Triber: Logic on Batting Orders, Sizemore, Branyan & Brantley
March 4, 2010Unlike last year, this year’s Blue Jackets are on the outside looking in when it comes to playoff prospects. After Tuesday night’s overtime loss made it all but official that there will be no playoffs for the CBJ, Wednesday’s trading deadline came with a sobering reality for GM Scott Howson: it was back to being sellers again.
We had speculated in Tuesday’s 5-Hole column that the three most likely guys to move would be upcoming free agents Raffi Torres, Fredrik Modin, and Milan Jurcina. Howson didn’t disappoint, moving all three to Buffalo, Los Angeles, and Washington respectively. But, Howson didn’t stop there. In moves that I collectively referred to as “taking out the trash” yesterday afternoon, he shipped fringe defenseman Mathieu Roy to Florida and fringe forward Alexandre Picard to Phoenix. Both were players that had cups of coffee with the Jackets this year, but spent more time in Syracuse.
So, no blockbusters. But what exactly did Howson accomplish? Let’s look at the deals one-by-one:
Blue Jackets trade F Raffi Torres to Buffalo for D Nathan Paetsch and a 2010 2nd round pick.
This is the only move of real significance to most Jackets fans, as Torres was by far the most impactful player that was moved… and was also the fans’ favorite of the guys that were moved. Despite Torres’ statements of wanting to stay, and Howson’s offer of a 2-year extension at $2 million per (which was low, but credit Torres for taking the high road: “I’m disappointed I couldn’t stay. It’s been good here. It just wouldn’t be fair to other players if I took the deal. I just have to sit it out and see what happens. The deal just wasn’t for me.”), Torres is going to be a free agent and the Jackets had to get something for him. Paetsch, 26, is a depth defenseman—nothing more—and is also a free-agent at season’s end. I believe he was included in this deal just to make salaries work, and also because Columbus ended up moving two more defensemen and are still missing guys like Mike Commodore and Rusty Klesla; he’s a warm body at this point. The big piece for the Jackets was the draft pick, which Buffalo originally got from Vancouver.
Grade: B-minus — The Jackets were basically over the barrel here, and had to get something for Torres. There are those that hold out hope that he’ll consider coming back this summer, though the money will be higher elsewhere.
Blue Jackets trade D Milan Jurcina to Washington for a 2010 conditional 6th round pick.
This deal hurt. The Jackets had acquired Jurcina from the Capitals earlier in the year in exchange for Jason Chimera (Jackets also got former Caps captain Chris Clark). It was always speculated that Jurcina might be on the move again given his UFA status, but back to the Caps? Well, he was happy about it (thanks to Dark Blue Jacket for the tip). His value was hurt by the diagnosis after the Olympics of a sports hernia injury. “Milan’s value went down, and it hurt our team,” Howson said. This deal was Howson’s official white flag on the season. A conditional 6th round pick won’t get you much come draft time, but it’s better than nothing for a guy they most likely weren’t bringing back this summer anyway. Jurcina has to play a certain number of games to make the pick a 6th rounder, but as Scott Howson said it was either take that deal or pay him to sit, since he wasn’t able to play with the hernia injury here either.
Grade: D — The Jackets had already traded Torres, and the gates were open. The injury hurt Jurcina’s value, so really neither team is getting much. It just sucks that the Jackets traded Chimera for two players which then became one player and a crappy draft pick.
Blue Jackets trade F Fredrik Modin to Los Angeles for a 2010 conditional 7th round pick.
Another post-floodgates deal, this one just snuck in under the wire at the deadline. Modin had a no-trade clause, but was willing to waive it once the deals started going down. Modin’s Jackets career has been filled with remorse for Columbus, considering he seems to be injured more often than not and is being terribly overpaid because of it. At age 35, he does have some playoff experience (got his name on Lord Stanley with Tampa Bay) and will serve LA well as that bottom-line grinder who wins board battles—assuming he can stay on the ice. This was another pure dump of remaining salary for the Jackets, who got next to nothing in return, but getting out from under two months of that contract is a reward in and of itself.
Grade: C — It gets a low grade, though I have to give Howson some credit for getting *anything* for Modin, honestly.
Blue Jackets trade D Mathieu Roy to Florida for C Matt Rust.
This deal was a bit of a surprise, trickling over the wire long after 3 yesterday (in the flood of last-minute deals, many don’t make their way public until the league has had a chance to review the paperwork. This move is intriguing for a couple of reasons: 1) Roy wasn’t really a long-term answer for the Columbus blue line, and 2) Rust is an intriguing young player at the center position, which has long been a spot of need for young talent for Columbus. Rust isn’t quite ready for prime time, which is to say he’s still playing at the University of Michigan (hooray!). He’s 20 years old, a junior at Michigan, and is second on his team in points and assists, tied for fourth in goals, first in +/-, and is winning almost 52% of his faceoffs. He was originally a 4th round pick by Florida back in 2007.
Grade: B — The Jackets got a third-line prospect for a defenseman who couldn’t see ice time during a year where the blue line was as bad as ever. This is a small win for Columbus, even if it’s not a big-impact deal.
Blue Jackets trade C Alexandre Picard to Phoenix for C Chad Kolarik.
This one stings a bit when one considers that Picard was at one time a Jackets’ first round pick (8th overall). But, the stat to remember is this: Picard had played in 67 games for the Jackets, and had scored goals numbering ZERO. Time for a fresh start for both parties. Kolarik—another Michigan Man, woot!—is 24 and is currently playing for San Antonio in the AHL. In 76 games in ‘08-‘09, he had 20 goals, 30 assists, and was his team’s second leading scorer. This year, in 59 games he has 17G/18A/35P. In 163 games in four years at U of M, he had 78 goals (including 30 in 39 games his senior year) and 96 assists.
Grade: B — this trade is a little hard to grade, since Picard—while disappointing with Columbus—still has that first-round pedigree. He’s one of those “change of scenery” guys, and Kolarik has enough potential (even at 24) to possibly help the Jackets third and/our fourth lines.
Overall Grade: C-plus/B-minus
To give you my overall, I’ll enlist the help of WFNY’s own Andrew, who is of course a Red Wings fan living in Columbus:
AS: I don’t really get the CBJ. I mean, they’ve been around for, what, 10 years now and have just 1 playoff appearance, and they now decided after signing their franchise player to an extension to completely blow it up and rebuild? Ouch. I mean, I get it from the standpoint that clearly what they had wasn’t working, but they’ve got a hard sell to both fans and to Nash now. Watching how well Nash played in the Olympics just fortified the fact that the CBJ are wasting away a great player’s prime, and it’s sad to see. The CBJ have been just atrocious at drafting and it’s really catching up to them now. The consensus seems to be that this year’s draft is fairly deep, so hopefully the CBJ can use their picks wisely and infuse some talent into this franchise.
DP: I don’t look at this as a blow up at all. They didn’t touch ANY of their young core yesterday. They got two young center prospects and a second round pick… all for expiring contracts and/or career AHL guys. Picard was never going to be an every-game player for Columbus, and Roy was a third-pair defenseman at best. They got two young centers for those guys that could potentially help on the lower lines down the road. Roy and Picard weren’t going to be in the long term plans anymore.
The Torres move was totally a “we tried to sign him to a cheap extension but his agent is smart enough to know he’ll get more this summer, so we might as well get a pick” deal. Modin and Jurcina were expendable for a team that’s now officially out of it (all but mathematically, anyway). Jurcina won’t even play for the next month because of a sports hernia, and Modin is 35, has been injured literally every year he’s been in Columbus, and is a FA this summer.
Howson’s definitely on the hook entirely now, yes. But this is his core now, and he didn’t touch any of it to clear some salary and get a few young chips for the future. I wouldn’t call it a blow up/start over at all. They didn’t make any huge splashes, but they didn’t touch any of their top 6 forwards or top five defensemen.
That’s it. No big splashes, but Howson was able to clear some salary, salvage a little bit for Torres, and get a few chips for the future in the two centers and the 2nd round pick. Time will tell if those pieces will help, but the Jackets saved a little cash for the rest of this year, added an extra pick, and didn’t touch any of their young core. A good, but not great day. And, really, even if none of those guys pan out, the Jackets didn’t really give up a lot to get any of them and they saved some cheese in the meantime.
And now, to play out the string. 18 games to go…
Photo Credit: Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images
4 Comments
I agree, DP. This wasn’t necessarily a blow-up. They’re out of the playoffs this year, so they’re unloading their UFAs.
I look at it like the ’06 Tribe. We were out of it in July, so Shapiro traded away Broussard, Belliard, Wickman, and Eduardo Perez – guys who were not in the future plans. Granted, the CBJ isn’t going to come out of this with that kind of talent (Choo, Cabrera, Max Ramirez!)
Waiting For Next year… When one of my teams not named the Cavs are buyers.
Good stuff…and spot on.
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