Awakening from his season long slumber the Stealth actually pulled off a great trade, swapping under achiever and over priced Scotty Gomez for under achiever and under priced Chris Higgins. Higgins had an excuse, missing 25 games due to injuries. He had 12 goals and 11 assists in 57 games. Gomez in twenty more games than Higgins only posted 16 goals though he did rack up 42 assists. The big factor however, and one that will probably factor in other deals was money. Salary to be exact and salary cap especially. Gomez is making around $7.4 mil and Higgins is at $1.7 mil. That's about $5.7 in beer money to throw around on some free agent. As added bonuses, Higggins is three years younger and hails from Smithtown, Long Island.
There were four other players in the deal, two from each team. The Rangers gave up forward Tommy Pyatt, who played in Hartford last year and defenseman Michae Busto who played for the Easter League Charlotte Checkers. The Rangers get defensemen Pavel Valentenko of the Dynamo Moscow of the KHL and the prize of the youngsters in Ryan McDonough, who played for University of Wisconsin, is twenty years old and was considered the number one defensive prospect for Montreal. Bob Gainey is truly gambling that Gomez is the center he desperately needs to contend for the Cup. Good luck!
So a good start for the Stealth but there is a long free agency in store. Let's not overpay for Heatley. Stay away from Marian Hossa and let's try to dump Rozsival and Redden.
Matthews (ill) held out of 3rd as reeling Leafs lose
25 minutes ago
Wow. What a day! It's Canada Day and a holiday so I did nothing but watch all the moves. It was time well spent.
In 24 hours, the complexion of the team has changed for the better. I was dumbstruck when first I saw that Gaborik had signed, and even more surprised at the 5.75 mil tag. That turned out to be a dumb mistake, but even at 7.5 mil we finally have a proven scorer.
As for Gaborik's injury woes, he has had the exact same surgery that Mario Lemieux had to restore his game. It can fairly be termed a risky signing, but not an un-informed one.
There aren't many game changers like him out there. A better choice than Hossa, in my opinion.
I am wondering about the centre position though. I liked Gomez and his puck carrying is going to be missed, no matter how you slice it.
Wow, what a day!
blow-me-down-Gaborik is a great catch and I agree wth you we need a center. Gomez should do well in Montreal but that was also a great move. Without that move we never would have gotten Gaborik.