Kramerica Worst Five Trades

     Was allowing to trade picks a good idea? I was for it, thinking GM’s in this league were smart but it turns out many weren’t. Some of these pre-draft trades were simply terrible so in this new article, I, Darren the Intern, bring you the worst five trades of the BRHL2 sponsored by Kramerica.

#5: The trade: To Detroit: BUF6  To Buffalo: DET7, DET9

How it turned out: To Detroit: Evgeni Nabokov To Buffalo: Anze Kopitar, Danny Markov.

     I mean what kind of trade is this, a 6^th for a 7^th and a 9^th. Only reason Detroit might have had to make this trade is because he needed a goalie. Well if to you a goalie was that important why didn’t you draft one earlier? Don’t get me wrong, I think drafting Anze Kopitar at that point was about 5 out of 10 on the dumb meter while the trade was a 6. Horrible trade but doesn’t look as bad is it would have because of the Kopitar pick.

#4: The trade: To Nashville: BUF5  To Buffalo: NSH7, NSH8

How it turned out: To Nashville: John-Michael Liles To Buffalo: Patrick O’Sullivan, Tom Preissing

     I don’t understand this trade either. Liles is a great player but two early picks like a 7^th and 8^th are just too valuable. Once again I think drafting O’Sullivan in the 7^th round isn,t very bright but it still was a bad trade for Nashville.

#3: The trade: To Columbus: TB2  To Tampa Bay: MTL3, BOS4

How it turned out: To Columbus: Brian Gionta  To Tampa Bay: Dominik Hasek, Alexei Kovalev

     Darren can’t take it anymore. A SECOND ROUND PICK FOR A THIRD AND A FOURTH. WHAT THE **** IS THIS? Horrible trade for Columbus and great trade for Tampa Bay. This doesn’t look as bad because Hasek was drafted in the third by the Islanders. Just imagine Gionta was traded for Stoll (drafted right after Hassek) and Kovalev and then tell me what you think.

#2: The trade: To NYR: NYR5, LA6  To LA: PHI5

How it turned out: To NYR: Colby Armstrong, Keith Tkachuk To LA: Michael Ryder

     True you’d have to pay me to take Tkachuk on my team but imagine Alexander Steen instead of him. Honestly, do I really need to say more? A 6^th round pick to move up 25 spots in the 5^th I mean this is so bad I don’t even think there is a word for it. This is about a 9 on the dumb meter, I didn’t think it would get worse but oh yes it could, there is a 10.

#1: The trade: To Montreal: BOS2  To Columbus: MTL3, MTL4

How it turned out: To Montreal: Hannu Toivonen  To Columbus: Paul Kariya, Dominik Hasek

     Here is what Phil of Montreal had to say about Jason from LA who made the 2^nd worse trade: “Dark and disturbed? His whole life revolves around Superman and cereal. I convinced him to act like that so that you would think I was worse. That's how disturbed I am! If you want disturbed, that's disturbed! You can't find sickness like that anywhere. You think sickness like that grows on trees? Nobody is sicker than me, nobody. He's pretending, I'm the genuine article."”

     Once again just imagine it’s Stoll who was drafted instead of Hasek. Hannu Toivonen (a goalie who is not even guaranteed to start with a non-playoff team in 06-07) for Jarret Stoll (a 24 yr old centre who had 68 points and will only get better) and Paul Kariya (a guy who has over 1 pt per game in 05-06). Do I really need to say more? This trade gets a 10, right behind throwing a giant rubber ball filled with oil out the window and right ahead of having the idea of putting ketchup and mustard in the same bottle.

Giddy up,

-Darren the Intern.

     What in the world is going on? Does the BRHL2 have its Lou Lamoriello? Phoenix GM Carmen Barbuto has clearly announced that nothing less than a Stanley Cup will be acceptable in Phoenix . 21.7M in salary, that’s 55% of the cap room spent on 5 players. Martin Brodeur, Mats Sundin, Teemu Selanne, Rob Blake and Brerndan Shanahan, you can spell BS a couple of times in there. Interesting strategy a la Lou but will it payoff, only time will tell. How about the Islanders who have spent 18M on 4 players only or the Devils with 16.5M on only 4 players as well but what can you say, kid’s still learning.

     Now let’s look at that first round of the draft. Out of the 30 players drafted in the top 30, the one that really doesn’t belong there is Kari Lehtonen. Sorry buddy Eric I just don’t get it, sure he’s got potential but where do you go with potential? Nowhere! Lehtonen at 13, 28 spots ahead of Rick DiPietro and 34 ahead of Cam Ward, I just don’t get it. All three goalie have potential but Ward and DiPietro have proven much more. Other than that Datsyuk also went way too early at 20th, my buddy Dave loses his power 3 hours before the draft, could have happened to anyone, must be very frustrating but he’s a tenacious little money, he’ll bounce back. Among the very nice picks in the later rounds: Andy McDonald, Colby Armstrong and Francois Beauchemin, all those picks may have gone unnoticed but all three are great players and especially cheap.

     The big question before the draft was where would Evgeni Malkin end up? 40^th to Colorado, way too early in my opinion, I think he was worth a late 3^rd rounder at best especially with the uncertainty concerning his future in the NHL. To me drafting Malkin this early seems capricious and arbitrary, nice name but hasn’t proven anything. I expected him to go about early 2^nd though because there’s always one guy who loves the guy and takes a chance, I still think it’s way too early even if he comes over next season.

     And then what’s up with all those re-builders? GM’s are drafting Jack Johnson, Ryan Whitney and Thomas Vanek ahead of Andrei Markov and Brad Boyes. Markov and Boyes have almost as much potential except they’ve proven much more. Good news is that teams seem to be in this for the longer run and will be willing to pay 50 bucks for 2-3 seasons to become contenders in the longer run.

     Good luck everyone, 6^th round on Sunday, some real nice players left, who will grab them, who will have the next brain fart and who will realize there is a salary cap after Round 10? Only time will tell but don’t worry, I won’t be going away for a LONG LONG time. I’ll be back next week, till then, la la la…

-Darren the Intern