The Impact Deals to Date

As the trade deadline looms closer, just like in past years, Puckjunkie wants to give you the fantasy poolie out take on the latest deals and rumors around the league. Unlike past years however, the deals have been plentiful weeks prior to the deadline, so – without further delay, let’s dive in to the ones completed so far.

Toronto sends Tomas Kaberle to Boston for the Bruins 1st round draft pick in 2011 and prospect Joe Colborne and a conditional 2nd round pick is Kaberle resigns with Boston or they make the 2011 Finals. Fantasy Impact – for owners of Kaberle this is very good news. Kaberle is an excellent PP QB and makes the first pass from his own end as well as any other in the league. He moves from a team that is not likely destined to make the playoffs, to one that thinks it’s got a legitimate shot at the title. Kaberle improves a decent Bruins PP and alongside Zdeno Chara, gives the Bruins an excellent tandem from the back end and indirect benefactors should be guys like Krejci, Lucic and Bergeron. One guy who’s points may be adversely impacted is Mark Recchi, who’s spot on the Bruins PP will likely be taken by Kaberle. For the Leafs, they get a valued 1st round pick (likely in the 20-30 range) and a decent prospect in Joe Colbrone – a huge center who is a decent skater and projects as high as a solid 2nd line center.

Toronto sends Kris Versteeg to the Philadelphia for the Flyers 1st round pick & 3rd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact - After acquiring Versteeg in the off-season, it never seemed that the young forward could ever live up to the expectation of hockey mad Toronto. Versteeg’s best success has been when he gets to play a complimentary role from the 3rd line, kills penalties and chips in with some timely goals. This will be his role with the Flyers and he should thrive.

Toronto sends Francois Beauchemin to Anaheim for Joffrey Lupul, prospect Jake Gardiner and the Ducks 4th round pick in 2014. Fantasy Impact – it’s been pretty hard to fathom just how far Beauchemin’s confidence has fallen from his happier days in Anaheim. Beauchemin heads back to the Ducks, where he had the most success in his hockey career and should provide the Ducks with some steadying influence on defence. He’s the 3rd offensive fantasy option behind veteran Visnovsky and rookie Cam Fowler. This will be Joffrey Lupul’s fourth trade and fourth organization in his 10 year NHL career. There’s no doubting his scoring ability, he’s hit the 20+ goal mark three times in his career, it’s his inability to stay healthy which is a concern. Lupul heads to a goal starved Leafs with the hope that he’ll be able to give the Leafs a needed offensive boost. He’s risky, but he’s going to get every opportunity to play on the top offensive lines and PP, so in the short term, he’s a low risk/high reward acquisition. In Jake Gardiner the Leafs get a decent defence prospect with some offensive upside. He projects as a solid 2nd blue-line pairing guy with some offensive upside.

St. Louis sends Eric Johnson, Jay McClement and a 1st round pick in either 2011 or 2012 for Kevin Shattenkirk, Chris Stewart and a 2nd round pick in 2011 or 2012. Fantasy Impact – on it’s face this appears to be a bit of a steal from the Blues. Stewart is a budding fantasy stud power forward, with soft hands and does play with a bit of an edge. Last year he registered 28 goals and if not for an injury earlier in this year, he’d have eclipsed that this season. In Shattenkirk the Blues get an offense first defencemen who has been excellent since his call up after about 10 games in to this season. He won’t replace Johnson’s defensive abilities but he’s at least as good offensively. The Avalanche are clearly hoping that Johnson regains his form of 2009-10. Perhaps the change in scenery will benefit Johnson but this season, we are not liking his fantasy value for this year, but next season he’s a good risk/reward pick for poolies. Johnson’s absence will give more PP playing time for the arriving Shattenkirk and Alex Pietrangelo.

St. Louis sends Eric Brewer to Tampa Bay for the Lightning’s Brock Beakeboom and a 3rd round pick. Fantasy Impact – Eric Brewer is the epitome of a very solid stay at home defenceman that can play 25+ minutes a game. He’s not a significant offensive fantasy option any longer, but the ‘Ning have brought Brewer in to steady their defence core and provide some solid veteran leadership on the blue line. In return, the Blues have picked up the son of former NHL defencemen Jeff Beukeboom; and he is a chip off of the ol’ block. The younger Beukeboom is not fleet of foot, but he is a big, tall, stay at home defenceman with a mean streak. He’s not going to add much offensive fantasy value, but as early as next season, Beukeboom could be patrolling the Blues defence. A Blue that should benefit from the most two recent defence departures is Nikita Nikitin. Nikitin has some offensive upside and the Blues have been slowly bringing the Russian born rearguard along but most recently he had supplanted Johnson from the Blues 2nd unit PP.

Boston sends Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart to Atlanta for Rich Peverley and Boris Valabik. Fantasy Impact – after acquiring Kaberle, the Bruins needs to clear some cap space and thus shipped Wheeler and Stuart to Atlanta. Wheeler has yet to realize his fullest potential for a guy that was drafted 5th overall in 2004. Wheeler’s a big body with some nose for the net. The question has been his desire to consistently go to the critical spots on the ice to get his goals. He’s a good fit in Atlanta to give them more size and additional youth, but he’s a 20 goal a season max guy. In Stuart, the Thrashers are getting the perfect example of a gritty stay at home defenceman that won’t add much in terms of offensive fantasy stats save for hits and possible blocked shots. For the Bruins Rick Peverley gives them a decent fill-in for the injured Marc Savard. Peverley’s decent in the offensive zone, but has some flaws on his own zone. Expect him to play likely on the 3rd line behind Krejci and Bergeron, but there is a risk that he may have limited minutes and much less playing time on a deeper Bruins team then what he saw with the Thrashers. The Bruins also acquired massive defenceman Boris Valabik who reminds many scouts of Derek Boogaard, save he’s a defeceman. Valabik’s skating is not yet up to NHL level, but if he ever gets the chance to play alongside Zdeno Chara, the Bruins might have the league’s newest “Twin Towers” as Valabik is 6’7”.

Ottawa sends Chris Kelly to Boston for the Bruins 2nd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact – Chris Kelly was a favourite of current GM Pete Chiarelli, back when he was with the Senators’ organization. Kelly will provide additional speed, the ability to kill penalties and much needed “glue” in the room for the Bruins. A very popular guy amongst his team mates, Kelly’s ice time will be more limited than what he was seeing in Ottawa but he’ll now be playing for a Stanley Cup. If Kelly kills penalties, he’s got some fantasy value. Without it, he’s just another excellent skating 3rd or 4th liner.

Ottawa sends Brian Elliott to Colorado for Craig Anderson. Fantasy Impact – this is a bit of a noggin’ scratcher for us to be sure. Ottawa jettison’s a young turtle for a guy that is an unrestricted free agent sounds like the Sens believe that Robyn Lehner is the heir apparent for the Sens top job (and he’s been good on some games and not so good on others at every level he played at) or it’s part of the concerted effort of the Pens to off-load as much salary as they can. We think it’s the later. For Anderson he’ll likely welcome the change in scenery and will likely be auditioning for a new contract – in other words, he’ll be motivated to turn around just an ok year. For Elliott it’s the chance to be the No. 1 guy for the Avalanche. Poolies can expect he and Budaj to compete for the No. 1 job for the remainder of the season.

Ottawa sends Mike Fisher to Nashville for the Predators 1st round pick in 2011 and a conditional draft pick in 2012. Fantasy Impact – as much as Alfredsson and Spezza are the flashier players, it seems evident for the Senators that as Fisher went, so did they. This season Fisher has been playing hurt since training camp and just looks like he’s not playing at 100%. This move now vaults Fisher to No. 1 center status for the Preds and they are desperately hoping that he will re-discover his scoring prowess that has seen him score at least 22+ goals in 4 of his 10 seasons in the league. Fisher is also likely to benefit from not playing in hockey mad Ottawa as well, where every move by the players is under scrutiny. The Predators he will play with should benefit as well; guys like Erat, Hornqvist and Sullivan.

Chicago sends Jack Skille, Hugh Jessiman and David Pacan to Florida for Michael Frolik and Alexander Salak. Fantasy Impact – for the Blackhawks, this is clearly an attempt to add some more scoring depth top the Blackhawks. Frolik has put together back-back 20+ goal seasons for very bad Panther teams and should see top 6 forward duty for the Hawks right away. The Hawks also get a nice goaltending prospect in Salak, who’s putting up solid numbers over in Europe. For the Panthers Skille was a now Panthers’ GM Dale Tallon selection and should get a long look and more minutes for the remainder of the season to entice the Panthers to sign him to a long term deal. Jessiman is a long-shot prospect that has yet to fulfill his potential while Pacan, at 19, is a longer term prospect that projects as a 2nd line forward.

Carolina sends Ian White to San Jose for the Sharks 2nd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact – Ian White is a poor man’s Dan Boyle. They play similar style’s, are about the size and based on their size, are forever proving that they belong. White should stand to make a significant impact for the Sharks. After pursuing the then Leaf’s Beauchemin, the Sharks settled on the soon to be UFA Ian White. White should help Boyle and the struggling Sharks PP. White has 40 point production in him and he will likely find the up tempo play in the Western more to his liking, The ‘Canes, this deal allows them to focus on signing Pitkanen. White has been just OK as a Hurricance and this move to the Sharks should please White owners significantly.