Stralman Traded to Columbus
Bumped - RC
So much for having a good camp and being the best of those guys fighting for a spot.
over 2 years ago
KingJafi
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I hate it. Anton Stralman was acquired, in all practical purposes, for a second rounder in next year’s draft. Now he’s only worth a third? He had a pretty fair camp as well. Keeping Staffan Kronwall in the organization, and likely in the NHL as a seventh D over Stralman, well, I just can’t justify it at all.
From Columbus’ point of view, that’s a very cheap way to get a puck-moving PP type. Scott Howson is a pretty smart guy. I am very happy, at least, that the Oilers didn’t see things in that way and push Lowe aside a few years ago, because with a maximum budget and a good GM, they’d be a pain in the ass.
I believe they were concerned that they would lose him on waivers, no? So that means, he would have had to sit in the press box not playing until injury. Was there another option I am overlooking? I could be wrong about that, and this transaction totally surprised/disappointed me as well, but it seems to be the only explanation. Other thoughts?
D for 3 and now goal for 21 years, of course I'm a goaltender apologist.
the thing is kronwall was signed in the offseason, so i don’t know how worried the flames really had to be about sending him through waivers to abbotsford. Then with keeping stralman as your 6th/7th d-man you could choose between him and pardy as your 6th d-man based on the opponent or flat out who is playing better
I see that, Lawrence, but I guess I’d have put Kronwall on waivers, and waited for the inevitable injuries to kick in so that Stralman would get some playing time. The Flames alleged 7th D has played around 60 games each of the last two years, so I don’t think it’s such a reach to have kept him if he was clearly better than Kronwall. In my opinion, he was already better than Kronwall, and much younger to boot. I suppose my other sense about this is that the Flames are a bit thin on the offensive prospect side, so I might have been less disappointed had a tangible (read:human) asset come back to the Flames.
by Robert Cleave on Sep 28, 2009 3:56 PM PDT up reply actions
well, the good news is that we all wanted to get rid of primeau in the offseason, and we would have traded him for nothing. getting stuart and strålman in return was kindof a bonus (well, strålman anyways) so ultimately we’re still better off….
bummer, though. he was steady and cheap and would have been a nice fit down the stretch if we lost someone…. and i guess it does take one pawn out of the logjam at D….
What the bloody hell is the point of that? The Flames have a burgeoning NHLer on their hands – one who proved to be the best of the hopefuls in camp – and they move him for a less than 20% shot at an NHL player?
Baffling.
On the other hand, things drastically improve for Stralman, who will no doubt make the Blue Jackets and get some PP time.
Makes the Primeau trade seem less impressive in the aftermath. Primeau+a 2nd rounder for a 3rd rounder+Colin Stuart isn’t as shiny. Course, moving him at all was good, but still…
The more I think about this, the less I like it. If Kronwall is headed to the farm anyway, why on earth would you make a deal where you send a guy who’s very likely to be an NHLer this year for the type of pick with such an historically low return? I suppose if the Flames run tight, with only one extra forward (since Stuart has been put on waivers as well), it does potentially save the team some cap space for later, but as I said, the odds of getting through a significant part of the year injury-free are slim, and the team has one less good D to use in that event.
by Robert Cleave on Sep 28, 2009 4:34 PM PDT up reply actions
I honestly can’t make heads or tails of it. Either there’s something else going on here (like Stralman threatening to return to Europe) or…I don’t know. It would be one thing if he came to camp and was clearly lackluster, but it looked to me like he’d played himself onto the roster.
I’d read the stuff where he was thinking about Europe if he didn’t make the team, but given that he played well in pre-season, he likely doesn’t clear waivers even if he doesn’t fit with Calgary. He had played himself into a NHL job somewhere.
by Robert Cleave on Sep 28, 2009 4:40 PM PDT up reply actions
no way he would’ve played in europe if the flames wanted him in abbotsford --the whole “gentleman’s agreement” with the iihf thing makes me guess that no european team would touch him.
by walkinvisible on Sep 28, 2009 5:21 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah the whole thing is completely puzzling.
My first thought is it was a personality thing or ultimatum on Stralman’s behalf. I’m willing to bet that something didn’t jive with him and B.Sutter. Just a guess though. I wonder if we’ll ever get any inside info.
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The deal ends up as:
Stuart, 3rd rounder, 7th rounder and Primeau’s cap space for a 2nd rounder.
Can’t argue that.
Stralman’s trade is interesting, but I’m not going to get hung up over a 6/7 dman being dealt on the strength of a handful of pre-season games. Obviously the Sutters saw something in him they didn’t like, and didn’t feel he was good enough to be in the top six. Hopefully he does well in Columbus.
It’s not a big deal either way. It’s just really confusing.
Apparently Kronwall wasn’t waived today, meaning he is the 7th defenseman. Which I find somewhat disappointing since he has a lower ceiling and, from what I’ve seen so far, is the inferior player.
Oh well.
He has a cheaper NHL potion of his deal than Stralman, but I’d have paid the 200k myself.
by Robert Cleave on Sep 28, 2009 4:42 PM PDT up reply actions
If they were as screwed as they were last year when they had to send Boyd down to start, sure, but if Stuart goes to Abbotsford, they’re 1.9 million under the number to start.
by Robert Cleave on Sep 28, 2009 4:50 PM PDT up reply actions
For the life of me I just can’t figure this move out… 23 year old Stralman (Who I think is an NHL defenseman now and maybe a top 4 defenseman in the future) for an 18 year old 10-15% chance at being an NHL’er. It just doesn’t add up to me.
There are only two things I can think of, the first is a size bias (AKA Sutter thinks that Pardy & Kronwalls size trumps all the aspects that Stralman has over them) & the second is that he want’s the third rounder to parley into something else (ala the third he got at the draft to acquire Bouwmeester’s rights). The latter seems unlikely since the only thing the Flames could really use is a legit top six winger (which we still wouldn’t have the cap space for) and a experienced back-up goalie (who were pretty plentiful this off-season anyways).
Gotta say I think this is the third poor move Sutter’s made this off-season along side a couple other debatable ones.
i wonder if daz sees strålman as a roadblock in the way of the development of one of the other thousand up-and-coming young defensemen.
by walkinvisible on Sep 28, 2009 5:23 PM PDT up reply actions
Gotta say I think this is the third poor move Sutter’s made this off-season along side a couple other debatable ones.
Signing McGrattan was the only one previous to this that I would have docked him on. Otherwise, he’d had a good summer relative to what kind of cap flexibility he’s left for himself. Clearing away his previous screw-ups with Vandermeer and Primeau was pretty useful. I’d rather he didn’t sign those deals to begin with, but if you’re going to make a mess, at least clean up after yourself. He’d at least done that much.
Speaking of back-ups, and I’m totally spit-balling here, is Manny Fernandez so beat up that no one wants to give him a try-out?
by Robert Cleave on Sep 28, 2009 5:30 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah, signing McGrattan was bad move #1, choosing McElhinney over a more experienced back-up was #2, and this was #3. Not that any of these are huge immediate blunders but they’re still annoying.
Choosing McBackup over an experienced back-up is stupid.
I don’t get it. It’s definitely a massive blunder because if Kipper gets a fluke injury like Luongo or Brodeur last year…we’re stuck with McBackup. Having that guy around is really like standing on the edge of a cliff…and it’s annoying. I agree with the other two…not huge immediate blunders.
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I haven’t seen anything to suggest Stralman is likely to be anything more than a bottom pairing D in the NHL. He’s only 23, but in two years on a very poor Toronto team, he completely failed to establish himself as a regular NHL player. I think he will establish himself in Columbus, but he would not have gotten that same opportunity in a logjammed Calgary, and his presence would also block some of the kids, such as Pelech, who are on the verge of being NHLers themselves.
Are you trying to say that if he's not good enough for Brian Burke...
…then he’s not good enough to be in the NHL!?!? I’m kidding…
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Lol.
Not to start a Brian Burke debate, but it was really funny seeing Burke justify how his intention to place an offer sheet on Kessel was different than Lowe’s offer sheet on Penner. Gotta admit K-Lowe took the high road by not even discussing the Kessel situation.
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Given the way the Oilers org has limped around this summer, I’m convinced that Lowe is still at least partially in charge of hockey decisions over there.
Honestly...they are so scared of trading away their supposed young talent...
…these prospects haven’t produced for you…get rid of them. That right there is a sign that Lowe is still in charge, trading those guys is admitting his defeat.
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Based on Monday's practice lines....
…… So this is generally what the Flames will throw out on Thursday against the Canuckleheads.
Moss-Jokinen-Iginla
Dawes-Langkow-Bourque
Glencross-Conroy-Boyd
Sjostrom-Nystrom-Prust
McGrattan
Regehr-Bouwmeester
Giordano-Phaneuf
Pardy-Sarich
Kronwall
Kipper
McElhinney
The longer I look at the line paring it’s not as disheartening as I felt last weekend though I would have really liked to see Lundmark and Stralman stay.
Home of the NHL's Best Defense.
yep. and i’m glad to see the gio/dion pairing back on over the chaos regehr/phaneuf.
by walkinvisible on Sep 28, 2009 8:44 PM PDT up reply actions
Glencross should swap with Dawes.
I’m pretty sure we’ll see that move in the near the future.
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