Bleacher Report - Articles by Alex Langill

Potential NHL Trade Deadline Trades

Alex Langill — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:23:46 -0500

The Philadelphia Flyers have been complaining about goaltending woes as of late. They've done really well without center Daniel Briere all season. I was looking over some trade deadline articles, and it dawned on me—the Chicago Blackhawks need extra veteran scoring, and Philly needs a goalie.

Daniel Briere for Nikolai Khabibulin:

Danny definitely has some wisdom to pass down to the younger players, yet he's pretty young himself, so he can find some way to connect with them effectively. This boosts the team chemistry.

Also, Khabibulin for Philly would create a nice consistent backstop in the net, giving more leeway for Richards and Carter to experiment and develop.

It is rumored Brian Burke of the Toronto Maple Leafs wants draft picks, but Toronto could also use a veteran right now for the younger players to grow around until the team gets built. How about a guy with loads of experience and a Cup ring, who also plays for a team hungry for defense?

Rod Brind'Amour for Tomas Kaberle:

It may seem a bit ridiculous considering Burke probably wants all the mileage he can get out of Kaberle, but as this team is being rebuilt and grows, it's going to be filled with youth. Do you think having Brind'Amour there as a pillar for the kids to grow on is a bad idea?

NHL Trade Deadline Hopes: NEED INPUT

Alex Langill — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:52:26 -0500

I am a hopeful Avs fan so I have been dreaming up trades for the trade deadline. Please give your input, I like hearing what others have to think about my ideas.

My first idea is Ryan Smyth and Jordan Leopold to Florida for Jay Bouwmeester and Richard Zednik. Of course I too am on the chase for Bouwmeester, how can I not? Liles is an alright defenseman and a pretty good scoring defenseman, but Bouwmeester is a franchise fellow and it's only fair to trade another franchise fellow for him.

Also, Florida could use the scoring from Smyth for the run for the cup and Leopold will not replace Bouwmeester, but I'd love to have a defensive corps of Boynton, Ballard, Leopold, and McCabe, along with Vokoun in net.

Although the question is can Florida really do anything without Bouwmeester?

Also, with all the youth growing in Colorado I think a veteran would be necessary to replace Smyth. Zednik is a guy who has seen alot and could definitely pass wisdom down to the likes of Mcleod, Stewart, Stastny, Wolski, etc.

My second idea is Leopold and Marek Svatos to Tampa Bay for Ryan Malone. Colorado could use a solid 20-goal guy rather than Svatos whose results parallel that of a bloody slot machine. The addition of Leopold makes the trade fair.

This would give Tampa Bay a pretty decent defensive corps with Meszaros, Ranger, Eminger, and Leopold. This also gives room for potentially budding star Steven Stamkos to play and grow. He may only have 30 points up to date, but another first overall pick got barely 40 points in his first season, and won the Richard the next season.

My third idea is Adam Foote to Boston for Manny Fernandez. First of all, Fernandez is WAY better than Budaj. Second of all, the guy deserves to be No. 1 somewhere. Third of all, there are rumors that Boston is looking for a defenseman like Pronger or Kaberle.

Foote may not live up to their scoring abilities, but he has years of playoff experience they could benefit from for their drive for Stanley. He could mesh well with Boston's rather physical defensive style.

Another flaw is Fernandez is 34-yearsold, and he probably wants a ring before he retires. Colorado isn't going to bring a cup home anytime soon.

TRADE IDEAS! Involving, Bouwmeester, Kovalchuck, Gaborik, Spezza and More

Alex Langill — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:29:07 -0500

Florida has a strong defensive corps consisting of Edmonton native Jay Bouwmeester, three Ontario natives; Nick Boynton, Bryan Allen, and Byan McCabe and Minnesota native Keith Ballard. Florida is lacking offense, even on their first line. Stephen Weiss, who is their best center, isn't a strong enough center, and is probably a second-line center at best.

This calls for a need for a good center, and it's probably all Florida needs to make it into the playoffs this year. With Bouwmeester's contract coming to an end this season, it seems he would be the best choice for trade bait, whom better to reel in than Jason Spezza.

Ottawa is looking for change in their lineup and bringing a potential franchise defense to boost their average defensive corps would hit the spot.

But if that doesn't happen, there are other teams looking for a defenseman such as Bouwmeester, but when it comes to trading this guy, it would have to be money for money. Bouwmeester's worth $4.87 million this year and probably more next year.

Philadelphia has three first-line centers, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Daniel Briere, all whom would be good candidates to trade for Bouwmeester, but who to trade is the question. Carter is on pace for a 50-60 goal season, Richard's contract is $5 million a year for the next decade and Briere is $7-8 million until 2013.

Ilya Kovalchuck has spent the last seven years in Atlanta with the opportunity of playing only four playoff games. He is looking for a team that will make it. But let's just assume all he needs its a little change. Let's put him on a team that could use some change, in a city that loves hockey and with an old friend. How about the Ottawa Senators.

Spezza for Kovalchuck, doesn't seem like a bad trade at all. It would give the Sens surefire scoring on two lines because Alfie, Heatley and Kovie are all wingers. Of course there would be the reuniting of Heatley with Kovalchuck like back in the Atlanta days. Spezza and Kovalchuck's salaries are almost identical.

Atlanta could use a good center to build the team around. Heatley, Alfredsson and Kovalchuck are players that could motivate or have guys like Vermette, Fisher, Foligno scoring way more. Ottawa's only real problem is scoring anyways, because they have low GA.A.

Marian Gaborik wants to get the hell out of Minnesota, we hear it all the time. Where is he going to end up, and what does Minnesota want for him? Another franchise center? A good forward and a strong defenseman? A top five draft pick in the '09 draft?

A Gaborik for Bouwmeester trade seems possible, but Minnesota could probably use a fine center so he may even go for Spezza. with Gaborik out of the way, it gives more space for Antii Miettinen and P-M Bouchard, but once again they could use a center who is more than just Mikko Koivu, who IS having a career year.

But considering the fact he is a free agent at the end of this year, we could see Gaborik joining a team for a playoff run, so maybe he'd go to Phoenix, Anaheim, Carolina, New Jersey, for a few draft picks and a few prospects. Or we might see a block buster trade for like Hossa, or Doan, but that is unlikely.

So... I predict:

Jay Bouwmeester D FLA - Marian Gaborik RW MIN

Jay Bouwmeester D FLA - Jason Spezza C OTT

Jay Bouwmeester D FLA - Jeff Carter C PHI or Mike Richards C PHI or Daniel Briere C PHI

Ilya Kovalchuck LW ATL - Jason Spezza C OTT

Marian Gaborik RW MIN - ANYWHERE FOR DRAFT PICKS AND PROSPECTS

Zetterberg, Gaborik, Thomas, and some Early Free Agent Speculation

Alex Langill — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:10:43 -0500

I decided I would have some fun and look at the Free Agent List of next year. Here is some predictions I have made, for the fun of it.

The guys who will return to the same team next year will most likely be: Henrik Zetterberg, Tim Thomas, Niklas Backstrom, Alexei Kovalev, Sedin Twins, Filip Kuba, Mattias Ohlund, Mike Komisarek, Nik Antropov, and lastly Tim Connolly. All players who are vital to their franchises and affordable to them as well.

In Florida there is a toss-up between defensemen Nick Boynton and Jay Bouwmeester. They are both number one defenseman and share a sort of Rob Blake/Adam Foote in 02-04 relationship. They cannot afford both with McCabe's brutal six million dollar mouth to feed.

I believe it is more likely that Boynton will be staying behind and Bouwmeester might leave Miami to perhaps Denver for Jordan Leopold and Marek Svatos. Boynton is cheaper and could definitely play a more defensive game along side Leopold or McCabe, who bring a more offensive punch.

Detroit is going to be taking a blow later this year when Henrik Zetterberg's, Marian Hossa's and Johan Franzen's contracts all come to an end. Detroit will not be able to afford all three of them, so it seems they are to bid farewell to one or two of them. Hossa would probably be the first to leave, he was just a one year deal, Atlanta might take him back.

Franzen might possibly be the second, although there is a chance for Detroit to squeeze him in under the cap. But Zetterberg is most likely to stay, he is a franchise player and Detroit would probably plunder if he were to leave.

Marian Gaborik has been a topic of conversation quite often these days, and not all that much because of his playing skills. It seems at any given moment Gaborik will be leaving St. Paul. But if not, his contract ends in June, and it seems rather obvious he will not be returning.

There is a lot of talk of Gaborik being unhappy playing under Jacques Lemaire's coaching. I recommend Doug Risebrough trade him rather than let his contract run out because Minnesota could get something good for Gaborik.

Montreal is losing quite a bit of players at the end of this year, there is no way they could afford all of them back. Robert Lang, Saku Koivu, Alex Tanguay, Mike Komisarek, and Alexei Kovalev. All key players in Montreal. But Montreal has a lot of great young talent, including the Kostitsyn brothers, Christopher Higgins, Maxim Lapierre, Guillaume Latendresse, Carey Price, Jaroslav Halak, and in rookie Matt D'Agostini.

To nurture all this young talent would take a couple good veterans. Kovalev is definitely the top choice, he loves to play the game and is a franchise player, and a good captain. Koivu would be a good choice being another franchise veteran. Re-signing Komisarek would be a good move for the defensive corps and really after that, it is all they would need.

Other curious free agents include: Brian Gionta, Nikolai Zherdev, Ales Kotalik, Manny Fernandez, Martin Biron, Marek Malik, Miroslav Satan, Mike Knuble, Nik Antropov, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mike Comrie, Jordan Leopold, Andrew Raycroft, Ian Laperriere, and Jiri Hudler.

Heading To Christmas, What Do We See in the NHL?

Alex Langill — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:45:21 -0500

As Christmas comes, it's interesting to look at the changes that have happened since the beginning of this season compared to last.

For instance, Sundin, who didn't waive his no-trade clause, is now a Vancouver Canuck.

Funny how last year going to a new team could have given the team in his heart (the Leafs) probably some benefit.

This is a sad story but hey, Vancouver's smiling. They have more than Sedins and Luongo to rely on.

The scoring race is quite different than what people expected. At the moment, the top 10 only have two top-10 scorers from last year—Iginla and Ovechkin.

The NHL has a fresh new scoring class that includes Thomas Vanek (as the leader), and Jeff Carter, who at 30 games is seven goals short of what he scored last year in 82. He has Briere's injury to thank for that, I assume.

Let's look at more players. Phil Kessel in 30 games has tied what he had in '07-08. Zach Parise whose name you may end up hearing more than Brodeur and Elias when it comes to NJ.

Also, the top five scorers right now are all 24 years old and younger. That's right, members of our elite have been drinking in the states for fewer than three years—which is 10 years less than most of the fans! Ha!

Looking more at the scoring race, it's populated by Sharp and Setoguchi, two guys barely anyone ever heard of a couple years ago.

Malkin, Crosby, and Ovechkin have been tearing up the league as usual, as projected for the last four or five years. Down the list, we see another first-overall draft pick, Patrick Kane, who is being dubbed the best American in the NHL today. Also we see Iginla once again, but he's been one of the best for basically all the 2000s. Simon Gagne is up there, but someone's got to be assisting on Carter's goals.

Let's talk goalies now. with Brodeur and Luongo injured, which Canadians are kicking ass these days? It seems the Americans are taking the reigns here with Tim Thomas, Ryan Miller, and Craig Anderson—who seems to be upstaging Vokoun.

We go on to Canadians and we see Mike Smith, who with a .924 save percentage has racked a whopping five wins in 23 games, while Osgood in 19 games has 11 wins with a brutal .876 save percentage. Detroit's trying with Conklin but maybe one day we will see Halak across the border from Windsor.

Speaking of Montreal, Price is making a stance in Montreal with only eightlosses in 21 games, and a beautiful .920 save percentage. All while we watch Canadian ex-hero Turco drift off with more losses than wins and an embarrassing .884 save percentage.

That's a little update on what's happening these days in hockey.

Avalanche News: Jose Theodore, Headaches at the Trade Deadline

Alex Langill — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:36:15 -0500

With Joe Sakic skating and Ryan Smyth and Paul Stastny looking to return soon, you'd think the Colorado Avalanche might be looking good.

So why would they be thinking about the trade deadline?

Do the words defense and goaltending come to mind? They do to me.

Now I know José Théodore has been performing splendidly as of late. Actually, he's been putting up All-Star numbers, posting save percentages of .920 or higher in four of his last five games (3 goals in 4 shots in the St. Louis game, YIKES!)

Has he FINALLY returned to Hart Trophy form? Will he lead the Avalanche to a Stanley Cup?

I doubt it. I do not believe what the Théodore bandwagon does.

I believe that if the Avs put too much faith in José Théodore, they will crumble. He is VERY inconsistent, and I CANNOT TRUST HIM! It's why I am hoping the Avs trade him now while he's hot and his contract is almost done. Try and land a huge defenseman or trade him with someone and land a two for two deal.

Théodore and a draft pick for Paul Ranger maybe? (Has anyone else notices Chicago'sDustin Byfuglien's 12 goals in 45 games? No one? hmmm ...)

The top sports analysts on the score and sportsnet are all saying the rental player thing is yesterday's news. I don't mean to sound naive but, with cap space, how is it not?

Why would we use the Smyth in New York situation to predict what will happen? I mean it's not like he was pressured or homesick or anything ... or was he? Colorado could use a rent-a-goalie and rent-a-defenseman. What's Emery doing these days? Hasn't he been to the Stanley Cup finals once before? Are Roloson's days over? Is Detroit going to make up their mind and finally ditch either Osgood or Hasek (my money's on Hasek)?

If we can trust Théodore, then why don't we pick up a Ranger, Byfuglien, or maybe even a Tomas Kaberle? Do you really see Toronto making the playoffs this year? Mark Streit is having a great year, with Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer is Matheiu Schneider really necessary? How about getting some experience in Ed Jovanovski from the Phoenix Coyotes?

They might not be scoring too much these days, but with Wojtek Wolski, Milan Hejduk, Marek Svatos bouncing back, Smyth and Stastny on the way back, T.J. Hensik and Cody McLeod chipping in as youngsters and Jaroslav Hlinka scoring on Chicago, I feel confident.