A look at past NHL draft trades

I thought it might be interesting to take a look back on the past couple of drafts to see what kind of action took place on the trade front. It could give us a good idea of what kind of value particular types of players hold and when we can expect actual trades to go down.

2004 1st - 7th rds June 26th
Canadiens trade Radek Bonk to Los Angeles for a 3rd round pick.

Los Angeles traded Radek Bonk and Cristobal Huet to Montreal for Matthieu Garon and a 3rd round pick (Paul Baier).

Ottawa traded Patrick Lalime to St. Louis for a 3rd round pick in 2005.

Anaheim traded Niclas Havelid to Atlanta for Kurtis Foster.

Montreal traded Stephane Quintal to Los Angeles for future considerations.

To Stars: Jaroslav Svoboda
To Carolina: 4th round pick in 2005 (Jakub Vojta)

To Columbus: Arturs Irbe
To Carolina: futures

2005 LOCKOUT (draft hastily held in August - bad sample)

2006 1st - 7th rds June 24th
June 24, 2006:To Vancouver Canucks: Roberto Luongo, Lukas Krajicek and a 6th round pick (Sergei Shirokov) in 2006
To Florida Panthers : Todd Bertuzzi,Bryan Allen and Alex Auld

June 24, 2006: To Dallas Stars: Patrik Stefan and Jaroslav Modry
To Atlanta Thrashers : Niko Kapanen and a 7th round pick (Will O'Neill) in 2006

June 24, 2006: To Calgary Flames: Alex Tanguay
To Colorado Avalanche :Jordan Leopold, a 2nd round pick (Codey Burki) in 2006 and a conditional 2nd round pick (Trevor Cann) in 2007 or 2008

June 24, 2006: To Minnesota Wild :Pavol Demitra
To Los Angeles Kings: Patrick O'Sullivan and a 1st round pick (Trevor Lewis) in 2006

June 24, 2006: To Florida Panthers: Craig Anderson
To Chicago Blackhawks : a 6th round pick in 2008

June 24, 2006:To Boston Bruins : Tuukka Rask
To Toronto Maple Leafs : Andrew Raycroft

June 26, 2006:To Phoenix Coyotes :Nick Boynton and a 4rth round pick in 2007
To Boston Bruins: Paul Mara and a 3rd round pick (traded to Chicago) in 2007 or 2008

June 30, 2006: To Tampa Bay Lightning : Marc Denis
To Columbus Blue Jackets : Fredrik Modin and Fredrik Norrena

2007 1st rd June 22nd, 2nd-7th rds June 23rd
June 22, 2007 : To Toronto Maple Leafs: Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell
To San Jose Sharks : 13th overall pick in 2007 (traded to St. Louis for 1st round pick in 2007, Logan Couture) the 44th overall pick in 2007 (traded to St. Louis) and the 4th round pick in 2009

June 22, 2007 : To Calgary Flames: Adrian Aucoin, the 186th overall pick in 2007, CJ Severyn
To Chicago Blackhawks : Andrei Zyuzin and Steve Marr

June 22, 2007 : To Florida Panthers: Tomas Vokoun
To Nashville Predators: 1st round pick in 2008, the 58th overall pick in 2007 (Nick Spaling) and a 2nd round pick in 2007 or 2008 ;
pick will be used in 2008

June 30, 2007 : To Boston Bruins: Manny FernandezTo Minnesota Wild : Petr Kalus and a 4th round pick in 2009

All draft trades can be found here.

*****************************

As you can see the past couple of years there has certainly been some quality activity on draft day.

Last year we had Vokoun and Toskala both moved on draft day for picks (including 1st rounders).

What I think is even more interesting is that there were also a couple of salary dumps in Adrian Aucoin and Manny Fernandez. Both players moved for relatively low cost just so teams could get out from under their contracts.

Could the Jackets take advantage of a similar situation. Pavel Kubina of the Toronto Maple Leafs immediately comes to mind. Would it even take the 19th overall to get him? Its no secret Toronto would like to move some salary. Maybe the 37th overall gets it done?

Looking back at the 2006 draft we see quite a bit of activity on draft including the Robert Luongo blockbuster. That was later followed by the Alex Tanguay and Pavel Dmitra trades.

When I think of moves the Jackets may make at the draft I expect one blockbuster similar to the above (Marleau? Vermette? Umberger? Pitkanen?). I also look for a salary dump or RFA dump scenario (Kubina? Umberger?) where perhaps Howson can jump on a quality player for a relatively low cost (2nd round or lower or mid-level prospect).

One thing that is crystal clear looking back on trades, I wouldn't count on any actual trade activity until June 20th when the pressure to get something done is at its highest. Of course the rumor mill will be churning at high speed until then.

Something else to keep in mind is that if for some reason Howson fails to close any deals at the draft history has shown that in the time between the draft ends and free agency begins a few deals are still likely. The Lupul/Pitkanen & Fernandez to Boston deal from last year are good examples of such.

12 days til the draft!

-LTL