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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Hejda for Knuble? Not a chance..


Thanks to Erik for pointing this out from Puck-rakers;

Apparently, Nick Kypreos reported on Sportsnet last night that the Blue Jackets were going to trade defenseman Jan Hejda and a fourth-round pick to the Flyers for winger Mike Knuble.

This is ridiculous. This is crazy. This will not happen. Not a chance.


First off this is Kypreos who is about as accurate at rumors as Eklund, Garrioch or LTL (making sure your paying attention!).

Secondly its the offseason so what in the hell else do we have to talk about so might as well dig into it!

Portzline is bang on through. Jan Hejda for a 36 year old UFA to be in Knuble just is not going to happen.

I have no doubt Knuble is on the market as the Flyers need to get under the cap but they aren't going to use him to pry away a 30 year old defensive d-man in Hejda who not only led the Jackets to a team record best +20 but he did so while playing against the other team's top lines at even strength and in penalty kill situations. That is not even mentioning the sweetheart contract he just signed at 3 year 6 million dollars.

I'm not totally against acquiring a guy like Knuble after all he had 29g for 55 points last year and who wouldn't want those numbers? Quite frankly while I like Knuble he's getting up there in age and he's a wing who needs a playmaker and we have enough of those already.

If Howson were going to make another move I'd prefer it be in the center of the ice or another puckmover on the backend. I also couldn't see Howson including a key member of the defense in Hejda to grab a guy an aging veteran who will be a UFA next season.

Speaking of defense, as I was reading HF about this rumor I ran across this great breakdown of stats from last season. Here is a great tidbit on the Jackets defense:

Four Columbus defenders made the top 10. The Blue Jackets had the NHL’s third best defense on the basis of sixth fewest shots and the top shot quality ranking. Hainsey repeated on this list from last season. Foote amassed all but 6 of his PCD points in Columbus.

Jan Hejda and Rusty Klesla were the other two d-men. In fact if you read through it Hejda was up there in just about every defensive statistical category there was.

Defense from a defending standpoint was clearly not an issue last season and with the additions of Commodore and Tyutin I expect that to only improve. Certainly there are a lot of reasons for the defensive success which at the forefront are coaches who install a system and hold their team accountable for it. You also need players to buy in and then you need excellent goaltending to back it all up.

Now generating offense from the blueline is another story entirely but I think it would be real hard to be worse than last season and I think the new additions can move the puck much more efficiently than last year's group. The key to the PP will be Russell and I really think he's going to turn some heads this season.

For those of you who haven't checked out the comments a reader (thanks again Erik) also pointed out this this article from sportsnet.ca regarding Umberger and his potential fantasy value. This writer uses a lot of the quotes from the Dispatch story but its a good read with some positive spin on the Jackets...for once!

Also another reader pointed out this article regarding the 5 worst signings from this summer. Commodore made the list but somehow Finger did not. Don't worry to much though as Hainsey was #1.

4. Mike Commodore, D, Columbus (Five years, $18.75 million): Holland's rule about paying stay-at-home defensemen applies here, as well. Commodore is a serviceable second-pair blue-liner -- and on a genuine Stanley Cup contender, his deal might not stand out as much as it does with Columbus.

Here's what I'm getting at: as it stands right now, Commodore will be the third highest-paid player on the Blue Jackets, trailing only Rick Nash and newly signed Kristian Huselius. Third-highest! Mike! Commodore! And people are seriously debating whether or not this is a playoff team?

I think I posted it once before when it was on THN.com but hey its a slow news day (gawd if its this slow in July then August is going to be a loooong month) so in case anyone missed it be sure to check it out.

Thanks for pointing out these stories everyone. Keep em comin!

-LTL

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I herd the same thing to hope not.

Anonymous said...

LTL,

Thanks for all the credit. I have to agree, this is a very slow newsday, lets’ just say I am not looking forward to August. Anyways, the Knuble rumor makes no sense… I can only imagine this being the opening offer to Howsen from Philly.. Because I do believe Philly is shopping Knuble around, this of course makes 100% sense. Hejda has been absolutely solid, and we signed him for one heck of a deal.. I think Hedja is probably one of the least likely members to be traded. However if Howsen can throw some type of Rookie at Philly for Knuble, I am all for it. Knuble is getting older, but is a Hitch kind of guy… You can see it as a 1 year rental, with a possibility of resigning him for a more reasonable amount.

Regarding the Commodore comment, the mainstream press is not paying attention. Everyone overpaid for D-men in this UFA season. As CBJ fans I think we all had a collective heart attack when we heard of the Hainsey deal… At least we have a solid top line stay-at-home D-man in Commodore. Who not only adds stability but also a lot of intangibles in the locker room. I personally got the impressions from the Hitch comments that he liked really started to get interested in Commodore at the world cup when got the opportunity to coach Commodore.

The more Rumors I read, the more I am getting a feeling that Howsen isn’t done yet.. I really feel that he might try to find more Bargain basement deals like Hejda last year…

Howsen, please give us more material to talk/gossip about..

Skraut said...

LTL, That breakdown is an awesome read.

I like that it showed that Huselius is Zherdev had almost the same rating, and having the Jackets so high defensively and giving up the least quality shots, really shows the benefit of the Hitchcock system.

Anonymous said...

I like that you were able to have the Puck Rakers post in full haha. This would be a MacLean type of deal. And besides, after Hejda gave us such a generous hometown discount, we owe him big. Hejda wears my number, and I'm glad to share it with him. He's a great player, I hope he can stay with the CBJ for a long time.

Anonymous said...

The whole thing is a joke, but the thing that I find most amusing about it is that it is Hejda AND a 4th hahah!!! Hejda for Knuble alone wouldn't even be a good deal for us, but we would also have to give up a 4th rounder lolololol!!! Gimme a break.

Kypreos is either making things up or Holmgren has fallen off the wagon.

Anonymous said...

Yeah I noticed that "and a fourth" as well. What a joke! This season cannot get here soon enough!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Gentlemen,

The wild has just kicked Mark Parrish to the curb, citing cap issues..
The interesting thing is that Parrish is very similar to Knuble… 31Y, 2.6 mil, 30-40 points a year, top 6 winger. I believe and correct me if I am wrong this guy has had some conditioning issues in the past??

Any interest from the LTL readers for him ??… (Personally I don’t see a fit, but he might add some depth..)

Furthermore he is listed as being on unconditional waivers… This to my knowledge means that teams have 48 hours to claim him… if he clears the 48 hours he either gets send to the minors, which isn’t possible with Parrish I believe. So the Wild will buy out his contract, correct?? So in summary he’s available if we are willing to pick up his contract…

On a side note, does anyone have a good link to a website that describes in detail all the hockey terminology/rules ?? I am familiar with most rules but there are so many exceptions…. I know with waivers that they differ depending on how many seasons you have played in the NHL etc.. It would be nice to have a good reference website for future use…

Anonymous said...

Erik,

You asked if any of had any interest and I would say at the right price I would. If I have learned anything from my years as GM of NHL08, 07. 06, etc series on the Playstation it is that if you can get a guy like that cheap then you have more "bullets" at the end of the year or at the trade deadline to make a deal for what you need.

Also, I heard an interview with him on FSN either last year or the year before and he seems like the type of person you would want on your team.

LTL said...

Erik - depending on how much time you have on your hands to analyze it the NHLPA has a pdf copy of the CBA on their web site -- http://www.nhlpa.com/CBA/index.asp -- as one GM put it that thing is "lawyered to death".

-LTL

tom said...

Alan Ryder does a fantastic job of analyzing the past season statistically. A few tidbits that jumped out at me...

1. The Hitchcock effect on the defense corps. The quality of shots taken against us certainly implies that LeClaire's break out season can be attributable to the collective skill of Foote/Hainsey/Hejda/Klesla in this regard. I fully expect Commodore/Tuiten to excel in this system too. Any CBJ goalie will benefit from the Hitch system.

2. In the penalty kill, CBJ was a leader in fewest number of short handed opportunities, penalty avoidance and penalty killing.

3. Rick Nash needs to take less penalties (45 minors) in order to improve his defensive value. Report (page 22) estimates that he cost CBJ 1.5 points based on his high PIM.

4. Both Hejda (3rd overall) and Klesla (4th) were lauded as top defensive defensemen and were named to the "All Defense second team". Commodore and Tuiten do not show up in the report while Foote and Hainsey do. It will be interesting to see next year's report to truly measure the Hitch effect on defense.

It's about time we have some entries in the offensive side of this report.