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Saturday, July 25, 2009

Zubov still out there

I speculated yesterday that perhaps the Bruins move to trade Aaron Ward was to free up cap space to land Sergei Zubov.

Well I was on the right track but had the wrong name. According to TSN the Boston Bruins have signed Derek Morris to a 1 year 3.3 million dollar deal.

Don't get me wrong - Morris would have looked good in union blue but that deal is too rich for the Jackets blood.

This signing certainly spells the end to Kessel's run in the beantown.

Why is this important to CBJ fans? Well Zubov is still hangin out there. Howson would have to get creative and find a way to move a winger in a separate deal if they signed him. Difficult? Sure... but certainly not mission impossible.

We wait.

-LTL

4 comments:

roadman said...

Would like to throw out another name that I don't think I've seen in the ongoing OD discussion, Anton Stralman.

ASSETS: Has plenty of puck poise and on-ice maturity. Owns a projectable frame and offensive upside. Is good on the power play point due to a hard shot.
FLAWS: Needs to add more bulk in order to better defend against big forwards in North America. Must adjust quickly to the faster pace of the NHL, and avoid big hits.
CAREER POTENTIAL: Top four defenseman.

Not a lot of Video out there I could find but it would appear that he may be the odd man out in Toronto as it appears Kaberle may be staying. He just seems to me to be a very "Howsonesque" acquisition. 22 yrs old, RH shot from the point, signed through this year (665K), lots of upside, and could probably be had for a reasonable price since TOR is looking for forward pieces.

There are a lot of options out there just wondering what some think of this one.

Unknown said...

I'm very surprised to see Boston letting Kessel walk. From my seat, he's a great player. Certainly better than Derek Morris. Oh well. Who wants to bet Detroit signs him?

LTL said...

Hey Max...

Detroit would have to be willing to give up some draft picks as compensation to sign Kessel as he's an an RFA.

I doubt they'd be willing to go that route. In fact there haven't been any offer sheets this summer which is somewhat surprising.

I would expect Boston to eventually just trade him for draft picks/prospects as they don't have any more room to take on salary... that is unless they deal another signed player (some have suggested Kobasew).

Roadman - I really don't know a whole lot about Stralman. I'll have to do some reading up on him.

-LTL

eplagge said...

I had a hunch this Morris move was coming... a couple of days ago his agent stated he had numerous options to choose from... quickly followed by a statement from Morris himself regarding the fact he was VERY flexible regarding term and salary.. that kind of statement was obviously aimed towards the Bruins... or another contender that might have been in the mix..

It appears more and more players are willing to take salary cuts and term cuts in order to play for a contender, do you guys feel that the Detroit model is slowly starting to influence other top tier teams ??/ A couple of years ago this didn't seem to be as common... I am very curious to see what Tanguay will do... the rumor mill is saying he has numerous offers, very good offers from medium and lower ranked teams.. however he might be holding out for the ability to play for a better team...