Examiner.com originally reported that the San Jose Sharks had traded Ryane Clowe to the Minnesota Wild, as David Pollack of the San Jose Mercury News originally stated via Twitter Tuesday morning, April 2. New reports from Bob McKenzie of TSN are that he is headed to the New York Rangers in exchange for picks in the second and third rounds plus an additional second-round choice if he re-signs with them this summer.
He had been one of the top sources of NHL trade rumors for weeks, and it was assumed he would be moved before the trade deadline April 3. When he was one of San Jose's healthy scratches in Monday night's game against the Western Conference rival Vancouver Canucks, it was expected a deal was close.
But sending him to the Minnesota Wild for Marco Scandella, a third-round pick in the 2013 NHL draft and another pick in the fifth round of that draft if Clowe helped them reach the Western Conference finals as was first reported did not make sense for the Sharks. This one still runs counter to the current goal of winning the 2013 Stanley Cup that the team has made a very real possibility with its recent play, but not as badly.
For one, the Sharks are still competing with the Wild for the same positioning in the Western Conference standings. Scandella has 83 career NHL games and would have been capable of contributing to the team this season, but the margin between him and Matt Tennyson is too narrow to likely matter. Thus, they would have given a player for no real immediate return, not only losing talent that can help them but providing more for a rival.
This is not going to be a problem with him going to the Eastern Conference.
Moreover, they play Minnesota in their very next game, giving an opponent an asset just in time to be used against them and further hurting their playoff push. At least San Jose fans and players would still have more time to say a quick goodbye to their alternate captain, who would also be saved from having to fly to meet his team.
But that trade tipping the scales of which team gets the higher seed in the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs is only half the story. The Sharks could realistically finish fourth, fifth or sixth, all of which have a significant chance of being matched up against the Wild in the first round. The team they helped could have been in their way in May, and now will only be if both teams make the Stanley Cup finals.
Either way, it seems general manager Doug Wilson did not get the kind of return he was hoping for. ESPN reported last week that his asking price was a first-round pick and a young player. While a trade of Clowe follows the direction the team took moving Michal Handzus and Douglas Murray—they need to become faster.
But those trades did not affect the team on the ice because there were replacements available of near-equal caliber. San Jose lacks grit and skill among forwards and lost someone with both. To get little more for Clowe than Murray makes the return seem almost too low to give up on this season. While enough pieces remain to compete, if he believed they had a good chance he would not take pieces away but add them to make it happen.
It is still possible Wilson will look for one player that might help before the trade deadline. However, in addition to his stated affinity for this year's draft talent, he has a relative lack of prospects and no expendable veterans left, chances are this is the team going forth.
This team was not consistent or deep enough at forward and scoring to win the 2013 Stanley Cup before they traded Clowe, and cannot be considered a serious contender to win it without him. Thus, this move is focused entirely on the future. It was clear the unrestricted free agent was not going to be in the fold for next season.
Third-round picks are not generally impact players and the only way the Sharks get an even more unlikely fifth-round pick is to once again see the Wild benefit from a trade between the teams. Second-round selections are more likely to have an impact, and the Sharks can hope to get two of them like they did for Murray.
But legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi was fond of saying, "walk down the left side of the road or walk down the right...if you walk in the middle, you get run over." Once the decision is made to negatively affect the chances of winning this year, everyone not part of the future should be traded (e.g. Dan Boyle).
Comments