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The Anaheim Ducks have been looking to upgrade their beat-up blue line all season long. On Thursday afternoon, they made a head scratcher of a trade when they dealt stay at home D-man Bryan Allen to the Montreal Canadiens for recently waived sometimes power forward-sometimes healthy scratch Rene Bourque.
Allen, 34, will make $3.5 million this season, the final year of a three-year deal he signed with the Ducks in the summer of 2012.
Bourque, 32, is owed $2.5 million this season and next to finish off a six-year, $20-million deal he signed with Calgary in 2010.
Ducks GM Bob Murray has a bevy of big bodied forwards. So, why did he deal a top 6 D to get a player who was passed over by 29 teams on waivers last week?
Murray’s blue line has been besieged by injury and illness in its first 20 games this season. Veteran Francois Beauchemin is out of the lineup now while he recovers from a serious case of the mumps. Mark Fistric and Ben Lovejoy are out long term.
In the 4-3 loss in Calgary on Tuesday night, Bryan Allen, Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm ,Sami Vatanen, Clayton Stoner, and rookie Josh Manson were the starting six D for the Ducks. When you subtract Allen, the D corps weakens considerably considering Beauchemin is still out of the lineup. Even when Beauchemin returns, which should be tonight in Couver, the group will be lacking a difference maker.
My takeaway:
The Ducks are 11-4-5 this season, good for 27 points and the Western Conference #1 seed heading into their game in Vancouver tonight. However, injuries and sickness to their D and goaltending has contributed to their 3-2-5 record in their last 10 games.
I get the strong sense that Bob Murray may be getting ready to activate a trade to add a veteran to his D corps. The NHL GMs met in Toronto on Tuesday of this week. U.S. Thanksgiving is next week and Anaheim scouts have been actively looking for D help in the past few weeks. The Ducks have sent scouts to Buffalo in recent weeks to presumably watch Tyler Myers. The 24 year old, six year veteran would fit nicely into the Ducks’ top four group. Myers has been linked to the Ducks and Red Wings as possible trade destinations this season. The price to acquire Myers will be steep in the form of two top prospects and a roster player.
The Sabres are keen on Ducks young D Hampus Linholm. They also have forward prospects like Nic Kerdiles or Emerson Etem to include in a trade with Sabres. The Sabres are very high on Wings prospect Anthony Mantha and forward Riley Sheahan.
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Western New York has been ravaged by a crazy pre-winter storm for the past Buffalo community are under 7 feet of snow right now with another foot to 2 feet due to fall by the end of today. Dozens of communities are under strict traveler bans right now and have bee for days. Interstate highways 90,190, 290, 219, 400 have been closed for days.
I've lived in this community my whole life and have never experienced anything like this.
The National Guard are assisting state and local police agencies in the process of cleaning up the hundreds of tons of snow that have fallen on the ground.
Compounding the chaos is that we are expecting 12-24 more inches of snow an a Thursday afternoon lake effect snow episode.
6,200 fans showed up to watch the Sabres beat the Sharks at First Niagara Center.
I applaud the NHL for its swift action. Meanwhile, the NFL and Buffalo Bills are still thinking about playing the Jets at Bills game which is stupid considering Ralph Wilson Stadium is buried under 300,000 tons of snow with up to 12 inches more to fall today.
The roofs of nursing homes, businesses, and residential homes are collapsing under the weight of the unprecedented amount of snowfall.
The Sabres and the NHL should be commended for pulling the plug on the Sabres-Rangers game. Its only a game that can be made good at a later date.
Its hard to play a game when fans and team employees can't get out of their homes and onto th eroads to get to the arena.
#CommonSense
Knowing what I know about the Pegulas, they are probably in agreement that the Bills-Jets game should be either postponed or moved to a neutral site like Pittsburgh or Detroit.
Per the NHL:
Due to the continuing weather-related difficulties in the Greater Buffalo area and out of respect for the fans of the Sabres, Friday's game between the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center, has been postponed
A makeup date will be announced as soon as it can be confirmed.
More to come....
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The Sabres practiced on Thursday afternoon and Buffalo-born Marcus Foligno expressed his respect and admiration for the generosity and assistance of fellow Buffalonians.
Ted Nolan sent along his well wishes for all Sabres fans whose lives have been disrupted by this monstrous snow storm.
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