Business is picking up the night before the NHL trade deadline.
The Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night dealt defenceman Lasse Kukkonen and a third round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for winger Kyle Calder, then flipped Calder to the Detroit Red Wings for winger Jason Williams.
Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon had insisted throughout the season he wouldn’t move one of his young defensemen, yet he moved Kukkonen, who’s played well in this, his first full NHL season, to bring in more scoring depth for his forward lines.
This move should kill off the recent speculation of Tallon shopping young blueliner Brent Seabrook.
The Flyers continue to bolster their blueline corps with youth by landing Kukkonen only two days after obtaining promising young defenseman Braydon Coburn from the Atlanta Thrashers.
Calder had been acquired by the Flyers last summer from the Blackhawks and was expected to provide offensive depth to their top lines, but was a bust this season. After posting career numbers in Chicago last season, Calder had only 21 points in 59 games with the woeful Flyers this season.
The Wings have been seeking a scoring winger since losing Brendan Shanahan to free agency last summer, but parting with Williams for Calder comes as a surprise.
Like Calder, Williams has struggled offensively this season and has been considered trade bait for some time, but no one could’ve predicted he’d be dealt for a fellow underachiever.
Wings GM Ken Holland is obviously gambling that Calder’s woeful stats this season are a result of playing for a terrible team, believing that he’ll regain his scoring touch with the talented Red Wings.
The odds are at least in Calder’s favor. It remains to be seen,
however, if Williams can regain his scoring touch, going from a Cup
contender to an also-ran in Chicago.
This move likely takes the Wings out of the running for St. Louis Blues forward Bill Guerin.
LET'S GO FLYERS! Hats off the GM Holmgren who has done a lot of rebuilding in the same season they found out how much they were lacking in areas. Dumping expensive players, bringing in lots of young defencemen and having a lot of money left over to spend.
P.S. Spect, your a work-aholic, hats off to you as well. Habs 3 Leafs 2 (14:55 remaining 2nd per)
I wonder if this is Detroit's reply to Forsberg going to Nashville? Both teams are loaded with talent and goaltending, it should be very interested to see who comes out on top of the central between these 2 teams.
Being a Flyers fan keeps getting better & better these last 2 weeks!
Another trade, another "W" for Flyers GM Paul Holmgren. He knows how to convert nothing into an asset. Calder is good, but likely struggled for us because Philly is horrible this year. Calder should do well for the Wings. But Homer did a stellar job or grabbing a young player AND a pick for an impending UFA. I really wanted Homer gone when he replaced Clarke, but heck, he's starting to win me over. I'm beginning to think Homer knows what he's doing. Lets go Flyers!
What's this? Flyers fans singing Holmgren's praises? Wasn't it only a few weeks ago they wanted Holmgren fired?
Just kidding, Flyers fans. Holmgren has gotten nothing but solid returns for the deals he's made over the last two weeks. Have some faith in him, he seems to know what he's doing.
Ed Snider might not know what rebuilding is (according to his comments today), but thankfully Holmgren does. Good work on his part.
Andy, I'm a die-hard Wings fan as well. Williams has done nothing but HURT our team this season. His careless giveaways and turnovers and inability to play with any HEART is what made him the most vulnerable Wing to be traded. Plus, his 1.6mil for next year was a waste of cap space. I'll give you that Calder is an unknown fit with the Wings, but he's a UFA and what was known about Williams was that he was a liability. This move was for the future of the organization, with freeing up William's salary for next year. GO WINGS!
I to am a big wings fan and i think this is a good move for the wings. I like calder, i like the way he plays and the free cap space next year will be nice and may allow us to pick up a 2nd line winger in the summer. I think the wings are one more move away from a top contender though. I would like to see them add a depth defensemen like miller in exchange for a second & 4th round pick and i would love for them to pick up a depth forward...but overall this is a good move
I'm surprised to read what Mark wrote about Williams. I have only watched a few Wings games this year and I didnt really notice him at all... but if he was playing that bad and not giving an effort, taking a chance with Calder is a good deal. Sure isn't enough to match up getting Forsberg though.
Holmgren sure knows what is wrong with the flyers: he is adding young and mobile defensemen to rebuilt that awful blueline inherited from Bobby Clarke.
Weird deal for Chicago. Trading this guy probably mean they won't trade another of their young blueliners... getting a non-physical 27 year old winger whos upside would be to score 25 goals seems a missed chance to package for something better.
I am telling you...Holmgren is an awesome GM.He is shrewd in his trades and gets what he wants.Don't laugh,he was GM in Hartford and held on to Pronger when the vultures were circling.He did awesome,and he wanted to kill Zalapski if he coached him 1 more week.Give him time.And Colburn is a gem.
I think this trade hurts the wings, in terms that they lose cap space and still not get the offensive forward they need to advance deep in the playoffs. And at 5'11 and 180lbs calder doesn't add a physical esseance to the wings play. They still badly need a player like Guerin, Zubrus, or maybe even take a chance on Bertuzzi. Or another 2nd teir player like nolan.
Last edited by fgjhgfhfghgfh on February 26th at 7:06 PM.
excellent move for the wings, I think this helps them, but he is not really the second line scorer that they were really looking for. Perhaps he is a diamond in the rough for the rest of the year.
I agree that Calder may turn out to be a bust, but he's gone after this season if he doesn't produce. That couldn't be said about Williams. I believe too that plus/minus is a nice stat to have around...but there are plenty of examples of great players who had terrible plus/minus numbers, despite whether their team is a contender or not.
Probably the greatest example is Hall of Famer Reggie Leach, who played for the Flyers during their consecutive Cup wins in '74 and '75 and captured the Conn Smythe the following year and remains the only non-goaltender to win it despite being a member of the Flyers who lost the Cup to Montreal in '75.
All of this, despite recording the fifth worst plus/minus rating of -61 playing for the California Golden Seals in 1973-74.
Now I know that Calder is no Reggie Leach, but you can't go by plus/minus alone as to determine a players worth.
I don't know what the hell the Wings were thinking on this one as I think in the deal Calder is the lesat desirable and I don't think it was a salary dump because I'm pretty sure Calder's contract was pretty ugly.
I'm sorry, but guys I think the Flyers stole another one after grabbing Coburn now they get Kukkonen!!!! And they get a 3rd rounder!!!! These guys are making a killing and granted it might take them a little while to gel and get this young talent playing well, but if they bring in some stabilizing veterans then they could be scary especially with Pitkanen, Jones, Coburn, Picard, and now Kukkonen back there, that's scary guys. That's a good mixture of young guys, too as they all seem to be able to do different things. Watch out here.
The Hawks got a pretty solid player in Williams who should be a solid 2nd liner there and can score some goals as well.
The Wings seem to be the losers here, but I don't know if I would necessarily write off Calder myself. He is going from a bad situation where he was asked to step up to a situation where he can play his role of more of a complimentary player, so this could work out, but I still think the Wings need to get Guerin and his booming slapper.
We'll see what happens. Approximately 16 1/2 hrs. till the trade deadline folks...it ought to be a dandy!!!
I agree. Flyres got the best out of this, a promising D-man plus a 3rd rounder for Kyle Calder, not bad! On a personal note. Spector: any rumors about the Ducks?
Never count Holland out he is the reason that the wings are so successful now when everyone said they were going to be scraping the bottom. The Calder deal while not expected does get them another Williams but much grittier and a little more upside. To comment on those who say dont give up high picks should look no further than Lidstrom, Zetterberg and Datsyuk no matter what they always seem to find a diamond in the rough I remember everyone was in disbelief when they took Kronwall in the first round. What I am trying to get at here is that Holland could still pull off a deal because if you look at his track record he always pulls off a smaller one before the blockbuster. I would like to get spectors take on this.
Last edited by canada5 on February 26th at 9:42 PM.
I was not happy to see the Flyers trade away Michal Handzus back in the summer for Calder. Handzus was a great defensive forward, which is something they lacked many times during this season.
Calder did not play well for most of the season until around the time of the Forsberg trade. John Stevens put him on the line with Jeff Carter and newly aquired Scottie Upshall, and that line began producing immediately.
I'm excited that the Flyers have now been able to turn Calder's disappointing season into a promising young defenseman. I don't know much about Kukkonen. I would have preferred that the Flyers pick up a promising offensive guy because they already have gotten Ryan Parent in the Forsberg deal and Braydon Coburn for Zhitnik.
Hopefully this works out for the Flyers. There needs to be some kind of light at the end of this dark tunnel that was this season.
Once again, GM Ken Holland has done absolutely nothing to improve the Redwings chances of having a successful playoff run. Quality big time players available like Laraque, Nolan, Tkachuk or Roberts are just the gritty no nonsense type of players that the Redwings need to protect their superstars. Instead, we got a bum. Kyle Calder, are you kidding me? Looks like I am rooting for someone from the East this year. How very disappointing!
Sad to see Jason go. As a wings fan, this is a sad day. Who included the 3rd rounder? I would assume Motown but i don't want to think we gave up williams and a 3rd for Calder! That would be assinine!
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
