The St. Louis Blues have been the busiest team thus far in
the final 24 hours heading into the start of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
On Thursday night the Blues dealt veteran forward Jamal
Mayers to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a third round pick in this
year’s entry draft, and on Friday obtained goaltender Chris Mason from the
Nashville Predators for a fourth round pick (111th) overall , also
in this year’s draft.
The Mayers trade signals the continuation of the Blues rebuilding with youth, and by acquiring Mason they get an experienced backup for Manny
Legace who could challenge for the starting goalie role.
Moving Mayers also freed up $1.4 million per season, which
will alleviate the cost of Mason’s $3 million per season for the same
period.
These moves also have consequences for the Maple Leafs and Predators respectively.
The Mayers acquisition could signal the end of Darcy Tucker’s
tenure as a Maple Leaf. Mayers doesn’t have Tucker scoring touch but both play
a similar style of physical game, plus his $1.4 million per season salary is
more affordable than Tucker’s $3 million per.
If Tuckers bought out as has been oft-rumored the $1 million cap hit plus Mayer’s
salary for the next two seasons equates to around $600K in savings for the next two years.
Trading Mason to the Blues not only frees up $3 million
in cap space for the Predators but is also a likely signal that their anticipated re-signing of
impending UFA goalie Dan Ellis is imminent, probably for around the same as
Mason’s salary.
This is a pretty confusing move on the Leafs behalf. You would expect a rebuilding team to be stockpiling mid round draft picks in a draft as deep as this. The Leafs don't have any youth in the system that could fill a 3rd line winger role? If the savings will only be $600k, why not just keep Tucker and his superior offensive instincts on the roster? Just doesn't really make any sense at all.
The Mason move makes sense from both sides, Nashville obviously decided Ellis is their man and he had concerns over sharing ice time with Mason, this clears up that log-jam and gives some relief to Legace. Legace/Mason could be a really solid tandem too, while Chris faltered a bit this past season, the season prior he was dynamite for the Preds. Its a fair chunk of change for the Blues to take on (particularly if he fills the back-up role) but definitely solidifies the position.
This sounds like a decent trade if they can aquire another forward to fill Mayers spot,and possibly get rid of that GOON that they signed towards the end of last season.(I can't even remember the clowns name.)
Awesome move by the Maple Laffs! I can smell the parade on Yonge Street already! And I'm hearing that they are offering Mayers a contract extension for 4 mil per season with a no-trade clause LOL!!!
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.
