The Mathieu Schneider trade watch is finally over.
After months of speculation the Anaheim Ducks today dealt the veteran blueliner to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for defenseman Ken Klee, forward Brad Larsen and a minor league prospect.
The move provides valuable experience and depth to the Thrashers defense corps, giving them three strong puck-moving defensemen with Schneider, Tobias Enstrom and Ron Hainsey.
For the Ducks they move his expensive salary, which gets them under the league's $56.7 million salary cap, but in taking on the combined salaries of Klee and Larsen ($1.9 million) it might not leave enough cap space to sign UFA winger Teemu Selanne.
The Ducks were sitting at just over $58 million prior to the deal, so dumping Schneider's salary should push them under $52.5 million, but in adding the Klee and Larsen salaries that'll likely push the payroll over $54 million.
Now if Selanne is willing to consider signing for, say, less than $1.5 million, it's not a problem, although it would leave the Ducks with little available cap space for possible roster moves later in the season.
It's possible Ducks GM Brian Burke might not be done dealing.
I feel for Schneider....the guy goes from DeTroit....to the Ducks.....now to the Thrashers.....move the puck or not....the Thrashers won't go more than one round in April......I like the Selanne mode....take a modest pay-check for choice of location.
This ended up working out perfect for the Thrashers. They passed on Schneids on waivers because the owners want payroll kept low but by moving out Klee and Larsen, it's only a net increase of about $3M. This gets the Thrashers fully above the cap floor without depending on Bogosian's bonuses. It also will not affect ice time for either Bogey or Valabik with Klee's departure and gives them an excellent mentor to boot. Larsen was dead weight and again the move will free up a roster spot for a developing prospect. Last, but certainly not least, it sends a good message to a fanbase that was less than pleased with last year's poor showing by the team.
Don't feel too bad for Schneider. First, he's still making a fine paycheck and secondly he'll likely be a hot item come the trade-deadline for teams looking to make a run at the Cup.
Good teams always want to stock up on experienced, proven defensemen. His yearly salary will be mostly paid and I believe he'll be an UFA next year so cap issues won't be as big a problem. I wouldn't be surprised to see him back with the Ducks, or even the Wings by season's end.
Don't feel too bad for Schneider. First, he's still making a fine paycheck and secondly he'll likely be a hot item come the trade-deadline for teams looking to make a run at the Cup.
Good teams always want to stock up on experienced, proven defensemen. His yearly salary will be mostly paid and I believe he'll be an UFA next year so cap issues won't be as big a problem. I wouldn't be surprised to see him back with the Ducks, or even the Wings by season's end.
I agree with sixty8ight, this could well be an investment of sorts for the Thrashers.
We all know there are many teams who were very interested in Schneider, but couldn't afford/didn't want to pay his huge salary... come deadline, when there's only 1-1.5 mil left on his contract, and there's little point for teams to keep much of a cap buffer zone, Schneids could be very enticing to a number of teams.
I still imagine he'll see playoff action this year, so I don't feel too bad for him.
Full marks to Burke in this deal: He gets the full contract off the books without having to eat a portion through re-entry waivers AND picks up a couple of warm bodies in the process. Well played.
Don Waddell could have rolled the dice and waited Burke out. Atlanta would have been third on the waiver wire behind Tampa Bay and Los Angeles. The Lightning surely would have passed -- they could use a defenseman but have no coin -- but Los Angeles might have made a play to pick up one of their alumni.
Waddell gave up three players (albeit none of them of any great value save to their families) AND is paying the full salary freight to guarantee getting a guy he quite likely could have acquired via re-entry waivers at half-price plus the cost of the waiver transaction.
Waddell has made worse moves, but this one doesn't appear to restore any luster to his reputation. I hope it works out and he proves my assessment wrong.
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.
