Trade deadline expires; Ryan arrives, Datsyuk leaves

Just hours before the door slammed shut on league trades Victory General Manager Buffon found himself embroiled in another blockbuster move. Returning to the Mary Rose Bowl was prodigal son Bobby Ryan after a 6 game hiatus. He brought with him talented young centre Frans Nielsen and Tomas Plekanec. Shown the door were the inconsistent young Russian winger wizard Nikolai Zherdev, farm fantastic Kamil Kreps and somewhat controversially, star playmaker Pavel Datsyuk.

Buffon explained the trade….

“I admit it, I made a mistake. I was wrong to let both Dany [Heatley] and Bobby [Ryan] go. I needed that right wing scoring presence back and we knew Bobby wanted to play for us again. Letting Dats go was hard to stomach but in Tomas [Plekanec] we think we have an able playmaker that can get the puck to Bobby.”

That in itself was probably a fair deal but Buffon was in no mood to stop there…

“I was ruthless. I knew that Marc [GM to the Broadway Blueshirts] was looking to shift Bobby and I couldn’t believe my luck that he was available. I knew that Dats would probably have to be sacrificed to make the deal happen since Marc had been sniffing around him since his time at the [Stevenage] Beefs. Therefore I knew that I would have the upper hand in negotiations and used that to extract Frans [Nielsen]. Sure Kamil [Kreps] has been fantastic for us down in Portsmouth [the Pirates- the Victory farm team] but he was never likely to be more than a scratch, perhaps a fourth line pivot. Frans will form the basis of a new, young, fresh 3rd line.”

Buffon was questioned about his trading performance as a whole since taking over not one month ago…

“There have been a fair few changes around here, but for the good. Some might question the trigger I’ve pulled but I had my reasons. I didn’t inherit a bad team by any means, but it wasn’t my team. I needed to put my stamp on the roster and bring in players who were going to play my style of hockey. That isn’t something you can do over night but we’ve done the leg work in the process. I am happy with the squad now and look forward to getting those new contracts signed, picking up a few free agents and signing some talent at the draft.”

When looked at over the past month the following players have left the organisation:

Alex Edler, Jaroslav Spacek, Dany Healtey, Paul Statsny, Milan Michilek, Kamil Kreps and Pavol Demitra.

Arrived in Chatham are:

Brian Campbell, Dennis Seidenberg, Martin St. Louis, Tomas Plekanec, Kris Versteeg, Frans Nielsen, a 1st round draft pick in 2010 (Giraffes) and a 2nd round draft pick in 2011 (Blueshirts).

This has had the following impact upon the first team roster:

Lines now------------------ Lines before

St Louis Plekanec Ryan--------- Michilak Statsny Heatley
Vermette Connolly Versteeg--- Vermette Connolly Ryan
Mueller Nielsen D’Agostini------ Mueller Cogliano D’Agostini
Filatov Gaustard Tarnasky----- Vorros Gaustard Neil

Komisarek Siedenberg------- Edler Spacek
EJohnson Campbell--------- EJohnson Komisarek
JJohnson Lydman---------- Erskine Lydman

This represents a significant upgrade on defence both offensively and defensively. The bottom six forwards now have more skill, grit and discipline. The top six set has taken a hit, with the loss of Heatley particularly noticeable, though other players have done well to compensate for this. Add a first and second round draft pick and Buffon can be very happy with his trade dealings this past month.