Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Some Trade Period Thoughts

Steve Turcotte of the Shawinigan newspaper Le Nouvelliste named the players he believes will be the most coveted during the holiday trading period.

Three members of the Saint John Sea Dogs – forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Ryan Tesink along with defenseman Kevin Gagne – made Turcotte’s list. Huberdeau came in at No. 2, Tesink, No. 3, and Gagne No. 5. Victoriaville Tigres forward Philip Danault came in at No. 1.

As Turcotte explains, Huberdeau would be No. 1 on everyone’s list if not for the lockout uncertainty. Most NHL expects believe a deal must be done by mid-January in order for there to be a season. Sportsnet’s Darren Millard tweeted this today.

As Willy Palov explained in his column on Friday, Huberdeau probably won’t be traded until the last minute.

“Unless someone decides to take a huge gamble, Huberdeau likely won’t be traded until the last minute when everyone is sure of his status,” Palov wrote. “Even at that time, a deal might have to include major conditional elements to make the buyer feel comfortable.”

Tesink should get plenty of interest. He’s 19 with plenty of experience and also brings some grit and skill. I wouldn’t say it’s a lock he turns pro next season either, so there is the possibility he could return as an overage player.

Gagne will be a bit more difficult to move given that he is a 20-year old. He sits second in scoring by defensemen, so there still should be some interest.

The trading period begins on Saturday and runs until January 8.

Some other random thoughts…


  • One thing I’ve noticed over the past few years is that Mike Kelly is able to keep things quiet. There are never many solid trade rumours about the Sea Dogs, and when there are they are often wrong.
  • Was thinking the other day – there can’t be many players that appeared in the President Cup final four consecutive years. If they are moved to contenders, several Sea Dogs have that chance while others could appear for a third straight year.
  • The Sea Dogs will be shorthanded over the next few weeks with Huberdeau away at the world juniors, Matthew Highmore and Olivier LeBlanc both leaving in a couple weeks for the World Under-17s, and other players still nursing injuries. Maybe the Sea Dogs will try and keep guys like Tesink around for as long as they can?
  • This is the first rebuild in the Mike Kelly era. It’ll be interesting to see what he wants in trades. Draft picks? Young players already in the league? Deals that will see the Dogs acquire players at the draft?
  • The Armada currently own the Sea Dogs first round pick for the 2013 QMJHL Entry Draft. Blainville-Boisbriand seems like a logical destination for Huberdeau... but we'll see.
  • Judging from all the comments I’ve seen on the interweb since the Subway Super Series, it’s safe to say the majority of Sea Dogs fans want Huberdeau traded to Halifax. If he is, don’t think you’ll be seeing him a lot at Harbour Station. The Mooseheads play in Saint John just once in the second half and that is on a Wednesday night in February.
  • The Mooseheads have Sherbrooke’s and Shawinigan’s top import draft picks. Dogs have got to have some interest in acquiring those.
  • Sebastien Auger has played amazing, but you have to think he could run out of gas if he keeps playing so much. Alex Fournier is 0-5-0-0 with a 6.95 GAA and 0.809 SV%. Do the Dogs keep playing Fournier until he gets things sorted out or do the they make a move?
  • Dude that goes by Stormin Norman on Twitter has said a lot of things about potential Sea Dogs trades. I’ve saved all of his Sea Dogs related tweets. Can’t wait to see if anything he has said turns out to be true.
  • If the world ends Friday I just wasted a lot of time writing this.

There are still games to be played before the trading period opens. The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tomorrow and the Halifax Mooseheads on Friday to close out the first half.

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