
Originally Posted by
bigity b
(thought I would revive this thread as it's the closest we have to an official "trade rumor / discussion thread")
I have a confession. After seeing Ovie make Scotty Neidermayer look like a fool to break the game open (combined with ANA actually being in outside playoff contention) I have since soured on the idea of obtaining him as our missing piece. In fact, my obsession is completely gone. His skill level just isn't there anymore. If we were to get him my reaction would be ho-hum. I have since turned my attention to....
Anton Volchenkov and Barrett Jackman for two very different reasons....
First Volchenkov - He is my preferred choice, but is an UFA this off-season and therefore a flight risk. It would take something semi-impressive to obtain him and then we would have to hope he doesn't flee in the offseason. The scariest part isn't him leaving us but rather us not having enough room to re-sign him anyway! To get him, I think our best hope is to resign Backstrom to a reasonable deal (something that mirrors what the Chi kids got $5-$7 mil per yr) then hope we have enough to snag him in the offseason. ....
Second target is Jackman - This one actually makes too much sense and seems awfully feasible. Jackman is signed for the next three years at the very reasonable price of $3.5 mil per (that's ShaneMo's + Pothier's salary combined and they're both FA this offseason). He's just hitting his stride at 28 and is known as a shut-down dman who can lay the lumber every now and then. Now i'm not sure what it would take to get him (prospect + current dman + ?) but I do know there have been rumors the past few weeks that the Caps and Blues were talking.
Now, in my most far-fetched wildest dreams, if we were to get both we could be looking at a d-corp next year of Green-Jackman; Volchenkov-Schultz/Poti; Alzner-Carlson. Not too shabby at all and maybe our team strength. We just have to figure out what to do with Poti or Schultz, Erskine, and Sloan. (side note: acquiring Jackman AND Volchenkov is the only scenario I would be okay with getting rid of Schultz).
Thoughts? Any other rumors anyone is following?