HOW did he do?
Get it?! Howson…HOW…it works on so many different levels! The sheer genius behind it is indescribable! No wonder you are reading this right now, Soups and his writing is in-freakin-credible!!! Laugh my friends, I know there is no way possible that you are laughing at me, you’re laughing with me! Oh right, talking about that trade that happened…
Well, Scott Howson was in a very difficult spot with Nash. If you ask me he made a big mistake, but it wasn’t yesterday. While a nobody such as myself would ever be able to find this out, I think he could have got a better deal at the trade deadline. Howson tried to call Rick’s bluff in this process and it didn’t work, Nash didn’t budge one bit. Howson worked out a deal with Ottawa(according to reports) and Nash said no, sticking to his original list of teams. Had Howson dealt him at the deadline he perhaps would have gotten an extra piece, or he may have got a more elite piece like J.T. Miller or perhaps at that time maybe Chris Krieder (although he likely he would have only got 2 pieces in a deal for Krieder).
The deal Howson got today wasn’t BAD. He got 4 pieces back. But the roster players he got in my mind are a dime a dozen. I’m not a big Dubinsky fan, I like Anisimov and he has some upside but the most he will ever turn into is a 2nd line guy, and Erixon forced his way out of Calgary strictly to go to the Rangers, only to be dealt away a year later. He is the elite piece here and who knows how he will react to this deal. Add to that while he is a solid 2 way D-man, in the limit viewings I’ve had of him I don’t see him as anything more than a nice 3/4 D-man that can play on the PP but not QB it, is solid in his own zone but can’t be relied upon as a shutdown guy.
But in fairness to Howson while it may not seem like he got much back today, history shows that he may come out of this just fine. The deal the Senators did with the Sharks in the summer of 09 for Heatley worked out great forOttawa. Milan Michalek just had a career high in goals with 35, hit the 60 point mark for the first time since 07 and plays a multi-dimensional game. And he has a great contract too with 2 more years left at a 4.3 million cap hit. Meanwhile Heatley has already been dealt from the Sharks, his point totals have been drastically dropping the last 2 seasons and he is perhaps the most 1 dimensional player in the league. His cap hit is a horrible 7.5 million a year.
Another example would be the Oilers with Pronger. While there is no doubt Kevin Lowe probably should have done better than he did, at the end of the day that package still turned into Ladislav Smid and Jordan Eberle who are going to be 2 very key pieces moving forward for the Oil. Definitely not a win for Lowe (most weren’t), but it wasn’t a total loss.
I have tore apart Howson on this site quite a bit, but he didn’t do too bad. Keep in mind, Nash didn’t have a great year, he is a winger (albeit a 6’4, 230 pound winger that can fly and play a complete game), and that 7.8 cap hit is a large pill to swallow. Again, I believe his mistake was not pulling the trigger at the deadline, but who knows what the offers were back then. I don’t agree with GM’s that look for quantity over quality and most of them do when it comes to these deals. Who cares if fans think a guy is worth 3 or 4 guys?! Get guys that are going to be cornerstones and if that means you only get 2 players for your superstar, so be it.
But this was pretty much par for the course. I wouldn’t call it a win by any means, but it’s not as bad as many in the media have made it out to be. Howson actually has fashioned a decent team. Although he still needs to upgrade that goaltending. Dubinsky and Anisimov could each have 70 point seasons and Erixon could emerge as a top pairing D-man and yet it still won’t mean anything with a goaltending combo of Mason and Bobrovsky.
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