Tuesday Tank Trade Rumors
By Editorial Staff
Since it’s Tuesday night I thought we’d revisit trade rumors circling the NHL about our beloved Sharks. First of all, here is what we do know, Ryane Clowe isn’t going anywhere, at least not to my knowledge and since the last time rumor of his trade came up it hasn’t changed. So what kind of players are we in the market for? What kind of players are we willing to lose?
In the grand scheme of things we can say with a decent level of certainty that our top two lines are performing well, minus an occasional hiccup here and there they are working hard and its paying off. But should they have to be working as hard and as much as they are? The honest answer is no. There is definite room for improvement as we move into the 3rd and 4th lines and to shore them up we’re going to have to ship some out.
According to tradecentre on TSN.ca, we may be in trouble as far as negotiating pieces are concerned. If we want to improve the team longterm we may be facing the potential loss of Wingels, Braun, Ferriero, and quite possibly Jamie McGinn. I know as soon as some of you read that last name you cringed. McGinn has been nothing short of a powerhouse for the Sharks and so far this year has racked up 21 points for the team in teal. But to be the best sometimes you have to sacrifice the best…hopefully we don’t see this happening and we get to hold on to our young superstar, but just so you know, he’s not immune to trade.
The other name that came up which piqued my interest a bit is Jim Vandermeer. While his stats from previous seasons show that he is indeed a pretty solid player, the guy seems to be plagued by injury and can’t stay off the IR long enough to show us what he’s made up. The most games he has played in one season was with the Blackhawks during the 05-06 season, playing 76 games and chalking up 24 points. Since then the most he’s played in a season is 62, the least being 21 (excluding the 15 games he’s played in San Jose so far this year.) Look, all I’m really saying is he’s not doing us a whole lot of good now, he’s 32 and been injured…a lot. Is he worth a whole lot as far as negotiating is concerned? I don’t know, I’m not a trade expert, but looking at it simply, I can see him being used in some kind of trade deal. Somewhere out there is a team who has space for someone like him, that has time to recondition him and get him playing full strength again. The Sharks have been too up and down and in too many precarious situations this season to cross their fingers and hope Vandermeer brings some power in at the end.
I hate to sound harsh about the situation, but we’re running out of time for line experiments and some tough decisions are going to have to be made. I realize we all have our fan favorites, and to see one go for any reason is rough, especially when we feel they don’t deserve it. I wish there was time in every season to condition players into being the best they can be and to gel them into the lines, but this is the NHL, you have to be the best if you want to be here. Don’t for a second think that other leagues have room for a ton of conditioning time either…they want to get their guys at full strength and meeting their full potential as quickly as possible too. At the end of the day Hockey is a business, sports are a war, and there is going to be some collateral damage…the question is, who’s it gonna be?
~ALH
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