Avalanche trade Chris Drury

[Guest Grenouille]

From ESPN's site..

The Colorado Avalanche traded forwards Chris Drury and Stephane Yelle to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday for defenseman Derek Morris and forwards Dean McAmmond and Jeff Shantz.

 

I don't know what the hell Lacroix is thinking trading away the future. Drury, IMO is going to be a star player within the next couple years and Yelle has always been a solid third line center. In return the Avs get AHL fodder, unbelievable.

[Guest Powerplay]

From ESPN's site..

The Colorado Avalanche traded forwards Chris Drury and Stephane Yelle to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday for defenseman Derek Morris and forwards Dean McAmmond and Jeff Shantz.

 

I don't know what the hell Lacroix is thinking trading away the future. Drury, IMO is going to be a star player within the next couple years and Yelle has always been a solid third line center. In return the Avs get AHL fodder, unbelievable.

HOLY SHIT! ARE THEY IN-FUCKING SANE! I'M A WINGS FAN AND I THINK THAT IS WRONG!

[Guest Will Scarlet]

Yikes. Terrible trade. They gave up FAR too much for Derek Morris, IMO.

[Guest treble charged]

Um, that's a little out of nowhere. Morris is a good defenceman, so it's not like they're getting nothing for Drury, but I like this trade from Calgary's end.

 

Of course, they still suck, but now they'll have more good players on their crappy team.

[Guest Brush with Greatness]

Lets take a good look at the players involved in this trade:

 

Calgary gets:

 

Chris Drury 26 yrs 82gp 21g 25a 46p +1 38 pim

Stephane Yelle 28yrs 73gp 5g 12a 17p +1 48 pim

 

Colorado gets: ("the AHL fodder")

 

Derek Morris 24 yrs 61gp 4g 30a 34pts -4 88 pim

Dean McAmmond 29 yrs 73gp 21g 30a 51pts +2 48 pim

Jeff Shantz 28 yrs 40gp 3g 3a 6pts -3 23 pim

 

Looking at last years numbers alone, Colorado comes out of the trade great. However, it would be stupid to just judge a trade on numbers. So....

 

Lets take a look at what Colorado has to offer for players under the age of 30:

 

Forwards:

Forsberg

Tanguay

Hedjuk

Reinprecht

Vrbata

Hahl

Hinote

Willsie

Drury

Yelle

 

as well as prospects Johansson and Nedorost who have the potential to be stars along with Krestanovich, Kuleshov and Svatos who should all play at the NHL level within the next 5 years.

 

On Defece (under 30):

 

Skoula

De Vries

Muir

 

the only decent defensive prospect is Alex Riazantsev.

 

If I'm Pierre Lacroix and I have the opportunity to add one of the best young d-men in the NHL then I am going to take it.

 

So, taking a look at what Colorado gives up:

 

Chris Drury: Very talented player. His numbers dropped off a bit last year but he was once again very valuable in the 2002 playoffs (like he was in their run to the cup in 2001). However, he is expendable with the other young talent they have (especially Tanguay).

 

Stephane Yelle: Yelle has become expendable with the emergence of Riku Hahl. Yelle does not score enough and is a little soft. It was the strength of Detroits 3rd line compared to Colorado's 3rd line that allowed Detroit to win that series last year.

 

What Colorado gets:

 

Derek Morris: One of the best, if not the best, d-men under the age of 25 in the NHL. Morris can score, play good solid defence and drop the mitts when called upon. Morris has the potential to be the next Rob Blake. Apprenticing under him will only help.

 

Dean McAmmond: Had a breakthrough year last year although admittedly played with two great players (although neither where considered great before last year). May not have a top line role with the Avs like he did with the Flames, which could lead to a decrease in numbers, however, he will remain a very strong depth player.

 

Jeff Shantz: Shantz's play has dropped off but he is still relatively young and older guys than him have turned their careers back around.

 

What this trade does for Colorado:

 

1. Shores up their defence. Not only immediately but also long term. Were they planning on going into the season with Muir as their 5th d-man. What if something happened to Blake, Foote, or Skoula. Muir as a top 4 defenceman? With a top 4 of Blake, Foote, Skoula and Morris Colorado has easily the best set of top 4 d in the NHL. If DeVries can carry over his play from last years playoffs than he will be the best #5 defenceman in the NHL. With the hurry up face-offs this year defensive depth will be even more important as guys who once logged 30+ minutes a game may have to cut back.

 

2. Opens up some playing time for the younger guys up front. Like previously mentioned, this should open up the spot for Hahl to take over as the 3rd line center. This could also mean more ice time for Reinprecht, Vrbata and Hinote. Not to mention opening up a potential spot for Nedorost. If no one is able to step up at the moment then they can plug Jeff Shantz into a spot.

 

In conclusion, I would call this trade a win-win. It gives Colorado much better defensive depth while not really losing too much up front. Calgary gets another top young forward who can hopefully give them some second line scoring depth. They do lose Morris though, far and away their best d-man. Relying too much on Lydman, Gauthier, Regehr, Buzek and rookie Jordan Leopold could be a problem though as all 5 are under 25.

 

You American fans know shit about hockey (assuming Grenoville, Scarlet and Powerplay are Americans.

[Guest Grenouille]

Well, I'm of French-Canadian heritage and speak French since it's all my grandparents know, but that's as close as I'll ever get to being Canadian. Anyway back to the subject...

 

I think I may have been a little quick calling them AHL fodder. Obviously as you Brush stated Morris has the biggest upside for Avs since they are struggling at D. McAmmond, I don't know too much about, but he seems to be solid. Shantz is probably going on the fourth line if he dresses at all.

I guess I was just angered about trading Drury away. It seems like all the nostalgic players are leaving the Avs. Drury, Yelle, Ricci, Claude, Deadmarsh and I'm sure they'll add to the list in April when Lacroix tries another miracle trade.

[Guest Olympic Slam]

Great trade for both teams. I don't get why people are crapping on the Avs for this. They trade a young scorer for a young two-way defensemen which they hell of need. Drury is great and all but young scorers is hardly an issue with the Avalanche. Dean McAmmond and Jeff Shantz add some more depth.

[Guest gthureson]

The trade is essentially Drury for Morris. And at that, its not a bad trade. Calgary needs someone else who can score, Colorado needs another defenceman. They both got what they wanted.

 

Yelle for Shantz and McAmmond is just trading spare parts. McAmmond can skate like hell and Yelle is a pretty good plugger. Thats a wash.

 

The key to every trade is judging who get the best player.

 

So who is better, Morris or Drury?

 

I'd have to say Morris. Drury is a good player, but alot of his numbers depended on playing with Sakic or Forsberg. Without them, he'll probably still be 25g, 60pts, but its not like he'll threaten for the Ross. He won't play with Iggy, as they'll likely want him to centre a second line. But'll he still get PP time, so he'll do okay.

 

Morris, however, already is a very good defenceman, and will be a great defenceman.

 

So, it comes down to each team trading a very good player, but Colorado gets the one who is going to be great.

 

Win for Colorado.

[Guest Phr33k]

Morris was projected to be the next Bobby Orr as a rookie. I still like him, but his production has tailed off. It will go up in Denver.

 

McAmmond was a first-liner here in Calgary last year. He won't get the chance in Colorado, but he should stay good.

 

Shantz is Shantz.

 

Drury gives the Flames some much-needed scoring and a centre for their #2 line.

 

Yelle will centre the #4 line for Calgary.

 

The key to this trade for the Flames is not what they gave up, or what they got. It's who they made room for. We have in our hands a great young prospect named Jordan Leopold, who has just been gushed over since we got him from Anaheim. A former Hobey Baker award winner, he's expected to jump up and play right now for Calgary. If not, there's a whole slew of defensive prospects to choose from. All they need to do is get rid of Savard and give Niedermayer a swift kick in the BUTT to get him going, and they'll be set. I may actually have something to cheer for this year.

[Guest gthureson]

Leopold won the Hobey?

 

You do realize that in the history of the award, there have only been three players really worth anything to have won it, right?

 

Neal Broten (1981), Paul Karyia (1993) and Chris Drury (1996). Much like the CHL Player of the Year award, it doesn't guarantee success.

[Guest Smark Hammill]

I think Morris lead the Flames in assists. That being said.................

 

 

WHAT ARE THE FREAKING AVS THINKING?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid trade.

[Guest gthureson]

Chris Drury is not the best player to ever lace skates. He is a good to very good forward who has benefitted from playing on a very strong team. If they stick him with Iggy, he'll continue that, and it won't help the Flames at all because they will STILL only have one line, and a weakened defence.

 

Derek Morris is a very good, soon to be great defenceman. Avs have lots of good to very good forwards, they have few very good to great defencemen. They have Rob Blake, whose defensive play is overrated, and Adam Foote, who has been injury prone and has no offensive game.

 

After that they have question marks and ham and eggers. Greg Devries has been developed into a nice 5 or 6 guy. Martin Skoula still vascillates between being a very good player to being absolute shit. After that, you're talking about Bryan Muir, Brett Clark, Jeff Paul and DJ Smith. These names scream 'career AHLer'.

 

Hell, the Avs are considering signing Cory freaking Cross to shore up their blue line. Avs deal what they have lots of, and get something they really need.

 

How is this a stupid trade?