Toronto, ON. Today a major transaction took place in the HBMHL between St. Louis and Toronto. With recent new ownership in St. Louis, new St. Louis GM Brent Hodge shook things up in a hurray. The deal involved an exchange of premier center icemen sending Henrik Zetterberg to Toronto for Jason Spezza. Also included in the deal was Alexei Kovalev and Andreas Lilja to Toronto with Christian Backman 
and checking forward Paul Gaustad heading to St. Louis. The deal saves St. Louis significant salary in the shot term but also maintain a premier center iceman for the future in Spezza. Toronto GM Tom Welch had this to say, "with the new ownership in place in St. Louis we responded to the St. Louis inquiry about prospective deals. We were very interested in Zetterberg and have been for some time with previous ownership. However, a deal was not struck with previous St. Louis GM Jim Danila as he had no interest in moving the premier pivot".
and checking forward Paul Gaustad heading to St. Louis. The deal saves St. Louis significant salary in the shot term but also maintain a premier center iceman for the future in Spezza. Toronto GM Tom Welch had this to say, "with the new ownership in place in St. Louis we responded to the St. Louis inquiry about prospective deals. We were very interested in Zetterberg and have been for some time with previous ownership. However, a deal was not struck with previous St. Louis GM Jim Danila as he had no interest in moving the premier pivot". Welch said, " We appreciate all the Jason has brought to the Wolfpack but feel that Henrik will bring a new dimension to our team with improved PP and defensive presence against formidable teams like LON, NWE, and NYH. The loss of Jason, our number one point pro
ducer, will be a shock to the team, but we feel in the long term it is best. Backman and Gaustad are solid contributors and will be missed for their gritty hard nosed play, but the return was enough that we made the deal. In Kovalev we have an additional wing for our PP which ranks in the middle to lower half of the league. We felt with these two forwards our PP may rebound and be more consistent. Lilja will be available as a six or seventh defenseman in case of injury and we like his upside".
ducer, will be a shock to the team, but we feel in the long term it is best. Backman and Gaustad are solid contributors and will be missed for their gritty hard nosed play, but the return was enough that we made the deal. In Kovalev we have an additional wing for our PP which ranks in the middle to lower half of the league. We felt with these two forwards our PP may rebound and be more consistent. Lilja will be available as a six or seventh defenseman in case of injury and we like his upside".Toronto also picked up a STL 2008 3rd round pick in the deal to help with the future as recent deals have seen many picks leave the Toronto coffers. Time will tell if this deal helps both teams, but from the looks both teams had a significant return with financial considerations in the favor of new St. Louis ownership.
No comments:
Post a Comment