In my ongoing futile attempt to remain optimistic about the Flames, I remember thinking this was a "Moneyball" type trade by Sutter.
What I mean is that he wasn't looking for specific players, he was looking for certain types of players based on need.
He wanted a scoring winger to play in the top six, with the quantity that he wanted each individual would be of lesser quality. Enter Hagman.
He wanted a 2 way youngish centre to ultimately replace the ageing Langkow. Enter Stajan
With the departing Phaneuf he wanted a decent replacement to take up some of those minutes. Enter White.
And because he is Darryl Sutter he couldn't make any trade without getting some 4th liner thrown in. Enter Mayers.
At the time, I don't think it was as terrible a trade as people thought. White was playing very well in Toronto at the time, Stajan was a somewhat unproven but nonetheless 20 goal 50 point guy and Hagman was a decent 2 way 20-25 goal guy from the wing.
In Sutters' eyes he was getting 2 top 6 forwards(top nine in some peoples opinions) and 1 top 4 dman. 4 roster players in total for basically Phaneuf (ya, ya Aulie shmaulie)
Who knows if he did his due dilligence on these guys, because given what they were acquired to do, the trade was a collosal failure.
I think it was also a failure as a result of the "Win Now" mantra. We needed forward depth, so he dealt from a position of strength, and sacrificed some quality to get quantity.
If he had set out to acquire one or two quality pieces, I think we would have looked back on this trade as a "win."
|