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Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan
What exactly wasn't good about it to you?
From my perspective, turning a top 2 defender that was too soft and didn't add enough offense or leadership (along with a mammoth contract) into Emile Poirier, Reto Berra, and Mark Cundari is a pretty decent haul. Quite frankly, it's better than what we got for Iginla and he was worth much more.
Poirier already looks like he might make the team next year in a 2nd/3rd line RWer role. Berra might make this team out of camp as the backup or 1B and maybe even the starter if he impresses. Cundari is a solid depth defenseman with good physicality despite his size, decent offensive instincts, and good tenacity and leadership. Those are 3 nice pieces to bring back for a guy that did more to hurt than help the Flames during his tenure. Even if Cundari never plays more than 6th/7th d-man or AHL call up minutes, it's still a solid deal to increase the overall talent pool in the organization.
If nothing else, including Berra was the best part of the deal because he's an immediate option to play NHL games in case Ramo falters or MacDonald can't hack it on a regular basis. Ortio only recently turned heads within the management group, and Brossoit was almost always going to start in the minors.
Again, getting all that back for an overpaid, soft, minute-eating defenseman, who has all the tools but never puts it together, is an impressive haul in my opinion.
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It was not a decent haul because we traded a 1st pairing D-man for a first and 2 "meh" prospects. It does not matter that he was "soft", he was still a top line d-man. St. Louis did not blink an eye when they could first extend him for a reason.
As much as i like Iggy, going into trade deadline, JBO was worth way more than Iggy. If Iggy had accepted the Boston deal that would have been a better haul than what JBO got.
The first would have come in any deal, so its not that big of accomplishment. I really like the way Poireir looks but when the trade happened they had no idea if he would be available at that spot. They might have traded with another team and gotten a later first and he still might have been on the board. Even if he was gone it was a very deep draft and players as good as him were taken later in the 1st round and even into the 2nd round.
As for the prospects both are a dime a dozen in other organizations. It's not like Berra was in their top 3 goalie prospects. Cundari i don't think was even in the top 5 d propsects. They were "throw in" players that did not matter to the other organization. The problem with flames fans is that they look at how much they boosted the prospect depth. Yes they did boost it, but just about anybody coming in would have been an improvement. Flames prospect depth was horrid and as long as the players coming back had 2 legs it would mean improvement.
You said something about Cundari becoming a 6/7th d-man (i think thats the best he will be) thats not hard to find in the UFA department. Cundari has a better chance at being another Paul Byron rather than making the NHL.
You mentioned Berra being back-up or starter this season. There is more of a chance that he is in the AHL this season. Not saying he is going to be a bust but at the very least he has to be a 1b goaltender. Anything less, like an average back-up, makes the trade worse. An average back-up can be had on the UFA market for cheap.
Yes JBO had some big money on his contract but the flames could have ate $1.6 million and got a better return. Feaster even said they would not listen to anybody who wanted the Flames to eat salary because he wanted the freedom to spend that extra money in the off-season. Guess how much of it he got to spend? He mis-judged the UFA and trade market big time.
Anyways i still think the flames will trade for another d-man that can play on the 2nd pairing better than a Butler, SOB, Russel, Smith or Cundari could do.