Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew
Sure but might be a little off topic.
That summer there was an abundance of goalies in the market. It was my belief that Smith held little value in the trade market and the Flames were dealing from a position of strength. The Coyotes had no interest in keeping him at that point and I can't think of many NHL teams who would have been interested in Smith as a starter.
I guess you are ascribing little value to Hickey as he wasn't going to sign here. Maybe you're right but at that time, I believed he was a legitimate prospect.
The backup goalie was worthless obviously.
The pick is what it is. I am having a hard time taking solace in fact that it should have been a 2nd rounder but for Flames abysmal season.
And it's hard to quantify what it cost for the Flames to Arizona to absorb salary. Probably could have been a lesser pick. What value have the Flames received from that additional cap space?
What could the Flames trade Smith for today? I don't think there is much of a market for the guy. And Arizona has zero regrets about the deal, no doubt.
So I'm calling it a push, not a loss. It's also hard to look at each deal in isolation. The grand sum is a bunch of traded draft picks in a league where it has been proven that winners build through the draft.
|
Either you look at the trade in hindsight or with the facts in hand at the time. You have evaluated using the parts which suggest to you it was a bad trade at the time (Hickey was a good prospect) and hindsight (what could Smith garner now).
For the record, Treliving would have known that Hickey wasn't going to sign so it's not really even hindsight - he just knew more than you. And what could be garnered now is irrelevant but I think Smith would get picks from the right team. The cost for other goalies was significantly more, or the goalies were worse.