Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Lightning active at trade deadline

After making three trades in the two weeks leading up to the trade deadline, Bolts GM Steve Yzerman made three more on Monday's deadline day.

First, Yzerman sent a conditional 2013 7th-round pick to Detroit for D Mike Commodore.


Commodore is an experienced defenseman and a Stanley Cup champion. He is 32 and a free agent at the end of the year, but he should help support the defense.

Yzerman then pulled off the biggest trade of the day, sending top prospect F Carter Ashton to Toronto for D Keith Aulie.


Aulie is also a highly-touted prospect. He is only 22, and is huge: 6' 6", 225 lbs. He will bring some size and good puck handling to the Bolts, and if he pans out will be a force on the Tampa Bay blue line for years to come. Losing Carter Ashton is a big price, but scouts tend to think the Aulie has a higher upside. The Lightning also have good organizational depth at forward (such as Labrie, Conacher, and Namestnikov) and weak defensive depth.

The final trade of the day sent D Matt Gilroy to Ottawa for D Brian Lee.



Lee is 24, 6' 3" and 205 lbs, another big body and an up-and-coming talent. Many will say trading a defenseman for a defenseman is a lateral move, but Lee is three years younger than Gilroy, and is a bit more of a stay-at-home defenseman, rather than offensive minded like Gilroy. Gilroy is also an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, while Lee is restricted. I was really liking how Gilroy was coming along this year, but the trade seems pretty fair.

As far as new jersey numbers go, Aulie will wear No. 3 and Lee will wear No. 15, and Commodore will forego the much called-for Commodore64 in favor of 23.

Overall, I really like the trades that Yzerman has pulled off this year. These trades help set the Bolts up for both the future and the present.




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