Less than Nothing
I confess that I don’t get the Mathieu Schneider trade. I could understand an Atlanta decision to pick him up for nothing when they had a chance to get him on waivers. I could understand it if they waited and tried to pick him up at half price on reverse waivers.
Obviously, the Thrashers are not giving up three players to acquire the Anaheim defenseman, and just as obviously Brian Burke didn’t want Ken Klee et al because he was trying to clear cap space. This means that Don Waddell was unloading three contracts that he did not want. Fair enough, but why? None of the contracts are unreasonable. I guess I see why Atlanta would insist on Klee going the other way. Schneider takes his spot and $1.2 MM is $1.2 MM.
But the other two guys? They are on contracts that are near the minimum wage. What kind of salary dump involves minimum wage players? I don’t get it. Does Waddell have better minimum wage players around to replace them? They can’t be saving money offloading two marginal players to Anaheim.
About the only thing I do understand about the trade is that the three players Anaheim got in exchange for Schneider have an actual value of less than nothing.
When Burke unloaded Fedorov’s contract to Columbus, people wondered why on earth a 25-year-old defenceman who hadn’t played an NHL game was thrown into the deal.
Now he’s their No. 3.
Who’s to say the Ducks didn’t ask for Painchaud to be included? Or that the Thrashers didn’t want to get rid of Larsen’s one-way deal to make room for a youngster?
Even if he clears waivers, the Thrashers aren’t really in a position to pay a minor leaguer $550,000 (or whatever).
My mistake, Beauchemin had played 12 games.
Might it have something to do with Atlanta wanting to stay below the cap midpoint for revenue sharing reasons?
Furthermore, since their revenues aren’t the strongest, they have find that balance between icing a competitive team but doing so on a budget. Every bit helps.
Who’s to say the Ducks didn’t ask for Painchaud to be included? Or that the Thrashers didn’t want to get rid of Larsen’s one-way deal to make room for a youngster?
The Ducks may have asked for lots of things, but I don’t think Burke held any cards here. If Waddell did not want to get rid of Painchaud, he is not in the deal. I assume that the Thrashers did want to get rid of Larsen for another minimum wager presumably one with a bigger upside. That still seems odd. What kind of minimum wager has a real upside?
Moving three players back to Anaheim for Schneider lowers the marginal cost of adding Schneider.
Painchaud was an attitude problem–a guy who quit on his ECHL team and was sent home during the playoffs last spring. They wanted to move him out of the system.
Larsen was a Bob Hartley guy who had ceased be useful on the PK. He had a one-way contract and the Thrashers are rebuilding and needed to clear a roster spot for one of a younger player. Trading Larsen opened the way for a youngster and cost the franchise nothing to clear that spot.