On the drive home today I heard a snippet on the radio that we may be interested in defender Brian Lee of the Ottawa Senators. This was on The Fan and I was expecting to find the rumor elsewhere on the internet because the Fan is often not the first on a scoop.
My first thought is… wasn’t he a highly though of first rounder? A nice right shot defender that could play a little powerplay and had the size to play in the defensive zone. The knack has been that he isn’t physical enough… This led to my second thought… isn’t this Anton Stralman?
While I do think that we need to upgrade our defense, I’m not sure that Lee does that. While it is just a rumor, it’s the first I’ve heard on the season. I’m not sure what Ottawa would want in return, but I’m sure we are offering one of our extra wings now the Freddy Mo is coming back into the lineup… for a few games.
MAJOR EDIT:
It was brought to my attention that this was officially tweeted by Aaron Portzline. I don’t tweet. I Puckrake.
In my opinion. I trade Filatov. It is obvious to me that Filatov will not be a great NHL player for us within the next 2 years. If that’s the case then he will struggle to get ice time with Hitch behind the bench and Nash, Huselius, Voracek and Umberger in front of him. I do not hesitate to trade Filatov and the Sens, who have a terrible time on offense badly need to replace Dany Heatley. Filatov would play for the Sens right now and he’d be on a top 2 line.
Now the question becomes value. I’d assume that Ottawa would need to add something to get Filatov from us. Lee is a quality defensive prospect with upside, but Filatov’s upside can be massive. There’d have to be something else added.
Brian Lee is also out indefinitely with a strange illness. This makes a trade more unlikely right now. Many Sens fans are not satisfied with his current play.
According to Eric Smith the rumored deal is Filatov + Crunchie for Lee, Ryan Shannon and a 2nd round pick. Shannon is intriguing, but I’d still wonder if we could get a better package. I’d prefer to move Filatov for a guy that will immediately help this team. Preferably a blueliner with more potential/ status than Brian Lee.
I’d hope we’d shop Filatov around a little more than this though, because I’d be very interested to see what other teams might be willing to offer for him. Hopefully this is a sign he’s officially on the block.
I think the Islander, Panthers, Canadians, Maple Leafs, Thrashers, Hurricanes, Wild, Coyotes, and Predators would all have substantial interest in Filatov. Some of those teams have much more intriguing blueline options for us in my opinion. I’d hate to make a deal with Nashville, but if we could land a top blueliner, I’d consider it.
Debate. What do you think?