| Subject: Calgary Busy on Deadline Day |
Author:
Brock Rockjaw
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Date Posted: 19:56:07 05/04/03 Sun
All season long, the Calgary Cougars have been very quiet on the trade front. The only trade the team had made was the acquisition of Dan Blackburn from Halifax for Vaclav Prospal. So with the trade deadline looming, Calgary GM Ryan Long was not expected to make any further changes to his team. However a few simple inquiries amongst his GM colleagues saw the Cougars make 3 separate deals before the cut off.
Firstly, the team added defensive forward P.J Axelsson, sending cash and a 3rd rounder in 2007 to Winnipeg. “PJ is someone who we have liked for a while, and we feel he’ll challenge Kris Draper and Blake Sloan for ice time next year.”
The team then made a move to add some experience, adding gritty blueliner Robert Svehla from Toronto. The price was relatively steep, costing last year’s Gilbert Perreault winner Stephane Robidas, and Halifax’s 3rd round pick in this year’s draft. “We give up a young d-man who played great for us last year. However Stephane has struggled somewhat this year, and we’re not sure he’ll ever play up to the same level he did last year. There’s talk that this could be Svehla’s last season, but we’re hoping a change of team will convince Robert to stick around the G for at least a couple more years.”
The addition of Svehla made Darius Kasparaitis expendable, so the team shipped him to Steelton in exchange for Espen Knutsen. “This deal is all about next season for us. Knutsen is a RFA, however we feel that we’ll be able to re-sign him, giving us a great defensive centre that can log a lot of ice time for us next year. He’ll fill the spot of the departed Vaclav Prospal on the farm this season, and give Michael Nylander a push for the 3rd line spot next year (Knutsen could even see 2nd line time should Steve Yzerman decided to hang em up, or not resign with the Cougars this offseason). Should we be unable to resign him, we’re guaranteed at minimum a 2nd round pick from whatever team does sign him.” There was no love loss between Craig MacTavish and Kasparaitis, so needless to say the coach was very happy. “I don’t want to get into a war of words with Darius, so I’ll just wish him all the best in Steeltown.” Kasparaitis wasn’t quite so elegant “ Craig couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag. He should have worn a helmet in his playing days, as it’s obvious his brain now only functions at about 36%, and that’s only after he’s had his 1st bottle of whiskey”.
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