Comments on: From Tom Benjamin’s NHL Blog: Still Pretending http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2009/06/tom-benjamins-nhl-blog-still-pretending/ Fact or opinion? Exactly. Mon, 20 May 2013 04:59:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Read reviews http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2009/06/tom-benjamins-nhl-blog-still-pretending/#comment-1150 Read reviews Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:13:54 +0000 http://kwisp.wordpress.com/?p=1491#comment-1150 … [Trackback]…

[...] Read More: mcsorleys-stick.com/tom-benjamins-nhl-blog-still-pretending/ [...]…

]]> By: dbushik http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2009/06/tom-benjamins-nhl-blog-still-pretending/#comment-66 dbushik Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:32:52 +0000 http://kwisp.wordpress.com/?p=1491#comment-66 While I get that trades in general are less frequent and more difficult to pull of in the current economic environment in the NHL (both the economy in general and the salary cap), I think all this dismissal of trade talks around the draft is a bit overstated. Trade talks heat up around the draft and are intimately asssociated with it for a number of obvious reasons. It’s a huge gathering of GMs where they have time to talk deals face to face. There are assets in the form of picks that are about to be decided on (just like as mentioned in this reference). Free angency is just days away at the draft and decisions on those players need to be made. Teams are also evaluating their previous seasons and getting ready to make corrects for the coming season, which could very well mean making roster changes.

Again, I hear all the reasons why trades don’t just come pouring out, but to say that hasn’t been the case in the past is just plain incorrect, and to say trade talks around the draft occur for no logicaql reason is also just plain incorrect.

Clearly sports journalism has a big componant that revolves around hype instead of actual substance. I don’t terribly like that myself, but clearly there are tons of sports fans out there interested in the sizzle over the steak itself. Basketball simply existing as a major league sport I think speaks to that fact. So, right there you are going to have plenty of loose, questionable talk about trades and rumors. But aside from that, there is going to be a lot of talk based in substance at draft time because there are mutliple factors contributing to this being a time when trade pressures are high.

I think there is a huge story which relates to this in that mutliple sources ont he floor this year mentioned that there were tons of deals out there to be made for top name players. The story turns out to be about those deals not happening because all those top name talents carry bloated contracts that are for practical reasons untradeable, but that is still I think a big story and about trade rumors essentially. So, to me, all this talk about how the rumors should logically just not happen, based on that, just doesn’t hold water.

]]>