The trade deadline always brings plenty of rumors and innuendo about teams talking to each other. The Blue Jackets’ Rick Nash has been associated with nearly every team in the league, never mind his no trade clause. Jeff Carter, before being traded to the LA Kings, had been a favorite rumor to start for Wild fans… well, Wild fans that don’t pay very close attention anyway.
It isn’t often that we get pre-deadline information from solid sources that tell us which teams actually are talking to each other. That’s why when the Star Tribune’s Mike Russo mentioned that the Wild and Blackhawks were in discussions, and that the Hawks were looking for a puck moving defenseman and a gritty d-man, we start to pay attention.
With Marek Zidlicky (a puck mover) and Greg Zanon (gritty) both on the block for the Wild, a trade with a team looking for those two additions would be a good match. The question becomes, what could the Wild ask for in return?
Hockey Wilderness asked that question yesterday, and from the discussion, it sounds like the return expected should be picks or prospects. Russo says Zanon could be worth a second round pick, the discussion at HW suggests a mid-round pick would appease the fans. The fans are so put off by Zidlicky, one fan suggests a “condition seventh rounder would be enough.”
You can bet Chuck Fletcher isn’t trading Zidlicky for a seventh round pick. Exhale everyone.
However, the Hawks do have a good stable of young prospects that will soon struggle to crack the lineup with the star studded team they have. Could young guns like Andrew Shaw and Jimmy Haynes really be available? Would Nick Leddy be welcomed back into the Wild family?
Anything is possible at the deadline. If Fletcher could get a top flight prospect or a couple high picks for these two players, fans might just nominate Fletcher for GM of the century.
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