Rarely in professional sports do teams make trades
with their division rivals. The thought
of giving a hated opponent something that they value is counter-intuitive to the
thinking of a general manager. Because
each team faces their division rivals so many times during the season and will
almost certainly have to face them in the playoffs, it is unwise to make any
moves that would improve a division opponent.
There are exceptions to this rule. On June 12, 2013 the Islanders traded
impending free agent defenseman Mark Streit to Philadelphia for minor-leaguer
Shane Harper and a fourth round draft pick.
Trades like these only happen in unusual circumstances. In this case, Streit had publicly stated that
he would pursue free agency. Therefore,
it made sense for Islanders GM Garth Snow to unload Streit to any team that
would pay for him as opposed to letting him walk away in free agency, and getting
nothing in return.
Over the past few years the Columbus Blue Jackets
have made a lot of big trades. They have
made deals involving players like Jeff Carter, Rick Nash, Marian Gaborik, and
Sergei Bobrovsky. However, the
divisional realignment could affect Columbus’ trading patterns. Here is a list of all of the trades the Blue
Jackets have made since June 15, 2012.
|
Date
and Team
|
To
CBJ:
|
To
Other:
|
|
July
2, 2013 – TAM
|
Future
Considerations
|
Rights
to Drew Olsen (D)
|
|
June
30, 2013 – PIT
|
2013
2nd round pick
|
2013 2nd round pick
|
|
|
2013
3rd round pick
|
|
|
April
3, 2013 – CGY
|
Blake
Comeau (F)
|
2013
5th round pick
|
|
April
3, 2013 – NYR
|
Marian
Gaborik (F)
|
Derrick
Brassard (F)
|
|
|
Blake
Parlett (D)
|
Derek
Dorsett (F)
|
|
|
Steve
Delisle (D)
|
John
Moore (D)
|
|
|
|
2014
6th round pick
|
|
April
3, 2013 – PHI
|
Michael
Leighton (G)
|
Steve
Mason (G)
|
|
|
2015
3rd round pick
|
|
|
April
3, 2013 – PIT
|
Patrick
Killeen (G)
|
Future
Considerations
|
|
March
12, 2013 – PHI
|
Matthew
Ford (F)
|
Future
Considerations
|
|
March
10, 2013 – WPG
|
Spencer
Machacek (F)
|
Thomas
Kubalik (F)
|
|
July
23, 2012 – NYR
|
Brandon
Dubinsky (F)
|
Rick
Nash (F)
|
|
|
Artem
Anisimov (F)
|
Steve
Delisle (D)
|
|
|
Tim
Erixon (D)
|
Conditional 2013 3rd round pick
|
|
|
2013
1st round pick
|
|
|
July
1, 2012 – OTT
|
Nick
Foligno (F)
|
Marc
Methot (D)
|
|
June
22, 2012
|
Sergei
Bobrovsky (G)
|
2012
2nd round pick
|
|
|
|
2012 4th round pick
|
|
|
|
2013
4th round pick
|
These trades show a trend in the Blue
Jackets management. Whether they were
under Scott Howson (GM until February 2013) or under Jarmo Kekalainen (GM from
February to the present), the Blue Jackets have traded heavily with former
Atlantic Division teams. Seven out of
the eleven trades were to the Flyers, Rangers, or Penguins. That is an astounding 64% of their
trades. Furthermore, three out of the
four trades that the Blue Jackets made at the 2013 trade deadline, April 3rd,
were to Atlantic Division teams.
None of the trades above were with the
Blue Jackets former division rivals.
Columbus’ management wanted to ship their players to teams that they
thought they would see only twice a year.
The realignment of the divisions moved the Blue Jackets to the Metropolitan
Division, which consists of the five teams that were formerly a part of the
Atlantic Division, the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Washington Capitals. They will now have to face players who were
once franchise cornerstones, like Rick Nash and Steve Mason, on a regular
basis. On the other hand, the Flyers
will have to see Sergei Bobrovsky quite a bit and the Rangers will have to try
to stop Marian Gaborik.
In the upcoming seasons it will be
interesting to see who becomes trading partners with the Blue Jackets. One thing is for certain, the CBJ-NYR and
CBJ-PHI blockbusters that we have become accustomed to will have to cease.
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