Supplied – ResoluteThe NHL is not the trade friendly environment it once was. The salary cap and parity among the league has created a league in which players who are slightly overpaid can’t just be shipped off to another team or simply banished to the minors. Most roster moves are found through waivers as fans plead for even the most minuscule of trades.
Up until last Wednesday, a swap featuring Zack Kassian for Ben Scrivens was the most significant trade of the year, and neither were even in the NHL at the time. Since then Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn are now in Los Angeles, Mike Richards signed in Washington, Emerson Etem is a Vancouver Canuck — but most importantly Seth Jones was traded from Nashville to Columbus for Ryan Johansen.
It’s easy to understand the hesitation a team might have about moving a very valuable player like we saw in the Jones for Johansen trade. Although the trade makes so much sense that it was brought up on Twitter and message boards months before it actually happened, there’s still a large amount of risk in this type of deal. Nobody wants to be the guy who gave away Joe Thornton or Tyler Seguin.
Nashville finally acquires a number-one centre they desperately lacked, and they only gave up a player who was playing on their third-pairing. Jones was likely going to pass Ryan Ellis, and maybe even Shea Weber on the team’s depth chart, at some point, but instead of waiting, Nashville capitalized on Columbus’ shaky relationship with Johansen and made the deal. There’s still risk to it: Johansen only has two years left of control until he hits free agency, and the cost to sign him long-term might be astronomical — if he decides to stick around. Jones could rise to become a top defencemen, but Nashville still retains most of their defensive-depth and the addition of true top-line center justifies that risk.
Columbus’ side of the deal carries significantly more risk. While Jones is younger and pushed play in the right direction in Nashville, he won’t have the same supporting cast in Columbus and will face other teams’ top opponents playing under John Tortorella. Nashville had the depth on defence to part with Jones and still carry a well-balanced team, but Columbus doesn’t share that same depth at centre. Now Brandon Dubinsky and Boone Jenner will be put in the number one and two roles, leaving them without a true number one centre, instead banking on Jones becoming a top-pairing defensemen.
The Jones for Johansen deal shows the difficulty in making trades, let alone a blockbuster, player-for player swap like this one. In order to make such a deal there is most likely an incredible amount of risk being taken by giving up that quality of player, and then hoping your new player can fulfill the role the role you want them to. Johansen is the better, but slightly older, player right now, but with unrestricted free agency looming ahead and the potential of Seth Jones developing after playing big minutes, it’s anybody’s guess as to who will come out on top on this trade.
