| Douglas Benton. 27th February, 2008 - 12:23 pm
 The Buffalo Sabres have seen their best players leave town far too often for nothing. At least this time, they will get a forward and a draft pick as they traded defenseman Brain Campbell and a 2008 7th round pick to the San Jose Sharks for forward Steve Bernier and a 2008 first-round pick.
The San Jose Sharks, like we said in Monday?s Hockey Talk, had to make a move to stay as cup contenders. I thought it would come on offense, but defenseman Brian Campbell does bring offense and defense to San Jose. He has 38 assists and 43 total points this year. Twenty-one of those points have come on the power play, and he has averaged over 25 minutes of ice time. Campbell will infuse life into the Sharks and at least keep them in the discussion heading into the playoffs.
Bernier, the forward going to Buffalo, has shown good scoring potential with his averages for a full season being roughly around 20 goals a game thus far in his career. This comes during his time in San Jose when his ice time was somewhat limited. The Sabres also get another first round pick which can be used in a trade for a proven player come draft time.
The Sharks needed a jolt because they were quickly falling in the Western Conference. Campbell is a top tier defensemen who will be counted on heavily to help the Sharks overcome past playoff failures. For Buffalo, they get a scorer who could reach the 30 goal level and a valuable 1st round pick.
San Jose Sharks (B+) The Sharks needed something, and Brian Campbell is a good something. He is a very talented defenseman who, with Evgeni Nabokov, will make the Sharks very tough to score on. They did give up a good young player and a first round pick in the process, though, and I still don?t think this makes San Jose good enough to make the conference finals. With that, it is still a good deal for San Jose, but if they can?t resign Campbell, the grade could drop to a C-.
Buffalo Sabres (B) For a team that has publicly said they couldn?t re-sign Campbell, the Sabres sure got good value for him. Bernier is the type of player Atlanta should have sought for Hossa and will be a nice piece for Buffalo the rest of this season and in the future. Also, now having two first round picks will give Buffalo versatility in trading if they wish to do so. However, they slightly lose this deal because they are in the playoffs and they give up their best skater. With Ryan Miller in goal and a fluid Eastern Conference, anything could have happened.
How far do you think the Sharks will go now? Email your predictions to Douglas.Benton@realgm.com |
