A Curious Trade

To LI - Dean McAmmond, SJ 1st round pick
To Ott - Mike Comrie, Chris Campoli

This particular trade has already received quite a bit of attention. Tyler and LT have argued that this is a poor trade by Ottawa and a good trade by Long Island. The basic argument is that Bryan Murray is a fool for trading away futures (the pick) for today (Comrie) when there was virtually no chance that the Senators would make the playoffs at the time of the trade. The situation here remains the same as the Senators haven't really gained much ground since.

Tom Benjamin understands the trade as being primarily for Campoli from the perspective of the Senators. Basically, Campoli is an accelerated version of what would be expected from the late first round pick. He's on a cheap contract for next season, something that the Senators desperately need given how much money is invested in the top of the roster.

I think Benjamin is on the right track. The goal here is to take that pick from being a young cheap asset in the future and making it a young cheap asset that can help both today and tomorrow. This is pretty reasonable.

However, I think that Comrie is still a big part of this deal. Here is a quote from Bryan Murray:

"We're obviously not where we want to be going forward," Murray said Monday while discussing the Senators' plans for the March 4 deadline. "I hope to go do a couple of other things, whether it's just add prospects or draft picks."

And another:

"The discussion for the last while was if we brought him here, he would be very interested in staying."

I suppose if Ottawa had gone on a screaming run up the standings until the trade deadline the decision would be a little bit tougher, but the reality is, Mike Comrie is going to be traded again or sign with the Senators on a deal that Murray thinks is affordable prior to the deadline. I expect it to be the trade. It might well be for a second round pick and if it's a bubble team, the pick moves from somewhere in the 24-30 range to somewhere in the 41-60 range. So for moving down no more than about thirty spots in the draft, Murray was able to get Campoli. I think this is a great move for the Ottawa Senators.