Khan: Wings need to acquire Luongo
posted by matt saler @ 6/18/2006 10:03:00 AM ::
3 comments
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Update (12:50 PM): IwoCPO likes Khan's reasoning as well as the idea of Roberto Luongo in the Winged Wheel. Maybe I'd be okay with the idea too, were it not for the reasons listed below. - Matt
Ansar Khan believes acquiring the League's most overrated goalie will be the blockbuster/inspirational move the team needs to restore everyone's confidence. Khan sees the need for Holland to do what he did in the summer of 2001 (which just happened to be one of the best free-agent/trade markets ever), when he acquired Dominik Hasek, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille and "shocked the hockey world."
The difference between those deals and anything that would happen with Luongo this summer was that they hardly cost the Wings anything in terms of personnel. Slava Kozlov was a contributor but Hasek had established himself as one of the game's best, from the regular season all the way to the Finals, unlike Luongo, who hasn't carried his team anywhere like Dom did. That was a worthwhile trade and was so lopsided in the Wings' favor as to be grossly unfair for Buffalo, who had to do it because Hasek demanded it.
The only way to get Luongo is to trade away someone significant. Sounds like a great idea, Ansar. Trade Pavel Datsyuk for Roberto Luongo and then lose him on the free agent market after next season. To me, that's the most likely scenario. Khan says the Wings have nothing to lose by such a deal but if Luongo isn't signed to a long-term deal, it absolutely will not be worth it to trade away players like Pavel Datsyuk, Jimmy Howard or any other player the Wings' have pegged their future on. They have a lot to lose and would be hinging their hopes on a prima donna goalie who has never been in the postseason. Ever.
Haven't we dealt enough with goalies that have no playoff experience? I want someone who's been there, done that, not some postseason virgin, regardless of his name.
3 Comments:
Just because Khan is in favor of it, suddenly everyone is singing a different tune? It would still be the same deal, whether or not Ansar Khan thinks it's a good idea. I agree, getting someone to re-energize the team is a good idea. But Luongo? Matt, as you said before, it will cost us more than it's worth. Are we really willing to trade away our future for one season? There's no way Luongo will sign a long-term deal with Florida. So after a year, he'll start demanding Lidstrom money--which he has not proven he's worth. Not only would we have to sacrifice Howard and/or Datsyuk right away, think of who we'd have to sacrifice in the future to fit Luongo under the cap.
With all this talk about losing Luongo for nothing...Who says we won't lose Datsyuk for nothing next summer when he becomes a UFA? That and his lack of playoff performances is the whole reason he's on the trading block. Consider the level of difficulty we'll have signing Pavs next summer. Who wants to deal with Greenstein again?
I wouldn't be against unloading Pavs if the deal is right. It'd have to be a package deal for Luongo (or whoever Holland deems to be the best goaltender available) and a 1st/2nd line forward.
If Ken Holland is to be believed, Datsyuk is only on the imaginary trade block of the media and the fans, not of the front office.
Holland is already planning on working to sign Datsyuk sometime over the next year, before the UFA market opens. He should be helped in those negotiations by actually having Pavel on the same continent, rather than off in Russia busy playing hockey. Hopefully that would mean Greenstein would have less of an antagonistic role.
Still, as you say, they could lose Pavel anyway. However, I think if Holland was worried about having serious trouble re-signing Pavel, he wouldn't be directly refuting the trade rumors like he has.
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