In The Cheap Seats

I don’t exactly have the best track record with regards to second-guessing NHL GMs (exhibit A being Francois Beauchemin). But, really, what the fuck is Jim Rutherford thinking?

Okay, it’s no secret that Carolina was shopping unsigned prospect Jack Johnson to shore up a depleted blueline. Fine. But are we really supposed to believe that the best that the Hurricanes could get for the #3 overall pick in the ‘05 draft was Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger? Never heard of them? Gleason, a defenseman, is a former #1 pick of the Senators, and now joins his third franchise in four years. He’s not very good in his own end, but has a pretty good offensive upside - although with 28 points in 125 NHL games, he might want to bust a move on that development a bit. Belanger is a forward, a good guy to have on the team. But after 5 NHL seasons, he still hasn’t broken the 40-point ceiling. In short, two really nice guys to have on a team, not even remotely worth a coveted prospect like Johnson.

And oh, by the way, the Kings also took Oleg Tverdovsky and his $2.5 million salary off the hand of Carolina. Now, Tverdovsky essentially stopped trying back when the pending Y2K bug was striking fear in the hearts of everyone, but he’s still a useful guy on the powerplay; heck, he outscored Gleason last year.

This one is just a head scratcher.