From the perspective of the Nashville Predators, this is a brilliant trade. In one fell swoop, they've found a goaltender with a history of success behind a below-average (to put it lightly) defense, which should do wonders for them with starting goaltender Pekka Rinne still on long-term injured reserve, and they got rid of an absurdly foolish four-year contract for Matt Hendricks at $1.85 million per year.
Oilers trade Devan Dubnyk to Predators for Matt Hendricks, but why?
The Nashville Predators have needed a goalie to replace the ailing Pekka Rinne all season, they finally found one in Dubnyk and they gave up almost nothing.
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Predators coach Barry Trotz recently lost his cool with the goaltending his team has been receiving, so you had to know that something was going to happen.
Perspective from our team sites
Perspective from our team sites
Devan Dubnyk has struggled mightily this season, which clearly caused Edmonton Oilers management to go a little nuts, because this is a goaltender who has a .917 save percentage his last three seasons, over 120 games. Considering Dubnyk also holds the Oilers' all-time highest save percentage for his career at .910, you'd think they would have shown him a little bit more patience in a season where they're going nowhere.
If it wasn’t enough that Edmonton got beaten badly by Nashville in this trade from an assets perspective, Edmonton has also retained half of Dubnyk’s salary according to CBC’s Elliotte Friedman, in order to make the trade more palatable for the cash-strapped Preds. I ... I can’t understand this.
What is Craig MacTavish thinking here? It's not as if Ilya Bryzgalov is setting the world aflame with his .902 save percentage, and the Oilers do not have a clear goaltender of the future in the system. If they're selling Dubnyk because the season is a lost cause, they're doing it at exactly the wrong time.
Dubnyk is also on an expiring contract, about to become an unrestricted free agent, which fits Nashville’s plans perfectly. Hendricks, on the other hand, has two goals and two assists in 44 games this season, and turns 33 years old this summer. Look forward to that kind of production for the next three years, Oilers fans!
With the Oilers already having committed $3 million a year to veteran grinder Boyd Gordon, committing another $1.85 million to Hendricks seems like a redundancy a team that's so lacking in room for mistakes can't afford.
If you could name the two largest areas that Edmonton needed to improve on in the 2013-14 season, you would likely say its top four on defense, and goaltending. So far, Craig MacTavish has traded away one of his better defensemen and his best goaltender. While the frustration level in Edmonton is already through the roof, this just seems cruel.
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