Further to last week's Backchecking note that the Blue Jackets are interested in Penguins C Erik Christensen, the Toronto Sun says that Columbus would offer D Duvie Westcott in a swap. The Columbus Dispatch thinks it might be Ole-Kristian Tollefsen going for Christensen.
Years of following this type of thing has taught us: don't trust a newspaper from a town that's not even involved in the deal (in this case the Toronto Sun). Westcott is not a very good swap for the Penguins perspective..
Tollefsen, on the other hand (from his TSN player profile)..
Assets: Loves to lay on the body and displays a wealth of toughness and aggression along the blueline. Has the makings of a sound defensive defenseman.
Flaws: Needs to improve his all-around skills, since he's below average with the puck. Just learn when to pick his spots in the hitting department.
Career potential: Defensive defenseman
Tollefsen is younger and bigger than Westcott and seems to be more in-line with the Pens needs. We use "seems" because not that much Columbus hockey is known to us, so no bold proclimations.
It'll be interesting to see if this trade goes down. It'd be hard to imagine the Pens making a move on dealing a forward for a defenseman while so key forwards are injured, but perhaps it could happen. The Pens recalled Wilkes-Barre captain Nathan Smith today so there are now (Kris Beech included) 13 healthy forwards on the roster.
Something to keep an eye on..
2 comments:
1) So what is the over/under on (when) Beech being placed on waivers?
It seems like there's a power struggle between Shero and Therrien..
Therrien hated Beech's effort and game during the 2005 Wilkes-Barre playoffs and the Pens jettisoned Beech from their organization (starting his pin-ball like journey) not long after.
Where did he go? Nashville where Shero was the long-time assistant GM.
All season long it seems like there's been a struggle between coach and GM; a prime example being the recent callups. Therrien was most fimiliar and comfortable with Filewich and he got many more shifts towards the end of games than guys like Brent and Stone who have been thought of as supposedly Shero's favored prospects.
So I really have no idea how long Beech will be around. I suppose if I had to set a line it would be Feb 27th; one day after the trading deadline.
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