Here is what the Boston Bruins beat writer had to say about the trade of former Boston College Eagle star Chuck Kobasew to the Minnesota Wild. I think that the Wild got the better end of this deal.
Even before the Bruins’ 4-1 loss Saturday in Phoenix, a game in which Boston showed zero fight once the Coyotes made it 2-0, Peter Chiarelli was not pleased with the atmosphere surrounding his players.
They were too comfortable, believed the general manager. Too sleepy. Too full of themselves following an Eastern Conference regular-season crown. Too confident that with a flick of a switch, they could turn things on and revert to the 2008-09 version - which, considering its regular-season achievements, fell short of expectations.
“We won one playoff round,’’ Chiarelli said. [Boston Globe]
From the other side of the equation, the Wild free up 625,000.00 of dead weight that had no value what so ever to the Minnesota Wild. Craig Weller was another one of Doug Risebrough's horrible blunders, seriously, I think the Wild could have gotten more value out of a bag of pucks and a truck load of carbon fiber sticks than playing this guy.
Losing Weller is a coup. Wild doesn’t have to pay his $625,000 salary anymore in Houston. So, if you assume Fletcher can eventually acquire a second-round pick to replace this second, this was Fallstrom for Kobasew. We’ll know how that works out in about five years. Is Fallstrom a bust, or is he the second coming of Tomas Holmstrom? We will see.
As for Kobasew, who’s hit the 20-goal plateau in three of the past four years, I know a lot of people in Boston, and the scouting report from a bunch is this: “Good skater, works hard, drives to the net relentlessly, plays bigger than his size, has some skill, generates a ton of scoring chances for others but needs many scoring chances for him to be the scorer, is streaky undersized for the way he plays, which is very gutsy. Just goes to the net, plays hard on the wall. Because of that, he does get injured often. Best fit as a third-liner on a good team, but can be a second-liner on a bad team. Teammates love him. Reporters love him. Well-spoken, great guy.”
Talked to Shane Hnidy, who played with Kobasew the past two seasons in Boston.
He said his cell phone rang, and “I was like, Why’s Chuck Kobasew calling me? I wonder if we just traded for him.” [Russo's Rants]
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