Mike Gillis wins one

Two of the league’s more entertaining teams (in the front office, anyway) pulled off a trade with some interesting ramifications today. Here’s the deal (as per TSN.ca):

Vancouver trades:

Lukas Krajicek
Juraj Simek

Tampa Bay trades:

Shane O’Brien
Michel Ouellet

The Canucks have already assigned Ouellet to the Manitoba Moose, and I’d imagine Simek will be joining Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate in Norfolk.

Shane O’Brien’s -5 rating last season was among the best on the Tampa Bay roster, but balanced against that was the relatively easy position he was placed in. He ranked fifth among Lightning defencemen in quality of competition, and was second only to Brad Lukowich in quality of teammates. He scored 0.81 PTS/60, recorded 154 PIM and landed 128 hits.

Michel Ouellet’s transformation into AHL-calibre forward is slightly baffling. He played the 7th-toughest competition among Lightning forwards last year, and scored 2.00 PTS/60, while posting 2.88 GFON/60 and 1.92 GAON/60. He should see time in Vancouver this season, if he clears recall waivers.

On the other side of the ledger, Lukas Krajicek (dead last among Vancouver defenseman in quality of competition) remains a mildly disappointing player (0.46 PTS/60, 2.52 GFON/60, 2.86 GAON/60) who has never lieved up to his draft day expectations. Krajicek was quoted on CKNW in Vancouver as saying that “(Management) told me that Tampa wanted me for quite some time.” Juraj Simek, a 6th round draft pick in 2006, was sent out along with Krajicek, but for a player with an offense-only reputation, seven goals as a rookie in the AHL is pretty close to being the kiss of death.

From a Lightning perspective, Krajicek is the key player in the deal, but I think the Canucks win this hands down.