AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2009 > February > 16
Monday, February 16, 2009
Schneider deal helped Thrashers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mathieu Schneider sure didn’t look like a $5.75 million defenseman for most of this season, especially in the early going. But acquiring him turned out to be an excellent move for the Thrashers.
Remember, the price for Schneider was Ken Klee, Brad Larsen and Chad Painchaud. Were the three of them together worth a second-round pick? And were they going to be as useful as mentors for Zach Bogosian? Larsen hasn’t played a game this season because of a sports hernia. Klee is playing 15 to 18 minutes a game for Phoenix. Painchaud, a former fourth-round pick, is in Bakersfield of the ECHL.
The Schneider story is a salary cap story. The Thrashers got him because the Ducks needed to make room and Atlanta was one of the few teams that could take him. The Thrashers might have gotten more for him than they got from Montreal if more teams had space for him under the cap.
Thrashers fans will now be Canadiens fans, because the further Montreal goes this season the lesser the draft choice the Thrashers lose in June. It will be third-, fourth- or fifth-rounder. Regardless, the Thrashers get Anaheim’s second-round pick in June plus Montreal’s third-round pick in 2010.
It looks like the Thrasher leveraged their salary cap space, and some salary, into improving their franchise. A small step? Yes. But at least they moved forward.
