Tony’s Take – The Brian Elliott Trade

(source: dobberhockey.com)                             (source: sportsillustrated.cnn.com)

The trades just keep coming as Ottawa has shipped struggling goalie Brian Elliott to the Colorado Avalanche for goalie Craig Anderson.

Here’s my take on the trade:

This one is hard to understand. Was there a huge need to trade Elliott? Was this the best time to trade him when his value was at its lowest? I see it two ways. On one hand, since Elliott was not part of the rebuilding plans, Ottawa decided to move him to give him a chance to start his career over with a young team in Colorado. This would be considered a classy move by the organization as they knew he was not going to be around in the near future. However, Elliott is young in goalie terms and still had the potential to turn around his game. He had a great season last year, and has shown stretches where he can be great.

On the other hand, did Elliott ask to be traded. Seeing what is going on in Ottawa, and what will happen in the future, is it possible the Elliott asked to be moved? It would be understandable if Elliott did not want to go through the rebuilding process at this stage of his career. The only reason I gave this option is because Ottawa has been a goalie graveyard ever since they came back into the league. And now with Elliott gone, they have no NHL goalies under contract for next season. Who will tend goal for Ottawa in 2011-2012?

This is also the first trade where Ottawa has taken a player back in return. However, this is different as goalie is not an easy to fill position, especially in Ottawa. The 29 year old Anderson is a UFA at season’s end, and is now playing for a contract. Whether he is in Ottawa’s long-term plans is unknown as of now, but Anderson could also be flipped at the trade deadline for something too.

This trade is different as its future implications are still unknown, unlike the other trades Ottawa has done so far. With both teams out of the playoffs, I say Colorado wins this trade as they gained a future asset, while Ottawa’s future just got a little more cloudy.