Alexei Ponikarovsky Traded to Devils
by Bob Wage on Jan 21, 2012 12:10 PM EST
in Hurricanes Newsstand
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In news released after the game last night, the Hurricanes traded winger Alexei Ponikarovsky to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Joe Sova and a fourth round draft pick in this year's draft. This should be just the first of many deals to come for Carolina roster players before the ensuing trade deadline.
With Poni gone, that opens a spot for Chad LaRose, who might be ready to return from his injury. LaRose was dressed in a suit and was ready to travel with the team last night.
Sova has played in both the ECHL and AHL so far this season. He will be assigned to Charlotte for now. The team's official press release follows:
CANES ACQUIRE SOVA AND DRAFT PICK FROM DEVILS
Trade sends Alexei Ponikarovsky to New Jersey
RALEIGH, NC – Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has acquired defenseman Joe Sova and the New Jersey Devils’ 2012 fourth-round draft pick from the Devils in exchange for forward Alexei Ponikarovsky.
"This trade brings the Hurricanes assets for the future, and gives the young players in our system the opportunity to gain more NHL experience this year," said Rutherford. "We thank Alexei for his hard work during his time with the Hurricanes and wish him good luck in the future."
Sova, 23, is in his first full professional season after playing three seasons with the University of Alaska of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). The Berwyn, IL, native has notched two goals and earned two assists (4 points) in 14 American Hockey League (AHL) games this season with the Albany Devils, and also has earned seven points (2g, 5a) in 18 ECHL games this season with Kalamazoo. Before turning professional, Sova (6’3", 195 lbs.) played 115 games with the Nanooks in three collegiate seasons, scoring 13 goals and earning 45 assists (58 points). The Devils signed Sova as a free agent following the conclusion of the 2010-11 collegiate season. His career statistics are below.
The Carolina Hurricanes will wrap up a back-to-back set of games on Saturday on Long Island against the New York Islanders (7 p.m., FOX Sports Carolinas HD, Hurricanes Radio Network). The Hurricanes will return to the RBC Center on Monday, Jan. 23, to face the Winnipeg Jets in Carolina’s final game before the All-Star break. For information on 2011-12 Carolina Hurricanes ticket packages, please visit www.CarolinaHurricanes.com, or call 1-866-NHL-CANES.
JOE SOVAS CAREER STATISTICS
YEAR TEAM LGE GP G A PTS PIM GP G A PTS PIM
2005-06 Waterloo USHL 40 2 5 7 40 - - - - -
2006-07 Sioux City USHL 58 4 19 23 86 7 1 0 1 16
2007-08 Omaha Lancers USHL 59 7 11 18 98 14 1 2 3 40
2008-09 Alaska CCHA 39 3 7 10 42 - - - - -
2009-10 Alaska CCHA 39 6 18 24 30 - - - - -
2010-11 Alaska CCHA 37 4 20 24 60 - - - - -
Albany AHL 11 1 3 4 2 - - - - -
2011-12 Kalamazoo ECHL 18 2 5 7 22 - - - - -
Albany AHL 14 2 2 4 0 - - - - -
AHL Totals (2 Seasons)
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Dadonov
In discussion about this trade in earlier posts, I heard mention of this being a hopeful sign that Evgenni is on the way up. I hope this is the case and that Bowman and others spend sufficient time in Raleigh as well. I have been an overt Rosie basher when it comes to his use in the top 6 and in shoot outs. I sincerely hope that his return will find him in a 3rd to 4th line role. That said, I have no problem with the Poni trade and hope to see similar moves going forward. I like Gleason, but think it is time to get value for him. I do not want Ruutu ending up elsewhere, but want to get value in the draft for him, ONLY, if we can secure his return in the off season.
"Forget about style; worry about results."
Bobby Orr
Agreed completely.
Gleason has been one of my favorite defensemen for this organization, but I think he has a much higher trade value than Allen does and I don’t think we see both of them back next year, hopefully one of them – which would be Allen. As for Ruutu, I think JR and this organization will find that, like Cole, they can’t replace him if they don’t resign him. If he goes and we don’t draft a RW, I wouldn’t be surprised to see LaRose spending the majority of time on the top line. Justin Williams, Cole, and Ruutu are all much more capable top line players.
Where does this put the Hurricanes salary in relation to the cap floor? I don’t know, but it would seem to me they’ll have to take on some salary.
They probably won’t have to take on any salary if all they are doing is trading the UFAs.
The ‘Canes didn’t Poni’s $1.5M cap hit when they traded him, just what was remaining of it. The ~$900k they already paid him still counts against the cap.
So if they traded Gleason at the deadline, they won’t lose his $2.75M hit, just the small portion of it that remains.
Since the team is $2M above the floor as it is and will have to call up players to be able to ice a full roster, I see no way they’d fall below the floor unless they were to trade all of the UFAs and then some other significant salary.
I don’t want to see LaRose back, but it looks like we will see it.
I think we also need to give Dadonov some time as he has already expressed displeasure at not playing in the NHL. With Florida last season, he said he would consider the KHL if he wasn’t given significant NHL time by the time his contract expired. His contract expires after this year.
Salary Floor
I get this move with respect to getting a depth d-man, but it’s not a move to clear cap space. each of the guys we’d potentially move (Gleason, Allen, Spacek, Ruutu) would put us below the floor, so there will have to be money coming back. This trade potentially makes the big trades a little trickier, because we’ll have to take back salary in addition to picks / prospects.
Actually better news than you might think
This is from Capgeek on the Hurricanes
Today: $5,529,156 above floor and rises to $10,643,625 at deadline above floor if nothing else happens.
From my understanding the Canes can shed up to $5.5 mm in actual salary remaining (a little over half the season already paid) and still not drop below the floor. This is a significant amount and it appears JR should have little to worry about short-term. Too many variable to make an accurate assessment. You almost have to keep redoing this each time a change is made.
When able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Sun Tzu circa 4th Century BC
by hurricanefever on Jan 21, 2012 1:58 PM EST up reply actions
Not bad
Interesting info, thanks. i hadn’t thought about the floor in terms of aggregate daily spending, but that makes a lot more sense…
Floor chart
Cap Geek has a daily tracker calculator on the floor chart which you can run the numbers daily.
Poni scored New Jersey’s lone goal today in his first game with NJ
Let's go Hartolina WhalerCanes!!!! I am a big fan of the Canes, but I still have some residual Brass Bonanza Blue and Green in me.
Interesting deal.
We don’t get a lot back, but we didn’t give up much in Ponikarovski, and it opens up a spot for a younger kid, which makes sense in that we’ve punted the season.
Personal attacks are the weapon of the ignorant.
Panthers '011: This is what we've been waiting for...we get to overpay the core of a 2-14 team!
This enthusiasm for trades is a little concerning. The only players teams are actively shopping are the UFAs and under performers – something we don’t need. I hope the only thing JR would consider is a good young player (ie: Dadonov) or draft choices. “Loaning” Ruutu to a playoff contender then resigning him in June might get us a 1st or 2nd rounder. Or maybe I’m dreaming. Anyway, I’d rather see us make trades that improved our prospects for next season than worry about this mess of a season. Just my $.02
What is the only letter in the Canadian alphabet, eh? Need a hint, eh?
Are you suggesting we've hurt ourselves for the future in any of these trades?
In each of our three trades this year, we’ve gotten better for the future, usually at the expense of current assets.
Picking up Spacek for Kaberle, an obvious talent downgrade, got us out from Kaberle’s awful contract. Great deal, as far as I’m concerned.
We traded Matsumoto (25-year-old organizational depth) and Lindstrom (talented kid with an injury issue that may just prevent him from ever seeing time in the NH) for a 22-year-old who is highly rated and already has a rookie-level All-Star appearance to his credit and a 21-year-old who, even if he has similar talent to ML, has at least shown the ability to stay healthy. We got the best potential player in the deal and gave up the best current player in the deal. Looks like a good future deal to me.
And finally, we got a mid-round pick and a young player with three years on his deal for a guy who was doing nothing for us but taking up a roster spot for a young player when we’re obviously not even trying to win this year.
Personal attacks are the weapon of the ignorant.
Panthers '011: This is what we've been waiting for...we get to overpay the core of a 2-14 team!
by MichaelProcton on Jan 21, 2012 10:29 PM EST up reply actions
I think every player on the bench would disagree with your last statement. We’re clearly trying to win, just not succeeding.
Each of those moves screams the opposite.
Rutherford would (if he was being honest) agree completely. It’s their job to try as hard as they can, but they can’t succeed, because they don’t have the talent to do so on a night-to-night basis.
Personal attacks are the weapon of the ignorant.
Panthers '011: This is what we've been waiting for...we get to overpay the core of a 2-14 team!
by MichaelProcton on Jan 22, 2012 1:17 PM EST up reply actions
Poni was on a one year and was not going to be given a contract to come back. He didn;t regain is 20 goal form or help replace Cole at all. So Rutherford got a player and a pick we wouldn;t otherwise have gotten, and we made room for the prospects everyone has liked playing on the team lately.
A good effective move, and continues reshaping the team for the future—Poni wasn’t part of it. The prospects may be—therfore they’ll have more chance to play now so we can see.
by Squeaky83 on Jan 22, 2012 3:18 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
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