Lightning trades Vinny Prsopal

The Lightning traded left wing Vinny Prospal to the Flyers for minor league defenseman Alexandre Picard. Here is the release sent out by the team.

The Lightning has acquired defenseman Alexandre Picard and either a second- or third-round pick from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for center/left wing Vaclav Prospal, Executive Vice President and General Manager Jay Feaster announced. If Philadelphia qualifies for the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals Tampa Bay will receive Philadelphia’s second-round pick in 2009, and if they do not the Lightning will receive Calgary’s third-round pick in 2009.

"Alexander Picard is a young prospect with good size and excellent hockey sense who has played in the NHL," said Feaster. "We believe he has a significant amount of upside in his future. In moving Vaclav Prospal we wanted to add to our organizational depth, and by acquiring both a young defenseman and a future draft pick we were able to achieve that goal."

A native of Gatineau, Quebec, Picard has played in 53 games with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League this season and ranks second on the team, first among defensemen, in points with 38. His eight goals and five power-play goals also lead all Phantom defensemen. Picard represented Philadelphia at the 2008 AHL All-Star Game and recorded one assist. He has established AHL career highs this season in goals, assists and points.

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound defenseman has played in 134 career AHL games recording 16 goals and 74 points. He has played his entire three-season AHL career with the Phantoms. He has also played in two career Calder Cup Playoff games.

Picard has played in 72 career NHL games with the Flyers, tallying three goals, 22 points and 23 penalty minutes. On February 1, 2007 against the New Jersey Devils he posted five assists which set a Flyers record for most assists by a defenseman and most assists by a rookie in a single game. He became just the second rookie defenseman in NHL history (Gary Suter, CGY, 6 vs. EDM on 4/4/86) and just the third player in Flyers history (Eric Lindros, Bobby Clarke) to accomplish the feat.

The 22-year-old was drafted by Philadelphia in the third-round, 85th overall, at the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. He played in 255 career junior games with Halifax and Cape Breton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and recorded 31 goals and 122 points.

Comments

[weezer]

Johnathan, you need a reality check buddy. Smaby? Picard? What's in your pipe, dude??

I would rather see Tortarela go instead of Richards, Prospal and Holmquist. This year was ridiculous. The numbers never supported hime EVER starting ramo, the way he brought back back Boyle only to have him injured again and the fact that he has some of the best offensive talent and he cant even get a winning streak going - Please let then check in their own Zone Torterala -in my book, he should be fired. Way to go, thanks for breaking up a great team. Now Please leave Tampa!

[Jonathan]

*I love this deal: If Vinny was going to resign here, he can do it again at the end of the season. At least right now we are giving him a run at the cup. If we were not going to resign anyway, then I dont think we have really lost. I like Picard. I understand he doesnt have 300 games of experience, but it is nice that Philly brought him along slowly and developed him. WE CANT DO THIS IN OUR SYSTEM. I almost wish we could have had them develop him until the end of the season. The big ? here is can he challenge our current guys like Smaby for a spot next season. If this isnt the goal, then maybe it's not a good move.
Also, the 2009 draft is supposed to be just as deep as this one, for what its worth.

*I dont like this deal at all: I understand Vinny is a rental player, but who is out there? Hossa? Its not like waiting one more day would hav hurt the deal. And if it was going to, that means Philly was just baiting us. Im not saying we needed Briere, and I wouldnt want him, but certainly a 1st or 2nd round pick in this year's draft along with the defenseman would not have been a deal-breaker.

[Lisa]

boltflasher, it is still better than a defensman that was -24 last year. If you complain about the mistakes that OB and Ranger and Lundin make, imagine having a defenseman that in 60+ games managed to have a -24. And the 3rd round pick next year (not this draft) is completely hit or miss. I would rather have Vermette or even Ryder (who is having a bad season, but had 2 30 goal season previously) than a 3rd round pick for the 2009 draft and a defenseman who is a liability.

[boltflasher]

Lisa, Vermette has a whopping 14 goals, his best effort yet...in exchange for Hossa?...not exactly even up there either....Ryder has had at least 1 20 goal season and is better than Vermette....Who's the other 2 roster players...fodder off of the 4th line and no draft pick? Atl's minors are as bad as the Bolts....

[Casper]

After meandering around looking at the Dallas proposal, I have to conclude that it is too good to be true. Especially if only that paragon of credibility, Yahoo, has the only mention of thus.

We need Captain-in-waiting Halpern too much---so we can't have him. Mike Smith is a big guy (not unlike Leo's Kid) with concussion history and huge potential. Fistric is a big guy reminding me of reading about and seeing young Kyle McLaren years ago. Add a pick and yes, it can never happen. Too good for us and impossible for Jay to pull off.

What we really could use is a bona fide defensive coach to roll up all these cigarette butts into one fine Cuban stogie (Loved that analogy, BTW). Goalies will instantly get better, and sniper shopping can come this summer. Norfolk picked up a couple of kids that look sick of the bus rides, so let's have a big, fair camp in Sept.

Yeah, got work to do and will check back later, hoping Brad has packed up and gone. Better off and all the best to everyone concerned.

[boltflasher]

There have been two Dallas deals reported, one included Jokinen and one didn't...Clearly, if the deal includes Jokinen, its a good haul as posted earlier. If it doesn't include Jokinen, then, yes, not a great deal and very risky...

[Lisa]

Ottowa is talking about Vermette + 2 other NHL ready players for Hossa. Much better return than we will get for Richards or even close to the Flyers deal. Sure, there is only a month left to the season, but teams that think they need that little bit more scoring to make a run for the cup will be giving away valuable prospects. Not some -24 defenseman.

[Not The Marlboro Man]

Its obvious that Halpern will be the replacement for Gratton who is probably the next contestant to ride the Feaster express out of Tampa. Feaster loves filling a team with checking liners and inexperienced d-men, Fistric fits the inexperienced d-man catagory.

[boltflasher]

In a non-free agent year, I agree a 30 goal scorer should net a 1st round pick, but not when there is only a month to go till free agency. What would you think if the Bolts gave up their 1st round pick (which might be Stamkos) to Atl for Hossa??? In a month, the Bolts would be without both Hossa and the 1st round pick...Some of you people are just not thinking...all you can see is Prospals "30" goals which are meaningless when you are losing him in a month and you're in last place...By the way, speaking of Hossa, Atl's best offer for him so far is Ryder from Montreal....not exactly an even up there either...again, Hossa is a 1 month + post season rental. You don't get much for those. Picard AND a possible 2nd round pick is better than Michael Ryder...
Also, look what happened to Buffalo when they tried to get even up deals on to Briere and Drury last year. They lost both of them and got NOTHING in return...Think people think...

[Patrick]

Richards for Halpern, Fistric and Smith? That deal is really sounding like crap to me.

I don't know much about Mike Smith, but looking at his career stats, he's 26 and has played 40+ games over two seasons at dallas? His stats look good over that time, but that's not much of a test... dallas is a pretty good team, no?

Here is the only scouting report I can find on him:

Assets:
Has a huge frame, which helps him cover up most of the net. Doesn't usually hurt himself, or his team, by letting in soft goals.

Flaws:
Is still somewhat raw and needs to improve his coordination and flexibility. Doesn't own enough puck-stopping ability to be considered a future starter.

Career potential:
No. 2 goaltender.

Fistric, another young defensemen. Halpern? ANOTHER checking forward.

I would have thought the key of this deal was the goaltender, but he doesn't seem that proven. If this deal happens, I'd say Brett Hull is working our GM over. But Duemig was saying that's what happens when the owner demands a trade and then advertises that fact.

We are getting royally screwed over if this trade happens, even if half the people on this blog aren't aware of it. In probably 2 years, the Richards haters are gonna be dreaming of the good ole days when he wouldn't throw a check but would get 70 points when paired with grinders.

So Prospal and Richards will both be gone and we won't have a single offensive forward to show for it. We'll go from four top-six forwards to two. No one else has a problem with that?

At the moment, I guess the Richards haters are too overjoyed to even think about it. After this deal, we'll have THREE checking lines. We won't even have enough scoring forwards to fill out 2 power play lines.

[Lisa]

Yes, we definately got the short end of the stick. And looking at what is being discussed for Hossa is making me sick. I realise Prospal and Hossa are not worth the same amount, but if we waited and Ottowa picked up Hossa, Montreal may have been willing to give a bit more to us so they could improve their team. But no, we had to trade him last night for a player that will make critics of Ranger and OBrien appreciate them.

One last comment: to the poster that wrote about making Halpern the Captain: you make Vinny the Captain, not some 3rd liner who just arrives on the team. You need to improve morale, and giving the captaincy to Halpern would be could be enough to drive away Vinny and split the team even further.

I was hoping we would be getting some young players that could use Vinny's leadership, but it looks like we will be getting players that will be in NOrlfolk or old men who are washed up. Lovely.

[keith]

Ajax....two good blogs. Agree whole heartedly with the one way up the page and the last one gave me a laugh. There may be many, many others that mean the same as the Polish translation!!!
Cant wait to see whattranspires today.
Looking at the times, geez, dont some of you guys ever sleep?
If Richie does go, I'll be glad to get back to reading the TBL blog again instead of the Brad Richards Pinata blog!!!!

[FireFeaster]

Good Point Lisa!

We got the short end of the stick on this trade...unfortunately.
We might think that the trade is great now, but we will miss Prospal more than we think, later on.

[Lisa]

If you trade for a defenseman, get one that can play. Just some intersting stats: Picard +/- for last season with flyers: 72 games player: -24: Lundin (a rookie): 62 games played: +3, O'Brien: 142 games played -4 (-1 for this season), Ranger: 209 games played: +4.

Picard doesn't look that good, does he? Not much of a pick up in my books. I realise that +/- doesn't tell the whole story, and the top defensive guys play against the top lines, but this guy wasn't a top defensive guy and did not play the top lines. So the people that complain about Rangers or OB's or Lundin's mistakes: imagine what we would have to complain about with Picard.

[ByeByeBrad]

Richards to Dallas---WooHOO!!

Yahoosports.

[ajax]

ajax, my grandfather from Poland always called me "ajax" but would never tell me what it meant, so I did some investigating last year. It is derived from the Polish phrase, "hockey idiot"

[Not The Marlboro Man]

I don't care if the Bolts get 113 prospective defensemen, its not going to change the fact that the defense will suck until they change the way they play it. The Bolts will continue the downward spiral until Tortarella and Feaster depart, hopefully at the same time. A goal tender is most definately needed if the Bolts continue to play the defensive scheme they play because Tortarella will admonish him and chastise him because he can't stop a 90 MPH shot from the slot by Alex Ovechkin. Then afterwards he will sit them on the bench and ruin their confidence, then he'll send them packing like John Graham, Marc Denis and Johan Holmqvist. Or, Torts will make it where they wouldn't won't play here like Nickolai Khabibulin. Sure we need defensemen...experienced ones that can play the fast shoot and pinch game Torts is so fond of. But why is when Fester and Barber go looking for defensemen they always seem to get ones that play on a trapping team? Wenever a defenseman comes to Tampa suddely we are stuck with another stick checking turd that can't clear the zone if had to. How long must it take to rebuild a broken defense? It seems to me we should have been done by now if they would have brought in just one reliable veteran besides Boyle or Kuba. Shane O'brien is notthe answer and neither is anyone else on this team when it comes to defense. So what does Feaster do about rebuilding the defense... he stacks the outhouse with more inexperienced turds. That's why they can't hold a lead in the third period. Thats why next season unless they bring in one or two experienced defensive veterans they will continue to blow leads. If you look at the UFA list for next season, there ain't much there for the kind of money the Bolts are going to have after Feaster gets through hornswoggling everyone.

[Patricia]

This was a bad trade. How do you trade V20 when he is having the best year in his career. He is an awesome player. He is unstopable with vinny4 and marty. This was a terrible trade on feaster. What the hell is he thinking??? This team is just getting worse and worse. How do they expect there fans to stand by them and go to these games if they are going to make stupid decisions. I hope this trade comes back to bite him in the as-, just like the Denis trade! Feaster, you suck!

[Moe Loogham]

Remember that after the Montreal game and the "up somebody's butt" remark, VinnyP met with Feaster and Torts for 25 minutes. One can easily conclude each side laid it all out on the table and the decision to move Prospal was mutual. Supply and Demand. Fact is that whatever offers Feaster considered for V20 are unknown. Unless someone offers something we want (and a big salary hit is not one), the Bolts are on the short side of the Supply/Demand equation when it comes to Prospal--a weak team with ownership flux that needs to shed salary. Bottom line, YES: this was the best we could do, and I am OK with it. Now move on to today's announcement that Brad is no longer a Bolt...

[ajax]

Brad is gone!!!! I always thought he was gone, or at least rarely showed up. My goal for the rest of the year is to never type his name. If the Dallas deal is for real, another big step forward for this franchise. Time of course will tell but I like our future alot better than yesterday. Isn't that the definition of success? Let's hope no strings attached to Dallas deal. jr, I drink coca-cola by the way.

[Mullet]

It appears that the team is looking to rebuild the defense here. Goal scoring is great, but if you don't have a defense in front of the goal, then it's a field day for the other team. We have good goaltending as long as the defense is supporting it.

I liked V20, but I don't think he really wanted to be here. Maybe his good year was his way to position himself for a better trade with a different team. His comments directed at Tort really seem to reinforce this in my mind.

I still think Kuba will be going today. Kuba will be another "Tort give away" because it doesn't take a rocket engineer to see the friction there.

Richards has to go to make room for the Boyle deal. I am happy to see Danny stay here, but I think we could have gone a little lower with the cash. The Lightning wanted him to stay and he knew it. Cannot blame him for his deal.

[Not The Marlboro Man]

I was calling for Prospal to be traded last season. Since they found it in their mind to keep him when he sucked and traded him when he was scoring, it just shows you Feaster and company are idiots. A 30 goal scorer should have at least commanded a 1st round pick. Philadelphia was on the ropes and in dire straight with injuries. They would have dealt more to get Prospal. The problem is we have a big fat pretender as a GM. I don't understand the whole hoarding of prospective defenseman thing. He treats defenseman like a commodity. Feaster is like a hobo collecting cigarette butts, he figures if he gets enough of them he might be able to make one cigarette.

[C]

sweatin? I must've meant Splenda or somesuch....Wake up!!

[Casper]

Just read that yahoo link about Big D wanting Richards. HE'S the one Hull was watching? And still wants him? They'll be calling for Bret's head before too long... Richards would be a terrific fit to that community. It would be a good thing for all.

Getting Halpern for Brad would be so prophetic and reverse much weakness and slack work ethic. He ain't a scorer, but we would become tougher to play against. A Smith/Ramo tandem exites me more than a Ramo/Schaefer tandem.
Anybody know if this big body Fistric is a hitter? Could we squeeze a teeny pick from them too?
Can we sweaten the deal with some more of our chum and make it a full blown blockbuster--- to help them in their playoff run and us in the long run, for a change??

Questions, questions, questions...

Hope Jay enjoys his breakfast; I swapped the Corn Flakes for Wheaties. Go get 'em, boy!

[Casper]

Whoa, and a good top o' the morning to DFB. Hope we get 27 minutes production out of Boyle in 21 min/p.g. average. No need to burn him out and turn his legs 40 before his body is 37. But who listens to me? More balanced minutes for everybody should be on tap, hopefully with the new regime.

Alas, and bon chance 'Vaclav the Streaky'. The Wonderful World of Lecavalier took a shot in the gibs last night. The occasional shift he takes off will become more noticable with V20 gone.
More pressure too, if Goldenboy is gone by 3pm but I seriously doubt that. The script for imploding this club mandates careless fiscal responsibility and giving Brad yet another shot at [choke] $95G per game. Other GM's love to hold that boot on our neck.

Whatzis? Columbus recoiled at our rebuke of their weak offer? Good for you Jay, stand 'em up and demand Klesa, Brassard ($1.2M by the way, and more promise than Picard---I like what I've read so far, comparing to Kuba or a dime store Pitkanen---OUT! GET HIM OUT!!) and 2 number ones in '09-'10 for Brad and Picard. Yeah, flip him to sweeten the deal for Brad with Columbus and get solid help. Irony would be to flip Filip for offense today or in July. Or talk to Big D; Halperin and his solid work ethic with Captaincy capabilities, Smith ('nother goalie? Helps the summer package for swapping---"Say, uh, would you take Smith, Holmqvist, and Denis for Bryzgalov? Please?"), and others/picks would fix a lot of ills.

Fire sale time means we won't fix all our ills, it's just an opportunity to address the most glaring issues; Cap room, weak-sister defense, minor league and future development. The other biggies, Goal tending and scoring muscle will have to wait for the summer swap meet. All this after my Haitian girlfriend puts a mojo on Koules and a new suitor comes to town. Going to have to fling some darts at Bettman too because we don't need ownership histrionics defecating on another season.

I honestly respected the on-ice achievements of Bill Barber. Tough and a great guy to have on your club. But it's high time for Billy, Feastie and all the other Flyer wretched refuse to vamoose from this melange. We can't call ourselves an 'organization' until the 'special bus' is full and headed north on I-75.

Have a nice day.

[Jeep (Since someone else is already Eric)]

Is anyone buying this Brad's Agent guy?

[Brad's Agent]

I'm not allowed to comment on unannounced trades but I will say for the third time that my client should be in a city with a large arch by nightfall.

[Nils]

Some of you can't do math, either the old math with cheapskate PSE or the new math with tightwad fantasy boy.

Lisa, wiggy, and Mike are absolutely correct in that the Bolts rejected better offers for Prospal because of salaries involved. If you don't believe this you are really not attuned to what is taking place.

One thing for sure: Koules will have a more difficult time in obtain ing a loan for a diminishing asset, The land is not worth as much as it was in August. He can't show projected income from making the playoffs.

He can, however, show projected income from increased ticket prices. Next season we will be paying more to witness a poorer product. The future of V4 truly is in limbo.

[Mike]

This of course has yet to be reported by TSN, which is a much more reliable source than Yahoo. Also, the article clearly states that this has not officially happened yet.

[Another Joe]

The team is in last place. Changes are needed to rebuild. I am still holding out hope that we can keep Richards but that seems doubtful. We need to get three NHL players and a 1st or 2nd round draft pick!

Wow, ANOTHER young defenseman...we sure don't have many of those in the system. No scoring wingers? Eh, we can just trade away premium picks and hope we grow one eventually.

Love how people are excited over a backup goalie in a defensive oriented team. Yeah, he'd be just as stellar here for sure.

[f. chum buddy]

I don't like that deal nearly as much without Jussi Jokinen included, unless they're tossing in a 1st or 2nd round pick as well.

[Mike]

"The source said Dallas is expected to package veteran checking center Jeff Halpern, backup goalie Mike Smith and young defenseman Mark Fistric to the Lightning"

[Mike]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/nhl_experts/post/Stars-reaching-for-Richards-Habs-zero-in-on-Hos;_ylt=Aog_mLr1F6j821D3EXm6rLR7vLYF?urn=nhl,68602

Yahoo reports Dallas essentially has signed Brad.

[pal]

TSN says the Dallas offer for Richards includes Mike Smith, Jeff Halpern, Jussi Jokinen and Mark Fistric. That would be a pretty solid haul.

[boltflasher]

ESPN reports Dallas has current inside track on Richards with Chicago and Columbus knocking on the door. If Dallas, I hope it includes Mike Smith. He could start right away for the remainder of the season and allow Bolts to evaluate whether they need to go for a free agent goalie or not in the summer...

[As Reality Sets In]

Nobody knows what Picard and the pick will amount to. Check the link L rod posted. These kids are drafted at 17, 18,19 Who knows what they will turn out to become. This guy (picard) was a 3rd rounder. So was 5 time Norris winner Lidstrom. Boyle was undrafted. So was St Louis. It'll take a year or 3 before we know what we really have.

That is the reality of rebuilding.

Personally I think we did ok. 2nd or 3rd rounder and a prospect who was an AHL all star this season, the teams 2nd highest scorer as a d-man, and he has some NHL experience. For a rental player? I'll take it and run.

[boltflasher]

Uh, people, please don't put Prospal in the same sentence as Hossa, Jokinen or Richards...not even close in talent...Compare Prospal stats to Richards lifetime, not even close...You have to look at the whole thing not what someone did in a free agent year...

[boltflasher]

What better players were offered by other teams for Prospal? Only the Bolts, Kings and Leafs are out of the hunt. More teams are in position to make the playoffs this year than last and they are reluctant to cough up front line players for UFAs. I was surprised that they were able to get the Phantoms top player...this guy is much better than anything the Bolts have in the minors (until this year's draft...)

[Lisa]

Boltflasher, I understand we couldn't win the way things were. I understand we have to trade Richards and we had to trade Prospal. But what I am disputing is what we got in return. I think that you if you don't have any good deals, you wait until closer to the trade deadline. I doubt he could have gotten a much worse deal if this one fell through.

We do not need another offensive defenseman who does not get physical. we need a shut down, defensive defenseman. From everything I have read about Picard, he is completely lost in the defensive zone. Not what we need.

[Lisa]

Sorry for calling him garbage. Just very disappointed with what we got back. Yes, I know we were going to trade Prospal, but if this is all that we were getting, why not wait another day and see if someone would give more as the deadline approached?

I sincerly doubt that this is the best we could do when you consider that the best available offensive talent was Richards, Jokinen, Hossa and Prospal. I will be curious to see what others get, and if the Isles get more for Fedotenko, I will say that Feaster failed in this trade.

[Mike]

"I bet another team would have offered more. I am not disputing that Prospal was going to be traded."

Exactly. That's my problem with this trade.

[Herb]

I agree that Prospal was gone but Picard and a 3rd round pick in '09 is a complete joke. Just what this team needs is yet another NON-PHYSICAL D-man. This team needs at least 1 D-man that will keep opposing forwards with their head up so they know that they could be hit. IMO Picard seems to be another soft, poke-checking D-Man and the Bolts don't have enough of them already? I bet another team would have offered more. I am not disputing that Prospal was going to be traded.

[boltflasher]

Lisa, I do agree with you that ALL of this is frustrating and I DO blame Feaster and PSE for getting into this mess...but we in order to fix it we need Boyle, some minor league depth, and some money for a goaltender. The Bolts could not win by keeping Boyle and Richards or the entire Fantastic 4 without some decent goaltending. The Bolts have the LOWEST save percentage in the league. You can not win in this league with that even with 2 Vinnys, Marty, Brad, and Dan. Picard was drafted as a TEEN in 2004, that was not 5 years ago....he's in only his 2nd year with the AHL..go check it out on the Phantoms web page.http://www.phantomshockey.com/numbers/teamstatistics.asp

[Mike]

The Greek mythical character?

[FatFeaster]

The Flyers probably threw some food in front of Feaster while presenting this deal

[Nate Dogg]

By the way, Ajax...what are you naming yourself after?

Soap? The soccer club?

[BanishBrad]

Brad had better be traded tomorrow, or else I am going to be one VERY unhappy Bolts fan.

[Mike]

I know he was a free agent, I know he frequently underperforms, etc, but as Lisa said, you could have gotten more for him than some conditional talent. Just look at past trade deadlines (Biron?)