I’m not sure why it such a shock to me that people don’t understand how much business and office politics play into the decisions of sports franchises. I actually applaud those people for being able to walk around and think purely about the game and how decisions affect them on-ice or on-court only. Their ignorance is certainly bliss and I wish I could be at that point.
The recent trade by the Dallas Stars and the Pittsburgh Penguins made me laugh for a number of reasons. The Stars claiming that they filled a need on defense by picking up Alex Goligoski was laughable. Not because Goligoski is a bad player, but by giving up James Neal and Matt Niskanen, they paid an awful price and most likely created a need at the forward spot. Doesn’t seem to make a lot sense, now does it?
Well, here’s where the most laughable part of all comes in. Some of the online comments about the trade just floored me. A lot of online comments floor me actually at any point, but I digress. You had a bunch of people that were trying to break this trade down on paper and lambasting Stars management for what they did.
One of the more favored comments on tsn.ca was from “bird flu” who said: “Huge move by the Pens. Dont know what Dallas was thinking...Goligoski is good but is he that good?” Let me fill you in on what Dallas was thinking. They have an ownership situation that is completely up in the air. They have to clear some salary to make the team more appealing to investors while saving room for a potential re-signing of Brad Richards. Plus, the team is not really a Stanley Cup contender.
It’s not about whether Goligoski is good or not, it’s that he’s young, inexpensive and has numbers from this year to fool Stars’ fans into thinking that he could be something bigger than he is right now. Now, he may prove to be a great defenseman in the league and the Pens will kick themselves for giving up a young talent like that. But more likely than not, Pens GM Ray Shero understood what he had in his former D-man and decided to take advantage of a team that’s thinking more about survival than Stanley Cup.
Speaking of Shero, he was able to pick up a budding star in James Neal and a serviceable, and more importantly, disposable D-man in Matt Niskanen. Neal will help the Penguins as they continue to march forward without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Niskanen was nothing but a throw-in that gives the Stars some cap relief and the Penguins some depth for the rest of this year.
On the surface, everybody thinks that the Penguins wound up winning the deal hands-down and just looking it from a superficial point of view, those people are correct. Go deeper into the situation and you’ll find that both teams won in this trade. The Penguins get better for a Stanley Cup run and the Stars’ roster salary becomes less of a burden for the potential white knight that comes and takes over.