Looking at the Meszaros Trade
By Peter Levi
Andrej Meszaros has played his last game for the Sens. The Tampa Bay Lightning are going to lock him up long term. Ottawa did not get immediate, equal value in return, but did land a top-four defenseman in Filip Kuba, a decent prospect in Alexandre Picard, and a first round pick (San Jose’s instead of Tampa’s, unfortunately). We know about Meszaros the player, so what about the bodies coming the other way?
Filip Kuba, 32, 6’5, shoots L
05-06 Min 65 Â 6 19 25
06-07 TB 81 15 22 37
07-08 TB 75Â 6 25 31
3 season average 74Â 9 22 31
Alexandre Picard, 23, 6’2, shoots L
05-06 AHL 75 7 26 33
06-07 Phi 62 3 19 22
07-08 Phi/TB 24 3 3 6
Kuba is a big blueliner who is not overly physical. He is better offensively than Volchenkov, Jason Smith, or Chris Phillips, but not as skilled as Meszaros. The Sens are going to have to hope that both Schubert and Lee can produce consistently this year, as Kuba cannot handle the load all by himself. Picard is a good prospect who has skated a lot in the NHL due to circumstances rather than his development (the disastrous 06-07 Flyers and the Bolts of last year).
It’s difficult to say who Kuba will be paired with, but it’s likely Schubert. Kuba will see powerplay time and probably second unit penalty-killing time. I think Picard will start in Binghamton. He gives the B-Sens some proven offense and takes the pressure off young or unproven players like Tomas Kudelka and Mattias Karlsson. He also gives the Sens depth beyond Lawrence Nycholat, who I foresee as locked in as the seventh defenseman.
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