Posted in Transactions June 30th, 2007
Two Finns, an American and a Hispanic skate onto the ice…
Tonight, reports are that the Bruins have pulled the trigger on a deal which they hope will solve their immediate goaltending questions by sending Petr Kalus and a future 4th round pick to Minnesota for Manny Fernandez. Confirmations are sketchy at this time (Fernandez said he wasn’t notified of any trade), but the Minnesota Star Tribune reports the trade will be announced Sunday.
If the deal goes through, this will be the 83rd goaltender currently in the Bruins organization.
Color me underwhelmed on this one. Do I like Fernandez? Sure. I think he’s a darn good goaltender. Is he an upgrade? Ehhhhhhh, if he is, he’s not a big one. His numbers are better than Tim Thomas, but he’s also played in a more defense-oriented system the last few years. Plus, he’s probably not a franchise option….he’s roughly the same age as Tim Thomas (32) and he’s had a knack for never really being able to outshine the other goaltender on his team…at least not enough to claim the fully claim the #1 job as his own. Last year it was a timeshare between him and Nicklas Backstrom and the years before that it was with Dwayne Roloson (correction: Fernandez had his season cut short due to injury last year and Backstrom shone in his absence). Plus, Kalus is a fairly big piece to give up.
However, this move may be somewhat beneficial to the Bruins. As much as Fernandez probably despises the scenario, a timeshare between Tim Thomas and Fernandez might help the team. If Fernandez doesn’t take over the #1 role, he can at least provide a solid backup to Thomas for this season until Rask or Toivonen are ready (hopefully ONE of them will be by next year). But, if that’s the way it pans out, does it justify moving Kalus for a #2 goalie?
This entry was posted on Saturday, June 30th, 2007 at 11:17 pm and is filed under Transactions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
2 Comments on this post
Posted by Russ July 1st, 2007 at 8:30 am
To be fair to Fernandez, he held down the job quite well after Roloson was dealt, and last year it wasn’t so much a platoon as it was Fernandez getting the bulk of the starts until he hurt his knee. Backstrom simply played outstanding, and then the Wild rushed back Fernandez prior to the playoffs to make sure he was ready and he aggravated the knee.
How does this deal work for Boston? If TT is traded, and Hannu gets a minimum 30 starts and re-gains his form (in addition to either Murray or Ward’s salaries being traded away). In any other scenario though…
Posted by Doobie July 1st, 2007 at 10:06 am
The funny thing with Fernandez is that, no matter what, he never seems to be able to claim or hold that #1 job for long. He finally gets the #1 job last year, he gets hurt, and then Backstrom performed so well in his absence that the Wild decided to make him their primary goaltender for ‘07-’08. The dude just can’t get a break…
Oh, and before someone else beats me to this joke: with this hiring, does this mean another Hispanic immigrant has taken an American job?
(I kid here guys, but you have to admit, the parallels are funny)