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Luxury upgrade Rich get richer as Wings add offensive-minded SchneiderPosted: Tuesday March 11, 2003 4:08 PMUpdated: Tuesday March 11, 2003 4:26 PM
The Detroit Red Wings sat back and watched while Colorado, Dallas and Toronto made moves for defensemen over the past few days. Then Detroit stepped forward Tuesday and overwhelmed them all. The Wings gave up a small fortune to get Mathieu Schneider, but that shows how desperate they were as the deadline neared. Once Bryan Marchment went to Colorado on Saturday night, Glen Wesley to Toronto on Sunday morning and Lyle Odelein to Dallas on Monday afternoon, the market for defensemen started to dry up in a hurry. Detroit clearly overpaid to get a top-notch blueliner, but the Wings knew it was going to cost them a ton after it became clear that Coyotes captain Teppo Numminen wasn't going to waive his no-trade clause and the Kings were going to re-sign Aaron Miller. A fourth-line forward and a spare defenseman off Detroit's current roster wasn't a huge bounty, but the two draft picks are big, too, and will be helpful in the rebuilding Kings. But big-dollar teams like the Wings can afford to overpay to get the one piece they need. They can also pick up players with $3.75 million on their contract for next season and not bat an eye. So the price was high, but the immediate return will be as well for Detroit. Schneider gives Detroit another great power-play quarterback. With Nicklas Lidstrom on the first unit and Schneider on the second, the Wings' already great power play got even better. Schneider has a good shot from the point and is a great passer for a blueliner. The only knock against him is that he is undersized, but he has never been afraid to mix it up with a much larger forward, not unlike Chris Chelios, who was a teammate of Schneider's during his rookie season in Montreal in 1989-90. Schneider won a Stanley Cup with the Habs in 1993 and has 35 points in 70 career postseason games. He had 10 assists in 20 playoff games with the Kings over the past two seasons. Detroit also will gain relief for the heavy hitters on its backline with Schneider's ability to log big minutes. Lidstrom and Chelios will still play a ton, but Dave Lewis won't have to rely on Lidstrom to play every minute of every power play, and can probably cut back Jason Wooley's power-play time a bit. Most teams who knew the Wings were desperate for defensive help were asking for the moon in trade talks, but Detroit general manager Ken Holland wasn't going to deal Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg or top prospects Igor Grigorenko and Jiri Hudler. So the Wings threw 23-year-old center Avery into the deal against their wishes rather than trading one of the aforementioned top-four youngsters. Avery has been up and down between Detroit and AHL Grand Rapids, but he has chipped in with 11 points and 120 penalty minutes in 39 games with the big club. Avery is an undersized but incredibly feisty center who is a future superpest in the NHL, along the lines of Claude Lemieux in his prime. His offensive skills are limited and he'll only play on a checking line, but he could quickly turn into a fan favorite in Los Angeles. Avery was well liked in the Wings' locker room and is of such high character that he could emerge as the Kings' captain someday. Maxim Kuznetsov is a huge 26-year-old defenseman who hasn't emerged as hoped since the Wings made him their first-round pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. At 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, Kuznetsov doesn't move well and had been passed on the organization's depth chart by the more fleet but better skating Jiri Fischer. Kuznetsov has been a healthy scratch recently and didn't figure prominently in Detroit's postseason lineup. Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for SI.com. Got a comment, question or scoop for Jon? Click here. |
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