Welcome, Brian Campbell. Happy Trails, Steve Bernier

Today was the NHL trading deadline, and I feel that the Sharks came out as one of the day's winners with their acquisition of All-Star defenseman Brian Campbell and a seventh-round draft pick from the Buffalo Sabres, in exchange for Steve Bernier and a first-round pick. Talented defensemen, particularly those who can contribute offensively, are the most in-demand players come trade time, and Campbell was certainly one of the top two blueliners whom one might have reasonably expected to be available. (Toronto's Tomas Kaberle was up there at the top, too, but he has a no-trade clause and it sounds like he invoked it).

I'm quite certain that San Jose's generally mediocre power play motivated Doug Wilson to be a very aggressive bidder in the Campbell Sweepstakes. Campbell's ability to create offense from the blue line will be very very welcome on a team that has struggled to get scoring from D-men all year. (The Sharks' leading scorer on the blue line, Craig Rivet, is twenty-sixth in points amongst all NHL defensemen at the time of writing, with 29 points. Campbell has 43 points so far this year). I had hoped that Matt Carle would develop into that offensive D-man/power-play quarterback, but he is one of a number of young Sharks who has simply not progressed this year--indeed, Carle has regressed, with only eleven points in fifty-five games, far off his pace from last year. With any luck, Campbell can step into that role and give the San Jose offense a shot in the arm.

Speaking of young guys who haven't developed, meet Steve Bernier, the world's newest Buffalo Sabre. Bernier has shown flashes of strong hockey so far in his NHL career, and his production hasn't taken the nosedive that Carle's has, but he still has seemed to be standing still, frustrating Sharks fans and no doubt the organization as a whole. Bernier is the type of guy who is classic trade bait--young, skilled, but falling short of expectations. The hope is always that a new coach/new teammates/change of scenery/whatever will provide a spark. Hopefully things will work out for Bernier with his new team.

I hope Doug Wilson intends to sign Campbell to a long-term deal. Guys like him are rare, and now that he's in teal, I'd like to see him stay in it for a while.


Davison to Long Island

Speaking of well wishes, hopefully new Islander Rob Davison will see more playing time than he did with the Sharks. Davison was sort of swept aside when young guys like Carle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic emerged...he's barely played at all in the last couple of seasons. Let's hope the Islanders have a good role for him to play.


Okay, so it's not quite a trade...

Also on the transaction front today, the Sharks signed Philadelphia Phantoms goalie Brian Boucher to a one-year deal, thus apparently confirming the suspicion that the organization doesn't really have confidence in either Thomas Greiss or Dimitri Patzold to serve as an adequate backup to Evgeni Nabokov this year. Is Boucher really any better? Well, at least he's a been-there-done-that veteran...not a bad trait in a backup netminder.