Trade! Whew! The Anaheim Ducks announced today that they acquired defenseman Francois Beauchemin from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for right wing Joffrey Lupul and defenseman Jake Gardiner and a conditional pick in 2013.
Here's the Pension Plan Puppet take, and Pierre LeBrun's breakdown. Short term it's a win for the Ducks, who add depth to a blue line that needed it in a bad way. Long term ... well, that depends on whether Gardiner, a former first-round pick, can turn his amazing skating ability into NHL success. From Ducks Blog on Lupul and the deal:
Lupul did not contribute here, primarily because of a blood disorder that ruined his off-season.
What this means immediately to the Ducks is that they felt they still needed shutdown defensive help – probably a tacit admission that Andy Sutton hasn’t been lighting it up – and that Brandon McMillan has proven himself as at least a third-line winger (when Ryan Getzlaf gets it cranked up again). It’s unclear who will play the other wing on Maxim Lapierre’s line, but whomever it is can’t be less productive than Lupul was, and there’s still Nick Bonino and Kyle Palmieri.
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