2008-09 Best Mid-Season Pick-Up

[Merlin401]

This is mid-season pick-ups that impacted the team both physically and in terms of their team attitude.

Nominees

Sean Avery - New York Rangers
The Rangers didn't want to pay for Sean Avery. So they waited until he blew up in Dallas and got him off waivers at half-price. Beautiful strategery! Avery once again injected a little life into a listless Ranger team at the end of the season. He fought twice for the Blueshirts, including a dandy with Cal Clutterbuck

Wade Belak - Nashville Predators
Nashville lasted only a few weeks without recently departed heavyweight Darcy Hordichuk that they decided they needed a 4th line presence to protect the troops. Enter an unappreciative Florida team and they snagged Wade Belak who went on to turn in a career year. Belak had fun fights with Derek Boogaard, great knock downs of Cam Janssen and Donald Brashear, and gave Predator fans a reason to watch the games.

Daniel Carcillo - Philadelphia Flyers
Just like the Flyers. Already among the league leaders in fights they pick up the league's penalty minute leader in Daniel Carcillo, who could figure to be a mad-man power forward for years to come on the 3rd or 2nd line. He fought five times for the Flyers, including the playoffs without losing, but will be a important chip on their team and in a town that appreciates his recklessness.

B.J. Crombeen - St. Louis Blues
When Dallas had a crunch of forwards and put B.J. Crombeen on waivers, the Blues scooped him up and were rewarded with a unique type of tough guy who could put up double digit goals and fights (only Milan Lucic, David Clarkson and Cody McLeod managed that feat in 08-09). Crombeen even provided one of the season's KO highlights with a sweet right handed knockdown of Derek Dorsett. Definitely a steal for the Blues.

Steve Montador - Boston Bruins
At the trade deadline, the Bruins picked up some more toughness for the playoff run by grabbing Montador from the Anaheim Ducks, a stable defensemen with the propensity to drop the gloves 15 times a year (although with not many wins). So far in the playoffs he's played in four games with an assist and a +2 rating.

Brandon Prust - Phoenix Coyotes
Perennially being squeezed out of the top 12 forwards in Calgary, Prust finally found a home in Phoenix at the trade deadline. He could flourish as a 4th line energy player and grinder, with the ability to put up 20 fight seasons for many years.


My Pick
I'm going to go with the Blues stealing BJ Crombeen from the Stars for absolutely nothing. They got a pretty good combination of skill and grit there. Crombeen is not a top-notch fighter but he is an exciting player and a nice find for that organization. I rank the Belak and Carcillo pick-ups just slightly behind.


Past Winners

2003-04: --
2005-06: --
2006-07: George Parros (Anaheim Ducks)
2007-08: Jody Shelley (San Jose Sharks)

[jkidd]

Only fitting that I select Crommer with this, after handing him the rookie of the year award.

[stevecanuck16]

Can I throw a write-in nominee out there? Mike Brown was absolutely phenomenal for the Ducks. He played an important defensive role on the team, and I believe he fought more than the rest of this list. As a fan on the other side of this trade, it gets my vote as best mid-season pick-up.

[majew17]

There's 2 glaring omissions here,Recchi to Boston,and Guerin to pitt,but it did say MID season so I voted for Avery

[Snipes19]

Easy choice here.

B.J. Crombeen being picked up by the St. Louis Blues - and boy am I glad we got him. Not only is he a decent MW fighter who is tough and plays physical, but he also showed that he has the ability to score 10 goals a year on the 3rd/4th line. That is a great player to have, and every team needs those types of guys... the reason the Blues made the playoffs is not only because of Chris Mason's good goaltending, but because of the gritty guys like Crombeen and Winchester who battled and did the dirty work to get the team into the postseason. Those guys are very valuable, especially come playoff time. Crombeen has proven to be a steal for St. Louis, and Dallas is looking pretty stupid right now - considering they ended up losing Avery afterall.

I don't think any of the other guys had as big of an impact on there team as Crombeen had on STL. Especially guys like Prust and Belak who didn't even make the playoffs.

[Snipes19]

Originally Posted by majew17

There's 2 glaring omissions here,Recchi to Boston,and Guerin to pitt,but it did say MID season so I voted for Avery

This only includes FIGHTERS.

This is hockeyfights.com

[jkidd]

Originally Posted by stevecanuck16

Can I throw a write-in nominee out there? Mike Brown was absolutely phenomenal for the Ducks. He played an important defensive role on the team, and I believe he fought more than the rest of this list. As a fan on the other side of this trade, it gets my vote as best mid-season pick-up.

Very good call Steve.

Brownie went to the Ducks and became an instant energy/PK specialist and even played damn well into and through the playoffs for the Ducks.

An omission and acquisition that is very overlooked.

[BrianTheAdsFan]

Good thing the Preds picked up Wade and didn't make us suffer with the likes of Nick Tarnasky in the enforcer role for the entire year.

Talk about going from the outhouse to the penthouse...

[OneilltheGiant]

Has to be Belak in this one... Great season once he went to the Predators...

[Grittzkey]

Crom's he was most effective imo.

[Isles4life]

Ok, so maybe he didn't really make the biggest difference of any candidate with his new team, but I voted for Carcillo. The Flyers saw a guy they wanted, paid a good price to get him, and loosened the shackles on the crazy SOB. He was rescued from being in and out of Gretzky's doghouse in the desert to an organization that clearly valued his type of play. By far my favorite acquisition, because I also got to see him play far more often coming to the atlantic division. So I voted it as the best.

[R.Middleton]

Originally Posted by Isles4life

He was rescued from being in and out of Gretzky's doghouse in the desert to an organization that clearly valued his type of play.

It frustates me when people say this. Phoenix valued Carcillo a lot and would've only traded him for an overpayment. Flyers GM gave them no choice with an incredible offer and Phoenix bit and went on to replace Carcillo with Prust. Phoenix values a tough team last year, it's just things didn't go our way with McG injury and Fedoruk's unwillingness.

My vote is for Belak.

[Isles4life]

Originally Posted by WildyCoyote34

It frustates me when people say this. Phoenix valued Carcillo a lot and would've only traded him for an overpayment. Flyers GM gave them no choice with an incredible offer and Phoenix bit and went on to replace Carcillo with Prust. Phoenix values a tough team last year, it's just things didn't go our way with McG injury and Fedoruk's unwillingness.

My vote is for Belak.

I didn't mean to say that he was unappreciated by Phoenix, but the Flyers are, well, the Flyers. That's the type of hockey they like to brand themselves as playing. But are you suggesting that he didn't have a number of incidents that got him on Gretzky's bad side?

[R.Middleton]

Originally Posted by Isles4life

I didn't mean to say that he was unappreciated by Phoenix, but the Flyers are, well, the Flyers. That's the type of hockey they like to brand themselves as playing. But are you suggesting that he didn't have a number of incidents that got him on Gretzky's bad side?

I honestly don't think Carcillo was on Gretzky's bad side. Carcillo played on the top lines and the amount of fighting majors where as expected so it didn't look like there was anything unusual. As that's being said, of course I'm not close with Gretzky and don't know what his honest feelings are. I'm just saying this as a hardcore yotes fan.

I've watched some Flyer games when Carcillo was there and he doesn't look as crazy or energetic as he was with Phoenix. It just frustrates me when people say Gretzky is holding him back when I seem him on the Flyers playing differently.

[NJDevils17]

Crombeen, definitely. He had a Jeff Cowan type of affect on the Blues when he joined. He scored a bunch of goals and fought a lot.