Bieksa/Beauchemin Swap Was A Smart One For The Anaheim Ducks

The Anaheim Ducks traded for Kevin Bieksa as a direct result of talks with free agent Francois Beauchemin falling through. Beauchemin’s asking price was to high and Bob Murray let him walk. Bieksa was plan b and it has worked out for the better.

Bieksa is entering the final year of his contract and when the Ducks traded for him they knew an extension would have to be worked out quickly. It took just a day however and his extension was announced this morning as a 2 year deal worth $8 million. So Bieksa’s cap hit over the next 3 season will be $4.6 million, $4 million and $4 million.

Francois Beauchemin has gone to the Colorado Avalanche. It was reported that he was asking the Ducks for a 3 year deal worth more than $4 million annually. Bob Murray said no and Colorado said sure. Beauchemin’s deal with the Avalanche is a 3 year $13.5 million dollar deal. Beauch’s cap hit over the next 3 seasons is $4.5 million, $4.5 million and $4.5 million. So his cap hit is $4.5 million in case you missed that…..

The first take of this deal is that the Ducks are saving half a million dollars in cap space for the ’16-’17 and ’17-’18 season.

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Some may look at this and say is that really worth it? Getting rid of a guy who won a cup in Anaheim and getting a guy who is essentially the same type of player and all this swap does is save $1 million over two seasons. Well, this is what happens with free agency. Bob Murray was not going to give Beauchemin anything over $4 million per year and he knew he could find a replacement elsewhere.

Beauch’s game was noticeably declining last season. While the same could be said about Bieksa, you never know how a change of scenery or change of defensive partner could effect a guy.

In the end this is a deal that Bob Murray and the Ducks would do a hundred times over. The swap saves money and brings in a right handed shot in Bieksa, a guy that has all the same off ice attributes that Beauchemin has as well when it comes to leadership and locker room demeanor.

The Ducks could have been forced to overpay a free agent defencmen after losing Beauchemin, but Murray avoided that and was one step ahead of the game as he so often is. Good move for the Ducks.

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