Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray Looking Into Travis Hamonic Situation
With Travis Hamonic trade rumors surfacing, Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray should act quick to sneak in and acquire the defensemen.
Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray has always been one to express desire for depth on defense. He has acted upon that desire over recent years, acquiring Stephane Robidas and James Wisniewski at the past two trade deadlines.
Murray has not however been quick to trade away depth in order to acquire top end blue-line talent.
The Ben Lovejoy for Simon Despres deal was a no brainer, but when recent trade deadlines have rolled around Murray has not acted upon acquiring the big name defensemen like Tyler Myers or Jeff Petry.
That all could change now as New York Islanders defensemen Travis Hamonic has requested a trade.
Hamonic has publicly stated that a personal family matter brought along the trade request and his preferred destination is Winnipeg among other Western Canadian teams.
In a recent article, Sportsnet’s Damien Cox named Edmonton, Calgary and Minnesota as possible destinations behind the front-running Winnipeg Jets. Cox also said in his article that the L.A. Kings and Detroit Red Wings have called Islanders GM Garth Snow to check in on Hamonic.
The final team that Cox mentions is the Anaheim Ducks as he claims that Bob Murray “has been poking his head around the Hamonic situation for months.” Cox stated it is believed that Hamonic may accept a move to the Ducks.
It isn’t Western Canada, but Anaheim travels that way more than 5 times each season.
Acquiring Hamonic is not going to be cheap. Islanders GM Garth Snow wants NHL level defensive talent in return, he is not looking for prospects and he does not want a deal based around draft picks.
The reported asking price for Winnipeg is Jacob Trouba, so that should give you a sense of what the Ducks would have to give up in order to acquire Hamonic.
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Hamonic is a solidified top four defensemen who plays a very strong defensive game while still possessing the ability to contribute offense. He can play 22-25 minutes a game and he is an above average penalty killer. Hamonic also continues to be given more power play responsibility and ice time.
He is 25 years of age and is in his 6th NHL season, all with the Islanders.
He has arguably been the Islanders best all around defensemen this season. He is playing against top opposition and his possession/shot supression numbers are the best amongst Islanders defensemen.
Here’s a link to a chart showing how good Hamonic has been defensively this season. Hamonic would be a top pairing guy with the Ducks.
So what would Garth Snow’s asking price be?
Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler, Sami Vatanen and Shea Theodore are all names to be considered.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Kevin Bieksa, Clayton Stoner and Pat Maroon will not bring Hamonic to Anaheim.
Lindholm, Fowler and Vatanen all play an important role in Anaheim, even Theodore as the Ducks top defensive prospect, and Murray would be hesitant to move any of them.
However, moving Sami Vatanen might make the most sense.
Cam Fowler is taking a huge step forward this season and has been the Ducks best defensemen thus far. Hampus Lindholm’s ceiling is even higher than Fowler’s which makes him a difficult piece to move as he has not even reached full potential yet. Shea Theodore is the Ducks top defensive prospect but Murray would likely not move him and Snow might not be looking for a prospect at this time anyway.
That leaves us with Vatanen and before you call this an irrational idea, hear me out.
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The scouting report on Vatanen is this. A smaller defensemen that makes up for a lack of size with incredible offensive instincts. He is also a guy that works hard in the defensive zone, using his stick and body to block shots effectively. He can play big minutes on the penalty kill while also being a guy that can somewhat quarterback a power play. However, his skating ability is not at the same level as Lindholm and Folwer who are the superior skaters.
Vatanen’s role on the Ducks blue-line is to be a guy that can supply offense while also playing big minutes on the penalty kill and powerplay.
The issue is that Vatanen has in no way helped the Ducks struggling power play. He currently has 0 points on the powerplay this season despite ranking second on the Ducks in powerplay ice time. 11 Ducks have more powerplay points than Vatanen to this point.
Lindholm has 4 points on the powerplay this season while Fowler has 2, would losing Vatanen really hurt the Ducks that much? Boudreau and Paul MacLean have even began to shy away from using Vatanen on the first power play unit, electing to go with Fowler and 4 forwards in recent games.
Everyone will talk about Shea Theodore being an offensive minded guy that could be ready to make the NHL jump as early next season. He could help replace Vatanen’s offensive production, but there is another important Ducks prospect that nobody is talking about.
Brandon Montour is in his first professional season and as a rookie he is not only leading the Gulls in scoring, he leads all AHL defensemen in scoring. He has 18 points in 16 games and is tied for second amongst all AHL players with 14 assists.
Montour also leads the AHL with 10 powerplay assists.
Montour is extremely similar to Vatanen. He is a smaller guy who possesses great offensive instincts but he makes up for lack of size with strong skating abilities. Minimizing risk is something that Montour will need to improve and that is also what Vatanen continues to improve upon as a guy who loves to join the rush.
Beyond Theodore and Montour, the Ducks have 2015 first round pick Jacob Larsson and 2014 second round pick Marcus Pettersson rounding out a strong defensive prospect pool. The future is bright and that depth would help heal the pain of losing Vatanen.
Getting past replacing Vatanen’s offensive talent, you begin to look at the possible addition of Hamonic to the Ducks blue-line.
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Bringing in Hamonic means that Fowler and Simon Despres can again be reunited as Lindholm and Hamonic could be a nice fit. This would help the struggling Lindholm, who misses the presences of former defensive partner Francois Beauchemin. Lindholm has played with Bieksa and Manson this season but has not excelled with either as he did alongside Beauchemin. Bringing in Hamonic would give Lindholm stability.
Hamonic’s presence would also move the struggling Kevin Bieksa down to the third pairing. Clayton Stoner, Josh Manson and Korbinian Holzer round out the Ducks defensive depth and one could even be thrown into the Hamonic deal if necessary.
Giving up Vatanen to acquire Hamonic solves the Ducks issue of lacking a cup caliber top four on defense. Financially, this deal could make sense as well.
Vatanen becomes a restricted free agent at seasons end and may be asking for a deal paying him more than $2-$2.5 million annually. With Andersen, Lindholm, Rakell and Sekac also hitting restricted free agency next summer, Vatanen may be a tough guy to re-sign and it may put a big offer sheet target on all of the Ducks RFA’s backs.
We saw what happened last year with Dougie Hamilton and Brandon Saad. Both hit restricted free agency and both were traded due to offer sheet risk and salary cap related issues. Bob Murray may have to deal with these issues next summer.
Trading Vatanen means that Murray would have one less deal to negotiate as Hamonic is under contract until 2020 with a very favorable cap hit of $3.857 million. Vatanen would likely not receive a deal of that amount, but the dollar value difference would be paid through the trade off of talent between he and Hamonic.
With Murray’s busiest summer right around the corner and the unknowns of a possible expansion draft looming, moving Vatanen to acquire Hamonic makes sense for the Ducks right now. It gives them a stronger defensive presence and solves all of the issues they have had with trying to find a solidified cup caliber top four on defense.
The trade would give the Ducks a top pairing defensive minded blue-liner for years to come as Hamonic would be exactly what the Ducks are looking for. It’s time for Murray to get risky and put together a deal that brings Hamonic to Anaheim in exchange for Vatanen and other pieces.
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You got to give a little to get a little, acquiring Hamonic could change the Ducks season drastically.