Anaheim Ducks Execute A Financially Driven Move With Hagelin/Perron Trade

By Griffin Foster | Jan 16, 2016

Nov 28, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins left wing David Perron (57) skates with the puck against the Edmonton Oilers during the overtime period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Oilers won 3-2 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

The Anaheim Ducks traded Carl Hagelin and acquired David Perron, why the move was driven by future financial concerns.

Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray made another trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins late Friday night. The deal swapped Carl Hagelin for David Perron and Adam Clendening was also sent to Anaheim.

Murray spoke on the deal earlier today stating that he felt Hagelin was not a great fit with the Ducks and that both Hagelin and Perron could benefit from a change of scenery. Perron is a more talented offensive player which could obviously help the Ducks, who are the leagues lowest scoring team, while Hagelin’s speed should help Pittsburgh as well.

Murray also stated that “We have some young RFAs coming up this next year and the year after, and mostly on defense, as you can tell. It was a definite planned move, financially.”

Hampus Lindholm, Sami Vatanen, Rickard Rakell, Freddie Andersen and Jiri Sekac all hit restricted free agency this summer and those are the RFA’s Murray was referring to.

Before this deal was made, the Ducks were looking at $56,391,666 committed to the salary cap for next season. Carl Hagelin was given an extension this past summer and carried a cap hit of $4 million through 2019.

More from Ducks News

David Perron carries a cap hit of just under $4 million this season but he is an unrestricted free agent at seasons end. Clendening is an RFA at seasons end and will likely spend the remainder of this season in the AHL.

So, Moving Hagelin opened up $4 million dollars this upcoming offseason and opened up a total of $12 million dollars over the next three seasons. For a budget team like the Ducks who operate under an internal salary cap, this is comparable to finding a way to shed 45 minutes off of your usual hour long drive home from work.

With all things said and done in regards to this trade, the Ducks are now looking at $52,391,666 committed to the salary cap next season.

Before the trade, Murray was looking at $10-$13 million in cap space this summer.

After the trade, Murray is looking at $13-$16 million in cap space this summer.

Financially, this was a smart trade by Murray to move a player he felt was not as impactful as one would have liked.

Hagelin was starting to play better but his overall on-ice effectiveness was not felt and Murray decided to take the extra money and run.

What the numbers say

Of the 11 Ducks forwards that have played more than 300 minutes so far this season….

Carl Hagelin ranks T-6th in Points, 6th in Points/60, 6th in Goals/60, 6th in Corsi%, 1st in ShotsFor%, 6th in ScoringChancesFor%, 5th in Individual Scoring Chances and 7th in Goal Differential.

Of the 10 Penguins forwards that have played more than 300 minutes so far this season…

David Perron ranked 5th in Points, 8th in Points/60, 7th in Goals/60, 7th in Corsi%, 7th in ShotsFor%, 8th in ScoringChancesFor%, 5th in Individual Scoring Chances and 10th in Goal Differential.

While Hagelin’s numbers compared to his teammates may be slightly more favorable than Perrons, it was Hagelin’s role that made him expendable.

More from Ducks News

Hagelin was playing on the Kesler line and their primary responsibility was to shut down the opponents top forwards. Hagelin did a nice job in that role as his speed and reliable defensive play outweighed his lack of offensive production at times.

However as a two-way type of forward, Hagelin was not playing a huge role on the Ducks league leading penalty kill. He ranked 5th amongst Ducks forwards in short handed time on ice. The Ducks have the depth to replace him guys like Silfverberg, Kesler, Cogliano, Horcoff and Thompson.

Perron was getting a good amount of ice time on the Pittsburgh power play and ranked 5th amongst Penguins forwards in power play points. The Ducks have consistently been looking to improve their play with the man advantage and their power play now ranks inside the league’s top 10.

Final thoughts on the trade

This trade can not be fully evaluated yet because the Ducks are not done making moves.

Bob Murray told the media this morning, “We still have to get better. That’s how I feel about our team. We still have to get better. My group is working at doing that” He then stated “There are a lot more phone call lately. We’re going to attempt to get better here.”

So It’s clear Murray is working the phones and evaluating the Hagelin for Perron tradeoff is irrelevant and premature at this point in time.

However, if Murray can bring in a guy like Jonathan Drouin, this trade will then be a huge win for Murray and the Ducks. Clearing Hagelin’s cap hit and acquiring Perron and possibly Drouin would be a huge swing in the Ducks favor with regards to salary cap space and talent acquired.

Drouin is not a restricted free agent until the summer of 2017 and the Ducks now have the added cap room to not only acquire him, but added cap room to keep him long term if things work out. Is that the next move Murray is looking to make? We shall see.

Next: Why the Ducks need to acquire Drouin now

At the end of the day this move will be successful if it allows the Ducks to go find another impactful player. It sound like that is exactly what Murray had in mind when making this deal. Operating under an internal cap is never easy, but Bob Murray continues to put his team in a good position to work around the title of being a “budget team.”

Salary cap info via Generalfanager.com

Statistics via War-on-ice.com and Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com

Home/Ducks News