I think it's safe to say that if David Dziurzynski had not been knocked out March 6 vs Toronto, Kaspars Daugavins would not have been waived yesterday. But instead we saw a reactionary trade for Matt Kassian, and a useful depth player waived and then claimed by a superior team.
AJ Jakubec suggested yesterday afternoon the waiving stemmed from a complaint about playing time:
Kaspars Daugavins wasn't happy as a healthy scratch and those sentiments were expressed to the Sens brass. He'll get plenty of ice in Bingo.
— AJ Jakubec (@AJonSports) March 26, 2013
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Prior to the Kassian trade, Daugavins played in 17/26 games, since the trade he'd played in 2/7.
Essentially Daugavins was being scratched for a guy who plays 5 minutes a night and seldom sees the ice in the third period.
Now Kaspars is not a noted scorer in the NHL, but he is a a great penalty killer (2:07 shorthanded TOI per game, only Condra among forwards is higher) and was performing well at even-strength as this player usage chart shows.
He started more of his shifts in the defensive zone than any other forward on the team, and did so facing strong competition. To boot he was a positive possession player (as the blue bubble surrounding his name signifies), which is no small feat under those circumstances. In scoring chances I had Daugavins +7 on the season at even-strength. His -7 plus/minus looks poor, until you realize that when on the ice he was playing in front of .874 goaltending, which is like Kevin Poulin bad.
The importance of fourth-liners is certainly overrated by the media, but when you have an actual good one who's giving you good results for little money, I just question why you'd replace that with a player whose talents are not hockey related.
But now Daugavins goes to Boston, where he has some history with Peter Chiarelli:
Roots go deep in the NHL. Bruins GM Chiarelli was with the #Sens organization in '06 when Daugavins was drafted.
— Stefan G:son (@steffeG) March 27, 2013
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
DOGMAN has found a new home. Take good care of him Beantown.
So long buddy.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
