On a day that was lacking any major movement, the Blue Jackets decided to shake things up a bit. Today they traded Kerby Rychel for Scott Harrington and a conditional fifth round pick. Rychel, a former first round draft pick had reportedly demanded a trade as recently as last fall to hopefully get an opportunity in the NHL. Where does this leave the Blue Jackets this upcoming season?
Frankly, at a face value the deal doesn’t look great. Rychel, a player who produced at a good clip in the AHL and did reasonably well in the NHL, should have been able to fetch more than this. His underlying numbers even while playing on the fourth line weren’t terrible. How they weren’t able to get a pick included in the original deal without conditions is baffling. Even then, I would still think the deal would be shortchanging the potential that Rychel has in this league. The trade demand did put the Jackets in a tough spot but who says you have to trade him? Success mends all wounds and with how his development was coming along, he could have been a good player in the Jackets bottom six.
Harrington on a bad Leafs team didn’t produce many points when with the Leafs, producing only one point in fifteen games. An encouraging sign would be his CF numbers which were above 50%. Being on the worst team in the league and staying above water possession wise is a definite plus.
All that is left of the 2013 1st round for the Blue Jackets is Alexander Wennberg. While Wennberg will surely be with the Jackets for the long haul, it will still be a bitter pill to swallow to see both Marko Dano and Kerby Rychel on other clubs. This trade isn’t horrendous by any means, it just is a trade in a long list of trades that leaves me scratching my head. That first round from three years ago was once considered the cornerstone of the brick by brick approach, now I am not entirely sure of the structure they have built for the fans. What is the blueprint that is being used now?
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
