Hey, Pony. Where you going?
After making a four player deal with the Florida Panthers on Wednesday the Hurricanes were at it again last night when they traded forward Alexei Ponikarovsky to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Joseph Sova.
Hurricanes lose -
Alexei Ponikarovsky, 31, [measurements: 6'4'' 226 lbs] came to the Hurricanes this past summer after a off year with the Los Angeles Kings. He was brought in to add size to what was for the most part an undersized Hurricanes roster. Ponikarovsky played in all 49 Hurricane games; scoring 7 goals and picking up 8 assists (it took him 61 games to pick up the same number of points.) Ponikarovsky led all Hurricane players in hits (94) and was tied for the most power play goals (4).
Hurricanes get -
Joe Sova, 23, [measurements: 6'3'' 195lbs] was signed as a free agent on March 19, 2011 by the New Jersey Devils. Sova played three years with the Alaska Nanooks at the University of Alaska – Fairbanks. In his first year Sova played all 39 games with the Nanooks; he had the third highest plus/minus record (+6) and was named the Doug Desorcie Top rookie. The next year he played in all 38 games with the Nanooks and was 5th in his conference for Defensive Scoring leaders. He earned a spot on the Kendall Classic and Brice Alaska Goal Rush All – Tournament team. In his third and final year with the Nanooks he was 2nd on the team in points (24) once again was named to the Brice Alask Goal Rush All Tournament Team, and received the Shawn Chambers Top Defensive Defenseman Award.
My take on the deal -
This may have been the best (and only) option for the Hurricanes. While Ponikarovsky was playing better this year in comparison to last year he wasn’t necessarily lighting it up (his last goal coming on December 13th.) Set to become a UFA at the end of this season Ponikarovsky wasn’t going to be resigned by the Hurricanes – who have guys like Zac Dalpe, Drayson Bowman, Zach Boychuk and Jerome Samson ready to be mainstays in the NHL.
Getting Sova in return (who looks like he could develop to a good offensive defenseman) is a typical move by Jim Rutherford (Hurricanes President and General Manager) who believes in the Philosophy that in today’s game you need to have defensemen who can score (or at least contribute.) The fact that the Hurricanes got a draft pick, even being a late pick, which is all I thought they would get in the first place is just the icing on the cake.
*Sorry for being late on this post real life interfered (won’t let that happen again.) Anyways I hope you enjoy, feel free to share and leave comments.
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