Free agency begins

Wow, so did our Ducks do well with the draft and its headlining trades or what?? What do you make of the Pronger trade and our draft picks? Leave a comment, let me know your thoughts.

I've mentioned I'm sad to see Prongs go, but I think GM Bob Murray did an incredible job getting what could very likely be the better end of this trade. Pronger had only one more year on contract and, because he's Chris Pronger, he commands a pretty sizable chunk of cap space. We'd most likely lose him next year, after his contract ends and he becomes a free agent... and for absolutely nothing in return.

With this trade, we get ex-Duck Joffrey Lupul back, which is awesome because the guy has huge potential for second-line scoring. We get Luca Sbisa who sounds like he's going to be one helluva d-man, if not this upcoming season, then possibly the next. I kinda like the fact that he lived and trained in Switzerland. Reminds me of another Swiss Duck who turned out to be a huge find. *ahem*Hiller*ahem*

We also got another first round pick, which we traded for a slightly lower first round pick and a second round pick, which we didn't have before.

Damn, Murray, you rock!

Since the draft, I understand we've extended a year contract to Erik Christensen. I know he got a lot of flack last season, but I personally didn't think he did THAT bad. Once the kid's shoulder is healed, I'm looking to see some good play from him. I'm hearing we've also made James Wisniewski a good offer, and we're trying to re-sign Todd Marchant.

If we can get Wiz and Marchant, I won't feel as bad about losing Francois Beauchemin.

More likely than not, Beauch is going to get a great offer from another team. And, more likely than not, he's going to take that offer. So, I consider him gone.

This is what I would love our Ducks to look like going into training camp this September:
- Our Legion of Doom first line with Bobby Ryan, Corey Perry, and Ryan Getzlaf; and a good second scoring line with Teemu Selanne, Joffrey Lupul, and Andrew Ebbett/Ryan Carter/Drew Miller
- Excellent defensive pairings with Scotty/Sbisa, Wiz/Ryan Whitney, and Brett Festerling/Sheldon Brookbank
- A power killing line with Marchant
- An energy/shut down line with Mike Brown and George Parros

Looks like a team that might have a shot at the 2009-2010 Cup, don't you think?