by
D'Arcy
McGrath
Calgary Flames fans will have to find a new
target.
Rob Niedermayer, the Western Canadian center with
the big salary ticket was traded to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for goalie prospect
J.F. Damphousse and Mike Commadore.
Damphousse has played 31 games this season with
the Ducks farm team in Cincinnati, posting a 12-14-4 record with a 3.13 goals
against average and a .902 save percentage.
Mike Commodore played 61 games with Cincinnati
scoring two goals and adding nine assists.
The deal itself was ripe with irony.
|
The Niedermayer Line |
| Florida |
518 gp, 101-165-266, .514 ppg |
| Calgary |
111 gp, 14-24-38, .342 ppg |
Exhibit A: Rob Niedermayer was traded to the
Calgary Flames at the NHL Entry Draft in Sunrise Florida for disgruntled winger
Val Bure.
Both players moved on to new homes again today;
Niedermayer moved to Anaheim and Val Bure moved to the St. Louis Blues for
defenceman Mike Van Ryn.
Exhibit B: The Players acquired in the Rob
Niedermayer deal today were also acquired together in the Anaheim - New Jersey
deal this past summer along with Petr Sykora, a trade that almost went down with
the Calgary Flames.
Add in the fact that Niedermayer's brother plays
with the Devils and you basically have a mystical deal made in the stars.
Tough Sledding in Calgary
Rob Niedermayer's stay in Calgary was never an
easy ride.
Though the baggage encumbered Bure was a player
that simply had to go, he was a popular player with a very strong fan following
in Calgary.
Niedermayer came out of the gates a little rough
in Calgary, suffered injuries and had a terrible time getting untracked.
The fans justifiably focused on his 2.1 million
dollar salary coupled with his low production wasting no chance to ride the
player each and every time he touched the puck.
"I really like Rob Niedermayer, I think in
the last two months we saw what Rob Niedermayer was capable of. Given the
economics, we feel in balance in adding Dean McAmmond and Sean Donovan and
giving up Rob Niedermayer".
For Craig Button the move provides a measure of
retribution as he managed to turn Niedermayer into two mid range prospects, a
step up from the "just walk away" calls from fans this past summer
when he re-upped to sign Niedermayer.
"Damphousse is a former number one pick of
the New Jersey Devils, we need to add some young goaltending, and we'll work
with him to make him better".
"Both players will go to Saint John".
