I was reading through yesterday's transcript of an online chat hosted by WaPo NHL Editor Lindsay Applebaum when I came across this exchange about Caps defenseman Jeff Schultz. As everyone knows by now, the Caps dealt winger Chris Clark and defenseman Milan Jurcina to Columbus in exchange for left wing Jason Chimera.
The implication Applebaum is making here is pretty clear: that Jurcina is a better defenseman than Schultz, even if the numbers indicate that isn't the case.
Here's a better answer: trading Schultz rather than Jurcina would have made this trade a loser for Washington. Instead of Chimera being the best player in what should be looked at as a trade of spare parts, Columbus would have been getting a solid young defenseman who hasn't yet reached his 24th birthday, one whose best years in the NHL are still ahead of him. Worse still, dealing Schultz instead of Jurcina wouldn't have cleared nearly as much cap space ($660,000 less) -- which even Applebaum concluded was the actual object of the deal anyway.
As I said on a bloggers roundtable on 1500-AM a few weeks back, there are few players on this roster outside of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom who are untouchable. Jeff Schultz certainly isn't, but we shouldn't be fooled into thinking that he is an asset without value. And if Columbus GM Scott Howson asked Caps GM George McPhee to include Schultz in the deal rather than Jurcina, I'm sure McPhee's answer was no, not at the price you're offering.
UPDATE: Lindsay just sent the following email that I thought was important to share:
Hey Eric,
Well, uh, thanks for linking to the Caps chat, though you did spell my first name wrong. Just to clear things up after reading your blog post, I was being entirely sarcastic and jokey about my Jeff Schultz comment. The tone of these chats and our own guidelines for them allows for that. Clearly, it came across as something different and unfunny, which is unfortunate and precisely why I am an editor as opposed to a writer.
Your post was fair and at all not off-base. As long as that stuff isn’t personal – which it often is – I can take it. Anyway, just wanted to let you know I’m reading.
Thanks (no, really),
Lindsay Applebaum
Sports | The Washington Post
First of all, sorry to Lindsay for getting her name wrong, which I've since corrected. And no, this stuff isn't personal, it's opinion. No harm, no foul and thanks for reading.
Tags: Chris Clark, Columbus Blue Jackets, George McPhee, Jeff Schultz, Milan Jurcina, Scott Howson
I guess snark and sarcasm are in the eye of the beholder…
I read that answer from Lindsay as a zinger back at the questioner. It is no secret that many Caps fans think Schultz is worth less than a day-old-cup of coffee. I see it as her asking the rhetorical question of, why would Columbus want to take a defensman you think is that bad?
Yeah, I understand how you’re taking it and it is a fair interpretation, but she did later post this question and response:
Schultztown, USA: Here’s one reason the Caps didn’t trade Schultz: he’s been one of their best defenseman this year. Second in the league among all defenseman (tied with Mike Green) in plus/minus, and allows only 1.57 GA/ON per 60, better than Alzer, ShaMo, Poti, Green and Sloan, at $715K. Yep, get him out of here!
Lindsay Applebaum: Schultztown! Just throwing this out there, just because.
It seemed to me that she was playing around in most of her answers anyway so I don’t take much of what said at all yesterday very seriously.