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Early Season Evaluation On Aebischer Vs. Theodore Trade


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Even though it's early and a few months from now things could be looking very different, it's interesting to see how these two goalies are doing so far. The Avalanche are struggling big time and Jose Theodore has one win, a goals-against average of 3.26 and a save percentage of .888. These numbers are not that different from the numbers Theodore put up with Montreal last year before he was traded. David Aebischer on the other hand, while he hasn't played as many games as Theodore this season, has a goals against average of 1.45 and a save percentage of .955%. Aebischer is younger and also earns, I believe about 1.9 million. Theodore is earning over 6 million per year. At this point in the season we are way ahead and the decision to trade Theodore for Aebischer, besides helping us with the salary cap, and if things continue the way this season has started, may also have given us a better goalie, both now and for the future. The Colorado Avalanche took a chance in trading for Jose and they may be discovering that their gamble is not turning out to be what they hoped for. In fairness, we'll have a much better picture of how this is truly turning out by January and certainly by the end of the season. But the early returns are looking very good for us.

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I think Colorado felt bad for robbing the Habs and getting Roy for basically nothing. Which started a horrible run of trades, players coaches, etc. I'm glad BG is righting the ship.

I live in Colorado, it's interesting to see all the fair whether fans are jumping off the ship. It's intersting to see how teams like Colorado, Philly and other teams who would basically buy the best team they can are now struggling.

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now colorado fans understand what it's like to have a BAD goalie in front of the net :P

i'm very satisfy with the trade even if i was surprise when we traded theo, coz i really didnt think that a team is going to take him, especially with his huge salary and so damn bad performance...

good that aebi is showing us that he can do the job and help us to win games... esp. with huet having a so-so start... that's why we need both in the line up... to back each other... :)

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Hockey is still a team game, and no Theo hasn't looked sharp, but the Avs are a team that's lost a few core players the past two years. Any team will struggle from that. Just like other early season thoughts, it's too early to be saying the Habs robbed the Avs in this trade by dumping salary on them. Nor is Aebischer is going to continue to play and post the numbers he's got up now. Ebbs and flows, people.

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Hockey is still a team game, and no Theo hasn't looked sharp, but the Avs are a team that's lost a few core players the past two years. Any team will struggle from that. Just like other early season thoughts, it's too early to be saying the Habs robbed the Avs in this trade by dumping salary on them. Nor is Aebischer is going to continue to play and post the numbers he's got up now. Ebbs and flows, people.

Frankly, the trade was a steal for the Habs from the get go. In a Cap league, simply dumping a huge salary of an underperforming player is a coup. Having Abby perform is icing on the cake.

Theo was mired in controversy (gangster family, wife issues, rumors of excessive partying with Ribs and Dagenais) and, most importantly, exhibited an extended period of poor performance in the new, small pads league. To top that off, he was damaged goods at the time of the trade (breaking his ankle while "slipping" on his front steps.... tell me he wasnt wasted at the time...)

Mangement obviously didn't see a likelihood of improvement on the horizon. Keep in mind they had signed him to a fat deal not long before.

I think the move was brilliant. Not easy to trade a french speaking former MVP in Quebec. Bob had the balls to do it and should be commended for it.

[and yes, the avs are also fighting karma here for taking Roy and Keane for a song back in the day... I still lose sleep over that one]

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Frankly, the trade was a steal for the Habs from the get go. In a Cap league, simply dumping a huge salary of an underperforming player is a coup. Having Abby perform is icing on the cake.

The original comparison was of the two goalies, not salary cap fallout. Trust me, there will be a streak during the season where Theo posts a few shutouts and is standing on is head while one of the Habs netminders struggles. Everyone will be posting, lamenting the trade about how the Avs robbed the Habs once again, etc, etc. It's just a way of life in Habs land. Your GM's a genious for the moment when players are performing, and are calling him an idiot when they slump. Trade Perezhogin! Trade Bonk! Trade Rivet! Dump Zednik! Dump Bulis! Wait, let's get Bulis back, let's get Hainsey back, etc, etc. People are already talking about a slumping Huet, and that Aebischer is the saviour of the season. 5 games. Sheesh.

Personally, I hope Theodore puts of good numbers and plays well in Colorado. Heck, lead the league in every statistical category. He's in another conference, on another team.

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if theo play like god by xmas, then good for colorado! but his salary is still 5M$

if abby, by xmas, is not playing well... then it doesnt really matter coz his salary will be 1.9M$ only... so

but if theo keep on losing and giving BAD performances... then colorado will be stuck with him, no other teams will want him with his 5M$ salary...

as for abby, if he play well... then we will say that gainey made a good decision AGAIN... by signing abby for 1.9M$

well... time will tell who stole who, but as for me, by having theo OUT of the team is already a BIG win~ :)

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Personally I think the Habs franchise is moving up in the world, while the Avs seen to be heading in the opposite direction. They have lost almost every player that was once the backbone of the club, the only one who's still left that I can think of off the top of my head is Sakic. Forsberg, Blake, Roy of course, Foote, Drury, Tanguay, they have lost a lot of quality players the last few years. That obviously affects Theodore's chances.

That said, I think Theo too is "going in the wrong direction", if you know what I mean. I think just getting rid of all the controversy that surounded him is good enough for Montreal, and Aebischer doing so well just makes it better.

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anybody remember how Lacroix thought he made the deal of the century when he acquired theodore ?? priceless.

like most of you said: It theodore does great in colorado, good for him. I just don't see it happen. theodore looks like his old self there with his shaky gaoltending.

as for the theodore deal per se, id like to add the money saved on theodore's salary was used to bring samsonov in montreal. if theodore was here, we probably wouldn't have the cap for sammy.

now, If sammy can pick up is game a notch, this trade will look even better.

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Little known clause in the Roy trade was actually a get-out-of-jail-free card where Lacroix promised to eat inflated salary at some point in the future. People dissed Houle as an idiot GM, but his masterminding was simply hidden in arcane clauses that nobody heard about - the Malakhov-for-Souray trade was made on the advice of "Doc" Emmett Brown and Marty McFly, then acting as scouts.

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You cant really say how Theo would be doing in Montreal, he could have rebounded with Montreal last year and won the cup... Who knows, but the overall look at the trade so far, i say we got the better half

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Little known clause in the Roy trade was actually a get-out-of-jail-free card where Lacroix promised to eat inflated salary at some point in the future. People dissed Houle as an idiot GM, but his masterminding was simply hidden in arcane clauses that nobody heard about - the Malakhov-for-Souray trade was made on the advice of "Doc" Emmett Brown and Marty McFly, then acting as scouts.

Are you being serious about those clauses, or is it just a joke?

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Are you being serious about those clauses, or is it just a joke?

Sorry, yes. I wish the joke were that Houle was a GM for 7 seasons or whatever it was, but unfortunately that did happen. Marty McFly is a fictional character, and as such has limited scouting abilities.

Edited by Oleg Petrov
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Sorry, yes. I wish the joke were that Houle was a GM for 7 seasons or whatever it was, but unfortunately that did happen. Marty McFly is a fictional character, and as such has limited scouting abilities.

DOH! I should have picked up on the Back-to-the-Future reference... :wacko:

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- the Malakhov-for-Souray trade was made on the advice of "Doc" Emmett Brown and Marty McFly, then acting as scouts.

one of the only good trades that houle made.

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You cant really say how Theo would be doing in Montreal, he could have rebounded with Montreal last year and won the cup... Who knows, but the overall look at the trade so far, i say we got the better half

Uh, no. The habs had arguably the best goaltender in the league (at the time) in net for the last quarter of the season. Theo likely would have been riding the pine when he came back from his broken ankle. And maybe, the habs arent even in the playoffs had he stuck around.

Not to belittle Theo, I used to love him. But the wizard move Gainey did set off a chain of events that REALLY helped this team. Yes he was lucky with Huet, but think about it, he ends up with a solid backup (trade bait if needed come crunch time), 3 million more of cap space (possibly for Shanny, ended up with Samsonov), and one less balding head ache.

Even is Theo turns back into his old self (keeping in mind that the Avs defense had gone from stellar to less than), this deal was golden for the Habs. And, we wont have to face him till the finals......

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Uh, no. The habs had arguably the best goaltender in the league (at the time) in net for the last quarter of the season. Theo likely would have been riding the pine when he came back from his broken ankle. And maybe, the habs arent even in the playoffs had he stuck around.

Not to belittle Theo, I used to love him. But the wizard move Gainey did set off a chain of events that REALLY helped this team. Yes he was lucky with Huet, but think about it, he ends up with a solid backup (trade bait if needed come crunch time), 3 million more of cap space (possibly for Shanny, ended up with Samsonov), and one less balding head ache.

Even is Theo turns back into his old self (keeping in mind that the Avs defense had gone from stellar to less than), this deal was golden for the Habs. And, we wont have to face him till the finals......

Thanks you just suppourted what i said, anything could have happend!!!!! BTW Huet was the number one goaltender for them in the last quarter of the year, and theo was for the first half, thiings can change just as quickly as they happend!

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