The Hockey News’s Matt Larkin posted a list of the best trades made over the course of the past calendar year, and the Red Wings made the list thanks to the Alex Nedeljkovic deal:
8. Detroit Red Wings acquire goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic from the Carolina Hurricanes for goaltender Jonathan Bernier and a 2021 third-round pick (Aidan Hreschuk)
Why did the Hurricanes gift the Red Wings a Calder Trophy finalist? Reportedly, Carolina felt his ask of $3.5 million was too high and dealt him because he was arbitration eligible. The Wings swooped in and got ‘Ned,’ who had a .932 save percentage last season and ranked second among all qualified goalies in 5-on-5 goals saved above average per 60, for just $3 million a year. Anyone predicting he’d get a reality check playing on a rebuilding team is digesting crow. He held a .918 SP into mid-December despite getting significantly less defensive support than he had in Carolina.
All the Hurricanes ended up with was the third-rounder, as they couldn’t work out a deal with Bernier.
“We tried to make something work, the terms, and it just didn’t work,” Bernier told me in the off-season. “Especially for a goalie, it’s a great system, they have a great team, good defensive team and it would’ve been a big change from (Detroit) to there. But it’s a business, and they have a competitive team, so they had an amount and terms in their head they didn’t want to go over, so it just didn’t work out for both of us.”
Continued; cap space makes the world go round…
“Anyone predicting he’d get a reality check playing on a rebuilding team is digesting crow. ”
What exactly does “Reality Check ” mean? Salary expectations?
George, I do not know how sometimes you can remain a blogger not an angry fan? You have to, I guess or you would not have the Great Blog
I have to because there’s so much bullshit to digest that you just let a lot of it go through to stay sane!