Cheechoo train, now with service to Bingington

SenSay on Cheechoo being waived:

I respect the hell out of Cheechoo, and would be the first in line to support him in regaining his NHL form, but business is business, and if you want to cash big cheques, you can’t blame the one writing them for expecting you to earn it too.

Cheechoo is a guy I wanted to like. For all my too-hell-with-him about Dany Heatley, he was an asset and you want to see some kind of return on losing that kind of talent. Michalek has potential, but Cheechoo was widely seen as nothing more than a blatant salary dump.

Sort of like having us give up an asset and take out San Jose's trash at the same time.

I liked Cheechoo's effort on the ice. He was always willing to... well, "rush" is the wrong word... up or down the ice chasing the puck. He was always willing to get into the corners and grind for the puck. He was always willing to helplessly flip the puck into the goalie's pads take that shot.

The problem was, the results were not there. For all the effort, he was a step late and a step slow. He didn't win his share of battles in the corners. And most of the shots he took got flipped into the goalie's pads.

Unfortunately this isn't grade school where "effort" is what wins. This is a big dollar business where results are what wins. Cheechoo's lack of results saw him slide down the lines until he was only doing five or six minutes of ice time a night. And reduced ice time does very little to give you the chance to improve matters.

I thought putting Cheechoo up with Spezza and Michalek was a good move. Spezza and Michalek are going to draw the defense coverage because... well, come on. Of course they are going to draw the defensive coverage. This opened up ice time and space for Cheechoo, and I thought that was rewarded with more shots on the net and more generally quality chances. Had the team stuck with this for a while I think some results might have come, albeit at the cost of Spezza and Michalek's lower production.

Today's move is a cap-space clearing exercise, one which means that Murray has something in the hopper that requires more space. Therefore there will probably be some other move happening tomorrow. Otherwise, why bother doing this now? While Cheechoo was playing, it showcased what he could do to potential trade partners. Burying him in the AHL distinctly lowers his already low trade value.

This is a first for me -- a hockey trade where I am genuinely sorry that it didn't work out.