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Who Won the David Booth Trade?


Ouellet

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Let me preface this by saying I wrote the article because I always hear fans say that this was such a terrible trade, and that's nothing more than a myth based on Booth's performance/buyout. Monetarily, sure. But the Canucks aren't in a dollar grind, and the long term gain was far more significant.

http://tospeakoforcas.com/2014/09/07/who-won-the-david-booth-trade/

Preliminary note: We’re less than a week away from the Penticton Young Stars tournament. Our withdrawal will finally get its fix, but lets have some fun while we wait.

The acquisition of David Booth is one of the most infamous deals for the Canucks in the last few years. After quickly earning Keith Ballard status, he was the whipping boy for both the fans and the coaching staff during his tenure. Now that Booth has left for, er, “greener” pastures, I think we can finally assess the trade in full.

The trade:

To Florida – Mikael Samuelsson, Marco Sturm

To Vancouver – David Booth, Steven Reinprecht, 3rd Round Pick (2013)

Florida‘s Return:

Mikael Samuelsson – Samuelsson was the key piece for Florida in the trade. He was 34 at the time of the deal, making $2.5 million in the final year of his deal. His time in Vancouver was excellent. He signed as a free agent, scoring 30 goals and 53 points in his first season. He put up 50 points in 2010-2011, and had started on the path to another modest season before the trade, putting up three points in the first six games. Ultimately, the Canucks lost some very reasonable production that could have been a big help that season. Though they did win the President’s Trophy, having a more productive winger in the line-up against the Kings could have maybe helped a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, Samuelsson was not the magical piece that would have stopped the Kings’ cup run, but his five points in seven playoff games that season was much better than Booth’s post-season.

The Panthers gained some immediate help, and they acquired him with the obvious acceptance that he was going to free agency the following year. This was prior to Florida’s new ownership, so they saw the short-term contract as a win. Samuelsson also helped the team reach the playoffs for the first time in forever, so chalk his acquisition as a big plus for the team. It was about short-term impact with long term financial freedom for the Panthers, and that’s exactly what they got.

Marco Sturm – What a strange career this man had. Once a key part in the Joe Thornton trade, he signed a one year, $2.25 million deal in the 2011 off-season, hoping for a last gasp in the NHL. He played six games for the team to start the 2011-2012 year, putting up a whopping zero points. He was also a -5 in those six games and eventually became a healthy scratch before he was dealt. He probably holds the record for the shittiest six-game career in a Canucks uniform, but I didn’t do any fact-checking on that.

His time in Florida wasn’t much better. In 42 games he managed only five points. He did stem the +/- tide a bit, finishing his Panthers career at a -8. He didn’t score a single point in the seven game playoff series, either, and that marked the end of his NHL career. Now, the Panthers did consider this a financial win by getting rid of a lengthy and burdening contract, but I can’t help but feel like Sturm’s presence hurt the team far more than it helped them. I’m marking Sturm down as a loss for the club.

Vancouver‘s return:

David Booth - I don’t know where to start with this, so let’s follow the narrative. Booth came to Vancouver with a lot of expectation despite a career-threatening concussion that he had received in the 2009-2010 season. Prior to that year, he had put up a very impressive 31 goals and 60 points. Even in the previous year, his 40 points was a decent total (he was a Edlerian -31, though). The though was to play him with Kesler. Gillis hoped that he could be the solution to the ancient proverbial question of who, if anyone, can play on Kesler’s wings. The logic was there, certainly, and I was really excited about the acquisition. As well all know, it was ultimately a faliure.

Booth’s numbers in his first season were actually quite respectable. He notched 29 points in 56 games after being traded. He didn’t help at all in the playoffs though, putting up just a single assist in the ugly five game series against L.A., and that was when his time in Vancouver turned downhill.

After being hurt on a few occasions, with questions of work ethic and effort swirling, Booth put up just four points in 12 games. Again, this was supposed to be a top six winger. He didn’t play at all in the playoffs, and there were plenty of calls to use a compliance buyout on him. The Canucks didn’t, electing to keep him for another season. Once again he was hurt, scratched, and Torts had a few questionable words to say about him. He put up 19 points in 66 games last season in a horrible year for the entire club, and that marked the end of his time on the team.

A big reason the deal was made is because the Canucks were willing to take on his $4.25 million cap hit that was supposed to last until the end of this upcoming season. Could the space have been used for someone else? Absolutely. Now, there is no cap hit for 2014-2015 given the compliance buyout. That being said, despite the willingness of the Canucks to take on the contract, Booth entered into the territory of wasted cap space and roster sports. This was ultimately a loss for the Canucks, and they’re lucky they don’t have to feel any cap repercussions. If it was a regular buyout, the trade would have been far worse.

Steven Reinprecht: I won’t waste much time on Reinprecht because he never played in a single game for the Canucks. He was added into the deal so Florida didn’t have to pay his salary while he was in the AHL. He did put up respectable numbers in Chicago (43 points in 57 games), but his cap hit meant that he couldn’t come up to the team as they were flirting with the ceiling. Gillis had said that he wanted to see him on the Canucks for the playoffs, but it never did come to fruition after the got the royal boot. This part of the deal was essentially irrelevant.

3rd Round Pick (2013) – When I first decided to write this, I didn’t think much about this pick. After some quick research, I realized that this was the pick that the team had sent to Florida with Evan Oberg to acquire Chris Higgins. Gillis wanted this pick back from Florida to free up the possibility of offer sheets in the summer. Because of that, the Canucks took on Reinprecht’s salary. It was a sort of double favour. The team didn’t end up sending an offer sheet though, electing instead to use the pick.

Cole Cassels was the player selected in the third round of 2013. Now one of the better prospects in the organization, this was easily the most significant aspect of the trade for the team. He put up 73 points in 61 games for Oshawa last season, and will be a key player again this year. While we won’t be calling this the “Cole Cassels Trade” anytime soon, getting that pick back was crucial. It was last year that the team finally started to stock the prospect cupboards, and Cassels was a fantastic addition to the youth movement. A number of scouts suggest that Cassels could be a big steal of the draft. Time will tell if he becomes a legitimate NHL player, but the trade still has the potential to have a lasting impact on the future of the franchise.

Verdict: I will declare the Canucks winners only because of the prospect they gained out of it. David Booth was a loss, but not as bad as it could have been given the compliance buyout, and Reinprecht was irrelevant. The potential of Cassels gives the Canucks a lasting impact from the deal, where as the Panthers approached it entirely as a salary dump. Florida did exactly what they intended to do, which was to dispose themselves of burdening contracts. Both players left at the end of the season, and giving up a late 3rd round pick to free up some salary trouble was a big win for the team at the time. Though they really didn’t gain anything tangible from it, they achieved their goal and didn’t exactly lose the trade, either. The Florida Panthers emerged from this trade none the better, and none the worse.

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Gillis was trading on potential and freeing up roster spots doing it. I never liked the trade as we all knew who we were trading for and it was a north south player shooter pwf kinda guy who had experience with Kesler like 14 years ago or some nonsense. We all knew we needed that playmaking winger but meh.

Got the pick back, cole cassels, dropped sturm and ultimately samuelsson who was out almost all season with a stomach or abdominal issue.

Absolute wash with the wild card being the return of the cassels pick

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at the time, David Booth just turned 29, had a couple of rough seasons, still potential, Samuelson was iltearlly a player on decline, that said I really wished, we hung on to Samuelson a little longer, we all know he was the best winger, Kesler got to play with, and helped him with 40 goals. I do know that there was some problems between him and A.V which probably got him traded. Man have we held Samuelson and Ehrhoff, I think we would have made it to the finals again, and this time defeat New Jersey for the Stanley cup.

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I'd say we've already won. We have a prospect that could make the trade a fleecing but on what has transpired so far, we are winning.

Sure Booth was a bit of a bust on the ice, but Sturm was a total failure and Booth pretty much matched Samuelsson's output. We got rid of a player who didn't want to be here and got one that probably could have done better in other circumstances. If Cole Cassels is an NHL'er then woohoo.

Winning!

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This was one of Gillis' critical dealings that shut the window on the SCF core.

Booth was paid $4.5 per annum with a $4.25 cap-and Aqua took on three years at the amount.

That salary was the amount that should have gone into a player that took Kes and the second line over the top.

MS was paid half that amount at $2.5 .

It was a big gamble with a large contract on a player that had suffered a serious concussion.

It was a deal that in large part assisted in the demise of Gillis as GM.

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This trade had more good than bad for the Canucks. As others have noted, the development of Cassels will determine just how good it will be.

The only substantial negative for the Canucks in this trade is if one chooses to speculate that the team could have picked up a UFA for the caphit that was being used for Booth. If one does want to argue from this perspective, then the question is: who was available for around $4 million in 2012 (the season after Samuelsson and Sturm would have come off the books had they not been traded to Florida)?

regards,

G.

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Is this even a question? At best it was a stalemate for us. From Fla's POV it was a very successful cap dump. The fact that the Aqs had to compliance buyout Booth just to free up cap room says it all...

having said this, Booth was an effective player for the month or two we had him before Kevin Porter cheap shotted his knee. He wasn't the same for us after this incident. He had the makings of an effective second liner. It's easy to look at trades in hind sight, but even great GMs can't predict things like random injuries.

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