Monday, December 11, 2006

Trade

The Omaha Lancers and Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets made a trade today. Omaha acquired goaltender Drew Palmisano from Ohio for defenseman Dennis Urban. This pretty much makes it official that Gudmandson is out.

I can't believe Ohio would do this trade. Palmisano is a very good goalie and still has a couple years of eligibility left, while Troy Redmann is done after this year. Ohio could have built around their goal tending, but I guess they chose to go another route.

Palmisano has posted a 1-6-3 record for the Jackets this season, being in net for the team's only win. Drew has a 3.70 goals against average and a respectable 90.3 save percentage. Despite the horrible record, Palmisano was able to stop a lot of very good scoring chances he faced, but it's tough to win games when you have to face 40-60 shots per game.

Urban was the first round pick of Omaha last May and had recorded 10 points (4-6--10) in 21 games for the Lancers. Dennis played last season for the Mahoning Valley Phantoms of the NAHL and notched 30 points. He also spent time at the forward position this season.

This deal appears to favor Omaha in every way, except it leaves them a little short on the defensive end of things. This trade gives Omaha arguably the two best young goalies in the league.

EDIT: Ohio also received a 4th round pick in next year's draft with Urban. Ohio also added Brandon Czarnecki to become their backup goalie for the rest of the season.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ohio State, already struggling through a tough first half of the season that included the loss of its top returning scorer, appear set to receive another blow.

The London (Ont.) Free Press is reporting that Buckeyes freshman defenseman Kevin Montgomery is leaving the team to sign with the London Knights of the OHL.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Montgomery was a fourth-round draft choice of the NHL's Colorado Avalanche in 2006. He was also selected by London in its draft, and the article states that the two sides kept in touch.

Montgomery was a member of the U.S. National Development Program the last two years, and played on the under-18 team that won a gold medal in Sweden last spring. He was by-passed, however, for the upcoming World Junior tournament.

Unlike some other college freshman who leave for the CHL, Montgomery has been getting plenty of playing time. He has played 17 of OSU's 18 games this season, with one goal and five points.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Urban preferred to be closer to home (PA). Omaha has their captain from last year coming in, Chris Hepp, and probably needed to create a spot for him on their roster.

Anonymous said...

Omaha definitely wins with Hepp coming back and now Palmiscano in net. On the other hand, Ohio gains a good defenseman which will help them a little. They have to do something I guess.

I do agree, they should have kept Palmiscano and dished Redmann to Omaha. That would have been the wiser choice but then this is Ohio we're talking about. They also decided not to pick up any USHL vets that went unprotected prior to the draft last spring. So what if they weren't high caliber players, you need some sort of veteran leadership. That kind of leadership simply doesn't come from the NAHL.