Rob The Hockey Guy

Lost in the Cody Hodgson hoopla was the fact that the Canucks made another trade on trade deadline day, acquiring Sami Pahlsson for a pair of fourth round draft picks and Taylor Ellington. This was a much more predictable trade than the Hodgson trade (in fact, I named him as a possibility yesterday, Eklund’s got nothin’ on me).

The acquisition of Pahlsson is a good one, even if the Hodgson trade didn’t go down. Taylor Ellington is a former second round draft pick, but he is almost surely a bust. He’s currently playing in the ECHL. Pahlsson on the other hand, has a Stanley Cup ring and is a defensive specialist.

The big question for Pahlsson is if how much gas he has left in the tank. Sami Pahlsson is 34 years old, and only has 2 goals this season. He has never been a big scorer, in fact 26 points is his career high.

While it’s foolish to think that Pahlsson will play like the player who almost won the Conn Smythe trophy in the 2007 playoffs, he does seem to be able to elevate his play in the playoffs and I think that’s a great sign.

In Columbus this year, Pahlsson has been averaging 15 minutes of ice time per night, and was their top penalty killing forward. He will surely help the Canucks penalty kill and is great on faceoffs.

There has been some talk that Pahlsson will centre the Canucks’ third line, but I disagree. I don’t think that Pahlsson has enough offensive upside to centre the third line and either Max Lapierre or Manny Malhotra will end up being in that spot.