Boomer Esiason All But Guarantees Callahan Will Be Traded...For Martin St. Louis?
Its coming and it will be huge. Surprising, shocking, inevitable, and all about business. $$$ #NHL #tradedeadline
— Boomer Esiason (@7BOOMERESIASON) February 23, 2014
Well, the Olympic freeze on NHL activity ends at midnight & the trade deadline is March 5th – so that leaves about 10 days left for any Captain Cally trade to come to fruition. You can check his Twitter feed for everything, but in summary, Boomer believes it’ll be a one-for-one deal with an Eastern Conference team that’s NOT the Isles, Devils, Flyers, Pens, Bruins or Leafs. He said the player was in Sochi, the trade is all but “agreed upon” and he’s got a “major respect for him”. After the US were smoked by the Fins, he tweeted this in response to Callahan’s trade stock:
Well, the only game after that was Sweden/Canada. So who’s a winger who just played in the gold medal game on a competitive Eastern team that’s none of the ones mentioned above? Daniel Alfredsson or Martin St. Louis – and no way they’re dealing for a 41 year-old Alfie. So is Marty gonna be a Blueshirt?
I know, it’s Boomer Esiason – not exactly an NHL pundit – but the few times he’s put himself out there (i.e. the lockout), he’s been on the money. A Cally-for-St. Louis swap certainly fits the mold of “surprising, shocking, inevitable” as both have been the heart & soul of their franchises for years but are staring at the end for one reason or another. Tampa Bay has been solid since Stamkos (who is nearing a return) went down. They’ve stumbled upon younger players that can contribute offensively. Maybe they view Cally as the grit they need to make a legit push in the East this year. A haul worth parting with Marty for as opposed to potentially losing him to retirement after next season.
I’m not sure how a Blueshirts fan would hate this move. St. Louis is still lighting it up at 38 and has a reasonable $5.6 mil cap hit next year – a number right around the salary Callahan is looking for, so he’d fit in TB if they’re thinking long-term. Marty and Brad Richards have a successful history & won a Cup as Lightning teammates. It’d certainly make some sense to give the Rangers a needed scoring boost, especially with Zuccarello going down for a couple weeks with a broken hand. He’s also a player who’s easy to root for – a feisty little bastard with a non-stop motor (and a no-movement clause). All speculation – but if this is all bullshit and I wrote a novel on a fucking Sunday just to look like an idiot, I should’ve never trusted a former Jet. That’s on me.
h/t to Stoolie Adam