Flames Acquire Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond

 

The Flames announced this morning that the club has acquired PL Letourneau-Leblond from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a fifth round draft pick.

"Who the hell is that?" is your likely response. Unfortunately, he’s a goon ladies and gentlemen. PL-LL played 64 games in the AHL last year and managed an amazing 338 PIM’s. His career high in terms of points in junior was seven. He brings nothing to the table outside of the ability to drop the gloves. 

I’ve made my feelings clear on pure enforcers in the past – I think they are detriments at best in the NHL. I also don’t understand the point of trading for goons since they are always readily available for nothing in the free agent pool, so this deal doesn’t make sense even if the price is as nominal as a fifth round pick.

If this is another AHL-move, I’m mildly unimpressed by the addition. If Feaster intends to replace Ivanans on the Flames roster with Letourneau-Leblond, then my opionion of the deal is much lower. The big guy is on a one-way deal worth $525k, so it’s possible he’s on the parent roster to stay. That means he will effectively be neutering what was actually a strength for the Flames last year – a highly functional fourth line – for 30 or 40 games this year.

Not a fan. At least he beat up Cam Janssen I guess.