Phoenix Coyotes Trade Steve Reinprecht to Florida
14 years ago
Steve Reinprecht, enjoying a brief moment of happiness before remembering that his team is bankrupt.
As per TSN.ca, the Phoenix Coyotes have traded centre Steven Reinprecht to the Florida Panthers in exchange for prospect Stefan Meyer. The opening line on the article is hilarious:
The Phoenix Coyotes may be in bankruptcy but they continue to do business.
I call it hilarious because if the Coyotes weren’t bankrupt they almost certainly wouldn’t have made this move.
Reinprecht was a pending unrestricted free agent who earned 2MM dollars last season and has had four good years in Phoenix after bouncing around the league. Florida promptly re-signed him to a three-year contract.
Reinprecht played middling competition this past year at even-strength and was very effective offensively, particularly given his level of ice-time. He’s willing to block shots but has a non-existent hitting game and isn’t terribly good in the faceoff circle.
Stefan Meyer took big strides forward this year after a lousy 2007-08. He’s a little long in the tooth for a prospect (drafted in 2003), and his offensive numbers don’t look overly good (40 points in 65 games) but he was playing for the Rochester Americans – the lowest scoring team in the AHL. His +/- (-2) was one of the best on the team.
From Phoenix’s perspective, Don Maloney probably did well to get any return at all on a pending unrestricted free agent who likely topped nobody’s wishlist, and he’s grabbed a player who can probably compete for a spot on the team next season (particularly if the team continues to hover around the salary floor).
This is also an interesting trade from Florida’s perspective. They still haven’t replaced departed GM Jacques Martin, so assistant GM Randy Sexton – who announced the trade – is presumably the guy making decisions for the Panthers. Reinprecht should be a good bet to improve his point totals in the Southeast division, and will likely be a decent fit on the second line.
This trade makes sense for both sides, given that Phoenix is probably a lottery team next season. As for who won the deal, I’d say I did, since this means that I have one less free agent to do a profile on.
Recent articles from Jonathan Willis
