Chirps from Center Ice

In an, “out or nowhere” occurrence, this flashed across Twitter Wednesday afternoon.

Going the other way was Colin Smith…

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Obie and Hart had this to say about Cramarossa.

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Here’s the thing with this type of trade. We have seen it before. When the Pens signed Colin Smith in the summertime, he was touted as an offensive badass. Automatic 40 point scorer. He was #44 on my summertime AHL Big Board.

But, hampered by inconsistency and injuries, Smith’s tenure with the Penguins ends with 18 points in 35 games.

We will see if Cramarossa (10 points in 37 games and a -6) is any better or an upgrade.

Trends say no.

Anyone remember Danny Kristo? Here’s a refresher. He was later traded in an NHL package for Ron Hainsey that same year. At that time, I said this…

Danny Kristo came over in the trade which saw Reid McNeill get sent to the St. Louis Blues in a change of scenery for both players earlier this year. Kristo appeared in 32 games and had six goals and five assists. You could tell a few games into his tenure that the fit wasn’t there. Kristo was touted as a goal scorer, but only scored December 3 against St. John’s before going cold and not scoring again until January 7 against Binghamton. He had been a healthy scratch here and there and depending on the way you analyze things, was getting bumped in the lineup in favor of Patrick McGrath.

Certainly I am not questioning the brain trust at 40 Coal. All I am saying is that the trend has been there that these trades do little in the way of being anything terribly, “big.”

If you are saying I have only given one example and that a”trend” by definition is more than one sample set, okay fine. Mattias Plachta. Spencer Machacek. Danny Syvret. Ryan Parent. Derek Nesbitt.

You get the point.

More as it comes, or if not, by Friday for the Gameday setup against Rochester in Rochester Friday.