jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (12/19/84)
Last week, the Minnesota North Stars traded defenseman Brad Maxwell and
left winger Brent Ashton to Quebec for left wing/centre Tony McKegney and
winger Bo Berglund. Maxwell and McKegney were clearly the principles in
the trade. Ashton has been around for about five years and he's one of
those guys that everybody thought was going to be great but he never seemed
to realize his potential. Sometimes all a guy like that needs is a change
of scenery, but the Nordiques will be his fourth team, so changes of scenery
haven't done him much good so far. Berglund is in his second NHL year and
he hasn't really shown what he can do yet, so there's still a chance that
he'll turn out to be a good player.
To me, it looks like a great deal for Quebec. Ever since they entered the NHL,
the Nordiques have had an abundance of good forwards, but have been very thin
on defence, so I'm surprised they didn't make a trade like this a long time
ago. Maxwell is the leader on defence that they've always needed. They were
getting leadership from captain Mario Marois, but although he's solid he's by
no means a star. To be a contender, you need a star anchoring your defence.
Maxwell should fill that role. Because of his two-way talents, McKegney was
given a lot of credit for Quebec's defensive improvement last year, but I
don't think they'll miss him as much as Maxwell will help. I can't see Ashton
helping them, but I'm sure they won't miss Berglund at all.
It's not quite so clear from Minnesota's viewpoint. Their weakness is defensive
play, and Maxwell was their best defenseman. However, even without Maxwell
their lineup on defence looks pretty decent; in fact, I can't understand why
their doing so badly with such a good lineup. Maybe North Stars GM Lou Nanne
figured that their defensive weakness was not the fault of their defensemen,
so he shored up the goaltending by getting Melanson from the Islanders, then
he went looking for a good defensive forward who could score too, and found
McKegney. Such players are rare, so the price was high, but the North Stars
were going downhill fast so they had to do something. I don't know much
about Berglund's strengths and weaknesses, so maybe he can help too. They
won't miss Ashton.
--
Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073
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