Antoine Vermette is next up in our Trade Target series, a closer look players who could be dealt leading up to the March 2nd trade deadline. Written by Peter Harling, who can be found on twitter @pharling.
The one player that is most expected to be moved by the March second deadline is Arizona Coyotes veteran Antoine Vermette. With an expiring $3.75 million contract he will be an available rental.
Vermette has established himself as a speedy reliable two-way forward over his 810 career games played in the NHL. Vermette was drafted by the Ottawa Senators where he broke into the league with his impressive speed and offensive upside. After being traded from Ottawa to Columbus for Pascal Leclaire, Vermette spent parts of four seasons with the Blue Jackets before being traded for another goalie in Curtis McElhinney and draft picks. His best season offensively was back in 2009-10 when he played in all 82 games scoring 27 goals and 38 assists for 65 points and a .79 point per game pace. In recent years his production has been as low as .45 PPG but has come back up this season as he has 13 goals and 22 assists for 35 points in 58 games played for a .60 PPG production.
In his fourth season with the Coyotes, it is highly expected it will be his last, as he is now 32-years old and the Coyotes seem to be a team building around its youth. In addition to the youth movement, another factor working against Vermette is the facts the Coyotes are a budget team and it is expected they will not offer Vermette a contract as an unrestricted free agent before July first. For these reasons count on Vermette being dealt by the Coyotes as a rental.
TSN’s Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports that he expects Vermette to command between $5 and $6 million per season on a new contract as a UFA this summer and those dollars just don’t match with the Coyotes. It could price him out of the range of a team that acquires his services at the deadline as well.
In the short term, Vermette would be a tremendous addition to a team looking for roster depth for a long playoff drive. As Chicago and Los Angeles have recently shown, it takes four lines to compete deep in the post season. As salaries and the salary cap are not a factor in the playoffs the balance of his contract should be digestible by many teams for the short term. Vermette has proven to be a versatile player able to play the wing or centre anywhere between the fourth and second line effectively. Vermette is efficient on faceoffs and responsible defensively, while adding an element of speed to any roster. He is also a durable player who is seldom injured.
What would Arizona be looking for in return? Draft picks and or prospects. Last year at the deadline Nashville received prospect Calle Jarnkrok, Patrick Eaves and 3rd round pick for the rental of David Legwand as a best case scenario comparison. However, two other similar comparisons were Ales Hemsky going to the Ottawa Senators and Marcel Goc to the Pittsburgh Penguins, both for a third and fifth round draft picks. It has been suggested that the asking price from Don Maloney for Vermette is a first round pick plus a prospect. While that seems unlikely, the same was said about the Leafs asking for a first round pick for Cody Franson, which they got, but had to include Mike Santorelli.
Last year the Coyotes failed to trade winger Radim Vrbata because they did not get the price they were asking for and the team lost him as a UFA to Vancouver in the offseason. That fresh memory may be a factor in Maloney accepting the best offer received, even if it is well below his asking price.
Who is interested? Several teams have been rumored to be “in on Vermette” including Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, and Anaheim Ducks. The only teams with no first round pick in the 2015 draft are Nashville Predators, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and St. Louis Blues.
From OwnThePuck …
From Gus Katsaros of McKeen’s Hockey – Rolling 5 game SF and GF per-60 on/off and PDO for Antoine Vermette
