The kickoff to Trade Deadline Day comes from Columbus, where the Blue Jackets have dealt goaltender Pascal Leclaire & a 2nd round pick for forward Antoine Vermette:
As I wrote the other day, Vermette doesn't excite me at all as a player; there might be flashes of brilliance, but they're spread out between long stretches of mediocrity. It seemed like only yesterday (well, just last season) that Leclaire was the "Goalie of the Future" in Columbus; it just goes to show how quickly things can change.
In terms of hockey value the Blue Jackets appear to have massively overpaid in this deal, but it may well be just as much about clearing Leclaire's salary off the books ($8.4 million over the next two seasons) as anything else.
From the Nashville Predators perspective, this one doesn't scare me, frankly. In the Western Conference arms race, Columbus just added a pea shooter.
