Anyone with deep hockey knowledge wantvto weigh-in on the trade? Schmaltz is a complete unknown to me. And I’m not afraid to admit that as a Jew every time I hear/read his name I picture gross dripping lard (what schmaltz means in Yiddish).
Seems they gave up a lot for him. Fair deal?
I don't claim to have "deep hockey knowledge" but the reasons for the trade are pretty obvious. We're sucking right now and the Yotes feel they have been as patient as they can with both Strome and Perlini. They were supposed to be producing at a much more consistent level at this point in their development in the Yotes management's opinion. There is of course a debate to be had about whether or not that is the fault of the players or the organization, but that's not really important now. Second, the team was sucking and this is as good a way to shake things up as you can do at this point in the season.
Schmaltz had a great year in Chicago last year and has regressed some this year so the Hawks were open to a change of scenery too. They are rebuilding and they basically traded away an underperformer for two underperformers with similar upside.
It's good to note that even in Schmaltz's down year, he is only like a point or so below the combined efforts of Strome and Perlini.
On paper the hockey trade makes sense if you can put aside the fact that we just gave up on two first round picks. That's what stings from a fan's perspective. And, it should sting the front office scouting department. I'm pretty sure that the picks happened under the last GM's tenure so that's always part of it to.