Rumour Revision

RUMOUR			2009/2010 NHL Statistics			2010 Cap Hit
To Montreal	Position	Age	GP	Goals	Points	Years	Per Year
Shawn Horcoff	Forward	31	23	5	11	6	$5.5 million
Gilbert Brule	Forward	22	24	8	17	1	$800,000
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To Edmonton	Position	Age	GP	Goals	Points	Years	Per Year
Andrei Kostitsyn	Forward	24	24	2	10	2	$3.25 million
Sergei Kostitsyn	Forward	22	3	0	2	1	$817,000
Ryan O'Byrne	Defenseman	25	7	0	0	2	$942,000

In a rumoured deal already put forth in the blog, we potentially saw Shawn Horcoff going to the Habs for the Kostitsyn brothers, straight up. That rumour I thought had some muscle to it. Today, however, I wanted to throw into the ring a quick revision that I found a day or two ago, adding in a couple more players, likely to even out the odds a little bit.

The addition of Gilbert Brule and Ryan O'Byrne to the mix is fairly interesting. Brule is enjoying a rebirth to his career, which had fizzled quite badly in Columbus, while O'Byrne has been an up-again, down-again defenseman in Montreal, so he'll be looking for full-time work. Brule could give the Canadiens some more flexibility if some of the other rumoured deals are true (ie. Scott Gomez leaving Montreal), while the Oilers could be infatuated with O'Byrne's size (6'6", 228 lbs.).

Salary cap-wise, the Habs new hit won't be as hard with another $142,000 shaved off the cap hit they take on, which I thought was necessary to move the Kostitsyns, so that becomes somewhat of a wash.

In my opinon, the only thing really nixing this deal going forward would be what kind of value the Oilers have in Brule. They have done well to make them one of their own and actually get some secondary scoring from him as well. That can be easily counteracted by the value they put in both Kostitsyn brothers and whether or not they can turn them into valuable members of the run & gun style of play.

With Hemsky's season done, could this be a move forward, getting the brothers in hopes they can play with Hemsky and start to produce big numbers. Trading Horcoff and Brule away may be considered to be a season-ending move, but it's really all just if's and but's at this time.