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Patrick likes return package, even if it’s a mystery to most
Joe Starkey can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7810.
“They’ve found someone to replace me,” Kovalev said. “They can trade me anytime now.”
Little did Kovalev know that he would be gone within hours. Little did anyone else know that the four players coming to the Penguins would have only seven more goals — combined — than McKenna’s total of nine. The trade actually had something in common with the Jaromir Jagr trade two years ago: When people heard about the return package, they asked one question:
Who?
Joel Bouchard, Mikael Samuelsson, Rico Fata and Richard Lintner hardly are household names — even, perhaps, in their own households — but Penguins general manager Craig Patrick believes that each player will pay dividends.
“We think the people we brought in will enable us to get the playoff spot that we want so much,” Patrick said.
Fata is a 6-foot, 200-pound left winger whom the Calgary Flames drafted sixth overall in 1998. He is the player with the most potential of the four, but Patrick expects Bouchard and Samuelsson to make the most immediate impact. Lintner was sent to the Penguins’ minor-league affiliate in Wilkes-Barre. The others are expected today at practice.
A quick look at each:
After being claimed on waivers by the Dallas Stars in March 2000, Bouchard, 29, played in two games before he contracted spinal meningitis. He missed the playoffs, as the Stars advanced to the finals against the Devils. This past summer, doctors discovered a tumor in Bouchard’s throat. The surgery was risky because the tumor was lodged near his spinal column, and Bouchard was not sure if it was cancerous.
“There were nights when I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “You don’t know if you’re going to an NHL camp or chemotherapy.”
The tumor turned out to be benign. Bouchard came to Rangers camp and was immediately sent to the minors. He was recalled Dec. 10, after star defenseman Brian Leetch was injured, and has played well. He is a good skater, capable of playing on the power play, as he did with the Rangers.
“He’s come back with what seems like a new lease on life and has played extremely well,” Patrick said. “We expect he’ll be the same for us, maybe even more (effective offensively) with the type of people we have to play with.”
Bouchard’s contract of $475,000 expires after this season.
Word is, coaches need to stay on top of Samuelsson daily to keep him in top form. He is known to stop shooting the puck for long stretches. He is on a two-way contract that pays him an NHL salary of $500,000 this season and $550,000 next season.
“He’s a young 26 in the sense that he came over from Sweden later in his career,” Patrick said. “He’s just starting to make his imprint in the National Hockey League.”
Penguins consultant Neil Smith is familiar with Fata because he scouted him heavily in Fata’s draft year. Smith, then the Rangers GM, drafted Manny Malhotra after the Flames took Fata.
“He has a lot of speed and intensity,” Smith said. “He was probably the fastest guy on the Rangers. A lot of people think his hands haven’t caught up to his speed yet.
"Obviously, he hasn’t scored much. The Rangers like something about him, though, because they put him in the lineup night after night.”
Fata, 22, makes $650,000 on a one-way contract this year, after which he’ll be a restricted free agent.
“He’s the wild card in that he’s got great speed, and his skills are starting to catch up to his NHL speed,” Patrick said. “With his speed, he can play center or wing for us.”
“We’ll get a look at him before too long because we can use a highly skilled guy like that,” Patrick said.
