Here's a quick question for the panel and/or readers out there:
Given the trio of minor moves he made Monday, what could Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke have cooking?
Moving out young Russian Stanislav Chistov is understandable enough, given he was due $800,000 under the cap the next two seasons and had played only one NHL game this season, but why deal the injured Todd Fedoruk and acquire George Parros to fill the same role? Fedoruk at least has shown an ability to contribute in other ways for the Ducks, as evidenced by the 23 points he put up last season, while Parros — a Princeton graduate — isn't likely to ever be more than a puncher.
(As an aside, going from the contending Ducks to the bottom-feeding Flyers is another tough break for Fedoruk, who had his right cheekbone shattered by a haymaker from Minnesota Wild behemoth Derek Boogaard two weeks ago.)
One interesting footnote of these dealings is the fact that Anaheim, already at the top of the standings, now moves further up the line in terms of available cap space. After shipping out Chistov, Burke has just under $5-million to work with — which makes the Ducks one of the few teams who have that kind of available salary and are in solid playoff positioning.
Of the 10 teams with less on the books than Anaheim, only the Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators are currently ranked in the top eight in their conference.
