Saturday, March 23, 2013

Making moves in Cleveland and New Jersey

What looked to be a slow news day here turned into something to type about as both the Browns and Devils made moves to add to their rosters.

First,we go to the in-season team as the Devils made a trade with the St.Louis Blues to add former top prospect Matt D'Agostini to add to the slumping offense.
At one time,the now 26 year old right winger was thought to be a possible star in the league just two years ago as he scored 21 goals.
Since then,D'Agostini's game slipped offensively with a nine goal season last year and missed considerable time with concussion issues before scoring just one goal this season with the Blues.
Of course the Devils are hoping that a change of scenery will re-start D'Agostini scoring goals and they will have the remainder of the season to evaluate him as he will be a restricted free agent at the end of the campaign.

Fire and Ice reports the following as the terms of the swap:
"If the Devils qualify or re-sign him, the Blues get the Devils’ 2015 fourth-round pick and keep their seventh-round pick. If the Devils decide not to qualify or re-sign D’Agostini, they get St. Louis’ 2015 seventh-round pick and the Blues get the Devils’ 2015 fifth-round pick."

Seems like a safe enough gamble for a player that two years ago would have been nowhere near that low of a cost to obtain.
Harri Pesonen was returned to Albany in order to make room on the roster/
D'Agostini will wear 16,which means Rachel will dislike him right away.

The Browns signed two free agents to one year deals,neither of which will turn the world upside down and one of which is quite disappointing to me.
Cleveland signed tight end Kellen Davis from the Bears and corner Chris Owens from the Falcons.
Owens was the Falcons third corner last season and should fill a similar role with the Browns in the nickel and dime formations as he will likely fill the role that was held last year by Buster Skrine.
Owens should even have a chance to start opposite Joe Haden,although the Browns will likely attempt to draft someone to start and the team still has a chance to sign a former teammate of Owens in Brent Grimes.
Grimes would immediately slot in as the starter and the Browns would likely not use the first rounder on a corner,if the team signs Grimes to go with Owens.
Owens is 5'9  and small for the position and fits better as a situational corner than an every down corner.

Considering the names that Browns fans were hoping to land at tight end through free agency,Kellen Davis seems like quite a downer and he is to me.
The 6'7 Davis has the physical tools to play in the league,but he is more of a pass catcher than a blocker and yet his hands have been a liability as he dropped several passes ( 8 drops of 44 targets according to Profootballfocus.com) and showed nothing to me to make him an improvement over Jordan Cameron,let alone equal some of the bigger names that were available.
I know that Rob Chudzinski and Norv Turner have the reputation of working well with tight ends,but Pat Shurmur had the rep of working well with quarterbacks and that didn't turn out well.
This is a disappointment to me as Davis seems to me to be guy that works out well and looks good on the measurement template,but that does not turn into on field production.
The physical size makes Davis an intriguing addition,but the hands will have to improve greatly in order for this to be an good addition...
It is only a one year contract,so perhaps Davis will come to camp motivated and prepared,but for now,I am not overwhelmed....


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