Up for Debate: Blake Comeau Trade

            I made an interesting trade today that I have been in negotiation with another "GM" over the weekend and I figured I would put it up for debate here at FHS. Here's the deal:

To me: Blake Comeau and Gilbert Brule

To him: Jake Gardiner, 4^th round 2012 pick

As of right now, I have lost this deal, but I am thinking long term for multiple reasons. Those reasons are after the jump if you're still interested.

This league is run by a group of volunteers and operates out of a fanboard-type setup. It's completely custom and the best league I've ever been apart of because it mirrors the NHL more closely than other fantasy leagues. We have custom contracts, a salary cap, waivers, roster number limits, minor league and prospect rights setup - just about everything basically. The more you treat your team like a real club the better you do - and I've done pretty well since taking my team over nearly two years ago (here are a history of my transactions).

So, with that said, why did I make this deal? Well I'll try to keep it concise, but here we go:

1) I have both Cody Franson and Jake Gardiner on my roster and they are competing against each other - I don't like this. I think in the end Franson will settle down in Toronto and show just how valuable he really is as he showed in Nashville. Losing Gardiner is tough - but he's still so young and there is a high chance there will be growing pains going forward - and I'm looking to win now. My defensive depth is fine (Franson and Yannick Weber now on the bench) and I have Justin Faulk, Derek Forbort, and Stefan Elliot waiting in the prospect pipeline.

2) Unless somehow Blake Comeau lost all his offensive talent overnight there is just no way he can keep playing this bad. He's on a one-year contract in real life and in this fantasy league, so until he picks it up I'm just going to stash him in the minors. When he does I think I will start to win the deal (I am highly doubful he stays this ice cold) or if he plays really bad all year I will most likely just re-sign him on the cheap for a one year deal and hopefully he can bounce back in a different location next season.

3) A fourth round pick would most likely yield me an actual NHL high 3^rd round pick - I never trade my first or second rounders (unless its to move down and receive a prospect) and I would have to watch that prospect just sit around for a while when I'm trying to win now (currently 4-2 tied for 2^nd place after six weeks).

4) Gilbert Brule was tossed in as extra because the other GM needed roster space and I had some to spare. While he's got a lot of players in front of him, he's still young and has a decent projected scoring ceiling and his underlying advanced stats show that he hasn't really played all that bad so far in his career. He's on a cheap 2 year/1.1 Million contract and will be in the minors for now.

Will I see results for this trade? Of course not anytime soon - but I'm playing the odds on buy-low long-term success here. Absolute worst case: Comeau stinks all year, Brule never gets called up, Gardiner puts up 40 pts (he was on my bench to begin with - I had Alzner, Hjalmarsson, Yandle, Phaneuf, Foster, Suter, and Burns in front of him) and that pick ends up being the next Datsyuk. I can't predict all of that now - and I doubt its gonna happen that way anyhow.

So, what does everyone think?