Ducks Trade Carter, Bickel For Minor Leaguers

The Anaheim Ducks continued their recent trend of jettisoning low-ceiling, NHL-ready players by trading Ryan Carter and Travis Stu Bickel in two separate deals. Carter was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that had picked up Troy Bodie earlier in the season, for minor-league forwards Stefan Chaput and Matt Kennedy. Chaput is an energetic center that can chip in on the penalty kill, while Kennedy is a two-way player that can play bottom-six minutes. Both are known for playing in the dirty areas, which means they'll fit in on Anaheim's team.

Stu Bickel was traded to the New York Rangers for defenseman Nigel Williams. Both players had been playing in the AHL. Williams is an offensive defenseman and a former 2nd round pick of the Colorado Avalanche.

Ducks GM Bob Murray seems to be giving up his NHL-ready talent (he has given up Carter, Bodie, James Wisniewski, & Brendan Mikkelson in the past few months) for younger talent that can hopefully develop into better players than the marginal talents he just gave away. Guys like Chaput, Kennedy and Williams may not develop into much, but they're young enough that they could.

Carter and Bickel were pretty much developed as players and they frankly weren't quite good enough to make it in the NHL. Murray figured he could give them away, open up time on his squad for younger players, and take a flyer on a few players that might become something. It's a smart strategy and one has to respect the fact that Murray isn't afraid to cut his losses.