The San Jose Sharks have made a move prior to the Feb. 27 trade deadline ... but it's not the big move that was made somewhat of a possibility earlier on Thursday when Rick Nash said he'd accept a trade to them from Columbus. No, the Sharks made a decidedly lower-profile move, but it appears to be a good one. San Jose sent the Tampa Bay Liightning a second-round pick in exchange for Dom Moore and a seventh-round pick.
It's a depth move, but one that's being made to increase actual production. Moore should be a solid addition to the third/fourth line and contribute in scoring. He's just got four goals and 15 assists on the season, but again, that's playing on that line with those guys around him. The fact is that the Sharks need to bring in some guys who can make things happen in limited time. By all accounts, that's Moore, albeit on a small scale.
If he plays on the third line, it'd be likely that Michal Handzus goes down to the fourth line. As Fear The Fin notes in their discussion post (head on over to join in), his Corsi numbers are up there, and if you don't know what that means, it's an advanced hockey voodoo statistic.
Still, a second-round pick seems to be a high price to pay, especially for a guy who is scheduled to hit free agency in July. It will be interesting to see exactly how he's used, but you can bet he'll see a lot of time on the penalty kill. He's somewhat of a short-handed specialty player, and really should contribute in that vein. While the second-round pick from Minnesota and thus should be one of the higher picks, we're going to go ahead and just say the Sharks came out just fine with this trade.