Penguins trade Sabourin to Edmonton; acquire goaltender Mathieu Garon

11:10am - Saturday, January 17th, 2009 by DePaoli

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired goaltender Mathieu Garon from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for goaltender Dany Sabourin, forward Ryan Stone and a fourth round draft pick in the 2011 Entry Draft

Garon has a record of 6-8-0, along with a 3.17 goals-against average and .895 save percentage. The 6-2, 192-pound goaltender posted a 26-18-1 mark in 47 games with Edmonton last season.

In 19 appearances with the Penguins this season, Dany Sabourin has posted a 6-8-2 record with a 2.85 goals against average and a .898 save percentage.

Garon has a cap hit of $1.1 million

Pittsburgh and Edmonton have been scouting each other since December

Could something else be in the works? Pittsburgh and Edmonton had talks earlier in the month about a few forwards that could be going the other way.

more to come

Comments

sirmarianhossa

Any idea why this deal wa made? Part of something bigger?

01/17/2009 12:21pm

rkrichter

So we traded a prospect and a draft pick that could have been used in a trade for a winger for a goaltender of equal skill? Plus he costs $1.1 mill compared to Sabourin's $500,000.

01/17/2009 12:25pm

its just a fourth round pick but the cap hit sucks. however sabourin needed to go. he certainly hasnt backed up fleury, nor has fleury backed his team since his injury. last nights game was the first 60 min game they have played in a long while. lets hope it continues and hope that the fleury that showed up last night shows up from now on

01/17/2009 12:31pm

ThorCrag

Yea I didnt see this coming, although I think an extra 600k for a better backup is worth it, crazy for only 475k more we could have kept Conklin earlier this year.... Garon's numbers should improve here though. I mean in Edmonton he had Souray and... yea Souray.

01/17/2009 12:33pm

ryurko

Garon costs 1.1m while sabu is 512k according to thenhlscap.com. Sabu is younger. They are dumping stone I guess. So we did this deal for a goalie that isn't as good and a 4th round pick. Equal salary exchange...doesn't make sense to me.

01/17/2009 12:35pm

ryurko

we added salary for a crap goalie...wtf?

01/17/2009 12:36pm

ryurko

I'd rather of promoted curry and gave them sabu.

01/17/2009 12:37pm

mwiles19

Curry was needed in WBS. They wanted an NHL proven backup goalie.

01/17/2009 12:39pm

Sports70

I don't understand this trade at all...yes, we needed a better backup, and yes, Garon is better despite what the numbers show...but he also makes half a million more than Sabourin...the Pens can't be adding salary for a backup goalie, especially when Curry has not been given a full-time shot as the backup...I'm not upset about losing either player, but I don't know why we had to include the 4th rounder

01/17/2009 12:40pm

Sports70

Note: I'm not criticizing Shero, just wondering what the thinking is...In Shero I Trust!

01/17/2009 12:42pm

ThorCrag

Garon isnt crappy. He plays in Edmonton where they have Sheldon Souray and thats it. He will do much better here in Pitt aslong as Hall Gill can clear the front of the net. I think he is a much sturdier backup than Sabu too. Keeping Curry down in WBS for another year isnt such a bad thing either, he is still young and if his talent becomes something great in WBS, he makes a great trade piece.

01/17/2009 12:42pm

mwiles19

How much does Stone make? I would imagine they are close to balancing each other out, and we probably had to throw in the pick for them to take Stone off our hands considering he's awful.

01/17/2009 12:43pm

depaoli

I thought Tim Sesito was going to be involved in this trade. Energy player in Springfield that Pittsburgh likes........

01/17/2009 12:47pm

this is great trade goaltending has been a concern as of late not only does this give us a above average backup but maybe its a wake up call to fleury and this pushes him knowing they have a quality back up to come in if he struggles. great move by shero let him worry about the cap we just worry about the players hes not done

01/17/2009 12:48pm

ryurko

mwiles19 stone doesn't count against the nhl cap.

01/17/2009 12:49pm

stones cap hit was something like $15,000 so far. I like this trade because "a" he is a better backup, and "b" he can still be a #1 in this league and hopefully will push and help fine tune fleury the rest of the year. He is ufa at seasons end.

01/17/2009 12:49pm

jbpitt11

I don't mind the trade at all. Stone will never be an NHL guy. We picked up a guy with experience for the playoff push.

01/17/2009 12:53pm

Sports70

we should have got a 5th or 6th back in return

01/17/2009 12:55pm

would a 5th or 6th round pick really would have made u that happy? give shero credit he addressed a weakest

01/17/2009 1:12pm

Sports70

after giving up a 4th, yes...we need as many prospects as possible for the sooner-than-you-think future

01/17/2009 1:12pm

1.1 million for a backup goaltender?? i dont like it. And yes we should have gotten a 5th or 6th back.

01/17/2009 1:13pm

gt7322

I kind of like this deal, but I would think now we are up against the cap..maybe over so something else must be going down for this weekend. Tim Sesito would have made this a sweet deal.

01/17/2009 1:17pm

conmlin would look nice for 1.1 mil and shero couldve used sabo in another deal.just another mistake not signing conks

01/17/2009 1:19pm

not conmlin-conklin-lol

01/17/2009 1:19pm

psupens

only thing that makes sense to me here is that Fleury has played really well in the past with a veteran backup behind him (Thibault, Conklin)... maybe this helps him out to get back to playoff level we saw last year...

01/17/2009 1:27pm

garon will push fluery but i dont understand the move to add salary unless there is something else tha this sets up though i am doubtful. but i do think fulery plays better when he A. plays alot and B has a backup to worry about taking time from him.

01/17/2009 1:30pm

GO_PENS

its 500k settle down everyone, geesh

01/17/2009 1:35pm

jbpitt11

Thank You

01/17/2009 1:57pm

even though Garon hasnt had a steller year thus far, a change of scenery can't hurt Garon or the Pens. I think this was a smart trade to add depth to one of the most important possitions for a playoff push. Lets hope we dont waste a deadline trade on Marty St.Louis. We can do better than that.

01/17/2009 2:35pm

Doogs

What they didn't get Hemsky? Wake up RS!!! LOL

01/17/2009 2:35pm

st louis is a hart and art ross trophey winner, stanley cup, world cup winner. he knows what it takes to win i would not complain at all if we got him

01/17/2009 2:40pm

ThorCrag

Hemsky is in bad shape right now, the broken nose he got like 3 weeks ago ended up being a bad concussion. He cant even skate without getting dizzy and having to stop. Besides Hemsky isn't going anywhere, he is one of their small bright spots.

01/17/2009 3:09pm

↑ previous comments ↑

Doogs

Thor, I was trying to be funny. Sabu and Stone + a fourth...we were lucky to Garon.

01/17/2009 4:23pm

ThorCrag

Hemsky would have been a great pickup, I concur with you there. :)

01/17/2009 4:26pm

gdsmack267

Does this mean curry will be called up for tomorrows game or will garon be ready as the backup

01/17/2009 8:34pm

terryk101

Garon is definately an upgrade from Sabu. His numbers may not look good but that Edmonton D is wide open. We underpaid for Garon, which is nice. Edmonton had a little goalie circus going on and Garon was destined to be the guy without the chair. We get some stability now...will be similar to having Conklin on board last year.

01/17/2009 11:36pm

Doogs

Curry is next seasons back-up, Garon makes us allow MAF get a rest.

01/18/2009 6:49pm