The Sabres finally got their man. It has been speculated for almost a year now that Darcy Regier wanted Steve Ott from the Dallas Stars and today he finally sealed the deal. The team announced they had acquire Steve Ott and Adam Pardy from the Dallas Stars in exchange for Derek Roy (HE’S GONNNEEEEEE!!!!!). After the Sabres drafted two centers in the first round of the NHL Draft a few weeks ago, on top of the acquisition of Cody Hodgson at the deadline and the rise of Tyler Ennis as a center, the need for Derek Roy diminished. He was in desperate need of a scenery change and will hopefully get something out of this move. I feel its my obligation to wish him good luck, so yea, enjoy Dallas Royzie, and vice versa Dallas fans.
Now onto the important part, Steve Ott. On top of adding tough guy John Scott last night, the Sabres got a little bit tougher and even got some skill in return. Ott is listed at 6’0″ and 190 pounds and scored 11 goals, 28 assists for 39 points. Oh, and he also racked up 156 PIM in 74 games. Ott seems excited about his start with his new team and hes also got a brotherly connection here in Buffalo. As many people have talked about today after the trade announcement, Mike Weber and Steven Ott were billet brother back in their junior days. So I guess You can look at this as a family reunion of sorts, aww how cute! Ott is an agitator, just like Patrick Kaleta, but with more skill. Imagine how annoying they will be together…
Adam Pardy is in the final year of his contract and will have to battle for his spot on this team. Pardy joins Tyler Myers, Christian Ehrhoff, Jordan Leopold, Andrej Sekera, Mike Weber, Brayden McNabb, Robyn Regehr and Alexander Sulzer in the defense queue for next season. Also throw Mark Pysyk into that mix since he will likely sign his entry level deal this summer if he is not part of a trade package later in the off season. Now don’t get me wrong, to many defenseman is not a terrible problem to have, but this is getting a little excessive.
Pardy is a 6’4″ 220 pound defenseman who was originally drafted by the Calgary Flames back in 2004. He appeared in 36 games and added only 3 assists to the score sheet. In 183 career NHL games, Pardy has scored 29 points and racked up 157 penalty minutes. I expect he will be flipped in another deal or will be playing in Rochester for the majority of the season, barring major injury to any starters.
