Thomas Fleischmann talks a tiny bit about life in Mile High city.
"I didn't expect it, but it's another turn in my life and now I just have to make sure I work hard here and play hard, work as hard as I can," he said of the trade. "I knew a couple guys and since I came here I pretty much know everyone now. It seems like a nice group of guys and a very fun team to play on. I'm just looking forward to the first game."
The Hockey News believes both teams acquire what they need in the Fleischmann and Scoot Hannan trade.
That said, Washington’s unproven (at least, playoff-wise) defense corps can’t help but have its depth and toughness improved by Hannan’s addition. And the financial impact is negligible: Hannan earns $4.5 million this year, but is an unrestricted free agent this summer. It is next to impossible he’d get anywhere close to that much to come back to the Capitals and they may need much or all of that cap room if they choose to retain Alex Semin.
But really, the Avalanche got the best player in this deal. In Fleischmann, they’re not getting a gritty two-way winger or franchise player – he was a healthy scratch for Washington twice this year – but he is still just 26 years old.
Kevin Shattenkirk is doing very well, and more and more people are noticing.
The 21-year-old blueliner has four goals and 11 points in his first 13 NHL games. He’s playing more than 20 minutes a game and averaging more than three minutes on the power play. Among Avs defencemen, only John-Michael Liles is seeing more time with the man advantage.
UPDATE: Things do not look good for Peter Mueller !
The Avalanche has confirmed that Mueller, in fact, is in Boston right now being seen by the same doctors who helped Bruins star Patrice Bergeron deal with a couple of serious concussions. Mueller, still only 22, is beyond frustrated with the lack of progress. In fact, he may be dealing with some of the same depression issues that another Boston star who was concussed – Marc Savard – was very candid about with the media recently, in describing what it was like for him during his latest injury.