Avalanche trade David Jones & Shane O'Brien to Calgary for Alex Tanguay & Cory Sarich

We have a trade to announce. And it has nothing to do with draft picks.

flames.nhl.com confirms the Avalanche have traded forward David Jones and defenseman Shane O`Brien to Calgary in exchange for defenseman Cory Sarich and old friend Alex Tanguay.

That noise you just heard was Sandie, by the way. Also me a little bit. TANGS

Part of the motivation for this deal is business. David Jones has three more years at $4M AAV, versus Tanguay's $3.5M AAV. Not to mention that we're GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER YOU GUYS. FUKKEN RIGHT TANGS

At 34 this season, Tanguay's production is predictably dropping a bit, but he adds Stanley Cup pedigree and veteran presence to a team that needs it. Here's the forwards' production the last three years side by side:

So that's better production, lower AAV, in a veteran guy who's won the Cup. In fact scoring a Cup-winning goal. Here in Denver. TANGSSSSSSSSS

Cory Sarich has 1 year at $2M left before becoming UFA in 2014, versus SOB's 2 more years at the same price tag. So this will help clear up the blueline logjam a bit more quickly, too. Sarich will be 35 this season and won a Cup with Tampa Bay. Noticing a trend? Sarich has been a durable defenseman in his career, at one point owning the NHL's ironman title, but has never added much in the way of offensive pop. A few assists here and there. (0.14 career PPG.) Shane O'Brien's numbers are actually pretty similar to Cory Sarich at Shane O'Brien's age, so there's a bit of upside in the deal for Calgary (plus if David Jones were to finally break out--lol).

tl;dr

• TANGS
• Tanguay's production, though declining, is still an upgrade over Jones at a friendlier salary
• Sarich will be UFA a year earlier than SOB, at the same salary, though SOB may be the better defenseman right now
• Tanguay and Sarich have won Cups

Let the line speculation....BEGIN!

Updates!

Sarich waived a no-move clause (this was Calgary after all) for the deal. It was done early in the day, according to rumor, but had to wait for the BoG meetings to end for the day for approval. (That would line up with the timing of the announcement.)

Quote from Joe Sakic in the press release:

"We are excited to have Alex back with the organization," said Avalanche Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Joe Sakic. "He is coming off a solid season and his experience will be beneficial to our young players. Cory is a veteran defenseman who will help our back end."