everyone is healthy).
Wishart, 22 from Comox, British Columbia, stands 6'4 and 222 lbs and currently has 4 goals and 14 assists at AHL Norfolk to go with a +13; he'll join Bridgeport instantly the highest points holder for the Defense and tied for second on the SoundTigers (we have a pretty bad Bridgeport team this year) with David Ullstrom, both are miles behind Rhett Rahkshani who has 31 points thus far. His +13 would also lead the SoundTigers by quite a lot. His Scouting Report from Bolts Prospects looks encouraging, though the Weakness mentioned is pretty hard to swallow: D-men with perceived softness are NOT a fun thought. (Image by Getty Images and copied from SoundTigers Press Release)
Wishart's stat's for his career thus far brought to you by HockeyDB:
Initially I considered this trade as worse than the Chris Osgood for Justin Papineau swap years ago. Right now I'm not so sure. I mean if we had received Wishart last year for say Marty Biron (and Mike Smith was broken then and Antero Niitymakii hadn't been so brilliant), I would have been ecstatic especially considering the breakout season that Wishart enjoyed last year (see above). However, in a weak Goalie market with a number of teams looking to upgrade for a playoff run I feel Garth could've secured more than one D prospect. Yes, Rollie the goalie is 41; yes we don't know if he's going to retire; yes, Rollie was going to be traded; but what doesn't make sense to me is why early January when the team is playing well and Rollie could return his stats closer to where he was before Jack Capuano let the Ranger feast upon him earlier this week. No one knows if this is the absolute best that Garth could have gotten or if he and Lightning GM Steve Yzerman settled on Wishart after Garth demanded Carter Ashton or a first round pick (having watched a few Canada world junior games, I absolutely love Carter's style of play and how he and prospect Casey Cizikas worked together on the forecheck and PK) or something crazy for Roloson.
As mentioned above, there's a lot to like about Ty Wishart, he seems to have put everything together, he instantly becomes a big body who can score at Bridgeport (after Dylan Reese the call up opportunities get murky between Mark Katic, Anton Klementyev, Dustin Kohn or Wes O'Neill all having NHL experience, but none demanding a call-up with their play). could be become the top four D man that some people think he will be (which would make for an entirely "home grown" top 4); I have no idea, but I do have reservations. Granted, Wishart was pushed out by a HUGE number of D prospects in the Tampa system (according to Bolt Prospect's top 25 Prospects: Wishart ranked 8th with the 10-17 spots occupied by D) but are we getting a Skilled Offensive D man who plays a great all around game or a guy that's even handed on D, can score a bit and refuses to throw his body around (he's no major defensive liability, but you HAVE to play physical in the Atlantic) leaving you constantly wanting? This may be silly to some, if he's skilled, scores and isn't like a certain member of out D corps, then life is gravy.
My concerns are that Tampa, who certainly had high hopes for Wishart in acquiring him, continually passed over him: after a disastrous '08-'09 campaign, Wishart's first pro season; Tampa Bay decided to bulk up on the D adding Mattias Ohland, Pavel Kubina, Kurtis Foster and grabbing Victor Hedman as consolation for the Isles grabbing John Tavares. As the '09-'10 campaign didn't produce a winner either, Tampa didn't move any veteran Defenseman for picks or pieces and give Wishart a shot during his eventual 32 point campaign. Other Defensive prospects received game call-ups over the big D-man. Now it's easy to argue that the old GM wanted to move Wishart slowly along and build confidence, but he almost certainly wasn't going to get a ticket to the NHL with Tampa...and a team willing to give up a top or once top prospect (even with a goalie like Roloson coming back) should give you pause.
Shortly after the trade, Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune mentioned on Twitter that two other prospects had pushed passed Wishart on the Depth chart. This leads me to wonder has he peaked or was it time for a change of scenery? One final thought here: Wishart is on the last year of an Entry level deal and will be an RFA come July 1, if he continues his production and joins the blue-line, hopefully he'll earn his keep and pick up a 1 way deal, I don't know though.
Time will tell, I'm glad that Garth got more than low picks. I have my doubts about Wishart, I certainly hope I'm wrong.
So often just that change in scenery and organization is enough to push a prospect towards improving. We'll see. Only time will tell.
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