Look around the league over the last few years - does anyone ever get good value in return when they trade a goalie? LA only got a second and Scrivens for Bernier. Montreal was criticized for not getting enough when they traded Halak. Canucks got some journeymen and a bit of cap relief in trading Luongo, who's playing great for Florida. List goes on and on - for a variety of reasons, it's a buyer's market on goalies, and has been for a while.
This trend may even intensify now that GMs see a journeyman like Dubnyk lighting it up under the right circumstances in Minnesota, or even our own situation where the Senators go on a streak in front of a VERY lightly regarded 27 year old college free agent. Why spend big assets on a goalie when you can draft and develop your own, or pick one up on the trade market for peanuts? Sure, in hindsight we missed on Conacher, but the bottom line is that we had a logjam in goal, and the return wasn't going to magically get better had we waited.
That's true, and a fair response. But for myself, and my sense is this represents at least a few others too, that the 'return' on Bishop many wanted wasn't a player or a pick - it was a move that returned now and in the future.
You keep Bishop, sign him (for whatever reason everyone says he was going to walk - but that's conjecture) and go with Bishop and Anderson. Maybe Bishop turns out to be better than Andy now and over the short term, perhaps last year when Andy struggled and Bishop had a career year. And in keeping Bishop you allow Lehner to mature his self and game in the AHL getting 65 starts a year for three or so years.
And maybe that approach pays off. Hey, maybe it doesn't. Maybe feeling pressured and rushed by Lehner's camp, by thinking Conacher might fill a need immediately and perhaps even long-term, maybe that move was the right one. There's not really a definitive answer unless b/c it's all relative to one's opinion of what should have been returned or what should have been done.
For me, I liked Bishop who, despite not being a perfect goalie, was good for us and I wanted Lehner to develop in the AHL - and I had a higher opinion of Lehner's game when they made the move than I do now. Today I see a guy who really could have used another 100 or so pro starts, a guy whose develop may have actually been hurt by being in the NHL. Again, no guarantees his game develops any differently, but I think it very well could have, and have a hard time imagining it would have hurt. But who knows - maybe he bolts b/c of playing in the A, maybe he sulks and stops working on his game.
I'd also add I liked Conacher a lot more than MacLean - but I still have a hard time seeing where he'd fit today. Was fun though, he was great against Mtl and that kid line with Silf and Zibby was our best line for a bit there.
