Phoenix gets a steal in trading Kyle Turris to Ottawa

Kyle Turris finally gets his wish.

After asking for a trade two months ago, Turris is headed to Ottawa in a deal that sees the Senators send young defenseman David Rundblad and a second round pick back to Phoenix for the potential star.

Turris’ rough contract negotiations with the Coyotes this summer and through training camp and regular season sealed up that he wouldn’t be very welcome in Phoenix. Demanding a trade didn’t help that perspective either and his play once he did sign apparently didn’t impress coach Dave Tippett too much as he was a healthy scratch in the last two games. Now he goes to Ottawa where he’ll have a chance to become the Senators’ No. 2 centerman and thrive with more ice time.

Ottawa giving up on young David Rundblad looks to be a gutsy move on their own as his upside is huge despite his struggles at times this season. Truth is, the evolution of Erik Karlsson‘s game made Rundblad expendable. Karlsson has developed into one of the best puck movers and offensive defenseman in the league this season and GM Bryan Murray must feel that he’s all the weapon they need on the blue line.

Rundblad has had struggles defensively this season, but at 21 years-old he’s got a lot of time to develop. It’s a good job by Coyotes GM Don Maloney to get as good a package from Ottawa as he did. If Turris doesn’t become the star that he thinks he can be, this deal could go down in history looking very bad for Ottawa.