The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs are looming ahead. In the Western Conference, a couple of big deadline day moves have brought two teams closer to the front running Detroit Red Wings; while some prepared for the future by obtaining draft picks. Two teams, Calgary and Edmonton, were silent as the deadline came and went. Who won? Who lost?
SHARKS, STARS MAKE BIG MOVES
In the Pacific Division, two of the top three teams made big trades to upgrade their rosters. In San Jose, the Sharks acquired D Brian Campbell and a 7th round draft pick for RW Steve Bernier and a 1st round pick in the 2008 draft. The trade is sound for both clubs. Both players have five points in their first five games with their new clubs. Campbell is great at running the power play and has eats up ice time (averaging just over 25 minutes a night). If the Sharks can sign Campbell to a new contract (he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1), Campbell will be a thorn in the side of his division rivals for years to come. If Campbell is nothing more than a rental, he still gives the Sharks a better shot at advancing in the playoffs. This move could be GM Doug Wilson’s master stroke, or his downfall if San Jose fails to advance.
Meanwhile, in Dallas, the GM duo of Les Jackson and Brett Hull engineered a deal to bring Conn Smythe winner Brad Richards in from Tampa Bay. The price was steep: for Richards and G Johan Holmqvist, the Stars let go of forwards, Jeff Halpern, Jussi Jokinen, G Mike Smith, and a 2009 draft pick. Richards, a Cup winner with Tampa, had been more noted lately for having the worst plus-minus rating over the past two seasons. That is not completely his fault, of course, but it did make some people wonder (including yours truly). Richards must have been happy about waiving his no-trade clause and moving to Texas… in his first game as a Star, Richards collected five assists in a 7-4 rout of Chicago. Personally, I hated to see Jokinen go – I think his career is on the rise (Note to Tampa: keep him at center instead of on a wing). The worst part, however, is letting go of Smith. Smitty has played so well in his first two seasons in the league, and provided Marty Turco with a solid safety net. Given Turco’s past playoff outings, it will be interesting to see if Turco can build upon last spring’s performance against Vancouver. Dallas lost the series in seven, with Turco winning three games by shutout. Should an injury befall Turco, Johan Holmqvist will man the net, which would probably mean yet another first-round ouster for Dallas. Yikes.
DEPTH DEALS
In Anaheim, the Ducks made deals with an eye on getting some insurance for injuries or underperformers. Anaheim obtained D-men Jay Leach (Tampa) and Marc-Andre Bergeron (NYI), as well as exchanging a 7th round pick with Los Angeles for G Jean-Sebastian Aubin. Leach and Bergeron will augment the blueline (with Bergeron providing insurance on the PP), while Aubin will probably backup J. F. Giguere come April. The offense took a hit last night, as Corey Perry went down after being cut by a skate in a 1-0 loss to Colorado. Perry, who was second on the team in scoring (29-25-54), will likely miss six weeks, meaning Anaheim will have to get through the first round, and perhaps part of the second, without him.
There is a reunion in Colorado. D Adam Foote was acquired from Columbus for conditional draft picks in 2008 and 2009. This, combined with the signing of Peter Forsberg, shows that Colorado wants to win now. The loss of draft picks could haunt them in the future, but that doesn’t seem to bother the Avalanche, who missed they playoffs last year by one point. Where are Deadmarsh, Ozolinsh, and Roy? Colorado also acquired D Ruslan Salei from Florida for Karlis Skrastins and a draft pick in a depth move.
Detroit gave two draft picks to Los Angeles for D Brad Stuart. Stuart will help a D-corps that has been a bit banged up. In another “homecoming” move, Darren McCarty was signed as free agent. Columbus traded Sergei Fedorov to Washington for a college defenseman (Ted Ruth of Notre Dame)…did the Wings even make a call to the Jackets? Vancouver traded a veteran grinder (Matt Cooke) for a younger, perhaps more offensively gifted, grinder (Matt Pettinger). Pettinger is physical, but has yet to show much more than fourth liner ability on offense.
STEAL OF A DEAL?
The Phoenix Coyotes and New York Rangers combined to deal five players. One of the Coyotes’ acquisitions was G Al Montoya, who they believe can be their tender of the future. Marcel Hossa (no, not THAT one) comes to the desert as well. In exchange, the Rangers got a draft pick and three guys (F Fredrik Sjostrom, LW Chris Gratton, and G David LeNeveu). Three or four years from now, this may be seen as the steal of the year. Or, we will never hear from these guys again.
ELSEWHERE
Minnesota got Chris Simon from the Isles for a 6th round pick… this will make Marian Gaborik feel better about his playoff chances?
St. Louis got a 4th line winger (Cam Janssen from New Jersey) and a 4th pick from the Rangers for two D-men (Bryce Salvador to NJD, Christian Backman to NYR).
Nashville hoped to improve their offense by getting Jan Hlavac from Tampa and Brandon Bochenski from Anaheim.
Chicago sent Martin Lapointe to Ottawa for a draft pick, and sent forward Tuomo Ruutu to Carolina for forward Andrew Ladd in a deal that gives each player a fresh start in a new town – a chance to retool and elevate their careers.
OBSERVATIONS
Detroit is still the class of the conference, but Dallas and San Jose have gained ground.
Anaheim’s chances of repeating took a hit, but never count the champion out.
Dallas must hope that Marty Turco – and his teammates – can get that first-round monkey off of their backs. IF they can, the sky is the limit. The team is a great mix of young and old that has survived injuries to their top two defenseman (Sergei Zubov and Philippe Boucher). Can they keep it up?
San Jose must find a way to lock up Brian Campbell.
Colorado must get Ryan Smyth healthy and keep him that way.
As long as Vancouver has Roberto Luongo, they must be respected.
Phoenix just might be the mystery guest in the playoffs; Minnesota just might be left scratching their heads as to how they missed the postseason.
It’s one more month until the playoffs: THE best time of the year!!!
Peace.
Showing posts with label Trade deadline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trade deadline. Show all posts
Monday, March 10, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
SOME OF US SAW THE HOSSA DEAL COMMING
Yesterday I wrote about how there will be some trades that would come from left field and catch us off guard, and “to most”, that trade was the Hossa to Penguins deal. I said “to most” because yours truly along with some Pens fans with big dreams saw this as a golden opportunity over month ago. Yes, we all got blasted when we made the bold statement on our blogs, message boards and rumor sites where we were laughed at and called silly. For my thoughts back in January just scroll a few posts down to CROSBY NEEDS HIS OWN KURRI and you will see how silly I was.
Now, in no way am I saying that the Pens didn’t give up a lot to get Hossa, but keep in mind when a chance to give the best playmaker in hockey a true sniper with speed riding shotgun, you do what ever it takes to do it. Sure there is no saying that Hossa will re-sign with the Pens and he may become a really expensive playoff rental, but they have the rest of the year figure it out and I just have the feeling that once Hossa and Crosby connect Hossa wouldn’t think of going anywhere else. Why would he? This is a win-win for both players and their production could easily hit the roof.
When you are talking about one of the most gifted players to ever play the game you have to surround them with the best possible players in order to get the best out of them. Remember how important Kurri was to Gretzky? Remember after Wayne went to the Kings how imperative it was for them to acquire Kurri? Remember the names involved in the 3-way trade between the Oilers, Flyers and Kings? Okay, I know you remember how important it was for the Rangers to get Kurri when they got Gretz and the names involved in getting that one done, right? Well then, what makes the Hossa deal any different? There is no questioning the dynamic that Kurri brought to Gretzky’s game and Hossa and Crosby are on the cusp of bringing us that same kind of brilliance.
I openly applaud the Penguins management for making this bold move and bringing the city of Pittsburgh a team that fans haven’t seen since the days of Mario, Francis and Jagr. If anyone is worried about screwing up the chemistry of the team, think about it. You are talking about a couple of truly gifted players who can play with anyone and now have a chance to take chemistry to a whole new level. They have some time left to click and when it happens, look out; this could be the best thing we’ve ever seen and the best thing for the game in decades.
Now, in no way am I saying that the Pens didn’t give up a lot to get Hossa, but keep in mind when a chance to give the best playmaker in hockey a true sniper with speed riding shotgun, you do what ever it takes to do it. Sure there is no saying that Hossa will re-sign with the Pens and he may become a really expensive playoff rental, but they have the rest of the year figure it out and I just have the feeling that once Hossa and Crosby connect Hossa wouldn’t think of going anywhere else. Why would he? This is a win-win for both players and their production could easily hit the roof.
When you are talking about one of the most gifted players to ever play the game you have to surround them with the best possible players in order to get the best out of them. Remember how important Kurri was to Gretzky? Remember after Wayne went to the Kings how imperative it was for them to acquire Kurri? Remember the names involved in the 3-way trade between the Oilers, Flyers and Kings? Okay, I know you remember how important it was for the Rangers to get Kurri when they got Gretz and the names involved in getting that one done, right? Well then, what makes the Hossa deal any different? There is no questioning the dynamic that Kurri brought to Gretzky’s game and Hossa and Crosby are on the cusp of bringing us that same kind of brilliance.
I openly applaud the Penguins management for making this bold move and bringing the city of Pittsburgh a team that fans haven’t seen since the days of Mario, Francis and Jagr. If anyone is worried about screwing up the chemistry of the team, think about it. You are talking about a couple of truly gifted players who can play with anyone and now have a chance to take chemistry to a whole new level. They have some time left to click and when it happens, look out; this could be the best thing we’ve ever seen and the best thing for the game in decades.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
THE HYPE IS BETTER THAN THE TRADES THEMSELVES
Psst……I heard a rumor……
Well, today is the day hockey fans perk up and play GM in anticipation that their team will pick up the missing piece of the puzzle to put them over the top. The excitement and buzz on Trade Deadline Day is traditionally better than the deals themselves. The speculation of big names involved in movement chew up a ton of time while big media places “name” analysts to hype it up for hours until trades slowly start to trickle in. Granted some big names do move on Deadline Day but for the most part it is the minor acquisitions that ultimately have the most impact. There are always one or two trades that seem to come from left field and catch us all off guard, but predicting where players will go is the fun part. And that is the part that makes us all pay attention and listen intently to the big media hype while wiping the drool as they mention our favorite team.
Will Hossa practice today? Will the Leafs move anyone? Will the Habs swing for the fences? Will the Bruins stand pat even though they need a scoring winger? Will Dallas find help for the Modano line? Will the Panthers actually move Jokinen? Do the Ducks tinker at all? Will the Wings get tougher? Will the Rangers move anyone to get defensive help? Where in the world will Brad Richards land this afternoon? The buzz engulfs us all – and the buzz itself is better for the game than the answers to the questions. Anytime hockey talk takes center stage it’s a good thing all around. I guess what I’m driving at here is enjoy the day, get fooled by the hype and dream big my friends, because today is the day for hockey talk.
As for myself, I’m not expecting too much as the months leading up have been anemic as far as trades are concerned. And to me that is a telling sign that too many teams are on the fence and reluctant to trade away the future for rental help. Parity is what the league wanted and is just what they have accomplished. Because of that and cap space, major trades have diminished drastically. Of course there will still be headline moves and that is why I’ll be here at the computer all day, as will most of you.
Well, today is the day hockey fans perk up and play GM in anticipation that their team will pick up the missing piece of the puzzle to put them over the top. The excitement and buzz on Trade Deadline Day is traditionally better than the deals themselves. The speculation of big names involved in movement chew up a ton of time while big media places “name” analysts to hype it up for hours until trades slowly start to trickle in. Granted some big names do move on Deadline Day but for the most part it is the minor acquisitions that ultimately have the most impact. There are always one or two trades that seem to come from left field and catch us all off guard, but predicting where players will go is the fun part. And that is the part that makes us all pay attention and listen intently to the big media hype while wiping the drool as they mention our favorite team.
Will Hossa practice today? Will the Leafs move anyone? Will the Habs swing for the fences? Will the Bruins stand pat even though they need a scoring winger? Will Dallas find help for the Modano line? Will the Panthers actually move Jokinen? Do the Ducks tinker at all? Will the Wings get tougher? Will the Rangers move anyone to get defensive help? Where in the world will Brad Richards land this afternoon? The buzz engulfs us all – and the buzz itself is better for the game than the answers to the questions. Anytime hockey talk takes center stage it’s a good thing all around. I guess what I’m driving at here is enjoy the day, get fooled by the hype and dream big my friends, because today is the day for hockey talk.
As for myself, I’m not expecting too much as the months leading up have been anemic as far as trades are concerned. And to me that is a telling sign that too many teams are on the fence and reluctant to trade away the future for rental help. Parity is what the league wanted and is just what they have accomplished. Because of that and cap space, major trades have diminished drastically. Of course there will still be headline moves and that is why I’ll be here at the computer all day, as will most of you.
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