T'Day 09

Another Trade Deadline day and this one had it all: surprise deals, one-sided deals and a feverish flurry at the end of the day. As always with today there were: winners, losers and BIG winners. Some teams just needed a tweak, others needed a complete over-haul and other just decided to stand pat and not shake up the chemistry that has been growing the the start of the year. This year offered up 22 deals and Sporer & I will attempt to break down the top 10...

10. Dominic Moore – Buffalo Sabres
Impactful? Maybe. He does have 41pts in 63gp, but his previous career high in points was 18. So I beg to offer up the most common word when describing a Leafs player, 'fluke'. Moore joins a young group of explosive players: Vanek, Stafford, Roy, Connolly, Afinogenov, and he should fit in nicely either on the 2nd line or as a 3rd line energy player. He has only appeard in 4 post-season games, but his kind of grit will be a key component if the Sabres are to continue playing in May.

9. Ales Kotalik – Edmonton Oilers
With Edmonton's offensive struggles, anyone new coming in is an upgrade. With Antropov going for a 2nd round pick, was Kotalik really worth that much? Probably not, but over-paying for rentals is what the deadline is all about! He will be paired with Hemsky on the top line and, in theory, should become the trigger man on the 1st line, but how much of a trigger man can he be with a career high of 23 goals? One positive is his 34 career post-season games.

8. Derek Morris – New York Rangers
This just seems like the NYR trading for a big name, rather then a big need. The Rangers have the 27th ranked PP in the league and Derek Morris has only 1 power-play point all year round. On paper, this defensive corps ranks in the top five in the league featuring: Roszival, Morris, Mara, Redden, Girardi, Staal, but games are played on ice, not notebooks. Is Morris enough to get the Rangers into the dance? Probably not, he's only made the post season once.

7. Bill Guerin – Pittsburgh Penguins
First off, how many of you knew Bill Guerin was drafted 5th overall in his draft class? I sure as heck didn't. This is his 5th team in 4 years and has twice been a 'rental' player, but his first go-around with the Sharks only produced 2pts in 9 playoff games and he has never produced more then 11pts in one playoff run. He's a locker-room guy that should provide the same spark as Recchi in Boston, but Guerin has alot more work to do with the struggling Penguins...

6. Mark Recchi – Boston Bruins
1426pts in 1473gp. Wow. He heads to the class of the East and his 140 post-season games are a God send for their young nucleus of: Kessel, Wheeler, Krejci, Wideman, Lucic and Bergeron. On a side note, reading off those names, as a Stars and Oiler fan, makes me extremely jealous. Recchi is still an offensive threat at the ripe old age of 41 with 45pts in 62gp and has two shiny rings to show for his post-season trouble. This is exactly the locker-room leadership the Burins need. Props.

5. Jordan Leopold – Calgary Flames
One of the under-rated pick ups of the day that will pay major dividends in cow-town. Calgary needed a puck-moving Dman, so what did they do? They got a puck-moving Dman. Excellent. Another FF, fun fact, Leopold is a former Hobey Baker winner. Why can't Edmonton draft major trophy winners? Anyways, he's not an offensive force, he's not a sniping defensmen, but he is a responsible player who should fit nicely into Keenan's lockdown system of play. Props.


4. Nik Antropov – New York Rangers
Well, like we all said, someone would anti-up for Antropov and, of course, it's everyone's favorite GM, Glen Sather. Again, it looks they added more of a name, then an actual player. Sure he has size, which is what Betts, Drury and Gomez all lack, but has anyone seen his career numbers? He's never hit 60pts, he's only topped 25 goals once, he's never played a full 82 games (actually no more then 72) and in 28 playoff games, he has a combined... wait for it... waaaaait for it... 5 points! With all that being said, he was the 2nd best forward available and that is an upgrade.

3. Patrick O'Sullivan – Edmonton Oilers / Erik Cole – Carolina Hurricanes / Justin Wlliams – LA Kings

Williams – LA gets an injury-prone former 1st rounder with 9 NHL seasons before he's 28 years old. He showed great flashes of brilliance immediately following the lockout with back-to-back 30 goal years and was a large part of the Hurricanes cup run. He's also appeared in 42 post-season games and should provide the leadership in a young Kings' locker room.

Cole – Noone was happier at the deadline then Eric Staal. He gets his old winger back that saw him hit career highs of 45 goals and 100 pts, and Cole returns to the franchise where he has had his most success. He joins a crowded group of LWs (Whitney, Jokinen, Ruutu, Samsonov) but should slide in along side Staal no matter what.

O'Sullivan – Edmonton gets another smallish smooth skating center in O'Sullivan. He's put up decent numbers in LA with career highs of 22 goals and 53 points. He fits the 'Oiler hockey' persona as a smooth skating, hard working, 2-way forward, and should be able to give the Oilers a little more offensive output. The Oilers not only added some offense, but they also got more future....O'Sullivan was slumping in LA, but possibly a change in scenery will get him going. Growing amongst the likes of Gagner, Cogliano, Gilbert, and other Oiler rookies should also help in his developement.

2. Antoine Vermette – Columbus / Pascal LeClaire – Ottawa

LeClaire – Is it just me, or is this one of those rare deals where both players will benefit both teams and fill the holes they needed to fill? Ottawa desperately needed goaltending after going through Hasek, Gerber, Emery and Lalime. The 1-2 punch of LeClaire and Elliot should sew up that position for many years to come.

Vermette – Columbus gets the center they were looking for to play with Nash. He's been proven to light-it-up in the AHL, but hasn't been able to eclipse 55 points in the NHL, playing with Nash should more then add 20 points to those totals. Mind you, he has been able to hit 21, 19 and 24 goals over the past three years playing on Ottawa's 3rd line.


1. Olli Jokinen – Calgary Flames
Let the debate begin. Top-flight 90 point scorer or Perrenial under-achiever and locker-room cancer? With Iginla, Regehr and Keenan there is no possible way Jokinen can disrupt this locker-room, there is just no way (unless Elisha Cuthbert becomes available). I can't remember him ever playing with the talent of Iginla and Cammalerri, so that can only benefit his point totals; which is all they are looking for in Jokinen, points production. His playoff drought will finally be snapped, but I'd like to see how he performs in the playoffs and under the pressure in Calgary's fishbowl.

As always, we are forced to decide on winners and losers. Calgary (Jokinen, Lombardi) and Phoenix (6 NHL-ready players, 2 draft picks) are the obvious big winners, but I'll take a look at the other teams that made their clubs better...

Winners:

NYR – they got the #2 forward and #2 Dman available at the deadline, what more could they do?

Chicago – Sammy Pahlsson is the checking center they need to eliminate the Datsyuk's, Iginla's and Thornton's in their conference. No to mention, Stephensson is a 2nd round prospect, not too shabby.

Buffalo – picked up an adequite backup to hold the fort until Miller is healthy (Tellqvist) and also traded for Dominic Moore and a 2nd rounder.

Toronto – last month, Burke didn't think Antropov wouldn't fetch him a 2nd rounder, well not only did he get a 2nd, but a conditional pick aswell. After Moore couldn't agree on a new deal, he was also shipped for a 2nd rounder. A good start to the rebuilding process.

Edmonton -- the Oilers went into the deadline desperately needing some scoring. A scoring LW was number one on their list. Well they didnt get a 30-40 goal scorer, but they got two 20 goal scorers. Not only that but the Oilers added more to their future. They got all of this for an underperforming rental in Erik Cole.

Calgary -- the Flames are this years BIG winners, aquiring Olli Jokinen to plug up their 1st line center role, and Jordan Leopold to help out the lagging defense. The got everything they needed/wanted, and didnt give up too much (1st round pick, Mathew Lombardi). Alberta did good at this years deadline....

Losers:

Nashville / Vancouver – while the entire Western conference re-tooled, re-loaded and improved their squads, these teams made no up-grades and failed to 'keep up with the Jones'. With the conference as tight as it is, and every team almost equals, not improving can only lead to sliding down the standings...

Philidelphia -- the flyers went into the deadline looking to be big spenders. They wanted to aquire a major puck moving defenseman, and possibly a character forward. The Flyers ended up with Kyle McLaren and Daniel Carcillo.....hmmm one has to wonder how these guys will have any kind of impact whatsoever....

Florida – it's a tough call to not trade Bouwmeester and I understand they didn't because they are showing their fans they are dedicated to the playoffs; however, that doesn't justify the next 10 years of potential in the players you COULD have gotten...

Montreal – with Kovalev being his usual self: Guerin, Recchi and Roberts were all available for the locker room, and the Canadiens did nothing. They think their team is good enough to deliver a Stanley Cup for their 100th anniversary. I'm afraid they are sorely mistaken.

St. Louis – no Kariya, no Johnson, no Brewer, no impact deals, no playoffs.

Only 363 days until another 6 am rise and 8 hours of TSN coverage, Lord willin'.

Cheers.

-Smith