Alright, so apparently I had a little trouble getting back into blogging after my vacation (not to mention that the last few weeks have been very busy). But I'm back now and I'm dedicated to posting on a consistent basis (at least until my next vacation, which is to Alberta in about two weeks). I figure that blogging the trade deadline (despite having no expectations of the Flames doing anything) would be as good a spot to start as any...
Oh, and I can't get the TSN broadcast, so I'm stuck watching Sportsnet here at work again this year. And unlike Onrait, I actually have another job to do, so updates may be far between at times...
4:10 - Alright it looks like most of the deals are done. Time for me to check out what everyone else has written...
4:00 - G Jean-Sebastien Aubin from Los Angeles to Anaheim for a 7th round pick in 200? - Depth move, from the looks of things. I'm actually curious as to which team cleared the most roster space today though, as it looks like Los Angeles made a bit of a push to catch Tampa and Columbus...
3:57 - D Marc-Andre Bergeron from Long Island to Anaheim for a 3rd round draft pick in 200? - Like Brad Stuart, this is his second deadline deal in a row. That's gotta suck, I wonder if he's even going to unpack this time...
3:55 - LW Chad Kilger from Toronto to Florida for a 3rd round draft pick in 200? - I liked him when he was in Montreal... and that's about all that I have to say on that...
3:50 - G Al Montoya and LW Marcel Hossa from New York to Phoenix for G David LeNeveu, RW Fredrik Sjostrom, C Josh Gratton, and a conditional draft pick - A number of young players in this one, but nothing that really stands out. Neither of these teams looks to be a real playoff contender, so it looks like Phoenix is trying to get a couple of good young guys, while the Rangers look to be adding a little depth...
3:32 - I love listening to the Canucks broadcasters argue about how unhappy the Vancouver fans must be that they didn't really do anything... Between that and Matt Cooke leaving town, I'm almost ecstatic...
3:29 - D Christian Backman from St Louis to New York for a 4th round pick in 2008 - Another good young player I won't be able to watch when I'm in Alberta next month. Yaaayyyy...
3:24 - D Brad Stuart from Los Angeles to Detroit for a 2nd round pick and a 4th round pick - Stuart gets traded at the deadline for the second year in a row. I hope he's just as unproductive in Motown as he was in Calgary last year...
3:22 - LW Chris Simon from Long Island to Minnesota for a 6th round draft pick - I wonder how many games Simon will actually hit the ice for...
3:13 - Oh yeah, and the deadline passed at 3:00, but as everyone knows, deals could keep coming in for the next few hours... Oh, and apparently (there that word is again) Adam Foote is getting on a private jet right now to head to Calgary to try to make tonight's game... crap...
3:02 - RW Marian Hossa and LW Pascal Dupuis from Atlanta to Pittsburgh for LW Colby Armstrong, C Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito and a 1st round draft pick in 200? - Wow, the Penguins gave up a lot of youth, but it looks like they are most definitely making a push for the cup this year. I'm very curious as to how the boys over at PensBlog will react to this one...
2:45 - D Hal Gill from Toronto to Pittsburgh for a draft pick in 200? - The Leafs lose another defenceman. I think the only way the Leaf blueline gets better today is if McCabe gets traded away too...
2:39 - LW Kristian Huselius and RW Bill Guerin have been traded for LW Scott Hartnell and RW Miroslav Satan - Oh wait, that just happened to me in my money pool and its still pending the commissioner's approval...
2:25 - Apparently the Thrashers have traded Hossa to the Penguins... I didn't even know they were in the hunt for a player... of course, I've lost my feed yet again, so I'm pretty much just guessing at this point...
2:14 - Okay, if you aren't going to listen to the broadcast from early on, don't everybody try to jump on at once. All the people in Alberta on their lunch break seem to have decided to overload TSN and Sportsnet at the same time and I've lost my feeds. Actually, my Sportsnet feed goes in and out every couple of minutes, which may be even worse, as I catch snippets but not enough to know what they are actually talking about...
1:58 - John Garrett just referred to the abundance of 3 point games by calling it the Nobody Hardly Loses league... clever...
1:44 - LW Matt Cooke from Vancouver to Washington for LW Matt Pettinger - I'm so sad to hear that one of the players that I despise is not only leaving the Northwest division, but the entire conference. However will I survive... And I love it when they talk about Canucks' players getting hurt...
1:42 - D Rob Davison from Long Island to San Jose for a 7th round pick in 200? - Oooooooooooh...
1:17 - C Sergei Fedorov from Columbus to Washington for D Ted Ruth (Notre Dame) - Now I'm starting to wonder if Columbus and Tampa have a competition going to see who can clear more of their roster by the end of the day...
1:09 - Looks like I lucked out this year and Eklund is no longer with Sportsnet. Sweet!
1:03 - D Adam Foote from Columbus to Colorado for a conditional 1st round pick in '08 or '09, and a 4th round pick - Apparently (and yes, that is one of my favourite words) the Blue Jackets have decided to dismantle after losing out on the Brad Richards 'who wants an overpayed star' sweepstakes and send their captain to a team that is currently only one point up on them in the standings. Wow, talk about giving up. Fortunately, I think its damn near impossible for Colorado to get their new players into the lineup before tonight's game in Calgary...
12:57 - RW Martin Lapointe from Chicago to Ottawa for a 6th round pick in 200? - Looks like the Sens are looking to add a little grit for nothing. You can't really argue with picking up depth before the playoffs...
12:52 - The people at Sportsnet just won't let the Tanguay thing go. Christine Campbell on their broadcast was trying to make a big point out of him not being on the ice for the Flames for the morning skate (she's in Toronto so she probably doesn't follow the Western Conference), but Gord Stellick just pointed out, to those that don't pay attention, that Tanguay took a high stick in the last game...
12:39 - D Ruslan Salei from Tampa to Colorado for D Karlis Skrastins and a 3rd round pick in 200? - Wow, quite the fire sale in Central Florida in the last 24 hours. 'We have too much payroll to be playing this poorly! Everything must go!'... Well, everything that's overpriced anyway...
12:37 - LW Tuomo Ruutu from Chicago to Carolina for LW Andrew Ladd - A whole lot of IR time in this trade. Ruttu was a highly covetted player coming into the league, but hasn't really had a chance to live up to the hype. Andrew Ladd is a player I've heard of...
12:21 - I gotta grab some lunch, I'll be back in 10 or so...
11:55 - G Cristobal Huet from Montreal to Washington for a 2nd round pick in 2009 - Huh, I didn't see this coming. And why did the Habs get so little back? I realize that Carey Price could be the next big goaltender in Montreal, but I don't think this is the right move heading into the playoffs. It looks like Gainey is clearing some space to potentially pickup Hossa, but that is a bold move to put the playoffs on a very young goaltender. Although I may just be a little upset since I have Huet in one of my hockey pools (but he should get more starts and there is word that the Capitals may be making a push for the playoffs - mind you, I have very little faith in that thing they refer to as their defence)...
11:47 - C Brad Richards and G Johan Holmqvist from Tampa to Dallas for G Mike Smith, F Jussi Jokinen, and C Jeff Halpern - This isn't good for the rest of the Western Conference either, but it keeps the overpriced Richards away from Vancouver, so I'm good with it (well, relatively). Oh, and there is talk of Smith being the new starting goaltender in Tampa, which I will believe when I see it...
11:39 - D Brian Campbell from Buffalo to San Jose for F Steve Bernier and a 1st round draft pick - Looks like a solid pickup for the Sharks, who were lacking a puck moving blueliner. Which is a bad thing for the rest of the Western conference... BOOOO!
11:38 - RW Wade Belak from Toronto to Florida for a 5th round draft pick in 200? - as I said before, who cares...
11:34 - Rumours of Brian Campbell going to San Jose...
11:29 - Talk of Wade Belak going to the Panthers, but I don't see either of these teams in the playoffs, so who cares. Oh, and apparently Brad Larson was wearing Hossa's helmet on the ice in Montreal to make a half-hearted attempt at fooling the media...
11:15 - Apparently Atlanta has taken the ice in Montreal for their warmup before their game tonight and Hossa is not out there with the rest of his team...
11:12 - Sportsnet is talking about Columbus getting Brad Richards from Tampa, which would be interesting, as I have often thought that Richards is overpayed down there and his exorbitant contract isn't coming off the books anytime soon. I think they'd be better off getting St Louis...
11:05 - No sign of Eklund yet (Yay!)
10:35 - D Bryce Salvadorfrom St Louis to New Jersey for F Cam Janssen - New Jersey gets some defensive depth and only gives up a guy that's coming off injury and has scored one goal in his short career. I actually thought that St Louis would be more of a threat in the NHL this season, and I wish they were, as I have tickets for them in both Calgary and Edmonton next month. Of course, maybe Janssen will fight Godard...
Trades completed before today (in the last few weeks, and only ones that may actually mean something)...
- LW Vaclav Prospal from Tampa to Philadelphia for Alexandre Picard and a conditional draft pick - It looks like Philly is really, really serious about making a run for it and wanted to get their trades done early. With rumours abounding of Bryan McCabe going to Long Island, the Islanders just may be in the mood to help them get there...
- D Jim Vandermeer from Philadelphia to Calgary for a 2009 3rd round pick - I guess that Vandermeer was expendable to the Flyers with the acquisition of Modry, so they send him to the Flames for practically nothing where he can get some solid playing time (preferably in the place of Eriksson and Warrener)...
- LW Cory Stillman and D Mike Commodore from Carolina to Ottawa for RW Patrick Eaves and D Joe Corvo - Some solid recent playoff experience going to Ottawa in exchange for another young forward and an experienced defenceman. I don't think this will mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, as I don't think it really changes the dynamics of either team...
- D Jaroslav Modry from Los Angeles to Philadelphia for a 2008 3rd round pick - Philly is just out of the 8th playoff spot in the East and is looking at making a run for it. Although these trades always confuse me a little, since you would think that LA wants them to fail at that so as to get a higher draft position. Not that 3rd rounders are that highly coveted in the first place...
- Oh yeah, and some Forsberg guy is going back to the Avalanche. But this is a TRADE blog, so who cares (I actually do care a little, but I figure he'll be injured by the end of next month anyway - groin and/or ankle, you heard it here first)...
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