Quick Reactions; Early Winners and Losers

Haven't had a ton of time to digest what went on, but here's what I think about it at this early point.

In total, 22 trades were made, including 45 players and 21 picks.

While this is only down three trades from the past three years where 25 deals were made, the nature of these trades were unbelievably irrelevant for the most part. Maybe half a dozen deals will have an impact on the teams who made them and there were no real surprises or suspense to speak of.

Of the picks exchanged, only one was a 1st rounder, that being the one Calgary sent to Phoenix as a part of the Olli Jokinen trade.

The first trade of the day officially was made at 9:56am and by 3:00pm only 11 trades were reported. Then suddenly from 3pm until 4:18, another 11 were made...talk about last minute shopping.

If nothing else, this gives credence to all those college students out there who claim they do their best studying the night before a big exam, or who put off writing a paper until the day it's due.

Big Winners:

I'm gonna put these into two tiers and ironically, both teams traded with each other.

In the "Made themselves an instant contender this year" category, the clear winner is Calgary.

Picking up Olli Jokinen and Jordan Leopold filled both the teams needs of a big, strong first-line center and offensively capable defenseman who can man your powerplay. They gave up a lot to get them both, but they should now be considered a strong contender to come out of the Western Conference.
Watching Iginla play with Olli Jokinen on an already division leading team is gonna be fun.


In the "Put themselves in a great position for the future" category, the clear victor is Phoenix.

The Coyotes did themselves a great service by setting themselves up for future success. Partly this may have been warranted because of the financial crisis this team is in, but that being said, the pieces they acquired will help greatly.

Out of Phoenix goes: Derek Morris (disgruntled pending UFA), Daniel Carcillo (1-year remaining at $893,000), Olli Jokinen (1-year remaining at $5.25 million), Mikael Tellqvist (backup goalie, pending UFA) and a 3rd round pick.

Into Phoenix comes: Dmitiri Kalinin (young, pending UFA), Nigel Dawes (young, pending RFA), Petr Prucha (young, pending RFA), Scottie Upshall (young, pending RFA), Matthew Lombardi (speed demon, 1-year remaining at $1.8 million), Brandon Prust (decent rookie, 1-year remaining at $500,000), plus a 1st, 2nd and 4th round pick.

That's a lot of picks and young assets who don't cost you much and can give you a few months of a tryout before having to decide if you want to try and resign them or kick them onto the curb and dump their salary.

Big losers:

Montreal: Needed a center after the injury a while back to Robert Lang...did absolutely nothing to help their team. For the 100th anniversary of this franchise, the organization should have gone out on more of a limb to make sure this year is THE year.

New York Rangers: Got Nik Antropov (pending UFA) and Derek Morris (pending UFA) but had to give up a 2nd round pick and a conditional pick and a few good young players to Phoenix...They still have very little shot at making the playoffs and virtually no shot at doing any damage if they make it in. This smells of what Atlanta went through a few years ago when they sold the farm to make the playoffs, then got booted in 4-straight games and lost the players they acquired to free agency anyway in the summer.
The Rangers were desperate, but made all the wrong moves.
How long can Glenn Sather continue being a GM in the NHL riding the coat-tails of his 1980's Edmonton Oilers legacy?


The hometown Leafs did a pretty good job of making smart moves to improve the club in the long run. They gave up Nik Antropov and Dominic Moore for two 2nd rounders and a conditional pick and essentially traded cap space to the Lightning for a 4th rounder in the last announced deal of the day involving a few players who are either too old or injured to play and some little known prospects.
Martin Gerber, picked up off waivers from Ottawa, will presumably be the starting goalie from here on out as Vesa Toskala is out for the year after saying he will have hip and groin surgery.

Brian Burke could probably have made a few more deals (we know there were offers made for Ian White, Matt Stajan, Alexei Ponikarovsky and a few others) but decided to hold on to his assets and see what trades he can make in the summer in combination with draft day.

I'll have more thoughts tomorrow, but that's it for now.
Thanks for reading and keeping up with the craziness (or lack of craziness) of the day.

Almost nine hours later....I'm turning my TV off (until Lost comes on at least).