Trade Deadline

The trade deadline is finally over and there is a lot to look at.  Not a lot of big names moved as many of those happened before the Olympic break. Names like Kovalchuk to New Jersey and Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Dion Phanuef to Toronto. A lot of things that we knew were coming did and then some that were expected that didn't. This wasn't the craziest trade deadline day but significant changes were made and there were definite winners and losers today.

Noteworthy trades
The Phoenix Coyotes were rumored to possibly be looking to dump Peter Mueller and add some offense to their line-up. By the end of the deadline the Coyotes ended up making several moves. Most worth mentioning was that of sending Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter to Colorado for Wojtek Wolski. This is a great move for Phoenix considering the disappointing play of Mueller this season while the team is excelling. Both Wolski and Mueller are looking for new starts in their new homes. The deal that was done shortly before this one was that which brought back defenseman Derek Morris from Boston. Morris was with the Coyotes from 03-09 and was well respected in the Coyotes locker room. Also on defense for a young team going to the playoffs, the Coyotes brought in Mathieu Schneider. He may help on a power play that is ranked 29th in the league or he may not find his way on the team at all. The Coyotes were very busy today as the also added Lee Stempniak, Alexandre Picard, and Petteri Nokelainen.

The Washington Capitals added some depth as well to what is expected to be a long playoff run. The Caps high octane offense needs no help so they added D men Joe Corvo and Milan Jurcina. Jurcina was previously with the club and I'm sure is happy to be back as the Caps are a top the league standings while Columbus is struggling mightily. Washington also added F Scott Walker and F Eric Belanger for 3rd line depth purposes and to help their penalty kill.

The Anaheim Ducks are looking to make a push for a playoff spot and may have helped themselves by adding Lubomir Visnovsky for Ryan Whitney and later Aaron Ward.  Vesa Toskala didn't last long as the back up as he leaves for Calgary in exchange G Curtis McElhinney. G Joey MacDonald was added as well.

The LA Kings had talk of taking F Ray Whitney and before that Ilya Kovalchuk. Instead they have brought on F Fredrik Modin and F Jeff Halpern. Not nearly the same amount of power but still improvements for a good team.

The Pittsburgh Penguins added Jordon Leopold and Alexei Ponikarovsky to their line-up making them again dangerous, especially in the East. Ponikarovsky has yet to play for the Pens as he has issues with his visa for playing in the United States. This problem should soon be resolved and the Pens will be a force in the Eastern Conference yet again come playoff time as they are looking to repeat as champions.

The Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs did their big trades prior to the Olympic break. As I mentioned earlier Toronto brought on Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Dion Phanuef. The Flames recieved Ian White, Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers from Toronto while the Leafs also got Fredrik Sjostrom and Keith Aulie in addition to Phanuef. In order to bring on Giguere the Leafs also traded with Anaheim by giving up Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala. The Flames started the season well but were going through a rough patch and decided to go through with the big change. They also traded away  Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust for Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik of the New York Rangers, who don't appear to be any better or worse. It is too early to tell if the Flames made the right choice but GM Brian Burke and the Maple Leafs are clearly looking to make a lot of changes and adding Phanuef and Giguere is a great start. As for the Ducks Jason Blake is a nice addition and they have already traded away G Vesa Toskala for Curtis McElhinney.

There was a long debate on where Ilya Kovalchuk would go after turning down a $101 million deal over 12 years from Atlanta. The Kings seemed like a good fit as they would be able to possibly give him an extention and not make him simply a rental player. I personally enjoyed hearing the possibility of this as I live in Phoenix and would get to see him quite often. This deal never happened because The New Jersey Devils came in an gave the Atlanta Thrashers enough to make them give up their superstar. Although to others looking in it doesn't appear the Devils gave up that much. In the deal the Devils traded youngster Niclas Bergfors, D man Johnny Oduya, the young captain of the world junior Canadian team Patrice Cormier and a 2010 first-round pick. This deal has seemed to make the Thrashers play more like a team while the Devils struggled out of the gate. I'm still unsure whether this deal will pay dividends for the Devils this season. They will try and re-sign him after the season but that may be unlikely, so this is probably a rental situation and the Devils are going for it all this postseason.

The Chicago Blackhawks were very quiet this trade deadline however they have close to the best record in the league and shouldn't need to change much. The only question mark is whether the combo of Cristobal Huet and Antti Niemi is good enough to take the Hawks to the Cup. All the experts were sure the Hawks would at least attempt to make some move at the goaltender position but they didn't and we will see how that works out for them. The one move they did make was trading young defenseman Cam Barker for some experience on D in Kim Johnsson from the Minnesota Wild.


The Ottawa Senators made a couple trades that seem minor but should ensure them a playoff spot. They picked up Matt Cullen and Andy Sutton which in the East are actually good acquisitions. The Eastern Conference is close right now and some poor teams will make the playoffs. The Senators were considered a bad team to start the year but have played well as of late and have the talent to maybe upset in the early rounds but shouldn't go deep in the playoffs.

Winners
The Phoenix Coyotes for the first time were buyers at the deadline and they may have made significant progress in becoming one of the elite teams in the West. (at least for now)The Coyotes have added some scoring and solidified their defense and hope to surprise some people in this years playoffs.

The Washington Capitals made moves that should make them a legitimate contender for the Stanley Cup. I'm sure they were already considered a contender but these moves at least let people know they are leaving it all on the line this year.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have added defense which come playoff time should be very beneficial. The Pens are looking to repeat and have a some what better team than last year and in the East could maybe at least still get to the finals.

It would be hard to say that the New Jersey Devils hurt themselves in any way by adding the likes of prominent 50 goal scorer Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk has done little lately but it will be interesting to see what happens with him and this team come playoff time.

Losers
There were teams that were expected to make specific moves and chose not to and were considered losers on this day as they did not improve their teams in anyway.

The Philadelphia Flyers lost 1st string goalie Ray Emery for the season and were looked at to make a significant move. With many goalies available the Flyers chose not to make any moves and chose to stick with Michael Leighton as the starter, who has been on waivers 3 or 4 times in his career and that is exactly where the Flyers got him. He replaced Brian Boucher as the back-up with his play and has become the starter. The Flyers will have to look to Leighton in the playoffs even though he has never started a postseason game due to their lack of activity during the trade time period. This move or lack their of may not hurt the Flyers but only time will tell how Leighton will payoff for a team that has been searching for a franchise goalie since Ron Hextall retired.

The Edmonton Oilers have many players on their roster with large contracts that are not paying off and could have been dealt, most notably Sheldon Souray. The Oilers are last in the league but mainly due to injuries however, they could have eased the pain by unloading some money and chose not too. They did unload Visnovsky and will also probably take the number one overall pick in the upcoming draft. 


The Boston Bruins were also expected to make a move for a scorer and chose to stick with their current squad except chose to add defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. A need seemingly not necessary by the fans.

Several other moves were made as it was a busy trade deadline day however, none to important. If I didn't mention the moves made by other teams that is because the team did not improve or decrease they instead stayed the same and will probably not affect the overall standings in many ways.