Trades, Trades, and More Trades 2010

Trades, Trades, and More Trades 2010

Today was the NHL trade deadline. This was a fairly active deadline period, since trades were not allowed during the Olympic break. Undoubtedly, trades were being discussed during the break that have been consummated over the last two days.

FLORIDA-Traded Jordan Leopold to Pittsburgh for 2010 second-round pick. The Panthers have, for the most part, been sellers since 1996. The Pens are trying to repeat. They need bulk on the blueline. Voila, everyone's happy.

NASHVILLE-Traded a second-round pick to Edmonton for Denis Grebeshkov. A nice, solid defensman who should help.

ATLANTA-Traded Nathan Oystrick to Anaheim for Evgeny Artyukhin. Nice names, but little effect.

Signed Chris Chelios- Cheli, great guy, great hockey player, but he's 48 YEARS OLD!!! Does he have anything left?

TORONTO-Traded Alexi Ponakarovski to Pittsburgh for Luca Kapouti and Martin Skoula.Skoula then re-traded to New Jersey for a fifth-round draft pick. If there was any doubt before, the Pens are dead serious about repeating. Obviously, Malkin liked what he saw when they played together on Team Russia in Vancouver. Skoula re-traded for essentially a bag of vulcanized rubber with Gary Bettman's signature on them.

ANAHEIM-Traded Nick Boynton to Chicago for future considerations-This sounds like one of those baseball trading deadline deals with the "player to be named later", so I'll withhold judgement on this. Acquired Aaron Ward from Carolina for Justin Pogge and a fourth-round pick. Nice veteran backliner for the Ducks.

CAROLINA-Traded Scott Walker to Washington for a seventh-round pick. Good pickup for the Caps, who are serious contenders this year.

OTTAWA- Acquired Andy Sutton from Islanders for a 2010 second-round pick. Second-round pick seem to be the going rate this year. Sutton adds a BIG(6'6" 245) body to the Sens backline.

BOSTON-Traded Derek Morris to Phoenix for fourth-round pick in 2011. The Bruins cleared cap space in order to: Trade Craig Weller, Byron Bitz, and a second-round pick to Florida for Dennis Seidenberg and Mathew Bartkowski.

MONTREAL-Traded Matt D'Agostini to St. Louis for Aaron Palushai-A very minor trade. Two teams that are on the bubble, trying to get the final piece to get in.

COLORADO-Traded Wojtek Wolski to Phoenix for Peter Meuller and Kevin Porter. Not a suprise. The Avs are almost always active at the deadline. The surprise, is how active the 'Yotes have been allowed to be by the NHL, considering the fact the league owns the team.

VANCOUVER-Traded Pierre-Cedric Labrie to St.Louis for Yan Stasny. Both are minor-leaguers that are expected to stay on the farm.

DETROIT-Trades Kris Newberry to Rangers for Jordan Owens. Another minor-league deal.

TAMPA BAY-Trades Jeff Halpern to Los Angeles for Teddy Purcell and a third-round pick. L.A. needed to do something, since they believe they are Cup contenders this year, and Halpern is a nice fit.

MINNESOTA-Traded Eric Belanger to Washington for a third-round pick. Excellent pickup for the Caps. He's a solid player who will provide some scoring as the Caps are definite contenders this year.

COLUMBUS-Traded Raffi Torres to Buffalo for Nathan Paetsch and a 2010 second-round pick. Torres is a solid player who will definitely help the Sabres.

CALGARY-Traded Vesa Toskala to Anaheim for Curtis McElhenny in a swap of backup goaltenders. Toskala should be used to getting traded, as it is the second time in a month.

Sochi in 2014-Scary Gary Bettman is saying the NHL is not committed to going to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, since games will be "played in the middle of the night here". Gary, there is an easy way to fix this, IF you and the Sochi organizers are willing to listen to me. Sochi is eight hours ahead of New York and Toronto, SO, schedule the U.S, and Canadian games at 9 P.M. local time. That turns out to be 1 P.M. eastern time. problem solved, especially on the weekend.