I\’ll be honest – not even I knew that the NHL trade deadline came and went on Tuesday. That won\’t deter me from offering up my own two cents on the transactions that piqued my interest. I\’ll have a lot to choose from – 25 trades went down in the last six hours before the deadline.
Let\’s jump right in:
Oilers trade guy with \”A\” on jersey for bag of soggy chips:
Fare thee well Ryan Smyth, it wasn\’t supposed to be like this. The new NHL, with its new salary cap, was supposed to help teams like Edmonton keep their marquee players. After years of lettting go of players like Anson Carter, Bill Guerin, Doug Weight, etc., now the Oil would not only keep their Smyths and Horcoffs, they\’d go out and sign free agents with names like Peca and Pronger. That said, Smyth was a potential free agent, and if they didn\’t think he was going to sign, they did well in getting some young talented centermen and a draft pick in return. Still, in a lot of ways it feels like the bad old days to me. It wasn\’t even a year ago that Smyth was giving up his front teeth for the team in the first period; scoring winning goals in the third. Now he\’s gone.
Red Wings trade for noted thug; state of Minnesota boos:
Wings acquire the big jerk for a couple of draft picks. Now I can continue to cheer against them even moreso. It\’s pretty much win-win for everyone. Two things: No, I\’m not yelling \”Tooooz!\”; I really am booing. And I still haven\’t quite forgiven Mr. MVP for wearing that Toozer t-shirt last year.
Penguins trade for very large gentleman; Alex cheers:
The Pens ship a prospect and a pick to Phoenix for long-time favorite of mine, Georges Laraque. Or, as he\’s always called on tv: Big Georges Laraque. Seriously, he\’s a large man. And I think he just made two new friends by the names of Crosby and Malkin. Very good deal for the Penguins, currently sitting 5th in the Eastern Conference.
Bill Guerin gets traded. Again.
Well, the Sharks had to do something after seeing Forsberg and Bertuzzi change addresses. Guerin definitely qualifies. Sure, this is his sixth team now, but that\’s just the way it goes sometimes. He\’s a pro\’s pro, and I\’ll cheer for him unless he ends up in a playoff series against the Wild.
Atlanta is in the playoff hunt?
I\’ll be damned, they are. (6th in the East as of this writing.) And they traded for Keith Tkachuk. Gave up a guy and a lot of draft picks for him. They also traded for Alexei Zhitnik. That\’s two great hockey names in one trade deadline; That\’s good work by the Thrashers\’ front office. Tkachuk is a fun name to say. Try it for yourself.
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