Trade Deadline Day

Here, I will post all trades, re-signings and speculation. Have a nice Trade Deadline Day!

N.B.: If you have any comments on any Trades, e-mail me at: afi.ville.49@gmail.com

8:00 AM:

- Islanders re-sign C Mike Comrie to a 1-year, US$4 M contract.
- The TSN panel seems to hint that the Stars are offering a better package (~ M. Smith, J. Jokinen, J. Halpern, M. Fistric) than the Canucks (~ C. Schneider, L. Bourdon, Draft Picks) for C Brad Richards of the Lightning. The Blackhawks and Blue Jackets are also in the mix.

8:45 AM:

- The Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild and Philadelphia Flyers are the teams the most interested in acquiring C Olli Jokinen from the Panthers. Note: Jacques Martin will, probably, only deal Jokinen today if he is offered a very good package. If not, he could deal him during the Offseason.

- Chicago has sent a list to every NHL team stating the players they are willing to deal:

G Nikolai Khabibulin
RW Martin Havlat
C Robert Lang
C Tuomo Ruutu
LW Martin Lapointe
C Yanic Perreault
D Andrei Zyuzin
C Rene Bourque

9:27 AM:

- The Columbus Blue Jackets are still exploring a contract extension with D Adam Foote. Expect for him to be shopped actively if both parties have not come to an agreeement by noon.

- SI's Michael Farber suggests the Canadiens would benefit more from a Brad Richards or Olli Jokinen acquisition than a Hossa one.

9:48 AM:

- According to one of Brent Wallace's (TSN) sources, it is very likely that Bryan Murray will return behind the Senators' bench and John Paddock will be fired. This should happen in the next 48 hours.

9:57 AM:

- Per James Cybulski, Leafs' GM Cliff Fletcher's "hands are tied" with 4 players using their "no-trade" clauses to veto trades. Fletcher might deal D Bryan McCabe, as well as younger, cheaper players like forwards Matt Stajan and Alex Ponikarovsky.

10:05 AM:

Speculation no more. I can't stand this anymore. The next thing I post will be a trade.

10:33 AM:

TRADE: New Jersey Devils acquire D Bryce Salvador from the St. Louis Blues for F Cam Janssen.

10:42 AM:

- As per TSN, the Habs have recalled F Mikhail Grabovski from Hamilton. This indicates that he is coming to Montreal to replace somebody in the Habs lineup, or that he is definitly going to be dealt to the Thrashers as they are in Montreal tonight and it would facilitate his introduction into the Thrashers' system. This might also hint that F Maxim Lapierre is on his way out if Grabovski is not dealt.

11:15 AM:

TRADE: Florida Panthers acquire F Wade Belak from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 5th Round Pick.

11:25 AM:

MAJOR TRADE: San Jose Sharks acquire D Brian Campbell and 7th Round Pick from the Buffalo Sabres for F Steve Bernier and a 1st Round Pick.

11:40 AM:

MAJOR TRADE: Dallas Stars acquire F Brad Richards and G Johan Holmqvist from the Tampa Bay Lightning for G Mike Smith, F Jussi Jokinen and F Jeff Halpern.

11:50 AM:

MAJOR TRADE: Montreal Canadiens acquire 2nd Round Pick in 2009 for G Cristobal Huet.

12:17 PM:

TRADE: Florida Panthers acquire D Karlis Skrastins and a 3rd round pick from the Colorado Avalanche for D Ruslan Salei.

12:19 PM:

TRADE: Carolina Hurricanes acquire F Tuomo Ruutu from the Chicago Blackhawks for F Andrew Ladd.

12:46 PM:

TRADE: Ottawa Senators acquire LW Martin Lapointe from the Chicago Blackhawks for a 6th round pick.

1:03 PM:

MAJOR TRADE: Colorado Avalanche acquires D Adam Foote from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a conditional 1st round pick.

1:26 PM:

TRADE: Washington Capitals acquire F Sergei Fedorov from the Columbus Blue Jackets for F Ted Ruth.

1:21 PM:

TRADE: New York Islanders acquire D Rob Davison from the San Jose Sharks for a 7th round pick.

1:41 PM:

TRADE: Vancouver Canucks acquire F Matt Pettinger from the Washington Capitals for F Matt Cooke

2:30 PM:

TRADE: Phoenix Coyotes acquire G Al Montoya and F Marcel Hossa from the New York Rangers for F Fredrik Sjostrom, F Josh Gratton and G David LeNeveu.

No other major moves to announce.

Lightning re-signs Boyle, trade Prospal

There were a couple of moves that included the Tampa Bay Lightning which took place overnight.

Firstly, the Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed defenseman Dan Boyle to a 6-year, US$40 M contract.
The veteran defenseman will earn US$6.66 M over the next 6 seasons and will have a "no-trade" clause for the first 4 seasons, while he will have a modified "no-trade" for the final 2.

Secondly, the Lightning dealt winger Vaclav Prospal to the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Alexandre Picard and a conditional draft pick. The Lightning will receive the Flyers' 2nd Round Pick if the Flyers make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, and if they don't, will get Calgary's 3rd Round Pick.

Having been re-signed, Dan Boyle is officially off the market, and so is Prospal as he has found a new home. The same cannot be said about Lightning forward Brad Richards who will now, with Boyle's re-signing, be officially dealt.

Blues re-sign Jackman

The St. Louis Blues have re-signed defenseman Barret Jackman to a 4 year, US$14.4 M contract extension. He will earn US$3.6 M in every one of the next 4 seasons.

Jackman was eligible to become an unrestricted free-agent on July 1st and might have been dealt by the Blues, if an extension hadn't been reached, by tomorrow's Trade Deadline.

Jackman is the 3rd player to have been pulled of the trade market today, joining the likes of Toronto's Mats Sundin and Calgary's Alex Tanguay.

The 2002-03 Calder Trophy winner has 2 goals, 6 assists, 63 penalty minutes and a -12 plus-minus rating in 58 games played this season.

With this signing, the Blues now only have defenseman Bryce Salvador to re-sign, but if he isn't before tomorrow, he will quite probably be dealt.

Avalanche signs Forsberg

Peter Forsberg averaged 24 goals, 58 assists and 64 games with the Avalanche

This move comes as quite a surprise.

The Colorado Avalanche have signed center Peter Forsberg to a 1-year contract worth US$5 M prorated, the equivalent to US$1 M. This signing is quite surprising due to the team, the Avalanche, which has not been rumored to be interested in Foppa as much as the Flyers, Wings..., and due to the fact that Forsberg told the Press, a week ago, that he did not feel confident enough in the healing of his foot to return to the NHL this season.

Forsberg played for the Avs from 1994, when they were known as the Québec Nordiques, until 2004, leaving to join the Flyers and then Predators. He had his only 82-game season with the Avalanche during the 1995-96 season.

Tanguay staying put

Alex Tanguay will not be a member of the Montreal Canadiens come Tuesday afternoon

According to a TSN.ca article, Flames winger Alex Tanguay won't be traded by tomorrow's Trade Deadline.

Flames GM Darryl Sutter said to the media that "Alex Tanguay is one of the top left wingers in the National Hockey League an he'll be a pretty good player for us down the stretch."

When asked precisely about Tanguay's status, he replied by saying "I'm not trading Alex Tanguay. I already answered the question, I said Alex Tanguay will be a good player for us down the stretch."

This is the day's second blow to the Trade Market as both Tanguay and Mats Sundin have been pulled off of it. Once again, the attention has now increased on the Trashers' Marian Hossa, who is know, without question, the no.1 forward available. Brian Campbell and he are now the cream of the crop of this year's Trade Deadline Day market.

This is also a second blow to the Montreal Canadiens, as they reportedly coveted both Sundin and Tanguay. All the attention is now on Hossa, nothing more, nothing less.

Keep faith fellow Habs fans!

Rumor Central

Note: This post will be updated during the day

Here is a list of players and the teams said to be "interested" in their services:

D Rob Blake (LAK): ANA, COL, NJ, SJ
D Dan Boyle (TB): PHI, SJ
D Brian Campbell (BUF): NJ, PHI, SJ, TB
RW Martin Havlat (CHI): BOS, MTL
C Bobby Holik (ATL): NYR, NJ
RW Marian Hossa (ATL): BOS, DET, MTL, OTT
C Olli Jokinen (FLA): CGY, MIN, MTL, VAN
D Bryan McCabe (TOR): NYI, NYR, PHI
LW Vaclav Prospal (TB): ANA, BOS, PIT
C Brad Richards (TB): BUF, CBJ, DAL, PHI, VAN
D Ruslan Salei (FLA): NJ, PIT
D Ryan Suter (NSH): PHI

Sundin to remain a Leaf

According to TSN's Darren Dreger, Mats Sundin has informed Toronto Maple Leafs management that he will not waive his "no-movement" clause to accept a trade.

If Mats Sundin has done such a thing, it would put an end to a never-ending saga of trade rumors and of debate over why Sundin should and shouldn't waive his "no-movement" clause.

More importantly, it now means that Marian Hossa is the top fish in the Trade Pond.

Campbell may remain a Sabre

Campbell participated in his 2nd consecutive All-Star Game on January 27th

According to the Buffalo News, Brian Campbell seems optimistic he will not be dealt by the Sabres.

“Yeah, that’s the only way I can look at it, though,"he said. “I can’t look at it any other way. I think we’re still in a playoff spot or we’re close, and we’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s not going to be easy, and I hope I can be around for that.”

"We’ll see what happens over the next couple months", referring to his status after July 1st.

The 28-year old defenseman has been the subject of numerous trade rumors over the last week since he has not come to an agreement on a new contract with the Sabres and due to the Sabres reluctance to lose Campbell to Free Agency, and therefore getting nothing in return for him, especially after the Briere and Drury incidents.

With this declaration, though, it seems odd Campbell hasn't come to an agreement on a new contract with the Sabres... who knows, he might only be downplaying the situation?

In the end, the decision ike, it is Darcy Res not his to magier's, and since the later does not want to lose Campbell for nothing, he might be forced to deal him by the Deadline.

Rumor Central

Here are some other interesting rumors:

- According to one of TSN employee Matthew Barnaby's sources, the Washington Capitals are a player for Sabres' defenseman Brian Campbell.

- The Flyers having lost forward Mike Richards for 3 weeks with a torn hamstring and 10 straight games, it is unclear whether they are still buyers or have turned into sellers. They currently sit 9th in the Eastern Conference. Amongst the players they might be willing to trade are forwards Mike Knuble, Jeff Carter and Scottie Upshall.

- TSN.ca reports the Tampa Bay Lightning has "reached out" to Brad Richards and "alerted him" in their interest to trade him. The Blue Jackets seem to be the no.1 favorite to acquire him, reportedly offering a package of Gilbert Brule, Rostislav Klesla and a pick for the 2004 Conn Smythe trophy winner. The Stars and Canucks are also considered to be players in the Richards Sweepstakes.

- The Thrashers are, reportedly, considering dealing both Marian Hossa and Bobby Holik.

- Per Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Penguins need "at worst" a physical defenceman and a faceoff specialist". The later might mean interest in Blackhawks' Yanic Perreault, who is being shopped by Dale Tallon.

- The Pittsburgh Penguins seem to be a player for Vaclav Prospal, as they would like to add him to Sidney Crosby's line.

Habs lose to Blue Jackets, 3-0

Price played poorly against the Blue Jackets

Montreal -- After a great ceremony in Bob Gainey's honour, the Canadiens fell apart at the Bell Centre against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Canadiens weren't able to put one puck past Blue Jackets 'keeper Pascal Leclaire, who earned his league-leading 9th shutout of the season.

Even though the Canadiens did not score a goal, they had numerous missed opportunities, as the league's best powerplay failed to capitalize on 6 tries. Alex Kovalev was shut down numerous times by Pascal Leclaire on the doorstep, as he tried to squeak the puck in between his legs.

As for Carey Price, he let in 3 soft goals, which made it impossible for Montreal to stay in the game.

Result: 3-0 beating against Columbus.

Hopefully, this will push Bob Gainey to make a move before Tuesday, 3:00 PM.

Keep faith fellow Habs fans...

Trade Deadline Day Predictions

Here are my predictions:

Forwards:

Sergei Fedorov (CBJ): Detroit
Ruslan Fedotenko (NYI): Toronto
Chris Gratton (TB): Minnesota
Martin Havlat (CHI): Boston
Marian Hossa (ATL): Montreal
Olli Jokinen (FLA): Calgary
Ladislav Nagy (LAK): Buffalo
Vaclav Prospal (TB): New Jersey
Brad Richards (TB): Buffalo
Michael Ryder (MTL): Calgary
Mats Sundin (TOR): Staying put
Alex Tanguay (CGY): Montreal
David Vyborny (CBJ): Nashville

Defensemen:

Dan Boyle (TB): Staying put
Rob Blake (LAK): Staying put
Brian Campbell (BUF): Tampa Bay
Adam Foote (CBJ): San Jose
Barret Jackman (STL): Pittsburgh
John-Michael Liles (COL): New York Rangers
Bryan McCabe (TOR): New York Islanders
Brad Stuart (LAK): Vancouver

Rumor Central

Here are a few interesting rumours:

Update, 9:55 AM:

- The Toronto Sun reports Paul Holmgren nixed a Phil Kessel-Jeff Carter deal with the Bruins.
Phil Kessel, therefore, seems to be available and would probably be included in a Marian Hossa trade, or in the acquisition of an other star player.

- Per Hockey Buzz' Andy Strickland, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Darcy Tucker was asked to waive his "no-trade" clause by Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher, as he had a deal in place with either Anahem, Detroit or Ottawa. Tucker "politely said no".

Original, 7:31 AM:

- Brad Richards might be targeted by the Buffalo Sabres. If you think about it, the Lightning wants a package including a defenseman, like Brian Campbell who still doesn't have a contract for the 08-09 season, for Richards.

- The Flyers are targeting several defensemen, including Tampa Bay's Dan Boyle, the Maple Leafs' Brian McCabe and the Predators' Ryan Suter. It is important to know that the Predators have been scouting the Flyers for the last 2 weeks.

- It seems as if Bruins are making a big, public, push for Marian Hossa.

- With forward Simon Gagné's shutdown, the Flyers arel likely to be targeting a winger that could replace him, especially for the playoffs, like Flames' forward Alex Tanguay who has played 89 career playoffs games.

- The Blackhawks, currently sitting 8 points out of a playoff spot, might become sellers by this Trade Deadline Day. Chicago has valuable assets to auction off in forwards Martin Havlat and Robert Lang, and a less valuable, but still experienced, asset in Martin Lapointe.

The selling Columbus Blue Jackets?

As the Trade Deadline looms nearer with every passing hour, the Columbus Blue Jackets, currently sitting 5 points out of a playoff spot, with 2 more games played than the current no.8 seed, the Calgary Flames, sure seem like sellers.

Even though TSN employee Darren Dreger keeps hinting that the Blue Jackets might be a player for Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brad Richard, it seems more obvious that the Blue Jackets will sell more than buy.

The Blue Jackets have valuable assets to sell in forwards Sergei Fedorov, David Vyborny and Michael Peca and in defenseman Adam Foote.

Fedorov and Foote are quite comparable: aging veterans with valuable playoff experience and on the decline but still able to get the job done.

Peca is quite similar to Fedorov and Foote, but his injury history is a big concern.

As for Vyborny, he is a younger option but his lack of playoff experience, as well as his downfall hurt his value. Some could compare him to our Michael Ryder. Vyborny has numerous assets such a his very good vision and his playmaking abilities and has shown in the past that he can be a top 6 forward. This could indicate that a change of scenery might be all that is needed for him to regain success, but skepticism is still present.

Columbus has numerous assets to sell and a loss on Saturday against the Canadiens, combined with a Calgary win against Detroit tonight, might mean the beginning of a big firesale.

Top 10 players to watch at the Trade Deadline

The following is a list of the top 10 players to watch at the Trade Deadline, if they are not dealt before that. Every player is accompanied by his 07-08 salary and his status after July 1st, 2008.

10- C Sergei Fedorov (CBJ), US$6.08 M, UFA
9- D John-Michael Liles (COL), US$1.4 M, UFA
8- D Barret Jackman (STL), US$2.2 M, UFA
7- RW Michael Ryder (MTL), US$2.95 M, UFA
6- D Rob Blake (LAK), US$6 M, UFA
5- C Olli Jokinen (FLA), US$ 5.25 M, signed thru 09-10
4- LW Vaclav Prospal (TB), US$1.9 M, UFA
3- D Brian Campbell (BUF), US$1.75 M, UFA
2- C Mats Sundin (TOR), US$5.5 M, UFA
1- RW Marian Hossa (ATL), US$7 M, UFA

Olli Jokinen: Pros and Cons

Dear Readers, I present you, without further adue: Olli Jokinen.

Olli Jokinen is a 29-year old center playing for the Florida Panthers. His natural goal-scorer instincts and his above-average hands, as well as his good face-off abilities, have turned him into a star-superstar player at the NHL level. On February 5th, Jokinen reached the 200 goal mark. Over his past 3 seasons, Jokinen has scored at least 29 goals, and over his past 2 (not including 2007-08) has had 89 points or more.

Jokinen’s talent, goal-scoring ability and his “affordable” contract according to today’s market (08-09: 5.25M, 09-10: 5.50M), have turned the Finn into a hot commodity.

Many teams, like the Montreal Canadiens, could benefit from the acquisition of such a talented player, even though the bounty required to acquire him would be quite high. As an estimation of Olli’s worth, from a Habs’ point of view, expect the Canadiens to trade Chris Higgins, Ryan O’Byrne, Mikhail Grabovski and 1st round and 3rd round Draft Picks to the Panthers if Jokinen were to be acquired.

Although Jokinen’s team, the Florida Panthers, seems to be going nowhere, even with the acquisition and stellar play of goaltender Tomas Vokoun, Jokinen hasn’t voiced his displeasure publicly or hasn’t gone to see his GM Jacques Martin to ask him to be traded, but who knows, as the Trade Deadline draws nearer, he might.

Keep faith fellow Habs fans!

Trade Deadline Day Live Blogging

Dear Readers,

I am proud to announce that I will be live-blogging next Tuesday's Trade Deadline Day, from 8:00~9:00 AM to 4:oo~5:00 PM.

Thank you for your time,

HABla Hockey

What the sellers have to offer

With a big number of teams, currently, out of the Playoff Picture, a slew of players could be available by the Trade Deadline.

Amongst these teams are the Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks.

All these teams have interesting unrestricted free-agents come July 1st, except the Edmonton Oilers, but do not rule them out as sellers, as they have an important number of young defencemen and forwards that could be on the way out (except Gagner, Cogliano, Pitkanen...).

The teams with the most valuable assets to ship off is the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their UFAs include Dan Boyle, Vaclav Prospal and Chris Gratton. Boyle and Prospal would be welcome on any team, as for Gratton, his 55% faceoff success rate makes him somewhat of an intriguing option as a 3rd line center.

The Blackhawks along with the Oilers are the out-of-the-race teams that have the least to offer.
The Blackhawks seem to be willing to keep their young core of players together, and therefore only have UFAs Martin Lapointe and Andrei Zyuzin. Edmonton is in the same situation and their only ''notable'' UFA is Geoff Sanderson.

The Maple Leafs and Kings, respectively 29th and 30th in league standings, have some valuable UFAs to offer. Mats Sundin is most notably the top UFA forward in the market this year as the Trade Deadline approaches, and Toronto's only asset, if they decide to not trade Tomas Kaberle.
The Kings' notable UFAs include Rob Blake and Ladislav Nagy.

Finally, the Blues and Islanders also have some valuable assets to offer. St. Louis, unable to re-sign Barret Jackman up until this point in time, might be forced to trade him, and the Islanders surely want to get something in return for UFAs Miroslav Satan, Trent Hunter and Bryan Berard.

The Market this year seems quite bleek from a 100% sellers point of view, but wait until Trade Deadline day to see where Atlanta (UFAs: F Marian Hossa, F Bobby Holik, F Mark Recchi, D Steve McCarthy, G Johan Hedberg), Columbus (UFAs: F David Vyborny, F Sergei Fedorov, F Mike Peca, D Adam Foote) and Vancouver (UFAs: F Markus Naslund, F Brendan Morrison) stand, as their position could force them to add some valuable assets to the Trade Pool.

WWIB is back!

After a long Hiatus, We Want it Bad! is back.
Leading up to next-next Tuesday's Trade Deadline, I will post numerous entries on possible deals.
I also extend to you readers my deepest apologies for this Hiatus and I hope you will read this blog's content over the next few weeks.

Thank You