Only days after arguably one of the biggest day in the history of hockey, Canada winning Olympic gold on home soil in Vancouver, we’re only hours away from another big day for hockey fans. The NHL trade deadline is 3 PM EST on Wednesday, and that means fans will be glued to TV sets, laptops, and cellphones to get any information they can on who’s been traded and who’s staying put.
Prior to the two week Olympic trading freeze, we were already seeing increased activity, but since the freeze lifted on Monday teams are really starting to get in on the deals. Since March 1st we’ve seen nine deals made, which bodes well for a busy Wednesday. Teams like Ottawa & Chicago are picking up extra pieces in preparation for a playoff run, and Edmonton is beginning to dismantle one of the most disappointing teams in the league.
So what are we likely to see tomorrow?Well, a lot of eyes are on Brian Burke in Toronto, and what he plans to do following the two big deals he pulled off before the Olympics that brought in Dion Phaneuf & Jean-Sébastien Giguère. One move looks like a certainty at this point, Alexei Ponikarovsky will be traded. He’s out of the line-up tonight, which is being looked at as a precautionary measure so he doesn’t get injured before a deal can be worked out. Two teams that are being talked about as potential destinations are Los Angeles & Pittsburgh, with the likely return being a prospect or roster player AND a 2nd round draft pick. There’s a lot of talk from the “hockey insiders” on TSN that we’ll see a prospect coming back to Toronto, but given the Giggy & Phaneuf trades I’m expecting a roster player that can contribute now, or at the very least a prospect that will be NHL ready next season.
As for Tomas Kaberle, I’ll say it now, he isn’t going to be traded. He has a no-trade clause, and has not given the team a list of teams he’d be okay with, if the team moved him. If Burke does decide to move Tomas it will be after the draft, as his contract states that if the Leafs miss the playoffs the no-trade clause goes away for a two month window during the summer.
Elsewhere around the league, we could see Montreal trade one of their goalies. Ray Whitney & Aaron Ward (Ward is out of the line-up tonight as well) are almost certainly going to be moved out of Carolina. The Blues have pretty much made it public knowledge that both Carlo Colaiacovo & Brad Boyes are available. Within the last several hours there’s been strong talk that the Flyers are after Predators defenseman Dan Hamhuis. Also, expect Philly to be after a goalie given that Ray Emery is out for the season. Coming out of Colorado we’ve heard the surprising news that Wojtek Wolski might be moved, possibly to Phoenix for Peter Mueller. There was also this ridiculous rumor going on earlier today that had the Blackhawks dumping salary by trading Cristobal Huet & a draft pick to Toronto for Jeff Finger. The thinking was the Leafs would use Huet to get some help on offense in another deal, but the rumor was shutdown when the Leafs said they had absolutely no interest in acquiring another goalie.
For those looking to follow along at home (or at work) I’ll throw out a few suggestions. Obviously the three Canadian sports networks are going to have all day coverage, but you’ll want to stick with TSN to get more reliable information. If you’re on the go tomorrow, mobile coverage is going to pretty good as TSN continues to push out SMS updates as trades are made. If you have an iPhone you’re even luckier as TSN has just released a “Trade Centre” app for free that gives you push notifications, a trade board, news, and even LIVE VIDEO of their coverage on TSN… I’m hoping the video will work over 3G, I may finally come near my 6GB data cap. Twitter users should check out my NHL Insiders list I put together with a good few bloggers & media personele from around the league.
It should be a very interesting day!! Let me know in the comments if you’ve got any hopes for your favourite team on deadline day!
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Tagged: Montreal Canadiens, NHL, Tomas Kaberle, toronto maple leafs, trade, TSN, Twitter