3.04.2009

Wheeling and dealing

The trade deadline for 2009 has gone, and there were some surprises – Florida keeping Jay Bouwmeester. Montreal and Vancouver standing pat – and some that weren’t, such as graybeards Bill Guerin and Mark Recchi being moved to teams making a playoff push.

I won’t analyze every deal, but here are some highlights:

CALGARY ACQUIRES OLLI JOKINEN AND A THIRD-ROUND PICK FROM PHOENIX FOR MATTHEW LOMBARDI, BRANDON PRUST AND A CONDITIONAL FIRST-ROUND DRAFT PICK

WHAT THE FLAMES GET: Unknown … kind of. Though he’s appeared in 780 career games, Jokinen – who played for Mike Keenan in Florida – has never been to the postseason. The Flames will continue rely on Jarome Iginla and Michael Cammalleri for much of the offense, and Jokinen is a nice complementary piece with Todd Bertuzzi and Rene Bourque. Make no mistake, though, the Flames’ playoff hopes will rest squarely on the shoulders of goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.

WHAT THE COYOTES GET: Cheaper and smaller. The Coyotes were in full salary dump mode. Lombardi doesn’t score a lot. Prust provides pestiness (79 penalty minutes in 25 games), but not much beyond that.

PHILADELPHIA ACQUIRES DANIEL CARCILLO FROM PHOENIX FOR SCOTTIE UPSHALL AND A SECOND-ROUND DRAFT PICK

WHAT THE FLYERS GET: Tougher. Carcillo leads the league with 174 penalty minutes this season, and also is the NHL’s leader in that category since breaking into the league in 2006 with 572. Had 13 goals in 57 games last season, but down to only three in '08-'09. Scoring will not be his primary focus.

WHAT THE COYOTES GET: Underachiever. Picked sixth overall in 2002, Upshall flamed out in Nashville and again in Philadelphia, who acquired him in a deal for Peter Forsberg. Upshall 38 goals and 55 assists in 211 games over six seasons, but is just 25, so perhaps he can find hope in Arizona.

OTTAWA ACQUIRES PASCAL LECLAIRE FROM COLUMBUS FOR ANTOINE VERMETTE

WHAT THE SENATORS GET: Some stability. Martin Gerber is gone (finally), Brian Elliott is young, and Alex Auld – while considered one of the nicer guys in the league – just plain sucks. Leclaire was Wally Pipp-ed out of Columbus due to injuries and the emergence of likely Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason, and currently is out after undergoing ankle surgery in January. Broke out with 24 wins, a 2.25 goals-against average and nine shutouts last season with the Blue Jackets. Possibly a No. 1 in Canada’s capital? For now, as this will give Elliott more time to develop.

WHAT THE BLUE JACKETS GET: Playmaker. His production has fallen off this season, as Ottawa has just been awful. Vermetter but could benefit from playing with scorers Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius. Signed through next season, Vermette has speed and can kill penalties.

NEW YORK RANGERS ACQUIRE NIK ANTROPOV FROM TORONTO FOR A SECOND-ROUND PICK

WHAT THE RANGERS GET: Offense? With 21 goals, Antropov now becomes the Rangers’ leading scorer. He needs 11 more points to eclipse his career
high of 56 set last season, but at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, it seems like he should be more of a force on offense. Read: soft, like Nikolai Zherdev. Antropov will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, so this could be more of a tryout.

NEW YORK RANGERS ACQUIRE DEREK MORRIS FROM PHOENIX FOR PETR PRUCHA, NIGEL DAWES AND DMITRI KALININ

WHAT THE RANGERS GET: Rid of Kalinin, for one, who was a misfit in New York like overpaid defensemen Stephane Quintal and Sylvain Lefebvre before him. Morris, like Antropov, is a UFA on July 1, so if he can show some scoring touch and rock-solid defense, he'll be a welcome addition to the blue line.

WHAT THE COYOTES GET: More pieces for the future. Prucha had 30 goals as a rookie in 2005-06, but has totaled 33 in two-plus seasons since then. Dawes is 5-foot-8, and that’s a stretch, but has 10 goals. Kalinin is big (6-foot-3), injury-prone (averaged 60 games over the past three seasons) and little else.

As for the smaller deals, there were some interesting ones as well. With Ryan Miller (ankle) out for know, Buffalo shored up its goaltending situation by getting Mikael Tellqvist from Phoenix.

Though they’re going to miss the postseason for the fourth straight year, the Maple Leafs also addressed instability in net. With Vesa Toskala likely out for the season (hip and groin surgery), Curtis Joseph being ancient and Justin Pogge not yet ready, the Leafs picked up Gerber off waivers from Ottawa.

I can already hear Altruda calling out ‘Swiss Miss.’

In a separate deal with Tampa Bay, the Leafs picked up Olaf Kolzig, who’s also done for the season.

With all the trades the Coyotes made, and their finances in questions, they’ve quickly become a shell of a team that up until recently was a legitimate playoff contender.

Perhaps it’s time to for the NHL to step in, admit Desert Storm was a failure and look at moving this franchise to Kansas City.

Or, dare I say, back to the ‘Peg where they belong.

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