Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Trading Deadline Day March 3, 2010

We settle in for the duration as Canada's sports networks engage in their most competitive session of the year, providing comprehensive coverage of every move, conversation and strategy session that comes from this mad dash to deadline.

You can track the trades from any number of portals as Canada's hockey media rushes to deliver the latest developments.

All times reflective of our war room on the west coast!

With the Window of opportunity closed Mr. Hamhius can rest easy, no need to pack up the house and call a mover, the most mentioned asset of the deadline day is remaining in Nashville for the remainder of the season.

For a complete listing of the day's trading moves, the NHL website offers up this listing.

As for the day that was hosting little in the way of shocks, it proved to be the busiest of the deadline days, though many of the players involved today will hardly be the kind names that are household ones, well except in their own homes we guess. Here's the way the day finished hour by hour, from the most recent to the early beginnings.


12 Noon - ( 3 PM ET) The Deadline arrives

We await the recitation of the last minute deals as the deadline hour passes by, the first of the potential moves apparently involving the Maple Leafs who are apparently trying to move Lee Stempniak.

The Oilers reveal that Sheldon Souray is done for the remainder of the year with a hand infection, taking his name out of the trading derby and leaving the Oilers season with just a bit more misery to show for it.

The Maple Leafs pull the trigger on that earth shattering Stempniak deal, once again the Coyotes pick up another player taking him off the hands of Brian Burke reportedly  for a couple of late round draft picks.

Vancouver makes a move but not the one everyone anticipated, with the Canucks acquiring Andrew Alberts from Carolina with compensation to be revealed later.

Joe Corvo is moving to Washington as the Hurricane move him north, while picking up Brian Pothier and Oskar Osala.

Joey MacDonald becomes the latest goal-tender to be shuffled over to Anaheim, the Ducks who are moving goaltenders as fast as they come through the door pick up the now former Maple Leaf in exchange for a late 7th round draft pick in 2011.

Frederick Modin is heading west, heading for the LA Kings, the Blue Jackets get future considerations from the Kings.

With few blockbusters to talk about TSN's panel participants discuss how in this Olympic year, that two week break for the Vancouver games effectively affected the drama of deadline day, with the pre Olympic games treades Phaneuf and Kovalchuk highlighted as key ones.

With Bryan Murray about to step up to the microphone to discuss his teams decisions during the deadline day, the TSN crew fade him to black with discussion of a late breaking trade between Anaheim and Edmonton. The Oilers send Lubomir Visnovsky to the Ducks in exchange for Ray Whitney.

Florida picks up Mathieu Roy who joins the Panthers from Columbus in exchange for Matt Rust.

Toronto takes Chris Peluso from Pittsburgh in sending a sixth round pick to the Penguins.

Dustin Boyd is Nashville bound as the Flames send him to the see the Opry, in exchange for a 4th Round draft pick.

Brian Burke appears at 1235 to pass on his thanks to those departing Leafs and explain the status of a few other players currently under contract to the Leafs (hello there Tomas). He pays credit to Dave Nonis for most of the heavy lifting in the trade deadline period, owing to Burke's personal situation of last month.

Fortunately for TSN, Burke is in the mood for a lengthy conversation filling up at least twenty minutes of TSN"s post deadline ruminating, offering up his thoughts on the process the Maple Leafs are taking part in at the moment and how his moves today fit into that process.

The shocker of the day will apparently be an exchange of negotiations between the Flames and the Oilers, with Edmonton sending Steve Staois to their provincial rivals, Calgary receives Aaron Johnson and a third round pick.

Stephane Yelle returns to Colorado as he and Harrison Reed leave Carolina, in exchange for Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll and a sixth round draft pick.

The Coyotes bring the days events to an end with a trio of trades, the first one saw Alex Picard moved to the desert from Columbus, with the Blue Jackets receiving Chad Kolarik in exchange.

They send Anders Eriksson to the Rangers for goaltender Mikka Wiikman and a 7th round choice in the 2011 draft.

And the final selection of the day goes down in history as that of Petteri Nokalainen joining the Coyotes from Anaheim, with the Ducks picking up a sixth round draft choice in the 2010 draft.

11 am - Noon (2 -3 pm ET)

The final hour commences with Calgary turning yet another shade of Maple Leaf blue as they acquire Vesa Toskala from Anahiem sending, Mikka Kiprusoff's backup Curtis McElhinney off to explore the wonders of Dinsneyland.

Raffi Torres is on the move, the Blue Jackets sending him off to Buffalo where he'll be added to an already solid offensive lineup with the Sabres. In return the Blue Jackets receive Nathan Paetsch and a second round draft pick.

Terror enters the HockeyNation War Room as the TSN signal suddenly goes to black, perhaps a rogue missle from the KHL to disrupt the annual NHL exposure fest, but in short order all conspiracy theories can come to rest as the signal returns after about a five minute disruption, so did we miss anything we wonder?  

Buffalo returns to the trading floor sending Clark MacArthur to Atlanta, bringing a 3rd and 4th draft pick to the Sabres.

11:48 and TSN is left with reporting those players that aren't going to be traded, apparently Ray Whitney is off the trading floor, this is an interesting approach to the festivities they could very well fill the final twelve minutes by relaying those players not going anywhere!

Washington continues to move some pieces around picking up Milan Jurcina from Columbus, sending off a sixth round pick to the Blue Jackets.

10-11 am

Two hours to go for the Trade Deadline madness, with minor leaguers changing sweaters in the last half of the last hour, the TSN panel hosted by Dave Hodge turns their attention to Alberta's northern reaches and tears apart the Edmonton Oilers. effectively throwing up their hands at their short term future, offering little comfort for Oiler fans for the next few years. The consensus is that the of all the teams in the NHL this year, the Oilers should be the one holding the clearance sales.

Craig MacTavish treads carefully when asked of his opinion of the fate of the team he once coached, still bleeding Oiler orange and blue he too agrees that changes will be needed to turn around the one time feared Oil.

At 10:20 am Sportsnet breaks the news of the Vancouver Canucks moving Mathieu Schneider most likely for a draft pick, currently Schneider is toiling away in Winnipeg and now returns to the NHL, moved to the Phoenix Coyotes. The panel points out that the Coyotes, currently wards of the NHL have been the busiest of teams on this deadline day, an interesting observation which should raise a few eyebrows, with the Coyotes in effect playing with the house money in order to improve. The Canucks grab Sean Zimmerman and a conditional sixth round pick in the deal.

Tampa Bay enters the trading fray, sending Jeff Helpurn to the LA Kings for Ted Purcell and a 3rd round pick

The Caps pick up some more grinding grit for their lineup, grabbing Eric Belanger from Minnesota for a second round pick.

The TSN panel with Dave Hodge discuss the teams that haven't made a move yet, with the Flyers becoming the biggest puzzle for the group, goaltenders also become a discussion point as the panel examines those teams that could use some help there if they seriously want to have a shot at the cup, hello there Chicago and Washington.

9 - 10 am

Scott Walker is on the move as Carolina continues to change around its lineup, Walker instantly gains an opportunity to win a Stanley Cup ring as he heads for Washington with the Capitals receiving a seventh round draft pick in exchange.

The Canucks grab Stastny! Well ok it's Yan Stastny and he's surely destined for Winnipeg, but for a  brief second there it seemed like a pretty major trade to take a look at, heading to Peoria by way of St. Louis is Pierre Cedric Labrie.

Phoenix continues to make moves on trading day, shifting  Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter to Colorado, Wojtek Wolski heads to the desert in return.

More AHL movement filling time on the networks, the Red Wings move farmhand Kris Newbury to the Rangers who provide Jordan Owens to the Red Wings, Apartment leasing agents are standing by in Hartford and Grand Rapids.



8-9 am

Martin Skoula's time in Toronto was rather short, not that he probably figured that he would suit up anyways. The Leafs who acquired Skula in yesterday's trade with Pittsburgh move him on down the highway, his exit lane leads to New Jersey with the Leafs gaining a 5th round draft pick in return.

Some drama on TSN Pierre McGuire suddenly jumps up and dashes in front of the camera to parts uknown, late breaking deal he needs to confirm? Secret talks from an informant with the ground breaking story of the deal of the decade? Ah, here we go he's moved over to share the stage with Darren Dutchysen, a misfiring microphone leads us to the visage of McGuire and his new partner getting rather close, think Steve Martin and John Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which considering the theme of the day is actually a pretty good comparison.

At 8:15 we get some war stories from Mike Keenan who recounts some of his past Deadline day discussions, it all leads up to a review of last years testosterone test that took place between Keenan and Barnaby over the Flames acquisition of Olli Jokinen.

Sportsnet takes its turn for the BC Report as Don Taylor hosts a panel discussion on what the Canucks need to do on deadline day, for what seems like the twentieth time today so far, Mr. Hamhuis has his name tossed into the mix as a fine fit for the Canucks.

The Bruins add to their suddenly light defensive corps with a pick up of Dennis Seidenberg who heads north from Florida, the Bruins also gain Matt Bartowski a college prospect. In return the Panthers build for the future  with Byron Bitz , Craig Well and a 2nd round pick heading to the sunshine state.

Just as we head to the noon hour in the east and 9 am in the west we hear word of a trade between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Anaheim Ducks, Aaron Ward finds himself on a trading list once again as he heads for Anaheim with the Hurricanes grabbing Justin Pogge  and a fourth round pick, it's the second trade this year for the former Maple Leaf goaltender.

7-8 am

As a new hour kicks in the TSN panel is talking over the potential moves of the Ottawa Senators, the consensus is that despite their strong play this season they still come up short of Pittsburgh and may have to make a few moves in order to find success in the playoff run.

TSN also makes a line change on their panel, brining in Mike Keenan, Darren Pang and Matthew Barnaby to add to coverage. If they left their cats behind at home, one hopes that TSN's strangely placed morning sponsor of the Emery cat board provided some free samples for the group, times and demographics are clearly changing in the world of hockey advertising.

The first trade of the day is finally announced, the Boston Bruins return Derek Morris from whence he came as Morris is moved back to Phoenix, Sportsnet was the first with the trade call clocking in at 7:23, TSN did not make their first mention of it until 7:32. (10:32 ET)

Much discussion commences on both networks over the background of the Morris trade, how it incubated and what it may mean for the Bruins, seems that the main thought is that now the Bruins can go after last hours poster child for trade potential Dan Hamhuis.

Over at the Sportsnet Right Guard analysis desk (considering how long these guys are going to be together it may be the most popular spot by day's end hope they have lots of free samples) the merits of the Morris move are discussed, with Morris's real estate holdings of the main discussion point, seems he never gave up his house from the last time he lived there, though considering Phoenix's real estate challenges of late that was most likely his best course of action.

TSN pulls out the first big gun of the day, an interview with Olympic gold medal winner Sidney Crosby,  for those just glancing at the television we imagine this must have caused a slight rise in the blood pressure and heart rate, if the sound was down the visual image of Crosby talking with a panel host on trade deadline day most likely caught their attention, for Penguin fans around the world however it's time to relax, Crosby discussed his gold medal goal and the recent Penguin moves to add some more depth to the line up.

TSN checks in with their BC correspondent Farhan Lalji who offers up the prospect of the Canucks moving Pavol Demitra, with an outstanding Olympic tournament behind him now, the timing may never be better for getting full value for Demitra, once again the idea of Vancouver using him to gain a top line defenceman is in play (though no one mentioned Dan Hamhuis this time around)

TSN wraps up hour three with discussion from the Hodge/Farber/Cox panel on how the time is now for Vancouver to seize the momentum and make their play for a long run in this years playoffs.

5-7 am

Sorry panel, but a 5 am wake up call  (our cave is in the British Columbia wilderness) just isn't going to motivate me, not even if you breathlessly were to announce that Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin have been traded. (relax folks didn't happen)

At any rate as we joined the debating society at 6 am, and awaited the brewing of our coffee, we discovered only the rehash of the deals of the last forty eight hours and the continual theme that Dan Hamhuis  is probably going to need matching luggage by the end of the day.  He thus far being the most talked about asset from all of our morning contributors whether it be TSN or Sportsnet.

Defensive players it seems are going to be the most coveted of players as we tick the clock down to 3 PM ET or Noon on the west coast.

Vancouver it would appear is the team,  at least according to the wide range of the television sooth sayers that is in the most need for a first line defenceman, a point that is probably a correct observation considering their current injury woes and the ever possible potential of future ones. Hamhuis who is from Northern BC would not only be a solid addition to the Canucks but a popular one as well, time will tell as they say as to whether Mike Gillis can have the winning package for that quest.

The goaltender shuffle may be in play as well this day, as teams try to reconcile their current listing of guardians with the prospect of the pressure packed playoffs, as always a team can only go as far as their goaltending will allow and for some of the teams hopeful of a long run that may very well be their over riding concern.

Both networks are using a more traditional approach to the deadline muse, gone on Sportsnet are the past experiments of the pizza party or the fast paced shuffle approach, desks, talking head panels and much, much in the way of examination seems to be the early marching orders of the day.

Now if only they can have something to talk about for the next five hours.

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