None of these guys will be traded, but they're all playing in Vancouver.
At 3 pm EST on Friday, Feb. 12, the NHL is imposing a roster freeze that will last the duration of the Olympics. Because the Olympic roster freeze expires on Feb. 28 and the league’s final trade deadline is March 3, there could be a lot of action taking place on Friday.
As trades are made and players are placed on waivers, we’ll keep you updated here.
Florida Panthers GM Randy Sexton has been pretty vocal with his feelings regarding the play of his team, and has already started shaking things up. Before Thursday night’s games, the Panthers traded C Dominic Moore, 28, to the Montreal Canadiens for a 2011 second round draft pick. UPDATE: Reports on Friday morning are that the Panthers cancelled their scheduled practice, and that Sexton has sent a letter to season ticket holders telling them to “expect major changes.” Stay tuned!
Carolina Hurricanes have traded center Matt Cullen to the Ottawa Senators for defenseman Alexandre Picard and a 2010 second round draft pick. Cullen, 33, has 40 points (12 G, 28 A) in 60 games this season. Picard, 24, has 15 points (4 G, 11 A) in 45 games this year.
The Detroit Red Wings are expected to make a roster move to make room under the cap for defenseman Andeas Lilja. TSN’s Bob MacKenzie is reporting that the Red Wings will place forward Brad May on waivers to make space. May, 38, was signed by Detroit on Oct. 8 to cover for the mounting injury absences, and has just one point, an assist, in 40 games.
The Ottawa Senators have placed forward Jonathan Cheechoo on waivers. Cheechoo, 29, has 14 points (5 G, 9 A) this year in 61 games.
The New York Rangers acquired Jody Shelley from the San Jose Sharks for a conditional sixth round draft choice in 2011.
Also, the Calgary Flames have placed C Jamie Lundmark on waivers. Lundmark, 29, has 9 points (4 G, 5 A) in 21 games so far this year. UPDATE: Lundmark was claimed on Saturday morning by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The trade deadline isn’t until March 3, but the movement has started with a bang.
On Sunday morning, TSN reported that the Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs have agreed to a seven-player deal that sends star defenseman Dion Phanuef to Toronto. Going east with Phanuef are forward Fredrik Sjostrom and defenseman prospect Keith Aulie.
Coming back to Calgary in the trade are forwards Niklas Hagman, Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers and defenseman Ian White.
Phanuef was drafted ninth overall in 2003 by Calgary and is a two-time Western Conference All Star. He was a surprise omission from Canada’s Olympic team this year, and his overall production has been down all year. He has just 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 53 games; he hasn’t finished a season with less than 47 points in his NHL career.
Sjostrom, 26, has six points in 46 games this year.
What does this deal mean to the Western Conference playoff picture?
After just completing a miserable 4-8-3 January that left them clinging to a one-point advantage on Detroit for the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference, this deal, on paper, appears to fix almost all of the issues in Calgary.
Gone are Dion Phanuef and a couple of guys that really aren’t worth much more than salary. Of course Phanuef, the team’s top draft pick in 2003, is coming off consecutive All Star Game appearances, so this certainly wasn’t a small price to pay.
But the bounty the Flames received back makes this deal worth it. Hagman was Toronto’s leading goal scorer with 20, and Stajan was second on the Leafs with 44 points. Oh, and White has outplayed Phanuef this year on the blue line as well.
The net result of this deal is an increase of 80 points in 2009-10 production from the four incoming players.
The Flames averaged only 2.13 goals per game in January, and that’s with Saturday’s six goals and a four-goal loss in Anaheim included. Poor Mikka Kipprusoff hasn’t had any offense to support some incredible efforts during the month.
That has changed now.
Now, the Flames could realistically skate a top line of Hagman, Stajan and Jarome Iginla that would have 125 points between them. The second line for Calgary could now include Rene Borque, Curtis Glencross and Damond Langkow, a line that would have scored 95 points this year.
There is not denying the upgrades made to the forward lines in Calgary with this deal.
What makes the deal even more impressive is bringing back White in the package. White likely won’t play as many minutes as he was in Toronto (23:47 per game), but adding someone with his scoring ability to the already-talented group of Jay Bouwmeester, Mark Giordano and Robyn Regehr means that this deal won’t negatively impact the depth Calgary had on its blue line for the sake of adding offense.
The Flames now have two weeks before the Olympics to work out their lines and figure out their chemistry for a big playoff push in March and April. Making this deal, however, will go a long way in helping Calgary compete in the West.
The next domino to fall is a reported deal between the Leafs and Anaheim Ducks. Yesterday, the Ducks agreed to a four-year, $18-million extension with Jonas Hiller, and today Darren Dreger of TSN is reporting that Jean Sebastian Giguere has been dealt to Toronto for Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake.. Giguere has one year and $7 million left on his contract after the 2009-10 season, while Toskala makes $4 million this year and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Matt Stajan is among the Leafs players allegedly on the trade block.
At the end of October, there were rumors that the Blackhawks had been exchanging interest with the Toronto Maple Leafs, which led to a flurry of speculation around the players either side would have interest in if a trade was imminent.
Both teams’ General Managers, the Blackhawks’ Stan Bowman and Toronto’s Brian Burke, didn’t say much at that point. However, the evolution of November has hit both teams, and circumstances are becoming more immediate for a potential deal to go down.
The Blackhawks are negotiating new contracts with three of their best players right now, but keeping Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith likely means someone else on the current Hawks roster has to leave. If the “tagging rule” means as much as it appears it does, that move might have to happen before the three new deals are signed.
The Hawks have said they would like to have everything ready for a press conference when the team returns from the Circus Trip at the beginning of December.
Meanwhile, Burke was quoted by The Fourth Period (TFP) on November 19 as saying “”I have been exploring the trade front since I got here, but it is hard to do, and if this group can’t get it done then the next step is to send somebody down and bring up one of the kids.”
This was really the first time Burke had not only called his team out in the media this year, but also publicly spoke at any length about potential player movement. From the tone of his conversation, it appears Burke intends to get younger in Toronto.
TFPalso mentioned that veterans Tomas Kaberle and Jason Blake could be on the move this year, while Alexei Ponikarovsky, Matt Stajan and Vesa Toskala are all on the block as well. Earlier this year, when Cristobal Huet was struggling, a deal for Toskala and Kaberle had been rumored; it appears now that Huet has settled in as the Hawks top goalie.
If you have read any of the rumorson CommittedIndians, you’ll know that there were conversations between Dale Tallon and Toronto before Tallon was relieved of his duties as Hawks’ GM this summer. The continued struggles of the Leafs, and Burke’s now-public stance that there may be a fire sale, make Toronto a popular trade rumor.
Then came Saturday night.
TFP reported that Blackhawks assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and a Hawks scout were among the 12 scouts/personnel people that attended the Leafs game in Toronto.
The fact that the Blackhawks have apparently set a timetable of December 1 to get the contracts done with Kane, Keith and Toews done, and someone must go, having Cheveldayoff in Toronto might be an indication that something might go down between the Hawks and Leafs soon.
Stay tuned.
Troy Brouwer scored a power play goal in the Blackhawks 3-2 victory on Friday.
If the Hawks weren’t playing one of the worst teams in the NHL on Friday night, their slowed intensity in the final 30 minutes might have cost them the game.
Toronto came into the game with one of the worst records in hockey and were starting a struggling goalie. The Blackhawks obviously knew they had a big advantage in depth and skill, and took the game to the Maple Leafs in the first period.
When the dust settled for the first intermission, Patrick Kane and John Madden had both scored goals and the Hawks had already thrown 20 shots on goal. The score was 2-0, and the game was as close as the teams’ records.
The second period started strong, with the Hawks continuing to dictate the pace of the game. Troy Brouwer redirected a Patrick Sharp shot into the net for a power play goal, and the Hawks were up 3-0 just over five minutes into the second period.
But just like the Calgary Flames did in October with their 5-0 lead, the Blackhawks felt that they had control of a struggling opponent and took their foot off the gas. The Hawks forgot that Phil Kessel showed up ready to play, and the Maple Leafs weren’t to be taken lightly.
The Hawks only put eight shots on goal in the second period, and a 40-foot rocket from Kessel took the teams to the dressing rooms still separated by two goals, with a 3-1 score.
As the final stanza began, the Hawks were flat. There was little hitting, less emotion, and almost no effort to win the puck in corners and the Leafs took advantage. Kessel cut the lead to 3-2 with his second goal of the game just five and a half minutes into the third, and the Hawks appeared to be on their heels.
The final 14 minutes were tough, physical hockey from both sides. Thanks to a substantial advantage in the circle, the Hawks were able to regain control of the puck and keep the Leafs out of the net to keep their lead through the final horn.
Friday night’s win was the sixth straight at home for the Hawks, the longest home winning streak since December 2001 – January 2002. The Hawks also extended their streak to four consecutive games with a power play goal, a unit that had struggled while Jonathan Toews was out with a concussion.
Toews continues to be an enormous difference for the offense, and it starts with his incredible ability to win faceoffs early this year. The Hawks’ 21-year old captain won 10 out of 15 faceoffs against Toronto, continuing a strong stretch during the homestand. Madden won 13 of his 16 faceoffs on Friday night as well.
When you put the 23 faceoff wins from Toews and Madden into the context of the Leafs only winning 25 as a team, you can see where the Hawks had an enormous advantage. The Hawks also dominated the takeaways (19-3), but didn’t get as many shots on goal in the final two periods as Toronto did; after putting 20 pucks on net in the first, the Hawks only ended up with 36 total shots for the game. Toronto ended the game with 31, 19 of which were in the second and third periods.
Brouwer had another exceptional game on Friday, scoring his fifth goal already this season in the second period and being credited with five hits. Luke Schenn also challenged Brouwer to a fight in that second period, and he as obliged with a loss as Brouwer appeared to land at least three or four quality punches before the zebras stepped in to save Schenn’s forehead and self esteem.
Also continuing a run of strong performances was Cristoabal Huet. The Hawks goalie stopped 29 of 31 shots on Friday (.935 save percentage) and did a great job of maintaining his composure through a number of heated rushes from Toronto in the second and third periods.
Duncan Keith was the Number One Star of the game with two assists, while Sharp and Brent Seabrook were also credited with one assist each.
"The Monster" comes to Chicago on Friday night.
On paper, there’s very little reason to think the Blackhawks will lose on Friday night when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Hawks are playing well, have a powerful offense, and their defense has been outstanding. Toronto, meanwhile, has been outscored by more than one goal per game so far, doesn’t play much defense, and has trouble scoring.
Friday night should be a layup for the Hawks… which is why it’s a dangerous trap game that could cost the Hawks points if they take Toronto for granted.
Sunday night, which is also Jeremy Roenick Heritage Night at the United Center, the Hawks host the top team in the Western Conference, the San Jose Sharks. That game will serve as a good benchmark to close the first quarter of the season, letting the Hawks know how they stack up against the leaders in the conference.
Toronto comes to Chicago playing as well as they have all year, having won two of their last three. Granted, one was at a Carolina team that might be one of the worst teams in recent memory, but beating the Detroit Red Wings is nothing to be ashamed of.
Allowing five goals to Minnesota on Tuesday is worthy of shame, but beating the Red Wings 5-1 last Saturday is a good effort for a last place team.
Jonas Gustavsson certainly deserves better than the 3-3-3 record he’s posted this season. His .912 save percentage is good enough to win more than three games, while his 2.77 goals against average is as much an indication of the poor defense in front of him as it isa reflection of his goaltending.
The irony in Toronto is that their best player is Tomas Kaberle, a defenseman. But he’s more in the mold of Brian Campbell than Brent Seabrook, which is why Toronto has struggled at the blue line this year. Mike Komisarek was placed on the IR on Thursday with a quad injury, and is expected to miss a number of weeks.
Kaberle has been a machine for Toronto, though. He already has 11 power play assists this year among his 20 points through just 16 games. His names has floated through a handful of trade rumors already this year because of his production (and $4 million cap number). In fact, he’s been mentioned in rumors involving the Blackhawks.
But even with a good Kaberle and a solid Gustavsson, the Blackhawks should smoke the Leafs on Friday night.
The issue the Hawks, like any young team, has is overlooking an inferior opponent when they have a strong test just 48 hours later. Toronto might not be a very good hockey team, but they’re still professionals. If the Hawks take them for granted, like they did with Vancouver in October, they could lose the game and players to injury.
