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Before I
get started on all the activity we saw leading up to last Tuesday's trade
deadline, I wouldn't be a hockey columnist if I didn't comment on the "Todd
Bertuzzi Incident". I feel by now, I don't need to brief you on what
transpired, and since everyone and their dog have discussed it to death, I'll
sum up my whole take in ONE short paragraph:
The NFL is
regarded by most as the best-run pro league in North America. When
dealing with incidents like this, they don't let events fester in
the medias for a few days, allowing the public to view the incident
in slow motion over & over again. They rule on it immediately
( within 24 hours of the incident ) on appropriate measures to be
taken against the offenders. Their fines are steep, and are meant
not only to punish, but also as a deterrent. The NHL, who we
all know keeps getting a more & more bad reputation as a violent
sport spinning out of control, let this incident linger for a few
days before ruling on it. They have completely failed in the damage
control department because next year (or whenever we get hockey
again), the Regular Season will start with this whole issue being
re-visited again. The NHL failed at putting this matter to rest,
and will suffer more bad publicity because of their failure in doing
so. I have nothing new to say on Todd Bertuzzi, Brian Burke or
the Canucks. Their actions, or failure to take the appropriate
ones warranted everything they received.
With that
out of the way, lets examine what a few teams did leading up to the
trade deadline. Nearly 50 players find themselves with new
Postal / Zip codes, as the deadline, and the weeks leading up to it
did not disappoint the die-hard hockey fans. If something was
different this year, it was teams began loading up ( or in some
cases, unloading ) before the final day. Before D-Day, we saw
star players such as Jaromir Jagr, Anson Carter (twice!), Darryl
Sydor, Mike Comrie, Steve Sullivan, Peter Bondra, Alexei Zhamnov,
Robert Lang, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Gonchar, Brian Leetch, Petr
Nedved, and a few others, depending on your definition of "star
player". It's obvious many teams are in the hunt this
season. You almost get the feeling with a work stoppage
looming, everyone's going for it. Need proof ?
The
Edmonton Oilers, 6 points out of the final playoff spot in the West
and thought dead by many, went out and acquired Petr Nedved and "the
Juice" Jussi Markkanen in exchange for a draft pick & Minor Leaguer
Stephen Valiquette. This move allowed the Oilers to shed some
salary, by moving goaltender Tommy Salo to Colorado on D-Day.
Furthermore, the Rangers are on the hook for the remainder of
Nedved's salary for the year. Thanks Glen Sather, what's that
they say ? Once an Oiler, always an Oiler ?
Another
team thought to be "sellers" who ended up "buyers" at the deadline
were the Buffalo Sabres, with strong rumors of Satan being moved to
New Jersey (a move I would've welcome. After all, wasn't
SATAN born to be a
DEVIL?). Instead, Buffalo,
also six points out of the final playoff spot dealt for Brad Brown,
but more noticeably, Mike Grier who scored a goal and added 2
assists in his Sabres debut. Welcome to Buffalo Grier; Satan,
you can put your phone away for now.
Some of
the usual suspects were also busy. The regulars who in the
past have loaded up at the deadline were busy again this year:
Detroit (Lang), Colorado (Salo, Gratton), Toronto (Leetch, Francis),
Dallas (Therien, Bure), Philadelphia (Malakhov, Zhamnov, Burke),
Boston (Gonchar, Nylander), Vancouver (Sanderson, Rucinsky),
St-Louis (Sillinger, Savage), New Jersey (Kozlov, Hrdina) and
Ottawa (Bondra, DeVries) all added players to their rosters without
giving up too much. A few new faces who are now part of the
playoff picture took advantage of the sweepstakes, they include:
Tampa Bay (Neckar, Sydor), Nashville (Hnidy, Sullivan), Montreal
(Kovalev) and Calgary (Simon, Nieminen).
Ultimately, we can
draw two conclusions from all this activity:
1)
The deadline needs to be moved back. Too many teams have a
totally new roster, while other teams just serve as a breeding
ground for the stronger teams every year. We might as well
consider Washington, Pittsburgh & Chicago minor-league teams since
in a sense, that's what they have been to many teams.
2)
Ultimately, only one team will end up wining the Stanley Cup,
meaning only one GM will have put together the perfect Roster.
With so many contenders facing off in the First Round, some teams
will have sacrificed too much for too little. Does anyone miss
the days where teams actually believed they had the right people to
go all the way REGARDLESS of Deadline deals ? |
