The trade deadline has come and gone. I was really surprised that Philly came out ahead for a change and didn’t just shed everyone they could ditch. After Forsberg left, the team didn’t have any serious contenders to trade outside of its youth movement. Maybe they should miss the playoffs more often because when they’re in the running, former GM Clarke would give up future draft picks and untapped potential (cough! Justin Williams) for short-term rental players (cough! Adam Oates and Sean Burke). My team landed Martin Biron in goal! I had been proposing that hare-brained idea ever since Jeff Hackett retired! Buffalo gave him up too easily in my opinion. Ryan Miller had been their starting goalie for a while but I have no idea who they will turn to for backup. Sadly, this means Esche will be dumped over the Summer and Niitymaki is the new backup, if they don’t trade him. I would keep Esche and deal Nitty instead. All will be revealed in early April is my guess. GM Holmgren was also successful in ditching disappointment extraordinairre Kyle Calder. Too bad he couldn’t get Michal Handzus back. In true ex-Flyers fashion, Calder landed with the Red Wings (a real contender) and scored four points in his first game with them. At least we have younger players and draft picks to reconstruct the team around.
Phoenix appears to have thrown in the towel. Laraque was dealt to Pittsburgh to protect their crybabies. It was that or continue to be a healthy scratch. Contrary to the innaccurate EPSN pundits, CuJo, Nolan, JR and EJ were not traded. I think Gretz will continue to build his team around Doan even if JR, Ricci and CuJo are cast aside as their contracts expire. Speaking of JR, he’s still talking about retirement. Again, we’ll see come April.
As for the rest of the NHL, I was rathered disappointed to see Detroit pick up Todd Bertuzzi. Until then, I had always felt this organization was a class act. Despite how much I dislike the Avalanche or any particular player, no one deserves to have his neck broken. I pity Bertuzzi for letting his anger and need for revenge get the better of him but he should still be banned from all professional hockey. What he did will always remain inexcusable and now Detroit put him on their roster with a good chance of having his name on the Cup. Other trades? St. Louis having a fire sale was no shock. Maybe Guerin will help with San Jose’s depth and Keith T will give the Thrashers some badly needed grit and experience. The lslanders wasted everyone’s time taking in Ryan Smyth from Edmonton. I guess I’ll have a team to cheer for in the playoffs once 16 winners are locked in. Meanwhile, I’m back to a state of denial about Philly’s goalie problems being solved.