Starting to heat up

Since February ends in just over a week that means the NHL trade deadline for the 2011-2012 season is fast approaching. Before we know it we will be talking about off season acquisitions, who made the most of draft day and where the Stanley Cup got to travel to and what hijinks it managed to get into (along with it's player-babysitter). But before we get to that point, we have a deadline to adhere to.

Some minor trades have been made in the past week (here is a list on ESPN that is tracking all the trades this season), but the Habs trading Hal Gill signaled the beginning of the end of Montreal's season. They are now thinking about golf shirts and where to vacation sans a Stanley Cup on their arm. Dismantling mode is in full effect for the Habs. Gill on the other hand is continuing his tour of Eastern North America. Nashville is his 5th stop on the Eastern coast, having been to Boston, Toronto, Pittsburgh and Montreal already. Wonder if he has West Coast issues? Anyway, the U.S.S. Hal Gill has been docked in Nashville - for now.

Evgeni Malkin has continued on in beast mode for the Penguins and is making a case for a nice extension when he's due. James Neal was due for an extension and he decided to dominate all Penguins wingers by being the first in a decade to break the 30 goal mark. For this feat, he inked himself a 6 year $30million contract, averaging $5million a year. Nice raise from the under $3million he's making now. I'm thinking Mario and Ray bought themselves a bottle to congratulate themselves on picking him up last year. He barely cost a human since they received Matt Niskanen (D) with Neal in the package for Goligoski and Nisky has been much more reliable than the overpaid services of Paul Martin, who can't seem to decided which Paul will play each game. Now if Shero can do something about Martin's contract, he's officially the mad scientist of building hockey teams.

An unofficially kept stat is man games lost. The teams all track this but the league doesn't (you would think they would) and currently battling it out for the number one ranking are the Penguins and Canadiens who are ranked 1 and 2 respectively. Oddly enough these teams are on different paths with the Penguins doing everything to hold on to a playoff spot and sure up their roster, while the Habs are in selling mode. Obviously the biggest reason why the Penguins are up this high is Sidney Crosby who has accounted for a bulk of missing games. Imagine if Crosby was playing, Malkin was in beast mode and Neal was playing on his current pace? The Penguins would be going toe to toe with the Rangers. Maybe its a good thing they are not because I have always liked the Rangers having grown up watching their games mainly (till I moved to PA and had no access to MSG airings and had the Baby Pens in my backyard) and that would be tough to pick a team to root for harder.

One of last seasons biggest off season signings was the Rangers signing Brad Richards, but his story was one and done. He knew he wanted New York and New York wanted him. A few teams tried to make a pitch for him and he kindly listened to them but his mind was made up before Wayne Gretzky came on screen to tell him LA was the place to finish out the next 9 years of his career. He wisely went with his gut and suddenly the Rangers chemistry this season is off the charts. They have a lead over the league and have a goalie who looks to be on his way to winning his first Vezina. They have all the right ingredients and a coach who still thinks they can elevate their game, and they have all bought in.

The big question they are asking now is should Glen Sather mess with success and chemistry by attempting to bring in Rick Nash? Do they need Nash? No. Would be a great pick up? Yes. Will he mess with chemistry? Possibly. There's no way of knowing what a trade can do. In this case he can be an asset since he is a proven scoring winger that the Rangers want, but I'm not sold that it's that needed. Plus the Rangers have a history is screwing up contracts and then needing to buyout or pray someone retires to get it off the books. I say the Rangers need to stay out of this race. Plus if Zach Parise is available this off season, he's a better pick in my opinion if the Rangers decide to go that direction.

The second biggest off season trade last season was the soap opera of them all and seems to still be going on. This one almost made the Ilya Kovalchuk trade from the then Thrashers to the Devils look tame. This trade saw the Coyotes offload "I need parks" goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to the Philadelphia Flyers who had to in turn dump the salaries and personalities of Captain Mike Richards and his co-pilot Jeff Carter to the LA Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets respectively. Richards faced his fate quite well since LA parties are in a different league than a Philly party. Carter had a much harder time facing his fate. Ohio does not sound appealing and their team record is even less appealing. A year before he was on a team battling it out against the Blackhawk's for the Cup win and now he is somewhere in Ohio. He made it clear he was not happy to be in Ohio by not making a statement for days and not showing up for a over a week. He killed any chance he had of being liked by fans there before he even showed up since he can't fake happiness and now he might be on a one-way train out of town. I'm guessing he will attempt to be nicer to the next team immediately so he doesn't wear his 4th jersey in a 2 year period. Carter seems like a sure trade from the Jackets to any team willing to give them anything half-decent in exchange. His contract for $5 million through the 2022 season will scare away most teams before his attitude even came into play. A reunion with his buddy Richards in LA might be possible because the Jackets need a goalie and the Kings have one to spare.

So this trade seems to have been 2/3's of a disaster all around. Richards seems to be the only one adjusted and happy. Carter is Charlie Brown come to life and Bryz had a staring moment in 24/7 only to not star in the Winter Classic and drink tea from his thermos while watching the action on the heated bench. Bryz could have a tv show with his thoughts and my god would be he make a great dinner buddy but he's not exactly playing the way Philly imagined when they traded away 2 young guys that have proven scoring abilities. Since Philly needs help scoring, they are interested in entering the Rick Nash derby. Could they trade away Bryz and the remainder of his 9 year, $51 million dollar contract to the Blue Jackets for Nash? Doesn't seem out of the realm of possibiity at this point. It doesn't matter who is in goal for the Flyers these days, whichever Russian it is, they have a breakdown of some sort so why not trade away another disaster contract before he poisons the team and has little upside to any team. Right now you can say Philly wasn't a good fit, but another season or 2 and you've exposed him to just not being that elite goalie he was built up to be. Trade him while his stock is still decent. Maybe Philly should invent a league in which teams don't need goalies, they'd do quite well then. I think.

Teams interesed in the Rick Nash derby: NY Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs (he's from the area) and the LA Kings. The Jackets have some interesting options since they are shopping 2 high profile names. The Nash trade will be harder since he has a no movement clause that allows him to veto any deal he doesn't like, so if he has issues with say the city the team is in, he can stay put and not be forced to leave his death sentence in Ohio. Of course since he signed the death sentence I can't say I'd be shocked if he stays put.

Moral of the story: a trade does not always translate as well in real life as it does on paper. And when it comes to Philly, it really is goalie hell.

Tis the Season for Hockey

Before each season begins, people often make their picks for who will rule the standings and who will tank based on changes from the off-season and injuries. Someone forgot to mention to everyone on planet earth that moving the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg wouldn't change who they are at the core. They are still looking like the Thrashers of yesterday with a new logo and name slapped on them. At least the moving trucks did in fact lose those ugly ATL jerseys on the long ride up north. Hopefully someone in the front office will wake up and make some type of personnel change by the trade deadline. Of course the people of Winnipeg are so damn excited they have a hockey team of their own again, they might not notice if they finish in the bottom of the standings a la the Thrashers of yesteryear.

Moving on. Goalie issues were a hot topic this off season and the Phoenix Coyotes lost Ilya Bryzgalov (to Philly and it's parks) and in turn named Mike Smith the starting goalie for opening night. No pressure since the teams current owner is the league and want to find a buyer like yesterday. Since there was no pressure, he let 6 goals in. Of course there was 52 shots on him since the entire team in front of him forgot the season began. Can't blame it all on the goalie. They can only go up from here. I think. I hope.

And in other goalie news, Islands long-term investment Rick DiPietro isn't starting the season. When he does start that season, that will be news. If he ever plays half a season, the Islanders might feel semi-good about having signed him till he retires and enough cash to sink the Titanic. In the meantime one of the underpaid and over worked backups will start. I think DiPietro technically could be considered the best paid backup goalie. Ever.

Coming back from season ending knee surgery, the Devils' Zach Parise made his mark known scoring 2 goals and trying to right the ship of the Devils and not begin this season like last.Brad Richards also got his first goal for the NY Rangers, showing everyone exactly why he was the prized free agent this off season.

Jordan Staal is having hydration issues per the Penguins, which means what exactly?! The next day it was reported his foot might be tweaked. Fancy way of hiding something or throwing people off their scent? Maybe, maybe not. The Penguins are like the international men of mystery at times. The newest rumor is Crosby should be cleared this week for contact after meeting with the doctors. After he's cleared for contact, I assume he will presume his mission of destroying NHL records which was abruptly ended thanks to David Steckel knocking him out in the Winter Classic.He's been on the bench for 10 months now, the longest time off the ice since he learned to skate (assuming here but it seems like it would be accurate). I'd guess nothing would make him happier than coming back better than ever.

Finally imagine one day your the Captain of the Buffalo Sabres and a few seasons later your the oldest player on an ECHL team. This is the life of Craig Rivet. After spending the last season in Columbus with the Blue Jackets, he made the choice to play for the Elmira Jackals (ECHL team names are strange to say the least) and they have welcomed him with open arms. At least he made the decision himself, but my god. Going from the top-tier in US hockey to basically playing with 18 year old kids that are trying to make a name for themselves. At least he will be a wealth of knowledge for them, like their own skating encyclopedia.

BTW, it's only Monday and I'm ready for the weekend. Going to be a longgggg week. Yikess