In both the Eastern and Western Conferences, competition is heating up to secure positions in the NHL playoff race. In the West, competition is a giant elastic band, stretched tight and flinging teams from 4th to 13th place and vice versa over a few wins or losses. Vancouver stands atop the pile with a comfortable lead on everyone else in the conference. Edmonton has fallen out of the race and are last in the West. Calgary continues to battle at 6th place after turning their season around.
In the East, the jockeying for the elusive 7th and 8th spots involve significantly fewer teams. Montreal sits rather comfortably in the 6th spot, and Ottawa has fallen sharply and significantly, sitting dead last in the conference. Around this time, the general consensus was that Toronto would fall out of the picture as well. However, riding on the snap shot of Phil Kessel and the back of rookie goalie James Reimer, the Leafs find themselves close to a playoff spot.
The Febuary 28th trade deadline was one of the quietest in recent memory, so in this article I’ll be covering the trades made by every Canadian NHL team in the month of Febuary, which is essentially a giant deadline in and of itself.
Calgary Flames
Wins: 34
Losses: 24
Overtime: 9
What they gave up:
Absoloutely nothing. Calgary chose to ride its current hot streak and not make any trade deadline deals. What they lost was essentially an opportunity to improve their team. Calgary was a team who made considerable deals in the past few years to try and push their team into the postseason with little success, so it’s not a huge surprise that new management in Calgary decided to take a step back from the deadline table.
What they got in return:
A group that has been desperately winning games got a vote of confidence with the lack of moves made at the deadline. None of Calgary’s divisional opponenents got marginally better through the deadline, and many got worse, so Calgary received a bit of a gift there.
March Outlook:
Despite their 6th-place ranking as of press time, Calgary is under immense pressure to keep winning, as they are only one or two points inside a playoff spot and have played more games than anyone else in the Western Conference playoff race. Their play has reflected this need, however, and Calgary have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL as of late. Whether they can keep up their torrid pace will determine whether or not they make the postseason.
Vancouver Canucks
Wins: 40
Losses: 16
Overtime: 9
What they gave up:
A couple of low-end prospects toiling away in the minors were given away by Vancouver. Evan Oberg, likely the most promising of the players shipped off, likely has a future in the NHL as a defenseman, but Vancouver is set on the back end for years to come with mainstays such as Edler, Hamhuis, Ballard and Bieksa, and enough prospects to soften the blow of losing Oberg. Joel Perrault couldn’t crack the Canucks’ forward group, so he was not much of a loss to the team, though his depth wasn’t without value. Two low-end draft picks were also shipped out.
What they got in return:
It’s hard to believe that the Canucks could have made their roster even better while not giving up any pieces of it. Credit goes to General Manager Mike Gillis, who addressed a team need by adding hard-nosed, gritty forward Maxim Lappierre. Players of Lappierre’s ilk are extremely useful for a playoff run. Gillis still wasn’t done, however, as he then picked up utility forward Chris Higgins. He has experience playing on top forward lines and third and fourth lines as well.
March Outlook:
Canucks fans are holding their breath for no more injuries.This year, it looks as though even currently injured players like Higgins and Edler will be back in time for a postseason push. Vancouver looks poised to pick up its first ever president’s trophy for best regular season record. Brothers Henrik and Daniel Sedin are both amongst the top three players in NHL scoring, and will lead the Canucks’ charge. Of course, even those awards will matter very little if this team fails to deliver in the postseason.
Montreal Canadiens
Wins: 35
Losses: 23
Overtime: 7
What they gave up:
The Canadiens managed to hang onto all important parts of their roster, dealing away fringe players Ben Maxwell and Brent Festerling. Montreal has sufficient depth at the forward position that allowed them to ship out Maxwell and Festerling without taking much of a hurt anywhere. The fourth and fifth round draft picks given up by Montreal could develop into impact players, but odds are they won’t be of much consequence.
What they got in return:
One of the most crucial needs of the Canadiens heading into deadline day was depth on defense. Debilitating injuries have kept Montreal’s defense corps on red alert the entire season. Brent Sopel and Paul Mara both play with a gritty, veteran presence that will be sure to aid the younger players on the squad, as well as block some shots in front of Carey Price, something that the Montreal defense could stand to improve. Mara and Sopel both function as solid bottom-pairing defenseman, and were clearly the most notable of the Canadiens’ pickups.
March Outlook:
Despite their 6th-place ranking as of press time, Calgary is under immense pressure to keep winning, as they are only one or two points inside a playoff spot and have played more games than anyone else in the Western Conference playoff race. Their play has reflected this need, however, and Calgary have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL as of late. Whether they can keep up their torrid pace will determine whether or not they make the postseason.
Ottawa Senators
Wins: 22
Losses: 34
Overtime: 9
What they gave up:
Ottawa essentially had a fire sale at this year’s trade deadline. If you had draft picks or prospects that you were willing to give up, Ottawa would find you a player. Alex Kovalev never really found his stride in the nation’s capital, so off to Pittsburgh he went. Mike Fisher fetched a great return from Nashville, and so he was shipped off. Defenseman Chris Campoli will now help Chicago with their attempt to defend the Stanley Cup this year. Brian Elliott’s inconsistency was replaced. Forward Chris Kelly was also shipped off, among other less notable players and picks, in the massive shakeup of the Sens’ roster.
What they got in return:
Ottawa essentially received three assets on deadline day. First of all, in exchange for their players, the Sens pulled in a large number of draft picks including one first, one to three seconds (two are conditional,) and two sixth round picks. Combining that with Ottawa’s own draft picks could create an entirely new team identity at the next draft that will set the tone for years to come. Ottawa traded Brian Elliott for Craig Anderson, who has already shown that while inconsistent as well, he is on the upswing and can steal a game or two.
March Outlook:
Ottawa is essentially chasing Edmonton for Landeskog, and don’t stand to win many more games after their deadline deals. Not much else to say, the team sold any chance at all of winning in order to make themselves more competitive three or five years down the road.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Wins: 29
Losses: 27
Overtime: 9
What they gave up:
Toronto gutted their roster of three players of considerable value. Defenseman Francois Beauchemin was deemed expendable after youngster Keith Aulie showed that he was ready to play in the big leagues. Kris Versteeg, despite his spark on the Leafs powerplay and dependable third-line play, was simply not meshing with the team, and so he was shipped out to Philadelphia. The final piece to be moved was long-serving offensive defenseman Tomas Kaberle. In a classy move, Kaberle waived the no trade clause in his contract, allowing the pending unrestricted free agent so that they could get high value in return for him.
What they got in return:
For Beauchemin, the Leafs picked up promising young defensive prospect Jake Gardiner, drafted in the first round of his class. They also received the recently-injured Joffrey Lupul, who has come back from his injury to spark the Leafs’ top six forward group. For Versteeg, the Leafs picked up two draft picks, a first and a third rounder from Philly. For Kaberle, another promising young player named Joe Colbourne and Boston’s first round pick.
March Outlook:
With the exception of Lupul, every player acquired by the Leafs at or before the deadline signalled that the team were down and out for the season. Enter rookie goaltender James Reimer. After making the jump from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, Reimer has been nothing less than stellar, piloting the Leafs to an impressive 8-2-4 record in their last 14 games.
Edmonton Oilers
Wins: 22
Losses: 35
Overtime: 8
What they gave up:
The notable outgoing player from the Oil was Dustin Penner, a power forward who regained his form after stumbling early in his time in Edmonton. Penner was sent to the Los Angeles Kings. His offense will be missed, but it’s hard to justify why Edmonton would want to score many more goals this season.
What they got in return:
Penner’s trade off was far greater than expected. Coming from LA is promising defensive prospect Colton Teubert, another chip to add to Edmonton’s growing stack of potential stars. Edmonton also picked up LA’s first-round draft pick, and a conditional pick as well.
March Outlook:
Edmonton is in an unofficial race for Gabriel Landeskog, the highly touted potential first overall draft pick of 2011’s draft. In order to put your stress to rest, look far into the future when considering the Oilers’s fortunes going forward.
