Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Trade Deadline 2014: Tick , Tock you're on the clock Segment One

8 AM ET- 10 AM ET
5 AM PT - 7 AM PT

And it begins...

Sort of, kind of.

With some of the steam taken out in a pre-emptive strike by the Panthers and Canucks, the day long festival of speculation commences, mostly with a quick review of yesterday's developments and with a thumbnail guide as to which teams may be inclined to improve their line ups by the time The Trade Deadline horn has sounded.

The first hour of discussion taken up with recaps of such things as whether Martin St. Louis will receive his wish of a trade out of Tampa Bay (all be it a rather short wish list consisting of New York)  who apparently have made an offer. However, the consensus from all of the discussion on both networks being that he should perhaps settle in for work with Tampa  for the playoffs,.

TSN's panel reviewed their top five favourites to advance to the Stanley Cup, found among them, the Blackhawks, Bruins and Blues.  The Bruins were examined for particular attention, the suggestion that they could be one of the busier squads as the deadline clock ticks down.

And for Winnipeg fans, today is a very special day.  With Vancouver seemingly on the slide of irrelevance to the panels and observers, all eyes will be on the Jets to see if they make their move to strengthen and add for a playoff push.

The second hour examines the saga of Thomas Vanek, destined for somewhere today apparently, but his value seemingly on the decline.

The plan B's get the next review on TSN, where teams may default to if they don't snare the one or two A listers that they may be looking for.

Pay attention Jets fans, your goals and ambitions on trade day are getting a look over, with injuries and MRI results offering up some of their approach to the deadline hour.

The Oilers are up next for the review, with much talk about the fate of Ales Hemsky, who showcased himself for any GM's with the full Sportsnet hockey package. Ryan Smith again? some rumbles that the long time Oiler (with an interruption) may be moved, for the most part the Oilers are apparently looking to move UFA's.

Calgary, with Trader Burke at the helm gets their first major mention of the day, with cautionary tales that the Flames may wait until the Draft and off season to test the trade market, which would make for a boring day for Brian Burke and for television panels everywhere.

TSN moves on to the Canucks, holding their war room at a Golf Course. Make that what you will Canucks fans, omens, omens....  Will Ryan Kesler follow the path blazed by Roberto Luongo yesterday, with the Canucks anticipating much interest and good value to come back their way.  Alex Edler also may wish to keep his phone close and his travel agent closer.

Over on Sportsnet, while we ponder the modern era of Trading Day madness having started with Bob Nystrom, the Strategy Room is now in session. Though the strategy session early hours will apparently be more of a walk down memory lane, Pavel Bure?

TSN is reviewing the timelines of action of years past, 2013 did not register a trade until past the noon hour... it may be a long day for talking heads if that's an indication of a trend.

Pierre McGuire -- Ray Ferraro... Face Off, all segments must now feature a hockey related theme it appears.

Possible future thematics, Crossing the Blue Line?  where defensive trades get analyzed.

In the Paint? Well, with only Martin Brodeur left as the only goaltender not traded in the last week that may be a short feature...

Sportsnet is bird-dogging the Maple Leafs' hotel, offers up helfpul tips in how to hail a cab for New York City tourists.  As for the Leafs, they apparently have called up some farm hands for tonight's game, providing for a bit of percolating speculation as to what's up.

TSN as well turns their steely gaze on Dave Nonis and the Maple Leafs and what steps they may look to make to improve their playoff ambitions down the stretch.

TSN's panel is observing that the main requirement of the Leafs is help on the blue line, which is where they believe Nonis will devote much of his work today.

The idea of a trade with Vancouver pops up, with Ryan Kesler the featured discussion point, which wouldn't do much for the defence but would be a solid improvement on offence, cold water gets tossed on that tantalizing idea, with the suggestion that Kesler may prefer a US destination and some past history between Nonis and Gillis which didn't go so well last year.

Damn, we apparently missed their musical tribute to Ilya Bryzgalov, which surely was a must watch musical interlude for all.... here's hoping it is replayed shortly or appears on YouTube in short order...


And with that, the first two hours draw to a close, Trades 0, Talking Heads tenfold and counting...

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