While Dallas was busy fixing their back end at the deadline, by bringing Mattias Norstrom over from Los Angeles, the real action was happening north in Alberta.
The Oilers sent Ryan Smyth to the Islanders, for a couple of young rookies Robert Nilson, Ryan O’mara and a 2007 draft pick. It’s a move that should put Kevin Lowe under the spotlight tonight during Mark Messier Night. Unable to come to terms with Edmonton’s favourite, Lowe took a deal from the Islanders who suddenly add some classic grit and determination to their lineup.
Smyth who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, has been the heart and soul of the Oilers these many years. The Oilers felt they couldn't come up with the money he felt he commanded, the Islanders more than happy to rent him for the playoffs and maybe negotiate a new deal for next year.
Edmonton is a town that is well versed in the big trade, a town that said farewell to a Gretzky, which saw a Messier move on and went through the pain of the Pronger separation last season.
The Smyth deal seemed to catch many of the talking heads of the deadline shows by surprise, though to their credit the TSN crew had been discounting the stories that Sportsnet had launched earlier that Smyth had signed with the Oilers.
The late breaking announcement, gave the deadline day its traditional drama, perhaps raising a white flag for the Oilers this year, but giving the Islanders the chance to make some noise in the east as they battle for a playoff spot.
The Smyth move has certainly taken charge of the deadline day agenda, a fascinating turn of events that should be interesting to watch. Smyth will fit in quite well with the Nolan system on Long Island, while in Edmonton Kevin Lowe is going to need big shoulders to handle the amount of disappointment coming his way from Edmonton fans that loved the way Smyth played.
Showing posts with label Trade deadline 2007. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trade deadline 2007. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Burke, Bert and other ruminations
Note all times reflect the western time zone of your faithful transcriber here!
The early part of the 10:30 to 11:30 PT block of TSN’s coverage was turned over to a lively discussion with Brian Burke of Anaheim, who did his best to not say anything on rumours swirling around about a possible reunion for Burke and Bertuzzi. James Duthie tried to do his best Tom Cruise to Burke’s Jack Nicholson, however by the end of the discussion Burke did not blurt out anything that would cost him money for the NHL head office coffee fund.
They took a break at TSN then to interview Aaron Ward who didn’t sound particularly sad at having to leave New York for the Bruins. He expressed an aspect of enjoyment at rejoining former head coach Dave Lewis in Boston and managed not to call Jaromir Jagr any names.
Back to the panel and all talk of Aaron Ward’s trade is forgotten as they zone in on Burke’s potential moves to claim Bertuzzi again. Mike Keenan is especially keen on the prospect of the now well rested Bertuzzi returning west to add to the Ducks arsenal down the stretch.
Ooh breaking news, breaking news. A trade, a trade. Oleg Saprykin will join the Ottawa Senators, apparently having fallen into the doghouse in the desert Gretzky swung a deal with his old pal John Muckler. Saprykin who has been a middling scorer with Phoenix will shore up the lower lines in the capital.
At 11:10 sportsnet has gone to their shadowy figure Eklund again for a breaking story that the Oilers have apparently completed a deal with Ryan Smyth, keeping him in Oiler blue and taking him off the rumour carousel. Eklund also throws out the rumour that Buffalo is looking at Owen Nolan as a possible fit for the playoff drive.
Ah, at 11:10 the eye candy trots out again on Sportsnet as the Deal or No Deal babes return to the stage. They reveal the name of Scotty Gomez as a name to watch.
Nick Kypreos comes up with a trade between Anaheim and Colorado which apparently will see Brad May moving on to the Ducks for goaltender Michael Wall; if Burke can pull off a Bertuzzi trade as well the Ducks could be Canucks south…
TSN throws the cold water on the Canuck reunion dreams with a breaking story that pending medical exams and such Bertuzzi will be joining the Red Wings. He’ll make a presence that the Wings haven’t seen since the days of Bob Probert. The Panthers pick up a conditional draft pick in the deal.
TSN spends a fair amount of time putting caveats on the Bertuzzi deal just in case things fall apart on the Bertuzzi front spending almost as much time covering their butts as they do reporting the trade. They also take a shot at the rumours on the Smyth signing, suggesting that their rivals on the television warfront were a tad premature with their announcement on the Ryan - Oilers deal.
Bob McKenzie makes the Bertuzzi trade official at 11:28PT and also reports that Pascal Dupuis is leaving New York for Atlanta. And the TSN trade centre suggests that Yanic Perreault will be returning to Toronto one more time. It seems to be an occurrence that the Leafs take on every couple of years.
Washington joins the party as Danius Zubrus heads to Buffalo, the sudden flurry of action has the panel excited after a number of hours of twiddling their thumbs and recounting the olden days.
It sets up a highly anticipated final half hour dash for the deadline.
The early part of the 10:30 to 11:30 PT block of TSN’s coverage was turned over to a lively discussion with Brian Burke of Anaheim, who did his best to not say anything on rumours swirling around about a possible reunion for Burke and Bertuzzi. James Duthie tried to do his best Tom Cruise to Burke’s Jack Nicholson, however by the end of the discussion Burke did not blurt out anything that would cost him money for the NHL head office coffee fund.
They took a break at TSN then to interview Aaron Ward who didn’t sound particularly sad at having to leave New York for the Bruins. He expressed an aspect of enjoyment at rejoining former head coach Dave Lewis in Boston and managed not to call Jaromir Jagr any names.
Back to the panel and all talk of Aaron Ward’s trade is forgotten as they zone in on Burke’s potential moves to claim Bertuzzi again. Mike Keenan is especially keen on the prospect of the now well rested Bertuzzi returning west to add to the Ducks arsenal down the stretch.
Ooh breaking news, breaking news. A trade, a trade. Oleg Saprykin will join the Ottawa Senators, apparently having fallen into the doghouse in the desert Gretzky swung a deal with his old pal John Muckler. Saprykin who has been a middling scorer with Phoenix will shore up the lower lines in the capital.
At 11:10 sportsnet has gone to their shadowy figure Eklund again for a breaking story that the Oilers have apparently completed a deal with Ryan Smyth, keeping him in Oiler blue and taking him off the rumour carousel. Eklund also throws out the rumour that Buffalo is looking at Owen Nolan as a possible fit for the playoff drive.
Ah, at 11:10 the eye candy trots out again on Sportsnet as the Deal or No Deal babes return to the stage. They reveal the name of Scotty Gomez as a name to watch.
Nick Kypreos comes up with a trade between Anaheim and Colorado which apparently will see Brad May moving on to the Ducks for goaltender Michael Wall; if Burke can pull off a Bertuzzi trade as well the Ducks could be Canucks south…
TSN throws the cold water on the Canuck reunion dreams with a breaking story that pending medical exams and such Bertuzzi will be joining the Red Wings. He’ll make a presence that the Wings haven’t seen since the days of Bob Probert. The Panthers pick up a conditional draft pick in the deal.
TSN spends a fair amount of time putting caveats on the Bertuzzi deal just in case things fall apart on the Bertuzzi front spending almost as much time covering their butts as they do reporting the trade. They also take a shot at the rumours on the Smyth signing, suggesting that their rivals on the television warfront were a tad premature with their announcement on the Ryan - Oilers deal.
Bob McKenzie makes the Bertuzzi trade official at 11:28PT and also reports that Pascal Dupuis is leaving New York for Atlanta. And the TSN trade centre suggests that Yanic Perreault will be returning to Toronto one more time. It seems to be an occurrence that the Leafs take on every couple of years.
Washington joins the party as Danius Zubrus heads to Buffalo, the sudden flurry of action has the panel excited after a number of hours of twiddling their thumbs and recounting the olden days.
It sets up a highly anticipated final half hour dash for the deadline.
Another ninety minutes and there’s not much movement
Note all times reflect the western time zone of your faithful transcriber here!
The 9-10:30 block saw a lot of panel discussions and not much in the way of breaking news. TSN convened Dave Hodge’s panel of the Reporters who examined the George Laraque trade to Pittsburgh and how it portends to a new dark age of physicality in the NHL.
The trade of the hour appeared to be Domenic Moore heading off to the Wild, which was probably expected after Gary Roberts, was picked up by the Pens.
Over at Sportsnet they’re playing some bubble hockey and introducing the Deal or No Deal babes, the crew proclaim that today’s action is live on Sportsnet and the Fan 590 in Toronto, an audience that surely isn’t quite catching the full value of the Deal or No Deal babes..
TSN is giving Mike Keenan and Glen Healey free reign to reminisce about the golden days of Stanley Cup victories in New York City, we’re sure they’d like to do the same for the Leafs but the members of that golden moment team are taking their afternoon naps and the bus from the seniors centre probably won’t arrive until after the three pm deadline. As TSN breaks for commercial they promise more War Stories from Keenan et al
I notice that Jim Kelley is blogging notes on the Sportsnet website, I’m sure he’s part of the broadcast but I keep missing his appearances. This is one of those times I wish I had the picture in a picture feature thing on my television set. I always enjoy Kelley’s observations on hockey and perhaps Sportsnet should have given him a more prominent role on the broadcast. Or at least post when he’s going to be on so we can pick up some interesting tid bits.
Oh wait, it’s 10:10 and there’s another trade. The Rangers are apparently moving Aaron Ward on to the Bruins, though the B’s haven’t contacted the lucky Bruin heading down to Manhattan. The move of Ward doesn’t come as a surprise since he’s been in Tom Renney’s doghouse for a while now and recently got into a bit of a session with Jaromir Jagr.
At 10:20 the Sportsnet correspondent is asking Shawn Horcoff what kind of pizza he likes, we can’t wait for the “what is your favourite colour” question that surely will pop if there isn’t much more action.
Sportsnet features mascots playing bubble hockey while Kypreos and Stellick talk about Mark Messier’s impact on hockey and what his future might be.
Finally saw one of the Eklund segments, the mystery blogger who is hidden up in the Sportsnet gondola, who throws out a tease on the salary negotiations between Ryan Smyth and the Oilers. Eklund does not sound like Deep Throat of Watergate fame, actually has more of a Woody Allen quality to his observations.
Bill Waters is trapped in the back of his limo, apparently traffic can be bad in TO on deadline day as he’s been driving for some two hours now trying to find his way to the Deadline Bash. While he idles away in the back of the car, he thinks back to his days as Leaf exec and the many exciting times they had on deadline day. Not sure they can carry this bit on for another hour and a half, for one thing the Leafs never seemed to do much on Deadline day that ever took them to the Promised Land and two another hour and half on the road and he should be well into Hamilton.
Back to TSN where the Reporters crew discuss the merits or lack of the Rental players, a growing sub culture of NHL players that play through the playoff stretch and then the playoffs only to return back from whence they came.
The Score added a new participant it looks like Al Strachan, who hasn’t been seen on television for a while, though many might suggest that he’s still not on. They have Pierre LeBrun in the insider room which kind of resembles your average family study.
The Score’s host is a very, very loud fellow. Buddy, there’s only four people on your panel and they’re sitting right beside you, there’s nobody in the studio and probably not many watching at home. You don’t have to yell, you're not at the Sportsnet Deadline bash, where they have to yell cause they can't hear themselves talk!
The 9-10:30 block saw a lot of panel discussions and not much in the way of breaking news. TSN convened Dave Hodge’s panel of the Reporters who examined the George Laraque trade to Pittsburgh and how it portends to a new dark age of physicality in the NHL.
The trade of the hour appeared to be Domenic Moore heading off to the Wild, which was probably expected after Gary Roberts, was picked up by the Pens.
Over at Sportsnet they’re playing some bubble hockey and introducing the Deal or No Deal babes, the crew proclaim that today’s action is live on Sportsnet and the Fan 590 in Toronto, an audience that surely isn’t quite catching the full value of the Deal or No Deal babes..
TSN is giving Mike Keenan and Glen Healey free reign to reminisce about the golden days of Stanley Cup victories in New York City, we’re sure they’d like to do the same for the Leafs but the members of that golden moment team are taking their afternoon naps and the bus from the seniors centre probably won’t arrive until after the three pm deadline. As TSN breaks for commercial they promise more War Stories from Keenan et al
I notice that Jim Kelley is blogging notes on the Sportsnet website, I’m sure he’s part of the broadcast but I keep missing his appearances. This is one of those times I wish I had the picture in a picture feature thing on my television set. I always enjoy Kelley’s observations on hockey and perhaps Sportsnet should have given him a more prominent role on the broadcast. Or at least post when he’s going to be on so we can pick up some interesting tid bits.
Oh wait, it’s 10:10 and there’s another trade. The Rangers are apparently moving Aaron Ward on to the Bruins, though the B’s haven’t contacted the lucky Bruin heading down to Manhattan. The move of Ward doesn’t come as a surprise since he’s been in Tom Renney’s doghouse for a while now and recently got into a bit of a session with Jaromir Jagr.
At 10:20 the Sportsnet correspondent is asking Shawn Horcoff what kind of pizza he likes, we can’t wait for the “what is your favourite colour” question that surely will pop if there isn’t much more action.
Sportsnet features mascots playing bubble hockey while Kypreos and Stellick talk about Mark Messier’s impact on hockey and what his future might be.
Finally saw one of the Eklund segments, the mystery blogger who is hidden up in the Sportsnet gondola, who throws out a tease on the salary negotiations between Ryan Smyth and the Oilers. Eklund does not sound like Deep Throat of Watergate fame, actually has more of a Woody Allen quality to his observations.
Bill Waters is trapped in the back of his limo, apparently traffic can be bad in TO on deadline day as he’s been driving for some two hours now trying to find his way to the Deadline Bash. While he idles away in the back of the car, he thinks back to his days as Leaf exec and the many exciting times they had on deadline day. Not sure they can carry this bit on for another hour and a half, for one thing the Leafs never seemed to do much on Deadline day that ever took them to the Promised Land and two another hour and half on the road and he should be well into Hamilton.
Back to TSN where the Reporters crew discuss the merits or lack of the Rental players, a growing sub culture of NHL players that play through the playoff stretch and then the playoffs only to return back from whence they came.
The Score added a new participant it looks like Al Strachan, who hasn’t been seen on television for a while, though many might suggest that he’s still not on. They have Pierre LeBrun in the insider room which kind of resembles your average family study.
The Score’s host is a very, very loud fellow. Buddy, there’s only four people on your panel and they’re sitting right beside you, there’s nobody in the studio and probably not many watching at home. You don’t have to yell, you're not at the Sportsnet Deadline bash, where they have to yell cause they can't hear themselves talk!
Rolling trade list from the deadline shows
12 noon Pens take Shafer from Sharks for goal
12 noon Alexeev from Tampa to Chicago for Stewart
12 noon Tampa trades with LA for Ward
12 noon Kwiatkowski joins the Pens
12 noon Flames acquire Hale from the Devils
12 noon Blues pick up Boyes for Wideman
12 noon Sabres grab Lehtonen from Preds
12 noon Ryan Smyth traded to Islanders
12 noon Norstrom to Dallas
12 noon Sharks move Parker to the Avs
11 am Hey la de la, Yanic is back
11 am Zubrus for Buffalo for Novotny
11 am Pascal Dupuis sings a Dixie tune
11 am Todd Bertuzzi moves to Motown
11 am Brad May traded to Anaheim
10 am Oleg Saprykin joins Sens from Phoenix
10 am Aaron Ward from NY to Boston for Paul Mara
9 am Dominic Moore is the odd man out in Pittsburgh, off to Minnesota
8 am Bill Guerin heads to San Jose
8 am Georges Laraque adds some toughness to Pittsburgh
8 am Ty Conklin becomes the back up in Buffalo leaves Columbus
8 am Martin Biron is off to Philadelphia
7 am Gary Roberts to Pittsburgh confirmed early on
Two hours in and counting, a few observations
The three sports networks in Canada have blocked off the programming grid today, with all hockey all the time. TSN seems to have the most informative of the panels, a star studded affair without many gimmicks, just hard working guys pounding away on their Blackberries, panels to the left of us, panels to the right here we are stuck on the channel for news.
Sportsnet is hosting the deadline bash, which appears to be what things would look like if they used a Boston Pizza as a set. There’s gals running around with plates of food, there’s television sets everywhere and there is that pounding rock background famous at bars and grills across the continent. Babes seem to be a central feature of the Deadline bash, Sportsnet has acquired the services of the Deal or No Deal presenters who diligently trot out every once in a while to show off their Sportsnet tee shirts and give the panel a name to discuss from the rumour pile. As an added bonus, the Hanson Brothers are on the set as well, make a wrong move on the nachos and they’ll take care of you. Maybe invite them to your playoff pool as security...
The Score by comparison is like the small crowd around the office cooler, there are three guys, a bit of talk and no flash, no glitz. I click on them every once in a while because hey they showed up for work, the least I can do is look through the window once and a while. But for breaking news we'll move along thanks.
That being said, it seems that TSN is on top of the game, though the first fresh report of the day will come from RDS out of Quebec.
Fortunately for the networks Buffalo finally pulled the trigger on a deal shortly after 8 am, as RDS reported that Martin Biron would be moving his pugilistic skills to a town that truly appreciates them. Biron moves on to Philadelphia as the Sabres declare once and for all that Ryan Miller will be the one to lead them to the Cup. For insurance purposes they pick up Ty Conklin from Columbus, though this is met with less than tepid enthusiasm by panels everywhere who conjure up the ghosts of Edmonton as their evidence.
Georges Laraque gets his wish and he can move out of the desert as the designated bodyguard to Sidney Crosby. He will be joining Gary Roberts who was convinced that the Pens were the real deal last night. Suddenly the Penguins have increased their depth and we suspect that young Mr. Crosby won’t have to worry about being manhandled in Montreal any more.
The TSN cameras focus in on Ryan Smith skating circles on the ice at an Edmonton practice, what this means in uncertain, other than the fact that he still skates in an Oiler uniform and panic won't set in just yet in Northern Alberta.
St. Louis continues to clean out the locker room, Bill Guerin has moved on the way to San Jose. A solid move by the Sharks to add even more potential scoring punch to a line up that should be filling the net. Bringing in Guerin will probably take some of the pressure off of the big guns in San Jose allowing them to get back into a goal scoring flow that we’ve been used to.
Sportsnet commits the sin of Commercialism by being in a commercial break while the news breaks on the Guerin deal, but then again you have to pay for the chicken wings and nachos somehow don’t you.
Sportsnet is hosting the deadline bash, which appears to be what things would look like if they used a Boston Pizza as a set. There’s gals running around with plates of food, there’s television sets everywhere and there is that pounding rock background famous at bars and grills across the continent. Babes seem to be a central feature of the Deadline bash, Sportsnet has acquired the services of the Deal or No Deal presenters who diligently trot out every once in a while to show off their Sportsnet tee shirts and give the panel a name to discuss from the rumour pile. As an added bonus, the Hanson Brothers are on the set as well, make a wrong move on the nachos and they’ll take care of you. Maybe invite them to your playoff pool as security...
The Score by comparison is like the small crowd around the office cooler, there are three guys, a bit of talk and no flash, no glitz. I click on them every once in a while because hey they showed up for work, the least I can do is look through the window once and a while. But for breaking news we'll move along thanks.
That being said, it seems that TSN is on top of the game, though the first fresh report of the day will come from RDS out of Quebec.
Fortunately for the networks Buffalo finally pulled the trigger on a deal shortly after 8 am, as RDS reported that Martin Biron would be moving his pugilistic skills to a town that truly appreciates them. Biron moves on to Philadelphia as the Sabres declare once and for all that Ryan Miller will be the one to lead them to the Cup. For insurance purposes they pick up Ty Conklin from Columbus, though this is met with less than tepid enthusiasm by panels everywhere who conjure up the ghosts of Edmonton as their evidence.
Georges Laraque gets his wish and he can move out of the desert as the designated bodyguard to Sidney Crosby. He will be joining Gary Roberts who was convinced that the Pens were the real deal last night. Suddenly the Penguins have increased their depth and we suspect that young Mr. Crosby won’t have to worry about being manhandled in Montreal any more.
The TSN cameras focus in on Ryan Smith skating circles on the ice at an Edmonton practice, what this means in uncertain, other than the fact that he still skates in an Oiler uniform and panic won't set in just yet in Northern Alberta.
St. Louis continues to clean out the locker room, Bill Guerin has moved on the way to San Jose. A solid move by the Sharks to add even more potential scoring punch to a line up that should be filling the net. Bringing in Guerin will probably take some of the pressure off of the big guns in San Jose allowing them to get back into a goal scoring flow that we’ve been used to.
Sportsnet commits the sin of Commercialism by being in a commercial break while the news breaks on the Guerin deal, but then again you have to pay for the chicken wings and nachos somehow don’t you.
Going once, going twice, gone!
From the Instigator site on the CBC. Kind of sums up how most teams become sellers by the time deadline day rolls around.Rumour the currency of deadline day
The NHL trade deadline is almost a creation of the competing sports networks of Canadian television. Of the four main sports in the US that garner attention of the media on a more or less consistent basis, only hockey seems to have this fever like approach to a basic procedural item.
For the NHL it's eight hours of the best propaganda that they've never had to pay for.
The NFL rarely it seems even trades players, such is its devotion to the idea of free agency, for the life of me I can’t remember the last time I heard of a trade in football either American or Canadian while a season was underway, there all action is off season and normally through an auction of freed football players.
Likewise, you don’t see many trades in baseball anymore either, with its confusing bit of trade deadline theatre, where you can still pick up a player for the pennant drive but not use him in post season, baseball doesn’t offer up the same kind of frantic working of the phones that the NHL can provide some years.
Basketball probably put a scare into the big sports networks of Canada last week, their trade deadline came and went with little fanfare and even less action. If memory serves correct only two rather minor trades were made. No bulletins were issued and the conversation was limited to the anticipated date of arrival of the players.
Now imagine for a minute that same scenario Tuesday morning, as the herds of Sporstnet and TSN sit hour after hour waiting for any kind of movement, trying to fill the hours of comprehensive coverage with tales of trades that never happened.
The league’s GM’s have already been pretty busy, Calgary has long since shored up their troubles as Darryl Sutter made a few smart additions that have already benefited the Flames, Peter Forsberg the blue chip of the deadline stocks has already found a new song to sing in Nashville, Atlanta mortgaged the franchise over the weekend, Vancouver added some needed strength and veteran skills on Monday.
All that may be left will be a few more sales out of the St. Louis and Florida offices and the rather annoyed Jeremy Roenick and Georges Laraque finding much anticipated new mailing addresses and a hopeful exile from Wayne's World.
The two main networks will have legions on duty Tuesday, their cell phones and Blackberries like swords and shields, fending off rumours, tracking down facts, begging for snippets of information. Eklund the mystery blogger and the Hanson Brothers join their Hockeycentral panel for Sportsnet, while over at TSN the always connected Bob McKenzie and ever informed Pierre McGuire will share their thoughts with the rest of the usual suspects.
TSN got a bit of a dry run in on Monday night, during the Montreal / Toronto game, with the exception of the dealings by Dave Nonis earlier in the day, there was little in fact to talk about, rather it was a lot of speculation over which GM’s were going to be selling and which ones were heading to the market to trade their beans.
It’s the kind of dedicated coverage that the main networks normally give to an election, with reports from the outlying districts and definitive words from the decision desk, it all gets under way at 7 am on the west coast, 10 am from deadline central in Toronto.
For those that can't summon up a good cold or other plausible excuse to sneak a day off of work, TSN is running their efforts through their broadband pipeline, Sportnset touts their live streaming plans and The Score promises frequent updates to their website as well.
Now if only there will be some bodies left to trade!
TSN's Trade Center
Sportsnet's HockeyCentral Deadline Bash
The Score Trade Deadline 2007
NHL Trade Central site
For the NHL it's eight hours of the best propaganda that they've never had to pay for.
The NFL rarely it seems even trades players, such is its devotion to the idea of free agency, for the life of me I can’t remember the last time I heard of a trade in football either American or Canadian while a season was underway, there all action is off season and normally through an auction of freed football players.
Likewise, you don’t see many trades in baseball anymore either, with its confusing bit of trade deadline theatre, where you can still pick up a player for the pennant drive but not use him in post season, baseball doesn’t offer up the same kind of frantic working of the phones that the NHL can provide some years.
Basketball probably put a scare into the big sports networks of Canada last week, their trade deadline came and went with little fanfare and even less action. If memory serves correct only two rather minor trades were made. No bulletins were issued and the conversation was limited to the anticipated date of arrival of the players.
Now imagine for a minute that same scenario Tuesday morning, as the herds of Sporstnet and TSN sit hour after hour waiting for any kind of movement, trying to fill the hours of comprehensive coverage with tales of trades that never happened.
The league’s GM’s have already been pretty busy, Calgary has long since shored up their troubles as Darryl Sutter made a few smart additions that have already benefited the Flames, Peter Forsberg the blue chip of the deadline stocks has already found a new song to sing in Nashville, Atlanta mortgaged the franchise over the weekend, Vancouver added some needed strength and veteran skills on Monday.
All that may be left will be a few more sales out of the St. Louis and Florida offices and the rather annoyed Jeremy Roenick and Georges Laraque finding much anticipated new mailing addresses and a hopeful exile from Wayne's World.
The two main networks will have legions on duty Tuesday, their cell phones and Blackberries like swords and shields, fending off rumours, tracking down facts, begging for snippets of information. Eklund the mystery blogger and the Hanson Brothers join their Hockeycentral panel for Sportsnet, while over at TSN the always connected Bob McKenzie and ever informed Pierre McGuire will share their thoughts with the rest of the usual suspects.
TSN got a bit of a dry run in on Monday night, during the Montreal / Toronto game, with the exception of the dealings by Dave Nonis earlier in the day, there was little in fact to talk about, rather it was a lot of speculation over which GM’s were going to be selling and which ones were heading to the market to trade their beans.
It’s the kind of dedicated coverage that the main networks normally give to an election, with reports from the outlying districts and definitive words from the decision desk, it all gets under way at 7 am on the west coast, 10 am from deadline central in Toronto.
For those that can't summon up a good cold or other plausible excuse to sneak a day off of work, TSN is running their efforts through their broadband pipeline, Sportnset touts their live streaming plans and The Score promises frequent updates to their website as well.
Now if only there will be some bodies left to trade!
TSN's Trade Center
Sportsnet's HockeyCentral Deadline Bash
The Score Trade Deadline 2007
NHL Trade Central site
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Trade deadline offers up more than just the movement of players
The Globe and Mail’s Eric Duhatschek provides kind of a primer for those trying to understand the dynamics of the new NHL financial structure and how teams approach the trade deadline this Tuesday. In what amounts to a course outline called Deadline 101, he examines the various factors involved in this years run up to the trade deadline.
With a 44 million dollar payroll to work with, many NHL teams are looking for young and cheap rising players this deadline day, those that will have an immediate impact on the ice while keeping the budgetary path of the team on track.
He uses an example of the Ducks of Anaheim as a team that has tied up half of their salary space with just four players. The Ducks have a roster of youngsters playing a pretty solid game at bargain basement prices thirteen of whom make less than 1 million dollars. They are the currency of this draft, the young guns with low price tags. The Ducks today made some preparatory moves today with a minor deal, that is expected to pave the way for a larger deal before the deadline.
The article makes a nice companion piece to the Satellite Hot Stove broadcast on Saturday night, where Ron McLean’s panel investigated which teams might be buyers and sellers on Tuesday. All eyes apparently are on St. Louis as the Blues determine where they want to be by the time the smoke clears on Tuesday afternoon. All other deals currently in the incubation phase seem to rest on how the dominoes tumble out of Missouri.
With a 44 million dollar payroll to work with, many NHL teams are looking for young and cheap rising players this deadline day, those that will have an immediate impact on the ice while keeping the budgetary path of the team on track.
He uses an example of the Ducks of Anaheim as a team that has tied up half of their salary space with just four players. The Ducks have a roster of youngsters playing a pretty solid game at bargain basement prices thirteen of whom make less than 1 million dollars. They are the currency of this draft, the young guns with low price tags. The Ducks today made some preparatory moves today with a minor deal, that is expected to pave the way for a larger deal before the deadline.
The article makes a nice companion piece to the Satellite Hot Stove broadcast on Saturday night, where Ron McLean’s panel investigated which teams might be buyers and sellers on Tuesday. All eyes apparently are on St. Louis as the Blues determine where they want to be by the time the smoke clears on Tuesday afternoon. All other deals currently in the incubation phase seem to rest on how the dominoes tumble out of Missouri.
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