TradeDeadline2007.Hockey

My favorite hockey team, the Los Angeles Kings, have not been good for quite some time. We had a couple flashes of brilliance there in the early 00s (pronounced zeroes, you cretins) with those Deadmarsh and Palffy lineups, but for the most part, we've been crap since about 1994.

So while I had virtually no interest in this year's trade deals other than hoping the Kings would unload some of the overpaid overage talent, I still feel the need to comment on a few of the deals that went down earlier this week.

The Big Deal- Hossa goes to Pittsburgh
Reminding me phonetically of one of my favorite Ramones songs aside, this was unquestionably the biggest deal made this year, but to me, it's something of a head scratcher.

Hockey pundits will want to burn me for saying that, but that's ok. All, and yes, I mean all, American born hockey pundits are just guys doing time until a baseball job opens up. The Canadian pundits aren't much better with their blatant homerism towards players and teams north of the border. But enough stalling, why do I raise an eyebrow to the Hossa deal when all other hockey people in the universe are praising Penguins GM Ray Shero?

Making a move for a UFA like Hossa is essentially telling Sidney Crosby- nice job being an MVP and all, but we want a cup and we want it NOW. The Pens didn't give up too much- Colby Armstrong is the prototypical NHL underachiever and Erik Christensen is another one of those little too good to be a third liner, but not consistent enough to be second type of guys. Angelo Esposito is the real name departing from Pittsburgh in this deal- don't let anyone tell you any differently. By letting go of the prospect Esposito, the Penguins are, at least in my opinion, in "win now" mode officially.

The Pens have scoring to be sure, Malkin and Crosby are potent as either a 1-2 pairing at center with whoever playing on their respective wings, and playing on the same line, they're virtually unstoppable. Hossa would actually be the least talented guy on a Malkin-Crosby-Hossa line, and thinking about that statement too long should be enough to make most people's heads explode.

So what's the problem?

It's too much too soon for a kid like Sid. I know, I know, he's been groomed to be the poster boy of the NHL and all, but no matter how good The Kid is, he isn't ready for the responsibility of taking this extremely young team on his own, admittedly broad, shoulders. There's virtually no veteran leadership on this team outside of "Scary" Gary Roberts and (former King) Darryl Sydor. Ty Conklin has played over his head filling in for Marc-Andre Fleury, but goalies are a mercurial bunch and the Game 1 goal of the 2006 Cup Finals might still rattle the U.S. born goalie. The Penguin defense is largely provided by the entire team as the D corps is minus any real outstanding defensive talent (Sergei Gonchar being oustanding offensive talent in my book).

With the wheels falling off in Ottawa, it's possible, if not highly likely, the Penguins win the Eastern Conference, but what happens if they run up against Detroit, or as much as I hate to admit it, Anaheim in the finals? Youth and scoring very rarely win Cups.

I guess my concern is that so much pressure will be placed on Sid, and it will be pressure that he gladly accepts because that seems to be just the kind of player and person he already has become, that it will be too much and he'll be burned by it- thinking it's his fault they got swept in the finals and all, when really, it's just management pushing too hard and expecting too much out of a kid of even Sid's considerable talent. Don't forget, this time two years ago, the Pens were dead last. The turnaround happened much quicker than anyone expected. Me personally, I think management should've remembered that and given the Pens another year before pulling some blockbuster, future-mortgaging move.

I have been known to over-analyze, however.


A not quite as big deal, but still pretty big- Richards does Dallas
Everyone has known for quite awhile that Tampa Bay wouldn't be able to keep St. Louis, Richards, and Lecavalier together forever. Richards, while extremely capable was found to be the odd man out and was sent to Dallas.

It's a great move for Dallas, replacing an aging superstar like Mike Modano with a superstar like Richards who is really just entering his prime. The Stars also didn't really give up anything but cap space and a few odd parts by doing this deal. Speaking from the point of view of a Pacific Conference rival (can we PLEASE put the Stars in the Central for God's sake and let them beat up on STL or Chicago for a change?) I've been waiting for the Stars to get worse, not bad, but at least worse for years now and it just won't happen. I'm sure Canadians love to hate the Stars. They've been so solid for so long in the South...

Colorado rebuilding Cup winning team
Am I nuts or did I not read like two weeks ago that Forsberg was NOT coming back to the NHL this season? All of a sudden, he's signed by the Avs and for good measure, they went and traded for Adam Foote. I'm just wondering if any calls were made to Roy.

Forsberg is can't lose as even if he sucks after being off for a year they only gave up money. The thing Avs fans should be concerned about is the giving up of draft picks in their deadline dealings. I don't think any sane person would give you odds on the Avs making it to the Western Conference finals, let alone the Stanley Cup finals, so again, why mortgage the future? They've got a few outstanding kids- Stasny and Liles, but other than that, it seems slim. This kind of dealing gets you stuck in that black hole of not being a contender, yet not being bad enough to get good picks. The Avs need to be careful with stuff like this.

Capitals get Fedorov, Cooke, and Huet
Not the worst moves, but again, not sure if they were the smartest. Feds has been blah the past few seasons, but I understand the idea of trying to spread scoring across lines. I'd assume they'll pair him with Ovechkin rather than Semin, but who knows. Cooke adds some grit which is always good for an East team, and Huet is a competent backup (not that it means much playing behind an ironman like 'Zilla).

It's sort of like Colorado's moves though- I don't really get it. None of those guys are going to put a team over the top, let alone a borderline team like Washington. Ah well, I guess uncle Ted needed something to blog about.

Sharks and Sabres Deal
This is one of those surprisingly serendipitous deals that really does benefit both teams evenly. San Jose who has uncharacteristically underachived this year and relied HEAVILY on Evgeni Nabokov (who deserves an MVP in my opinion) gets an overachiver in Brian Campbell. Buffalo, who let the two guys who were really good go and kept the one who might be last summer, have played over their heads just to stay in contention get an underachiever in Steve Bernier. I also like this move because I have Bernier in my fantasy league and he's much better than he's played this season. Hopefully some of the famous Buffalo work ethic will rub off on him.

Those were the big ones. The rest were more or less inconsequential.

I do like that Columbus was able to hang on to their kids. I know they're an expansion team and a still relatively young one at that, but they've sucked for too long. I like the direction Ken Hitchcock has them heading in and I like the fact they didn't give up just yet on Zherdev. Somebody's going to look like a genius if that kid ever gets his head on straight.

I also like the fact that the Kings got rid of Modry and Stuart. Too bad Blake was on the IR or we might have been able to ship him back to the Avs...