The National Hockey League has recently taken a lot flak for falling woefully behind the other major sports leagues in North America, especially south of the border. But there’s no question that, when it comes to the annual brouhaha that is the trade deadline, the NHL is far ahead of the NFL, NBA and MLB in terms of sheer excitement and endless discussions.
Canada had three national sports networks dedicating 6-8 hours to the league’s trades and transactions on the Feb. 27 deadline day. So which teams came out on top, and which fell short?
The Edmonton Oilers made the biggest splash when they dealt Ryan “Captain Canada” Smyth, the heart and soul of Oil Nation, just 20 minutes before the 3:00pm EST deadline. When talks to sign a contract broke down for the free-agent-to-be, Oiler’s general manger Kevin Lowe was forced to deal away his franchise player to the NY Islanders for some first-round draft picks and prospects. Between losing the Stanley Cup finals to Carolina in seven games to having to trade away first Chris Pronger and now Smyth, Lowe has had a tough year.
Smyth and the Oilers were reportedly only one hundred thousand dollars apart in the contract extension, begging the question of where in life professional athletes lose their sense of how much is enough. Of course, other factors such as “principle” and “market value” come in to play, but after seeing Smyth’s tear-jerking speech, you have to wonder-if he wanted to stay in Alberta so badly, why could he not just have accepted slightly lower pay? Is there such a big difference between $5.4 million and $5.5 million? Regardless, by dealing Smyth, the Oilers officially put up the white flag on their season while the Islanders made a statement that they’re going to make a deep playoff run this season, even if Smyth is only a three-month rental before he moves on to sign elsewhere in the summer.
That was far from being the only major deal over an afternoon that tied the record for most trades on deadline day (25). Grizzled veterans such as Keith Tkachuk, Bill Guerin, and Gary Roberts moved to Atlanta, San Jose and Pittsburgh, respectively.
The real winner this spring, however, may be a familiar Original Six team that took a relatively lost-cost gamble in attaining the downtrodden yet dangerous Todd Bertuzzi. Unfortunately for Toronto fans, we’re not talking about the Leafs, but rather, their old rival down the 401 in Detroit. Bertuzzi gives the always-solid Red Wings one of the few ingredients missing from their roster this season following the departure of Brendan Shannahan and the incomparable Steve Yzerman: size and toughness.
While finesse players such as Datsyuk and Zetterberg are fine perimeter players, playoff hockey is usually won in the trenches and in front of the net, and the 250-pound Bertuzzi gives them that capability. The Ottawa Senators may have missed the boat by not acquiring that same kind of gritty player. Gary Roberts or Ryan Smyth would have been an ideal rough-and-tumble type to complement Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson. Instead, the Sens opted for the talented but painfully soft Oleg Saprykin.
As for the Leafs, GM John Ferguson Jr. decided not to follow the organization’s failed mantra of trading young prospects and draft picks for veterans past their prime-sort of. The Blue and White picked up solid two-way centre Yanic Perreault at a reasonably cheap price (Brendan Bell). Not sure what the thinking behind this one was, as Perreault may help the Leafs make the push for the playoffs this season, but won’t transform a bubble team into a serious contender, and may not figure into the team’s long-term plans.
In all, it was a typically busy and entertaining trade deadline. While the deals and the potential they bring can generate as much excitement as the games themselves, the true winners and losers won’t be clear until mid-June, when one of the 30 teams hoists Lord Stanley’s mug.
