Five Days

A lot can happen in five days, and a lot has ALREADY happened in the last week. On Monday at 3pm we will learn the final destination for all players this season, excluding waivers of course. Things have slowed down a bit this week after the flurry of moves that happened last week, but as usual, a last-minute transaction explosion can still be expected from Sunday night to Monday afternoon, and I will be giving constant trade updates and analyses starting at 3pm on Monday. With many teams fighting for the last few spots in the East, and a serious logjam in the West (5th and 12th are still separated by only a point), the next three or four days of games could decide whether teams are buyers, sellers, or neither, and any streak could make our break an organizations playoff hopes. GMs of once solid teams, could panic and make a drastic last minute move which could be beneficial or disastrous for a franchise. And this is why late February and early July are the best times of the year.....

Trades since Kaberle:

Carolina receives D Derek Joslin from San Jose for future considerations. At 23 years of age, this former 5th-round pick still has plenty of time to prove himself, but don't expect him to have a huge immediate impact on the Carolina blue line.

San Jose receives D Ian White from Carolina for 2012 2nd-round pick. San Jose was looking for a defenseman, and having just traded a young one to the same team, they got a decent pick-up from the Canes. Ian White should bring solid offensive numbers to the San Jose defense, but as this is now his THIRD team THIS SEASON (and fourth team in the past two seasons), I have to wonder how desirable he actually is. San Jose may have given up a little too much in a 2nd round pick for him, but previous trades may have also driven up the market price. Maybe his constant movement means there is a high demand for him, or maybe it means teams can't wait to get rid of him.

Tampa Bay receives D Eric Brewer from St. Louis for 2011 3rd-round pick and the rights to Brock Beukeboom. Both Eric Brewer and his new team should benefit wildly from this deal. Before the lockout, the St. Louis Blues had the active record for longest consecutive playoff streak in sports. After the lockout, however, the Blues finished their next season at the bottom of the league, and this happened to be Brewer's first year on the team. Over 6 seasons with the hapless Blues, many of which were derailed by injury, the Blues' captain was a collective -75, and became absolutely despised by much of the Blues' fanbase. Despite his number, he is a good defensemna, who will benefit from playing with a better team. He also brings additional leadership for a Cup run to a team that still has guys like Pavel Kubina, Marty St. Louis, and Vinny Lcecavlier left over from the 04 Cup team. He is also leaving a team where he had the burden of carrying most of the defensive load to a team where he can share the load with a solid existing top five in Kubina, Mattias Ohlund, Victor Hedman, Brett Clark, and Randy Jones, with solid defenders Mike Lundin and Marc-Andre Bergeron also on the roster, making Tampa as deep as anyone on the back end. The price also seemed little to get Brewer given the current market, unless Beukeboom, son of former NHL defenseman Jeff Beukeboom ends up developing into a strong player.

St. Louis acquires W Chris Stewart, D Kevin Shattenkirk and 2011 or 2012 2nd-round pick from Colorado for C Jay McClement, D Erik Johnson, and 2011 or 2012 1st-round pick. This is definitely the big one so far. Both teams were fading fast and needed to shake up their teams and they did so in dramatic fashion. The Blues receive a potential 30-goal power forward in you Chris Stewart, who's already scored a few in his short tenure for the Blues. Former Boston University D-man Shattenkirk is a solid young prospect, emerging already in his rookie season as a good offensive defenseman and making the Rookie All-Star team. The only question mark for the Blues is where to look to fill the giant hole in minutes on D now that Johnson and Brewer are both gone. The Avalanche were openly blasted for this deal by Peter Stastny, a Hall of Famer and father of Avs young gun Paul Stastny. Certainlly the Avalanche took the greater risk, but the payout could still be monumental if it works in their favor. Johnson, the first overall pick in 2006, who was followed by an impressive four of 2. Jordan Staal (PIT-won cup in 09), 3. Jonathan Toews (CHI-captain, won cup in 10), 4. Nicklas Backstrom (WSH), and 5. Phil Kessel (BOS), has so far not satisfied the Blues organization. Pegged as a future Chris Pronger, Johnson has put up decent offensive numbers so far in the league with over 30 points in each of his two seasons, despite an ACL injury (playing golf, of all things) costing him the entire 2008-2009 season, but after a promising start to the season, Johnson, who has 20 points in 57 games this season, took a large part of the blame. The Blues needed to make a change and he was the piece that could bring in the biggest haul. The Avalanche receive an underperforming defenseman, but at age 22, Johnson still has the potential to becoming an elite NHL defenseman, and could be an important fixture in the Avs organization for many years to come. They also receive a good penalty-killer in McClement and a valuable first-round pick. The year of the pick iss dependent on whether St. Louis would get a top 10 pick, but at this rate, it looks like BOTH teams will end up with one of those this year.

Dallas receives Alex Goligoski from Pittsburgh for W James Neal and D Matt Niskanen. This is an absolute steal for Ray Shero, and I can only speculate that Joe Nieuwendyk was feeling the pressure of his teams recent collapse. Goligoski is a solid offensive defensman with many good years ahead of him and will help out the offensively challenged Dallas defense, but Neal AND Niskanen? James Neal is in his third season in the league, and has over 20-goals in each of them. He will seriously help out the Penguins who are missing both Crosby and Malkin, and is now probably their most talented goal scorer on the wing. Matt Niskanen is having a down year, but is still only 24 and only two seasons removed from a 35 point season. If he ups his game in Pittsburgh, he could be a third-pair defenseman rounding out a crew which already boasts Kris Letang, Zbynek Michalek, Paul Martin, Brooks Orpik, and many young prospects like Ben Lovejoy and Deryk Engelland. With a wealth of young defensive prospects, Shero could use some of them as trade bait to bring in some more offensive help for the stretch run.