The trade deadline has come and gone for the 2011 season. Any team looking to improve on February 28th took their last swing at the depleted list of players. With most of the big deals being made early, the speculation was to see a slow day. 16 trades were finalized, (the lowest in almost 30 years). In my eyes, the biggest players, who were not already traded, stayed put. Brad Richards of the Dallas Stars was rumored to be going to the moon before he signed back with Dallas. On Feb 21 GM Joe Nieuwendyk quietly picked up Defense man Alex Goligoski. That was a clear sign that the stars were the only team that needed the injured Richards. With Dallas still in the play-off race there was no reason to sell their star player. Vancouver is my Western Conference Favorite. This stellar team (traces still of Brian Burke) with possible award winning players already on the roster, looked in the direction of 2 former Habs, Max Lapierre and Chris Higgins. Both play a very similar game "roll players", so don't look for them to have a huge scoring impact, but one that might bring Lord Stanley's cup back to home soil. Lapierre is a grinder and loves to get under the skin of opposing teams, in-turn drawing a lot of penalties. That could be very helpful for the Sedin twins. Wouldn't it be nice to see a gold Medal one year and a Stanly cup the next. The other team to watch in the west is the LA Kings. LA picked up Dustin Penner from Edmonton. Adding the power forward to a line with Anze Kopitar, I see Penner having a positive impact. The Oil picked up Colten Teubert who I think is going to have a prosperous future in the NHL. In early scouting reports E.J. McGuire said "Colten is a smooth skating defense man, who can skate the puck out of trouble and can jump up the ice with the puck." I like Colten for a lot of reasons, but most of all for his ability to take charge of the game. He projects as a support three or four defense man, at least initially in the NHL, with a good offensive upside who won’t hurt you on defense." The Washington Capitals were looking to find a player that could maybe spark stars Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Alexander Semin. If there is one man for the job they may have just found him in Jason Arnott. Arnott has played in 106 career play-off games and has recorded 30 goals, 36 assists and held overall of +2. Look for him to add a presence in the dressing room and on the ice. Also added, defense man Denis Wideman. Don't look for the Caps to make it out of the first round in the playoffs. Derek Roy will be out till Oct of 2011, so Buffalo went shopping for Brad Boyes to stay in the hunt for the last playoff spot with Toronto, Atlanta, and Carolina.
