If December 25 is Christmas where family and friends exchange gifts in a calm, loving environment, then the Trade Deadline (this year, February 27) is like a Turkish bazaar where sellers scream at passersby in an attempt to peddle their unwanted wares.
I’ve never been to one of these places, but I imagine that phone calls made today sound about the same: guys trying to sell things by yelling and screaming about how good they are until the buyer simply gives up trying to resist and throws money at the seller to make them stop.
We’ve seen it already as Columbus was able to rid themselves of Jeff Carter and Minnesota somehow got another team to voluntarily desire Marek Zidlicky, but plenty of questions remain.
For us, the biggest thing we’re watching is whether the Wings are going to make a move. Ken Holland was able to re-acquire Kyle Quincey last week for a first round draft pick, but he said that he wouldn’t mind getting some size up front. Jonathan Ericsson is out for the next month with a chipped bone in his wrist, but the Wings have confirmed they are set on defense and in net, so any players brought in will be forwards.
The Wings aren’t the only team that may be active today. The biggest story will be whether the Blue Jackets finally deal Rick Nash, or if the price is too high and other teams just tweak their lineups. History has shown that teams that make big splashes and bring in superstars don’t always reap the benefits.
Detroit should be paying attention to the teams in their own division. Chicago is in freefall mode right now, losing their second straight game and now only sit 5 points ahead of 9th place Los Angeles and Colorado. They’ve had problems keeping the puck out of their net all year, and they may be looking for defense or goaltending. St Louis traded their AHL goalie Ben Bishop to Ottawa for a draft pick, a smart move considering they weren’t re-signing him after the emergence of Brian Elliott. They may be done, as they don’t seem to need any help. Nashville is playing well, but they’ve got a lot of uncertainty around Ryan Suter and Shea Weber and need to somehow “prove” they’re building a winner.
Plenty of other teams are trying to figure out what they need in order to prevent further descent in the standings. San Jose has lost the Pacific division lead to Phoenix and are only 3 points ahead of LA. Toronto has fallen to 10th in the East after holding a playoff spot for most of the season. Washington is just God-awful and if they don’t win their craptacular division, they’ll likely miss the playoffs.
I think we’re going to see a lot of minor moves that give contenders some depth and make fringe teams a little better, but no big splashes. Coverage starts bright and early, and we’ll be here all day breaking down trades and making fun of the bad teams.
