NHL Trade Deadline Wrap-Up

The annual swap-meet has come and gone, with the NHL trade deadline passing at 3 p.m. yesterday, March 3, 2010. The Washington Capitols made some moves to bolster their roster for their inevitable playoff run and my Buffalo Sabres wheeled a few deals as well. Overall, however, it was a relatively tame day when compared to years past, with most of the big splashes around the league coming before the Vancouver Olympics began.

The Capitols picked up a familiar face in defenseman Milan Jurcina, coming back from the Columbus Blue Jackets just 6 weeks after being traded away with former captain Chris Clark for Jason Chimera. The Caps were also talking to the Carolina Hurricanes much of day, acquiring right winger Scott Walker early in the day and later sending the rights of blue-liner Brian Pothier and minor-leaguer Oskar Osala in exchange for those of Joe Corvo, another veteran defenseman. Finally, Washington brought in center Eric Belanger from the Minnesota Wild, adding depth down the middle of the ice.

While the Capitols were expected to bring in a veteran, shutdown defenseman they instead ended up adding attack minded blue-liners to their already potent offensive roster while not sacrificing too much in the process, a few fringe players and late round draft picks aside.

My Buffalo Sabres, currently sitting comfortably in fifth place, ended up standing pat for the most part, although they did bring in forward and power-play threat Raffi Torres from the Columbus Blue Jackets, who immediately becomes the leading goalscorer on a defensive roster that boasts Olympics MVP goalie Ryan Miller. The Sabres sent oft-scratched defenseman Nathan Paetsch and a second round pick to Columbus in exchange. The acquisition of Torres made the services of underachieving Clark MacAurthur no longer necessary, and he was traded away to the Atlanta Thrashers for a third round draft pick next year.

The Sabres general manager Darcy Regier feels pretty comfortable with the players he currently has and a day that ends up with basically a swap of MacAurthur for Torres can be seen as a significant upgrade. While they didn’t add any depth, the front office feels that several youngsters at minor league affiliate Portland are close to contributing on the big stage.

Puck Daddy’s 2010 NHL Trade Deadline Report Cards

The two teams met last night in a hum-drum game in which Washington won 3-1. None of the new faces were in their sweaters just yet and many of the players that were on the ice still seemed to be on vacation after coming off the Olympic break. Mike Green scored the winning goal midway through the third period and the Sabres were finished off by an empty net goal scored by Boyd Gordon. Ryan Miller looked fresh, however, after getting a break against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night in a 2-1 loss in which Patrick Lalime played in goal.
With around 20 games remaining for both teams, the final stretch of the regular season begins and once they get their skates under them and the postseason looms closer things will get pretty exciting on the ice in these two cities.

By: David