With about 16 games left in the regular seasons, some teams are looking forward to the playoffs, but other teams are quickly looking forward to the beginning of free agency on July 1st.

There are some interesting players on the market this season, and I will focus on talking about a couple today.

Ilya Kovalchuk

First and foremost, Ilya Kovalchuk is perhaps the biggest name in the market this year. Failing to re-sign him in Atlanta, Don Waddell shipped the All-star left-winger to the Devils. Simply looking at the return going back to the Thrashers, I don’t think the Devils have any insurance Kovalchuk will sign back with New Jersey in the off-season. Don’t get me wrong, I think Bergfors and Oduya are decent players, but they aren’t even close in terms of value, even if you late first-rounder.

Ilya will demand a huge salary, that much is given. Somewhere between $8-million to $10-million per season, and perhaps a $6-million cap-hit, if he signs to a very very long contract. At this point in the league, there is only about eight teams which can afford him; nine if you want to slice it very thin, Colorado can officially afford him, but the space is very tight. Of course, the situation will be very different after the season, with UFAs leaving their teams, and teams will have more room in terms of cap-space.

In the cap-era, with the ceiling on salary (20% of the team’s total salary), the variations on the salary offered across teams is very small. Most if not all teams which are interested in signing him will give him the maximum, unless Ilya is willing to take a discount on a favored team. Imagine how this will look, if after all the good thing Kovalchuk has said about Atlanta, he signs with New York at a lower price. Of course, this is assuming the rumors of Waddell offering Kovalchuk the maximum salary is true.

If the salary is similar, and since he just only 26, most teams will offered at-least a 12-year contract to lower the cap-hit. At 38, Kovie can still be very productive, hence the NHL probably can’t challenge such an offer from any team.

So I guess it will be up to his personal preference which team he signs, since there won’t be any opportunity costs for signing with any team. After almost eight seasons in a bottom-feeding team, I am guessing he will choose a cup-contender, or at least a team with the best shot for a run at the cup.

Among the teams currently able to sign Kovalchuk, I am guessing Dallas and Nashville have the best shot at the cup in the near future. Dallas didn’t do much during the trade deadline, with Modano retiring and Turco out, the Stars will be a strong buyer in the free-agent pool. Nashville is currently bound for playoffs this season, and with their core pretty much intact, adding Kovalchuk will make them a serious contender.

I will also throw in the Islanders as well. Although they are having a disastrous season, their youth-core is very strong, and will be the next Chicago Blackhawks sooner rather than later. Plus, Kovalchuk can surely enjoy living in New York.

Patrick Marleau

Yes, rumor has it, that Doug Wilson is keen on re-signing Marleau, but no talks are allowed during the season.

Marleau is having a fantastic season, 40 goals and 30 assists in only 64 games!! Goal production-wise, this is his best season ever, since playing in the NHL. At this pace, Marleau should finish somewhere around 87 points, also another personal best.

His production, of course, is a direct result of playing on the best line in hockey right now, along-side Thorton and Heatley. Marleau is 31, and can probably play for 6 to 7 more years, so he still has some mileage in him.

On the surface, it does make a lot of sense to re-sign him, and keep the most lethal line-up intact. But this will all depend on their play-off performance this year. If the Sharks win the cup, then Wilson will surely let him walk, since the costs of his other players will rise after the cup.

If they exit early, Wilson will probably not risk signing a long-extension with Marleau, at $6.5-million per season, a repeat of his 07-08 season will be devastating. Relieving the 6.5 million will be a smart move, since the salary spread is lop-sided to the forwards in San Jose. The first-line alone costs $21-million, more than 1/3 of the teams’ total cap. Dan Boyle costs another $6.6-million, plus Nabokov, who Wilson still have to sign, costs another $5.4-million cap. So five players together costs 60% of the teams’ salary. I don’t need to stress how risky this is.

Of course the best argument is simply the fact that Thornton and Heatley are such talented players that they don’t need Marleau to play on their wing to be productive. One only need to see how productive Marleau is when his is placed on a line with Pavelski and Clowe, to understand his true value.

Don’t forget how well Setoguchi played early on in the season, and you will agree that he is a great replacement on the top line, especially when you look at his $1.2-million price-tag.

The better Marleau plays, the bigger the discrepancies between how much he thinks he should make and how much Wilson can offer him.

When the season is over, do you think there is a team out there willing to offer more than $6.5-million for a 80+ point guy?? Do you think Marleau will take a significant pay-cut to stay in San Jose??

So, let’s just say Marleau is interested to sign with some other team, which team out there fits him?

I’d say if Marleau does leave, I think there’s a good chance he will end up in Colorado. The Avs didn’t expect their rebuilding process to mature so quickly, but with their young players playing so well, Colorado has a decent shot at the cup sooner than later. If they can sign a veteran player like Marleau, the team will suddenly become a strong contender. After-all, they have the cap-space to sign him with a raise.

Another team might surprise you, I think the Leafs will be interested in Marleau as well. Kovalchuk and Marleau are by far the best options for Burke, in terms of acquiring talent for his team. Kovalchuk’s style of play doesn’t really fit Burke’s plan, but Marleau on the other hand is a Burke-player. Coach Ron Wilson’s years with the Sharks may also be provide a pull to land Marleau in Toronto.

Although cap-wise, the Leafs can’t afford Marleau at this moment, but with the Defensive corp built with Kaberle, Phaneuf, Komisarek, Beauchemin, and Schenn, Burke won’t be re-signing Van Ryn and Exelby. Finger will probably be traded around the draft for a pick. With that, the Leafs will free up $7.2-million, enough to sign Marleau.

This will be smart too, since Burke gave up this year’s and next year’s first-rounder for Kessel, he will need to do something big in the off-season to make up for the embarrassments during the coming entry draft.

The trading deadline for 2010 is now history, and although we saw a record-breaking 31 trades involving a massive 55 players and 25 draft picks, most of the trades involved depth and role players.

We didn’t see the Hossa, Jokinen, Richards types of deals as we saw in the past, an expected result of the maturation of the cap-restricted era. Most teams simply aren’t able to pull off any big trades with overpaid salaries and long contracts in their better or not-so-better players.

So it wasn’t surprising so see Mike Gillis making only three minor trades this season.

Coming into this year’s deadline, as I wrote in my previous posts, the Canucks was in an odd situation. They didn’t have any significant needs in terms of upgrade. This is relative, of course, but if you look at the Bruins or the Flames, Boston clearly needs some kind of offense upgrade with the loss of Kessel to Toronto. The Flames hanging on to a chance for a playoff berth needs to improve their defense with the departure of Phaneuf.

On the contrary, the Canucks loaded up on defense during the off-seasons, to an extent where the team can split into two complete preseason-squad. With the likes of Bieska, Mitchell, Salo, Edler, O’Brien, Ehrhoff, Rome, Schneider, Lukowich and Baumgartner, who’d ever thought the team will need to further add defensemen?

However as the season progressed, injuries as well as other factors set in. The remarks or attitudes of Matthieu Schneider, and the constant injuries to the top 3 regular defensemen greatly affected the team. With Baumgartner called up to fill in the holes left open by Bieska and Mitchell, Gillis is again forced to deal for a D-man.

Before the deadline, Gillis had hinted that he’d like to acquire a third-line forward, perhaps a centerman with a better physical presence or scoring abilities. Coach Vigneault seems to be happy with his top two lines as well as the grit of his fourth-line.

There aren’t a lot of top-rank players on the trading block this season. The most sought after forwards were probably Wolski, Ponikarovsky, Modin, Whitney and Stempniac??!! But with only about 500K to spare in cap space, and the depleted defensive corp, the Canucks will have to trade one of their roster players to make that happen. A risk Gillis probably isn’t going to make.

The good news is, part of that wish was granted after the Olympics, as the return of Pavol Demitra and his spectacular play for Team Slovak provides just that depth in the forward lines. Demitra’s reunion with Kesler to form the new RPM line along with new “M” Mason Raymond proved success in the recent games.

Samuelsson got bumped to the third line (a potential problem in the making), but the sudden resurgence of Kyle Wellwood could prove great production if the team can stay out of the box so the third line can get enough ice-time.

So at the end of the day (or the beginning of the day…) Gillis is left with JUST getting a defenseman. But who isn’t?

Anyways, let’s take a look at the other two trades first.

Sean Zimmerman + conditional 6th round pick for Matthieu Schneider. ZimmerWho??!!

Yes, if you try to wiki Sean, he’s probably one of the few players you don’t get any results on. All I know is that he’s a 6th round pick in 2005 by the Devils. So if we add the conditional 6th round pick, it’s probably like two Zimmermen for a Schneider.

Great deal~ Since we won’t be using Schneider for the remainder of the season, and his contract expires in the summer, two Zimmermen are better than a bag of hockey pucks.

Yan Stastny, on the other hand is famous. Not so much for his own accomplishments – yet, he’s the brother of Avalanche start center Paul Stastny and son of Hall-of-famer Peter Stastny.

Yan was drafted 259th overall in 2002, a centerman who split his time between the NHL and AHL throughout the past eight years. Yan has never spent an entire season with any NHL club, including his stops at Oilers, Bruins and Blues.

Yan is Manitoba-bound, plain and simple.

This leaves us with the Andrew Alberts trade.

Andrew Alberts, drafted in the sixth round in 2001, is a giant on the blue-line. At 6’5 weighing 230 pounds, Alberts has very limited offensive upside, instead he is a hard-hitting stay-at-home defenseman. In fact, Alberts had never scored more than one goal per season in five of his NHL years (Bruins, Flyers, Hurricanes), except this season, which he now has two.

However, the Canucks have plenty of offensive defenseman, a physical and reliable D-man may be just what they need for success in the post-seasons, especially with Mitchell’s status unclear.

But just how reliable is Alberts? If the +/- rating means anything, which I believe it does somewhat, Alberts in a very weak Carolina team was still able to get a team-high +7 rating as oppose to the teams -27. So hopefully, he can provide that confidence factor in the back-end for his new teammates.

I mean, after all, a 3rd-rounder in a mediocre draft year for a proven 28-year-old NHL-er with one more year contract at $1-million sounds very reasonable.

Steven Stamkos has the third most goals amongst all Canadian NHL players before the break, Crosby (42) Marleau (38) Stamkos (35). In fact, since Dec 30th, Stamkos has more points than any players on the Team Canada’s roster. In this span of 21 games, he has 14 goals, and 19 assists for a total of 33 points.

Stamkos is currently riding a franchise record-tying 13-game point streak, and was also recognized by the NHL as the first star of the week just prior to the Olympic break.

A first-overall pick in 2008, Steven Stamkos is everything the Tampa Bay Lightning was hoping for when the slumping team won their first draft lottery in ten years, since drafting Vincent Lecavalier in 1998.

A player so young with so much offensive talent, Stamkos is on pace to doubling his point production from last year with somewhere close to 94 points in 82 games.

Yet, Stamkos wasn’t enlisted in Team Canada for the Olympics this year.

Nope, he wasn’t included when Team Canada Executive Director Steve Yzerman first announced the roster on Dec 30; but then Ryan Getzalf went down with injury, and Yzerman has another chance to call upon the best player available since Dec 30.

Instead of calling Stamkos, Yzerman asked Jeff Carter of the Philadelphia Flyers to prepare to fly to Vancouver. Carter only has 27 goals and 25 assists this season. So in terms of point-production, Carter is nowhere near Stamkos’ 35 goals and 35 assists. In terms of +/-, Stamkos is +4 and Carter is +8, so hardly a huge difference. As for physicality, in terms of penalty minutes, Carter has 32 and Stamkos has 28, so again not a big difference.

What about weight and size??

Jeff Carter is registered at 6’3″ 200 pounds, while Steven Stamkos is at 6’1″ 194 pounds. So yes, Carter is slightly bigger than Stamkos, but I honestly don’t think that the 6 pounds makes that big of a difference, there are plenty of size and grit on the team already, with players like Rick Nash, Jerome Iginla, Chris Pronger and Mike Richards…etc.

Maybe it’s the age factor? Carter is five years older than Stamkos, and in NHL years, it can mean a whole lot of difference.

Of couse, this is all “moo-point” since Getzlaf is healthy enough to play, and so far Team Canada is still undefeated (after the 8-0 win against Norway). But if we still recall what happened in Turin, how Sidney Crosby wasn’t enlisted due to his young age and under-size, and how team Canada ended up 7th place in a 12-team tournament!!! (Behind Switzerland!!!)

Sidney Crosby would eventually end up with a record-breaking 102 points that NHL season.

Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself, for Yzerman’s sake.

Finally, after years of speculation, reported here as early as July 2008, the second-best Russian winger is off the market…for at least three more months.

Official reports, confirmed by TSN here that Thrashers Kovalchuk along with defenseman Anssi Salmela have been traded to the New Jersey Devils for John Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier and a 2010 1st-rounder.

On the surface, this deal is pretty similar to a deal that landed Marian Hossa in Pittsburgh two seasons ago for the same reason of impending UFA status.

Here are the stats for the players involved:

Compared to the Hossa trade in 08, which shipped Marian Hossa, Pascal Dupuis to Pittsburgh for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito and 1st Rounder, this trade is less rewarding for the Thrasher, if you consider the value of Kovalchuk versus Hossa to the franchise.

The key pieces here for Atlanta is Oduya, a 2010 Swedish Olympian who has matured into a top-4 puck-moving defenseman with unreliable scoring upside. In 40 games this season, however, he’s only managed to find the net twice in 40 games, hardly a comparison to Colby Armstrong during Hossa’s trade.

The other key piece is Niclas Bergfors, a first-rounder in 2005, who was in and out of the main club since drafted by New Jersey. This is his first full season with the club, and is playing some decent hockey as a 2nd-line right-winger, along-side linemates Zubrus and Rolston. In 54 games he’s played, he notched 13 goals and 14 assists; nothing to get too excited about, but he’s still only 22, and this production is achieved under a defensive-style of hockey in New Jersey.

Salmela and Cormier are unproven spare-parts at this moment.

As for the 1st-rounder, the Devils rank fifth in the entire league right now, so less a monumental meltdown, this will only be a late first-round pick in a mediocre draft-year.

(Side note: It’s been mentioned that the team also swapped 2nd rounder in the 2010 draft, which of course goes favor to NJ)

This doesn’t sound like an attractive deal to me, but considering all the rumors lately, this seems like the best deal by some margin, since Atlanta GM Don Waddell was pretty quick to pull the trigger after announcing failure to re-sign his star player. It goes to show the market value for an unsigned elite player in today’s NHL.

The next question for Devils fans is of course, whether the team has any chance of re-signing Ilya in the off-season. Nothing is certain at this moment, but on paper, the Devils picked up an extra $2.7M in salary from this trade. The team is very close to the cap with less than $2-million cap space right now. Although there will be ten UFA be the end of this season, none of them have salary higher than $1-million each.

Right now, in NHL, the maximum salary a team can offer any player is 20% of the teams’ payroll. If the Devils is willing to do that, which they have to, according to expectations coming from Kovalchuk’s camp, they will have to offer $11-million to retain Kovalchuk’s service. This will be very difficult to do, since the team will be at least $2-million short in cap-space.

There are ways to maneuver around this, just like what Chicago did with Hossa, New York with Gaborik or Vancouver with Luongo. New Jersey will probably have to offer a 15-year contract and sign Ilya until he’s 42 to spread the salary cap to about $7-million per season. This will of course tied New Jersey down for many many years to come.

Lou Lamoriello might not want to do this, since home-grown super-talent Zach Parise’s contract will be up after next season. At $3.13M per season, Parise is bound to get a huge raise, this must be something the crafty New Jersey GM is constantly thinking about.

Of course, the last question is, why do they need Kovalchuk??

The Devils now sit 2nd in the East with 72Pts, top of the Atlantic division. The team’s top left-winger Parise has just one fewer points than Kovalchuk. How will Jacques Lemaire fit Kovalchuk into his line-up. Unless one of Parise or Kovalchuk switches to play right-wing, one of them will have to play a 2nd line role, so who should that be??

Could this simply be a move for the post-season? Fitting the definition of a “rental” player? This blogger thinks likely, especially if you consider the price they paid for Ilya’s service. After all, Kovalchuk’s game doesn’t exactly fit with Lemaire’s style of hockey. Since he is finally calling the shots, after eight years of service in Atlanta, does Lamoriello honestly believe he will sign back??

Anyways, as cliche as this might sound, with this Kovalchuk trade, the flood-gate is now open, I surely expect more domino effects from this before the Olympics.

Signing out.

Hearing rumors that Anaheim is closing in on a deal to land Kovalchuk. I don’t know any of the specifics, but just thought that it is interesting what the Ducks did this week which allows them to make this trade.

I have been hearing a lot of other BS rumors, teams like Vancouver, Los Angeles or even Chicago doesn’t make sense at all. You don’t make these huge trade when your team in on a winning streak. More importantly, the teams trading for Kovie wants to sign him in the offseason. There’s no way any GM will want a $10M second-liner, and Kovie won’t signed to any team which doesn’t use him as a top unit. This rules out Vancouver.

Kings are winning a lot of games of late. The chemistry of Kopitar and Ryan Smyth is great, and you don’t swap your top LW to RW under these circumstances. Chicago rumors is even crazier, they’ve sign Hossa just to provide that extra scoring power, they don’t need any more, especially when it costs you at least $7M in cap space. To trade Hossa and his huge contract to Atlanta is even crazier, because there’s no guarantee on Kovie signing in Chicago.

On the other hand, the Ducks are really interesting. Just this week, Bob Murray traded away goaltender Giguere and his $6M contract to the Leafs, but picked up $8M back. A $4M Toskala and $4M Blake for $6M Giguere???!! With Giguere, the Ducks can at least rotate him with Hiller, but who’d want to take a risk with Toskala now??

Of course, Toskala’s contract expires next season, so he’s just a tactic for Murray to offload $2M salary. Blake, despite overpaid, his cap-hit will be dropped to 3M next season, and you can at least dress him, which is better than paying $6M for Giguere to sit at the bench.

But if you look closer, maybe it’s more than that. What if this is just a step to try to land Kovalchuk? We all know that Niedermeyer is worth nothing at this moment for the Ducks. The team is out of playoff picture, and Scott is 35 and an impending UFA.

If you do this:

Atlanta Thrashers
Bobby Ryan ($1.92M impending RFA)
Scott Niedermeyer ($6M impedning UFA)
1st rounder 2010

Anaheim Ducks
Ilya Kovalchuk ($6.4M impending UFA)

What you get is a somewhat balance shift of cap space, with $1.5M extra for Atlanta which they can easily absorb. The Ducks get the best player, and a natural LW to play with Getzlaf and Perry, Oouuuugh that’s scary… Lose a high pick and Ryan. Kovalchuk might not sign back, but with the off-loaded salary in the Giguere trade (saved $3M in 2010) and Niedermeyer ($6M in 2010), Anaheim can offer Ilya the maxmium pay, a luxury not a lot of teams have. Ryan is RFA, so they need to negotiate with him anyways, and possible match other people’s offer sheet, so trading him away may not be all bad. The 1st rounder will be high, but the draft is only mediocre in 2010.

For Atlanta, they get a player which can immediately help their playoff drive. Bobby Ryan is having a breakout season, 24G 43Points in just 56 games. Ryan is young just 23 year old, and he can play both wings. Ryan is RFA, and Atlanta has cap room to ensure they can sign him, even if it’s slightly overpaid. You also get a superstar defenseman in Niedermeyer who’s looking for a final shot at the cup. The 1st rounder from Ducks will be high, so that itself is attractive.

It works for the players too, Ryan is often logging 2nd-line time, although he’s used in special teams as well. In Atlanta, he will be the franchise face with tons of ice-time. Again Scott gets his last shot at the playoffs, and Kovalchuk will choose which teams he wants to play as it is the case since the beginning of this whole mess.

So what do you think?

It’s good that the Olympics are closing in, or else Team Canada’s assistant coach Ken Hitchcock would be out of a job for quite a long time, after the Columbus Blue Jackets announced his firing today.

Ken Hitchcock is a good coach, not spectacular, but decent. He has a good resume to show for it. With the three NHL teams he’s coached, he’s got one cup, one cup-final appearance and two conference final appearance in his 13 years as head coach for an NHL team.

However, since the lock-out, Hitchcock’s performance have gradually worsened, missing the playoff twice and ousted in the first round twice, during which he was fired by the Flyers and switched to the Blue Jackets.

NHL Hotstove Senior Writer Anthony Curatolo wrote a good piece on Hitchcock, weeks before today’s announcement on how Hitchcock’s style doesn’t fit the “New NHL”. Hitchcock’s conservative playing style and mindset promotes work ethnics and experience. His game is boring, lacks scoring and he rarely puts his faith in young players to step up and lead the team offensively.

Under the Cap era, everyone knows it’s all about young talents and drafts. Money-issues aside, the rules of the game have been changed to encourage open-ice offensive battles and talent showcase. No longer do you see teams with more than three bona-fide superstar. Most GMs are forced to fill their line-ups with young players, sometimes fresh off the draft and coaches must adapt to best utilize their skill-set and talents.

Of course this is still a team-sport and all players must strictly follow the head’s game style if they want to be successful or actually if they want to play at all. However, a good coach should be able to put down his ego and appreciate each player’s individual talent and build the style around them. A great coach should be able to dig out the skills of players and magnify them, even if the players themselves don’t know they possess.

In this respect, Hitchcock is neither. Confidence is one thing, but stubborn is another. At times, when I watch the Blue Jackets play this season, it seems like Hitchcock is still living in the past, his glory days when the Stars claimed the Stanley Cup. Each and every game they lose, Hitchcock seems to be just waiting, waiting for the tides to change, and praying that his style of play will become successful again.

That of course didn’t happen. Now the teams sits 14th in the west, 11 points out of the playoff spot with 24 games remaining, and this is after their first appearance in the playoffs last season.

Just consider the Blue Jacket’s roster. A team basically the same as the one that got them 92 points and 4th in Central division last season. The team is full of young talent, including the leagues best power-forward in Rick Nash, and he is just 25, signed to 2017.

Rick Nash, the 1st overall in the 2002 draft, is believed by many as one of the best player in the world, and his maturation in the past two seasons support this. With 69 points in 07-08, 40 goals/79 points last season, Rick Nash continue to thrive early on this season but has slowed down significantly, as a result of a 11-game scoring drought. At his current pace, he should be able to finish with 73 points, which isn’t that bad. But many believes that at his current form, he could easily reach the 90-pts plateau if he was playing on a more offensive team.

Hitchcock has that effect on players. It’s all nice and good if the team wins, because with a lower stats, comes a cheaper contract. But I don’t think Hitchcock does it for money reasons. He truly believes in a learning curve for two-way hockey, and all of his players must master this before Hitchcock puts his faith in them. Sometimes this works, for top-ranked star players it works, because it keeps them in check, and they know they will eventually get the ice-time. But for young 1st-rounder with good potential, continuously playing them in a 3rd-line checking role affects their game and confidence.

Examples of this include, Lehtinen and Langebrunner were rarely used during Hitchcock’s time in Dallas, Patrick Sharp and Justin Williams were used as checkers during his time in Philly. Even a pure goal-scorer as Simon Gagne has just decent scoring performance under Hitchcock’s system.

Within the current Columbus roster, there are tons of good players, all under-performing. Derick Brassard, 6th overall in a deep draft in 2006, is a centerman with huge potential, who despite sitting out most of 50 games of last season, notched 25 points in 31 games. This year, Brassard only has 24 points in 57 games. Even for a player Hitchcock is willing to use, Jacub Voracek, 7th overall in another deep draft in 2007, has just 28 points in 57 games.

Then of course, there’s Nikita Filitov, 6th overall pick in 2008, voted by the Hockey News as the Best Prospect in the World last spring, was again used only as a checker. Eventually Filitov confronted Hitchcock, and of course was sent to the minors and ultimately “loaned” to the KHL. Could this simply be a more diplomatic version of Alexander Radulov of the Nashville Predators bolted back to Russia? Since Filitov has openly said that he will never play for Hitchcock again, does the firing of the coach means a likely return for the star prospect? According to Filitov, he is having a great time in KHL and his home in Moscow, Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson is worrying if they fired Hitchcock too late, and whether he can convince Nikita to return.

This season is definitely over for the Blue Jackets, hopefully they can get Filitov back and look towards next season.

In tomorrow night’s game, the fans of Montreal will welcome back two of their hometown boys, both currently considered the best in their role.

Of course, captain Luongo always draw a lot of media attention whenever he is back in Montreal. After a shaky start against the Leafs the other night, in which he was pulled after the first period for allow three goals on eight shots, coach Alain Vigneualt is expecting Luongo to bounce back and have a great game in his hometwon.

The picture is a little bit different for Alex Burrows, who is considered one of the hottest player in the league right now. In fact, Burrows was just the player who bailed Luongo out with a four-point night against Toronto to extend Vancouver’s winning streak to seven.

Of course, many argue that Burrows is the sole beneficiary of the tremendous play-making abilities of the Sedin twins. Undeniably, a lot of the goals that Burrows scored are the direct results of the Sedins magical passes, at times it seems like anyone can score alongside the Twins, as long as he parks himself in front of the opposition goaltender.

But if you look closely at what Burrows brings to the team, and his influence on the Sedins, perhaps we will be able to see his true value. Just look at the last game against the Maple Leafs. The Canucks down 3-0 in the mid-way point of the game and down a man, Burrows singlehandedly stole the puck from Ponikarovsky and scored a shorthanded goal which completely turn the game around.

Surely you can’t say that’s because he plays with the Sedins, can you?

On the other hand, take a look at the influence Burrows has on the twins. Vigneualt’s experiment of Sedins-Burrows started around the mid-way point of last season, and if you watch closely, you can see the Sedins changing their game. They are more involved in the play, they are much more physical and they are taking advantage of their speed. Doesn’t that sound like the attributes of Burrows?

I am not saying that Burrows is solely responsible for the change of style for the Sedins, I am merely saying that playing alongside Burrows a while, his style kind of rubs off on the twins, a little bit.

Just that little bit seemingly is more than enough to turn the talented-but-mediocre twins into two of the very best player in the league.

To say the Sedins/Burrows line is the best line in the league right now is not an exaggeration. In the 13 games played during January, this top line has produced a whopping 69 points!!!

Henrik, for the first time in his career, leads the entire league in points with 78, two ahead of Ovechkin and seven ahead of Crosby. Not too bad eh?

Daniel, despite missing 18 games due to injury, has 16 goals and 35 assists. That’s 51 points in 36 games!!! Way ahead of the twins usual point-per-game season.

Burrows, is on pace to his best offensive season with 49 points in 54 games, but he ranks top overall in short-handed goals and second overall in terms of plus-minus with 30.

For the first time in a long time, the Canucks have 3 players in the top 30 point-getters in the entire league, and don’t forget the most important thing about Burrows:

At $2-million a year for three more season, at his current-pace Burrows should finish this season with about 74 points, and is by-far the cheapest 70-point forward you can find!!!

Notes:

The Canucks with 70 points in 54 games, now sits comfortably atop the NW division, with four points ahead of the Avs. Vancouver has the most wins at home with 23, and the second fewest OT loss across the league. The team is still 8 points below the Chicago blackhawks and 11 points behind the top-ranked Sharks.

Wow~ It’s like the old NHL is back, almost.

Finally something I can write about. Yesterday, in perhaps the biggest trade since the cap-era, in terms of star-power and number of players, the Calgary Flames shipped Superstar Defenseman Dion Phaneuf to Toronto.

The breakdown to the trade is as following:

Calgary Flames

Toronto Maple Leafs

If the value of Sjostrom is similar to that of Jamal Mayers, then the Leafs are getting Dion Phaneuf and a prospect D for Hagman, Stajan and White.

Although the Maple Leafs and the Flames are both experiencing scoring drought and both are playing some terrible hockey, they are in a very different position.

The Leafs are pretty much done for the season. Last place in the East – 45 points with 26 games left, they are the second-worst team in the entire NHL. There would’ve been great hope in landing top prospect Taylor Hall in the upcoming draft, but Toronto traded their pick away to Boston in a deal for Phil Kessel. All hopes are loss, except to save from some humiliation if they can at least climb out of the bottom five, so the fans and media can’t complain about sending Hall to Boston.

The Flames, on the other hand, are still very much in the midst of making the playoffs. If it wasn’t for the recent eight-game losing streak, the Flames might still be ahead in the NW division. A win over the Oilers a couple nights ago may be a turning point, but in any case they will probably make the playoffs, like they always do.However, the goals for the Sutter brothers and the management are much higher than making it to the prom. They want to win it all.

With this in mind, both teams are eager to do something, if they still want a job before the Olympic break. Darryl can’t fire his brother Brent the head coach, after half a season, and Burke can’t fire his fellow US Olympic head-coach Ron Wilson before the Games. So what do you do if you can’t blame the coach?? Make a trade, and a huge one, so the attention is diverted elsewhere.

That’s exactly what happened. If the Flames haven’t lost that eight straight games, no one would’ve thought that Phaneuf is trade-able. The same can be said for Brian Burke for shipping out two of his top four point-getters AND his second best point-producing defenseman for a $6.5M D-man who produced four less points than the one his shipped out.

But of course, that D-man is Dion Phaneuf, and Burke is afterall….Burke, he can do whatever he wants, right?

Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a great trade for Toronto. Not so much for the Flames, from where I am looking. Toronto gets a young, physical, and highly gifted superstar in Phaneuf for a couple of second-ranked forward and a mediocre defenseman. Brian Burke is looking into the future, and he doesn’t care that his team is now 80 points fewer in point-production after the trade, the season is over anyways~

For the Flames, I think they made a mistake. I mean Hagman, Stajan and White are decent players, but their point production is exaggerated in a poorly-talented Toronto team. If the Flames are having scoring problems, shouldn’t they look elsewhere than the 2nd-worst team in the league for help?

I mean if Sutter tells every GM that Phaneuf is for sale, I am pretty sure he can get a lot more than Hagman, Stajan and White. If Sutter is willing to package Jokinen with Phaneuf, maybe he can even get Kovalchuk???!!! (Of course, he will need to get Kovie signed, I know, but you get my point.)

According to Burke’s interview, the offer initially wasn’t there, but as time went on, I guess the 8-game losing streak played a huge factor, the offer that wasn’t available suddenly was. I guess this is where Burke is so successful in making deals, he always seems to be able to dig out deals that aren’t there. Making bold offers that other GM might feel humiliated to even ask.

At the end of the day, it never hurt to give it a try, and today Burke was successful in stealing perhaps the best physical defenseman in the game.

Another great deal done by Burke today was the Giguere for Toskala and Blake trade. Everyone knows that Giguere isn’t happy about his shared role in Anaheim, but to be able to land him in T.O. for a 3.66 GAA goaltender and a 35-yr old overpaid player with 2 more season of $3M hit is just brilliant.

What is Bob Murray thinking?? In trying to get rid of his $6M goalie contract, he actually coughed up an extra $2M for a total of $8M cap-hit for a $4M 26-pts 36-yr Left Winger and another $4M goalie with a 3.66 GAA???!!!

Are the ducks any better today, with a $2M extra cap hit?? Nope.

What is it with Burke??? Why do other GMs suddenly become stupid when they deal with him. I mean the Sutter deal I can kind of understand, but the Murray deal is just beyond comprehension.

And Burke says he isn’t done. Maybe, Burke doesn’t need that 1st round pick afterall. Other GMs build their team through drafts, but Burke does it by stealing them.

Hi everyone.

You can smell it in the air that trading deadline is looming, especially when you hear trade rumors flying all over the place. This year’s edition of the poster boy is someone truly extra-ordinary. Kovalchuk, the only franchise player the Thrashers have, ever since Heatley and Hossa left, is perhaps the best player you can find out in the market, if not the best player in the NHL “period”.

This may be the reason why blogs, and semi-commentators throughout the hockey world find writing articles about the Russian superstar irresistible, no matter how in-sensible this is.

As I write this, Eklund is speculating an imminent trade for Kovalchuk by the Kings, Bruins, Hawks, Flyers and even the Canucks. It understandable, and almost predictable that Eklund will just throw out any team he feels have a slightest chance of this happening. But for TSN hockey insider Bob McKenzie to twit about Kovalchuk possibly landing in Calgary really does it for me, and I have to come out and say something.

No, Kovalchuk ISN’T going anyway, guys, he will be back with Atlanta next seasons, and many many more seasons after that.

Another thing I want to say is, no the Canucks WON’T be trading for Kovalchuk, it makes no sense what-so-ever.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Kovalchuk, and would probably poop my pants if this happens, but the chance of this happening is probably slimmer than Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer wearing an “I’m a Mac” T-shirt.

Kovalchuk is asking for salary somewhere in the neighborhood of $10M per season, and he won’t consider signing with any other team for less than that. With how the Sedins are playing right now with Burrows, the Canucks don’t need a $10M forward to do what a $2M Burrows can. It’s even more crazy to imagine Kovalchuk signing on with the Canucks if he’s playing alongside Kesler and Samuelsson as a 2nd line LW. And we haven’t even begin what the Canucks can offer to Atlanta just to land him in Vancouver in the first place, let alone re-signing him.

So, no, unfortunately, this won’t happen for the Canucks. But what about the other teams??

Yes, I can imagine teams like the Kings, Bruins, Hawks and Flyers are drooling over the thought of Kovie in their line-up. But who isn’t? I think the Red Wings can use someone like Ilya, what about the Avs or the Canadiens?? Of course they would, but at what price??

The current situation is, from what I’ve heard, is that Waddell hasn’t allowed any other teams to talk to Kovie’s agent, fearing that any talks with other will affect their price and the chance of signing Ilya back. Ilya is pretty content will just riding out the season, and give his last efforts to get the Thrashers into playoffs and do some damage before he bolt in the offseason. Ilya knows that only in the open market will he be able to get the most, of course he doesn’t mind helping his old team if he is able to bring someone back the other way, but if it doesn’t happen, he probably wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it either.

Waddell, on the other hand, needs to get the most from Kovie, and he can only do that if he can trade a signed Kovalchuk. A rental Kovalchuk can probably bring him half or a quarter of his worth. However this will not happen if Waddell doesn’t allow Kovie’s agent to talk to any teams.

So what does this mean??

If Waddell is telling everyone that the Thrashers are considering trading Kovalchuk, but he’s not doing anything to help that cause, it could only mean that he isn’t really trying to trade him. One point in their negotiation, Waddell and Kovie were very close to getting it done. Rumor has it that the salary amount is agreed upon, just the number of years was settled. If a superstar like Kovalchuk is happy to stay in a losing team like the Thrashers, and the only obstacle is the $$$, with the cap not being an issue, this usually works out to the favor of the player.

I mean, if Kovalchuk is unhappy with the team and is opting to leave, like the recent story with another Thrasher-drafted superstar, it’s one thing, but if he’s happy to stay???

Think of it this way, if Waddell isn’t able to get a completely lopsided deal for Kovalchuk, and time is running out, do you honestly think that Waddell will let him walk for nothing?? I don’t think Waddell will be willing to accept any sub-par offer for Kovalchuk, if the other option is to just give what Kovie wants.

What’s the worst that’s going to happen if Waddell sign him to the allowed maximum or for a shorter period?? So yeah, his Cap-hit is higher, but Waddell can still trade a $10M Kovalchuk easily next season, don’t forget a signed-Kovalchuk is worth so so so much more than a rental version.

So there you have it, I don’t think Kovalchuk is going anywhere this season, and with what he means to the team and the marketing success of the team, I think that once Kovalchuk is signed, Waddell won’t be trading him next season either. What you are seeing right now, is merely a game of bluff.

Fresh from the oven, another Frolov rumors from Eklund.

Well, I guess this time, it makes more sense. Back in August, I reported a false rumor regarding Frolov for Demitra, O’Brien and a 3rd. Although that rumor did not materialize, the need to sign or trade Frolov is ever more imminent.

The Kings, under Head Coach Terry Murray, was having one of their best starts in recent history. The team, at one point in this season, led the entire Western Conference, something they haven’t done in many seasons. The spectacular play of their young goaltender Jonathan Quick, sophomore sensation Drew Doughty  and instant chemistry of newly-acquired Ryan Smyth with Kopitar and Williams made the L.A. Kings one of the most feared teams in the entire league.

The top-line played reliable and responsible two-way hockey, amassing both point-production and excellent +/- stats. However, this only last less than a month, when Justin Williams suffered a lower-body injury and missed five-games. Williams returned to action on Nov 2nd, and the trio played another eight games together, putting up 23 points in eights games amongst the three forwards.

Then on Nov 16, Smyth went down with an upper-body injury, and will miss the next 15 games!!! During which Kopitar and Williams combined only for 16 points in 15 games. In fact, Kopitar only had two goals and 6 assists for 8 points in the 15 outings without Smyth on his wing. A sharp contrast from the 31 points in 22 games playing along-side Smyth.

During this 15-games stretch, Murray gave Frolov a great opportunity to redeem himself, be it for contract-negotiation or open-market value. However, Frolov was only able to produce 8 points playing mostly on the top-line night-in and night-out during Smyth’s absence. This is perhaps the last chance Murray and Lombardi had for Frolov.

With Smyth back, and the team still able to win games without their big star, there wouldn’t have been any urgency to trade Frolov. But luck would have it that, four minutes into the reunion of the top line, Justin Williams suffered a broken leg after a check by Coyotes Ed Jovanovski. Williams had surgery this Monday, and the recovery time is expected to be 11 long weeks!!!

So what now???!! The Kings have lost three in a row, their top right-winger is out of the line-up for three months, and their top scorer Kopitar having only scored twice in the last TWENTY ONE games. The Kings now sit seventh in the West with 47 points, tied-up with both Calgary and Vancouver. With 43 games left, the Kings are only 8 points shy from the top spot, but leads Dallas, Detroit and Minnesota by either 4 points or less.

With just some 60 days away from the trading deadline, this is perhaps the best time to trade Frolov. With just 24 points in 38 games, on pace to his worst production ever since 2003, I seriously doubt the Kings will offer anything close to his previous contract of an avearge $3M per season. In fact, Frolov’s salary for this season is US$4-million.

But even if the Kings are willing to extend Frolov’s contract as it was, I would think Frolov would only consider the offer if the Kings are able to make the playoffs this season. If, after an amazing start to the season, the Kings still fail to make the playoffs or exit in the first round, Frolov at 27, will likely try the open market, and I am certain that many teams will be willing to offer him a big contract.

Of course, the dilemma GM Dean Lombardi has is this, Frolov being an under-performing imminent UFA, won’t be worth a lot in terms of trade value. The Kings now, still very much in the midst of a playoff run can’t afford to trade Frolov for future prospects. But if Lombardi doesn’t trade Frolov before the deadline, he may lose him for nothing.

The longer Lombardi waits, the lesser value Frolov will have, because with more games played, teams out of the playoff picture will start selling their players. With increase in supply and demand remains the same, the price/value will drop.

So I think that Lombardi is probably very busy on the phones right now. The deal will probably not just involve Frolov, but perhaps another young prospects or two. In return, the Kings will probably get a top-six winger.

The Canucks doesn’t fit the description as a trading partner. In fact, this has been an interesting season in terms of Canucks’ roster.

During about the same time last year, the Canucks are still looking for that perfect third-wheel to the Sedins line. We seem to be always on the look-out for a top-six forward. The arrival of Sundin, and eventually the development of the Sedins-Burrows, and RPM lines seem to solved the problem.

But this year, with Burrows again fitting nicely with the Sedins, and the Raymond/Kesler/Samuelsson line providing the much need secondary scoring, we are not in need on a top-six forward. Our defensive units would’ve been excellent as well, so deep that we had to put Matthieu Schneider on waiver, if Bieksa didn’t injure himself today.

Although I don’t think the Kings would be interested in the Canucks at all in terms of trying to get rid of Frolov, I will still give it a try and propose something:

Kings
Steve Bernier

Canucks
Alexander Frolov
3rd Rounder

The Kings will get a talented RFA for two years in Bernier. Bernier is bigger, both 6’2″, Bernier weighs 225lbs vs Frolov’s 204lbs. Bernier is tougher, and has more goals (10) than Frolov (9) playing on a third line role. Bernier is cheaper in terms of salary hit, and is three years younger than Frolov.

The Canucks picks up an extra $0.9-million in terms of salary cap, but gets a potential top-line winger with risk. With a change of scenery, Frolov MIGHT get back to his 30+ goals per season form. The Canucks will need to be sure that Frolov intends to sign with Vancouver. The 3rd rounder is compensatory for the extra cap hit and the risks that comes with the trade.

Now that I proposed this, I actually think this makes sense for both teams.

Let’s wait at see, according to Eklund, we should have an answer to this in the next 24 hours. LOL.