Transactions: Trade Deadline!

I'm just going to keep updating this post with any trades made from now until the 28th.

02/25/11 Free agent pickup:  Fylanders drop Mike Knuble and add Mark Recchi.

02/26/11 Trade: 

Teeyotes to Milan Micahleks:
G Jonas Hiller
D Mark Streit
F Andrew Cogliano

Micahleks to Teeyotes:
G Tim Thomas
D Andrew MacDonald
F Jakub Voracek
Conditional 4th round pick in 2011 if the Michaleks put two of the acquired players on their Protected Roster for 2011.

02/28/11 Trade:

Powder Rangers to G-Phil's Flyers:
D Jaroslav Spacek
2011 3rd round pick previously acquired from the Milan Micahleks

G-Phil's Flyers to Powder Rangers:
D Ryan Suter

That's it for this year! A relatively quiet deadline day after a bevy of trades in January. Nothing to do now but sit back and watch the Wittmen succumb to injuries and fall catastrophically out of the top 4.

Sorry, one more pickup that made it to my email at 11:58am. (I was at home on Monday.)

Schizzarks drop D Kevin Bieksa for D Joe Corvo.

KL Week in Review: Week 19

We missed week 18 because the standings were all screwed up after a trade. Anyway, as you can see, the Wittmen are holding their lead. The Schizzarks, Teeyotes and Krugars are still in the hunt. However, if you look at the monthly point totals, it seems only the Schizzarks have the steam to keep up with the Wittmen. Antii Niemi has given the Wittmen an incredible 29 points so far this month. Olli Jokinen has also been red hot for the equally hot flames. Both are expecting season-ending injuries on March 1.

Trade Deadline Preview

Happy Valentine’s Day. With the trade deadline just two weeks away, here's a look at each team’s strategic position and the players whose names are likely to come up in trade discussions. I.e., here is some baseless conjecture I made up during a slow day at work. I apologize in advance if I offend you or undermine your bargaining positions.

Sellers:

Winter Claassics: Have already shifted to a younger, faster roster. May be looking to unload Patrick Marleu - 41 points; 32 years old. RJ Umberger, Matt Cullen and Ryan Smyth are also legitimate secondary scorers and I think Claassen would part with them for the right price.

Manitoba Roos:  This may be the time to let go of red-hot Mikael Samuelsson (12 points this month, more than any other skater), if the Roos can get a better injured player or a prospect and a pick in return. Teams may also have their eyes on Kimmo Timonen and Radim Vrbata.

Preydators : The Preydators have a great defensive core, so they may be looking to move Leopold (32 points). You can't keep four defencemen. Well, technically you can, but I wouldn’t. Actually with those forwards I might.

Dicklas Lidstroms: Mike “I have 47 points?” Ribeiro recently asked to be traded to a contender.

K-blat: Goaltending prevented this otherwise competitive team from really competing. Fungible assets include Morrow, Kaberle.

Moilers:. The Moilers may attempt to unload Ruutu (43 points), or Andy McDonald (21 points in 30 games). But don't hold your breath. This GM is "attached to her little guys" and reluctant to consider trades, even very reasonable ones that would have kept the Micahleks alive.

Milan Michaleks: I spoke with the Michaleks' GM and he says he'd entertain reasonable and unreasonable offers for pretty much everyone on his roster. He used the phrase “yard sale” repeatedly. Doughty and Edler are the only untouchables.

G-Phil's Flyers: Just sold Lidstrom (and got Malkin - not bad, I guess). Still may be looking to move Vokoun, even Datsyuk for the right price – but that price could be high, given G-Phil has no pressing needs to address and is already reporting record season ticket sales for next year (top line: Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk).

Could go either way:

Powder Rangers: GM Regehr’s rebuild plan and some shrewd trades are already paying off (see Okposo, Kiprusoff and Evander Kane). Rumour has it GM Regehr doesn't get along with Alex Tanguay (42 points but “strained neck”) and would probably part with him for some help next year on defence.

Mackhawks: Having just lost the free agent sweepstakes for Grabner, this team needs a bold move to get back in the race. If they decide to wait, they’ll be looking for blue line help for next year and rumuor has it Phil Kessel has asked for a trade.

Buyers (and holders):

Wittmen: Strong goaltending from Niemi has made Jimmy Howard superfluous. That trade, which also involved Kesler for Spezza, now looks like the turning point in the season. Barring injuries before the 28^th, the Wittmen have no needs to address. I’ve spoken with their GM – he is very confident in his team.

Teeyotes: Almost traded away Hiller but should be glad they didn’t. Just acquired Filppula and Lidstrom to fill the void of Malkin, but Filppula hasn’t been cleared to skate yet (knee), so the Teeyotes might be looking for another scoring forward. Might also want a depth forward for insurance – look at the bottom of his roster. Has depth on defence for a team looking to add a vet for next year - Zidlicky or Streit.

Krugars: With no injuries at present, and not having made any moves this year,  this team has its sights set on J-Kruising to a peer-shaming victory.* There are some attractive assets in the non-scoring roster too – e.g., Kulikov and Gagne.

Schizzarks: The Schizzarks continue to ride Carey Price, but are now getting contributions from the whole roster. Again, no key injuries in the SR, but some tempting injured assets off the SR in proven Devil Parise and unproven Devil Taormina.

Fylanders: No key injuries to scoring roster, good depth coming from bottom end with Hossa and Lecavalier about to break into the SR. May want to upgrade in goal (will Fleury win a lot with Malkin and Crosby out?), or at the high slots currently occupied by Knuble and Brown.

*full credit to Greg for the J-Kruising joke.

Transactions

02/13/2011  Free Agent Pickup

Wittmen drop F Brandon Yip;  Add F Michael Grabner

Analysis: Grabner has nine goals in five games, and 24 on the season. I knew the Islanders would start scoring eventually, I was just totally wrong about who would do the scoring.

Transactions

TRADE - 02/13/2011

Teeyotes to G-Phil's Flyers:
F  Malkin, D Kronwall
2012 3rd round pick if Malkin scores <60 points in 2011-12.

G-Phil's Flyers to Teeyotes:
F Filppula, D Lidstrom
2011 3rd round pick if Lidstrom retires before 2011 draft.

Analysis:  With Malkin gone for the season and the Teeyotes in second place, they had to move him or else pack it in for the season. Vilppula will fill some of the gap, but this is really a Lidstrom-for-Malkin trade. Problem is Lidstrom has slowed down - just two points in his last ten games.

I have to give this one to Greg, but if Teehan comes top four he won't regret the move. I think Lidstrom's done after this year (though some would disagree), and if so, that third round pick will come in handy.

Scary thought: Greg has Ovechkin and Malkin on his roster for next year. That's two more Russians than you'd like, but if they play 82 games each and produce even at "average" levels, G-Phil's Flyers will be hard to beat. Tense atmosphere in the locker room though.

KL Week in Review: Week 17

First let me apologize for totally dropping the ball last week and neglecting to capture the standings. I guess the excitement of all-star weekend threw me off.

This week, well this is just embarrassing for the Michaleks, aka ultimate choke artists. Eight points in a week - that is lowest week total of all any team, all year! It's less than half of the second worst total this week - the Dicklas Lidstroms' 17. Also note the Saturday night goose egg, despite 13 active players.

Congrats to the Wittmen who took over the lead on a very strong week. They were paced by Johan Franzen's five goal game and an Antii Niemi shutout.

I've been working a lot of weekends lately but I hope to, in the next week or so, do a trade deadline post, tsn-style - who's buying, who's selling, who are the top players available, etc. Unless someone beats me too it. And after the trade deadline, I plan to do an analysis of each team's chances of winning, which of course will be completely wrong.