The NHL trade deadline has come and gone. While there were no blockbuster deals, there were still lots of teams shuffling players and picks around. The Leafs were one of those teams.
Here’s a quick run down of who/what is in, and who is out on the Maple Leafs.
IN
Eric Fehr
Steven Oleksy
Pittsburgh’s 4th round pick in the 2017 draft
Mike Sislo
OUT
Frank Corrado
Colin Smith
The Fehr/Corrado trade is the Leafs big move, which isn’t really that big of a move. You can comment and see our first reactions to it here. We’ll have more analysis after we digest exactly what we now have, and how Babcock might use it.
Nikita Soshnikov was papered down and back to the Marlies so he will be eligible to join for the AHL playoffs. That’s one of four allowed (non-emergency) recalls used up.
The Marlies play today at 11:00 for another school day game vs. the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
The Leafs will of course be in action today too, but it’s another late night game starting at 10:30pm EST. After the ending to the last one I am not sure this time I will stay up late. Your Leafs vs. Kings game preview will be out this afternoon.
Other News
There were many other trades yesterday, and you have probably heard about most of them, so I am going to simply dump some links here and you can sort out if there are any for which you want to know more.
Lightning acquire Mark Streit from Flyers for Valtteri Filppula - Raw Charge
Wait for it....
Lightning send Mark Streit to Penguins for a fourth-round pick - Raw Charge
Yzerman is a wizard!
Johnny Oduya returns to Blackhawks as long awaited replacement for himself - Second City Hockey
After over a year searching for a No. 4 defenseman to replace Oduya, the Blackhawks decided to just bring him back.
Johnny Oduya got a ‘welcome back’ note at the Chicago airport - Second City Hockey
Cool, though a bit creepy.
Making Sense of Curtis Lazar on the Calgary Flames - M&G
Lazar was acquired from the Senators for a 2nd round pick.
Jarome Iginla traded to the Los Angeles Kings - MHH
We may see Iginla in action tonight.
The Kevin Shattenkirk trade: Doug Armstrong sleeping in the bed he made - SLG
An uncomfortable one.
Blue Jackets Trade Dalton Prout - The Cannon
The veteran defenceman moves to New Jersey.
The Winnipeg Jets trade Drew Stafford AIH
6th round conditional pick coming back from the Boston Bruins.
I think there were a few more, but that’s enough for now. What’s notable are some big names NOT traded. Patrick Sharp wasn’t moved after it was ruled he was injured. Radim Vrbata was not moved. The biggest news was the Avalanche moving no one other than Iginla.
Joe Sakic is exactly who we thought he was - MHH
Sakic may be too nice to be a GM.
One final note is that as of yesterday, there’s now officially someone new in the sandbox.
“The Vegas Golden Knights are officially a National Hockey League franchise.” --Foley pic.twitter.com/o5YGeiZ3Zw
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 1, 2017
Vega can now offer picks for promises not to select players in the expansion draft.
After all that trading — and not trading — everyone remembered the point of all this is still to play hockey.
Panik scores incredible goal using between-the-legs toe drag vs. Penguins - Second City Hockey
Our old friend Dick Panik is doing things between his legs.
Tyler Johnson with some offside wizardry last night.
Onside by one millimetre.👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/l7EA3cZ8Iu
— Pension Plan Puppets (@PPPLeafs) March 2, 2017
The officials were offered some help with the review.
BONUS: I see our old friend Mr. McKegg on the bench! Still as fart-faced as ever.
Finally, the most important news yesterday came during Sportsnet’s broadcast. This is real news folks. The lame-stream media will never report on this. They won’t ever tell the truth about the aliens among us.
