PHILADELPHIA - Don Maloney is being rewarded for what he called a "nightmare" — guiding the ownerless Phoenix Coyotes to the most successful regular season in franchise history.

Posted under Nhl

While the focus of my efforts here is to analyze and discuss the NHL through a Ranger-tinted lens, I’d be remiss if I neglected to touch upon some of the draft’s other big stories, though most didn’t have much of an impact on the Rangers.

There were 13 trades in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, far and away a record. The most notable of these was between the Florida Panthers and Phoenix Coyotes.

1) The Jokinen Trade

Phoenix General Manager Don Maloney, formerly a player and assistant general manager with the Blueshirts, pulled off what most are calling a “steal” by acquiring center Olli Jokinen in exchange for defensemen Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton and the Coyotes’ 2nd round pick, which Florida used to select defenseman Colby Robak.

Jokinen’s name has been at the center of NHL trade rumors for at least two years, so it’s a relief to finally see this saga conclude. When the deal was announced, many were caught off-guard not only because the team that acquired him was Phoenix (the rumors always centered around teams like Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Minnesota trying to get their hands on Jokinen), but because the return for him is perceived as being very small.

Although Ballard and Boynton are pretty solid defensemen, they are not the star players most anticipated would go the other way in a Jokinen deal. In my eyes, however, this deal didn’t come as much of a shock at all. Sure, I may not have guessed that Jokinen would go to Phoenix, but the return for him is no shock by any means.

Olli Jokinen is a solid player, a good player, but he’s not a superstar. A lot of people believe he’s an elite player, but two 90-point seasons are not enough to convince me. I like Jokinen, I think he’s a good player, I think for his production (and reputation), his $5 million dollar cap hit is very affordable, but I also see Jokinen as being perhaps the most overrated player in the league.

No NHL player has as many regular season points without a playoff victory. In fact, it’s not even close. Jokinen isn’t a winner, he puts up points but he doesn’t do much to make his club a better team aside from that. He’s a –73 player for his career.

Good deal for Phoenix, as they now have a number of pieces offensively, including Jokinen, Shane Doan, Martin Hanzal, Kyle Turris and Peter Mueller, to build around. Just don’t be shocked that Jokinen brought back so little in return.

2) The 3-Way Deal

I like this trade for each team involved. The Kings’ offense can survive the loss of Mike Cammalleri, who had high salary demands in his sights, while the draft pick they got they used to select a solid young defenseman, Colton Teubert. Calgary, on the other hand, got themselves a talented offensive player in a contract year in Cammalleri, allowing them to unload Alex Tanguay’s salary to Montreal, while still coming out of the draft with a first round pick. As for Anaheim, they were able to trade down a couple of times and re-stock their organizational depth with some solid prospects. Drafting Nicolas Deschamps in the 2nd round was a great pick.

I like Cammalleri’s style of play, and even though the word is he’s a me-first type of guy, he’ll probably play lights-out next season with unrestricted free agency on the horizon.

3) Tanguay to Montreal

I like this deal for the Canadiens. Let’s face it, this team has a tough time signing free agents. Tanguay isn’t an elite player, but he’s a pretty good one and he’ll fit in with the type of players Montreal has. He’s a skilled playmaker and he’s fun to watch, too. They could have still gotten a pretty solid prospect with the 25th pick, but this team is deep in terms of prospects and wants to win now, so this deal makes sense.

4) Umberger dealt to Columbus

It’s so easy to hate the Flyers when they pull of trades like this.

Philly desperately needs the cap room to re-sign Jeff Carter, so they trade a solid 2nd liner in Umberger to Columbus and essentially get a mid-round 1st in a deep draft. That’s not half bad. They picked up Luca Sbisa with the picl, who should be a solid defenseman down the road.

This wasn’t a very good deal for the Blue Jackets, but I understand why General Manager Scott Howson agreed to it. Columbus isn’t exactly a prime destination for free agents, either, while Umberger went to school at Ohio State and has a good relationship with Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock, previously of the Flyers.

Umberger is a nice player and does fill a hole for Columbus, but they could have gotten more for that pick, in my eyes.

5) Islanders and Devils Trade Down

The Islanders and Devils both had pretty good drafts. While I think the Islanders should have used the 5th overall pick to select Nikita Filatov, the player they really need, I understand why they traded down and picked Josh Bailey. They traded down twice and collected some extra picks that allowed them to get quite the haul in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

While Bailey might have been a bit of a reach at #9, the Isles managed to pick up talented prospects like Corey Trivino and Aaron Ness in the 2nd round, and David Toews (brother of Chicago’s Jonathan), Jyri Niemi and Kirill Petrov in the third.

If the Fishsticks are right about Bailey, then they could be the big winners of this draft, as at least some of those other prospects should develop into really good players.

The Devils, meanwhile, traded down a couple of times and still got a great player in Mattias Tedenby with the 24th pick. I explained in my last post how I hoped that the Rangers would select the crafty Swede, so I guess it’s only fitting that he goes to New Jersey. Figures.

Posted under 2008 Off-Season

Ok the Ranger Flu strikes again. Henrik Lundqvist is out with the flu with Steve Valiquette taking the start in goal. Lundqvist will be the backup

Marcel Hossa is out and will be replaced by Nigel Dawes. Greg Moore will be on the third line replacing the demoted Ryan Callahan and Jason Strudwick is on the fourth line replacing Ryan Hollweg.

That means Marek Malik is back with Michal Rozsival and Marc Staal will be with Paul Mara.

Confused yet?

Outside of Lundqvist none of these moves are too earth shattering as they take on the Phoenix Great Ones – I mean the Coyotes.

Speaking of the Great One. Wayne Gretzky has laryngitis and can’t address to the media.

BTW, a good friend is back. Hockeybird, who has been very helpful to me has returned and Bird is posting his daily posts again. He went offline back in October and now is back.

Posted under Blog

A few moves before the Rangers face the Coyotes today with both Nigel Dawes and Greg Moore getting called up and Ryan Callahan being sent down.

Dawes will probably replace the flu-ridden Marcel Hossa with Moore coming in for Callahan, who has been slow getting back from his knee injury.  

Posted under Blog

As a precaution, the Rangers called up Greg Moore to skate with the team today, in case Ryan Callahan was a no-go. He wasn’t and was returned to Hartford afterwards.

Sean Avery though did practice in a non-contact drill, wearing the yellow jersey.

Now, Avery said he expects to play tomorrow,  but expect to have him have a few days for on the shelf until he’s fully ready, so maybe Sunday against Wayne Gretzky’s Phoenix Coyotes.

The rest of the team play tomorrow in Washington as the Rangers look to build on their overtime win on Sunday against the Devils.

Posted under Blog