Actions sparked reactions
Decisions on Luongo, St. Louis prefaced trades
Team Canada isn’t just another team, and the Heritage Classic isn’t just another game.
Because of that, no two decisions had a bigger impact on the NHL trade deadline than the original Team Canada roster and the Vancouver Canucks starting goaltender for last weekend’s outdoor game.
Had Steve Yzerman put Martin St. Louis on Sochi Olympic team from the start, and had Canucks coach John Tortorella chosen to start Roberto Luongo last weekend at BC Place, those two stars likely would not have found themselves in different places.
Like a puck hitting the post and bouncing in or out, those moves changed the course of history.
“If Torts would’ve put Roberto in the net, I wouldn’t have called (GM Mike Gillis) and Roberto wouldn’t have been worried about anything,” Luongo’s agent Pat Brisson said in a phone interview. “We wouldn’t have been talking, and I wouldn’t have been asking to be granted permission to speak to teams, so therefore he might’ve still been a Canuck today.”
Instead, Luongo returned to the Florida Panthers as Gillis sought a different direction for the Canucks’ organization.
Yzerman, serving in a dual role as Canada’s executive director and the Tampa Bay Lightning general manager, appeared to sense that trouble might be afoot after announcing the roster on Jan. 7. He wanted to be wrong.
“I’m hopeful that we can get through this and continue to play,” Yzerman said. “He’s a guy that I want to finish his career (in Tampa).”
Less than two months later and less than two weeks after winning a gold medal with St. Louis playing a role as an injury replacement for Steven Stamkos, Yzerman ensured that wouldn’t happen by trading his captain to the New York Rangers for Ryan Callahan and two draft picks. That happened only after the 38-year-old winger asked for a trade and Yzerman “honoured his request.”
Poor investment
Garth Snow of the New York Islanders had no choice but to trade Thomas Vanek, doing so by shipping him to the Montreal Canadiens along with a conditional fifth-round pick for forward prospect Sebastien Collberg and a conditional secondround pick.
Unless Collberg and the secondround pick turn into stars, it appears as though Snow did not recoup what he originally gave up for Vanek in late October: Matt Moulson, a firstand a second-round pick.
“It wasn’t the same action you usually see at the trade deadline, so we’re fortunate with the deal we made,” Snow said on a conference call. “It wasn’t the same trade deadline that it’s been in years past.”
Chain reaction
A few trades came as the result of earlier dominoes falling. The Philadelphia Flyers wouldn’t have traded defenceman Andrej Meszaros to the Boston Bruins had they not acquired Andrew MacDonald from the Islanders, and the Dallas Stars likely would not have got Tim Thomas from the Panthers if Florida didn’t pick up Luongo.
“As soon as we saw (the Luongo trade) happen, we kind of started to discuss things,” Stars general manager Jim Nill said on a conference call. “It’s something we started to research right away. There was a lot of other goalies in play also, which kind of changes the field out there. It got the balls going right away, but it really didn’t come together till today.”
Short-term thinking
Few teams acquired anything longterm Wednesday beyond picks and prospects. No player traded Wednesday had more than one year left on his contract beyond this season.
Standing pat
Four teams — the Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets — did not make a single move in the final 24 hours available. Toronto GM Dave Nonis didn’t see a strong market and wondered aloud, “Why pay a price for nothing?”
Some teams had to pay a price, while others felt comfortable to sit back and watch the movement happen around them.
“It’s the level I want to be at every year, to tell you the truth — it’s nice to know when your team is at the trade deadline and you don’t need to make any major changes,” Nill said. “That means the organization is doing the right thing, and that’s the position you want to be in. You’re better to be in a position of strength this time of year than a position of weakness.”