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Carolina Hurricanes trade Aaron Ward to the Anaheim Ducks for Justin Pogge and a 4th round pick in 2010.

Another minor deal for a defensemen.

Bruins acquire Dennis Seidenberg and Matt Bartowski from Florida for Craig Weller, Byron Bitz and a 2nd round pick.

The price for Seidenberg was a little higher than for other defensemen (Leopold and Sutton) but seems like a deal that could help both teams. The Bruins needed a defenseman but a pretty nice pickup for the Panthers considering Seidenberg is a UFA at the end of the year.

The Leafs have traded Martin Skoula to the New Jersey Devils for a 5th round pick in 2010.

This deal was expected as the Leafs had no use for Skoula, he will be a UFA at the end of the year.

Derek Morris has been traded to Phoenix for a 4th round draft pick in 2011. Don’t think anyone could have predicted the Coyotes being buyers and the Bruins sellers before the season started. Good deal for the Coyotes, can’t hurt them to have Morris back.

Let’s hope this gets things going for the rest of the day.

A surprising number of deals have happened in the two day prior to the deadline, let’s hope it is a sign of things to come. The biggest deal so far is the trade of Alex Ponikarovsky to Pittsburgh in exchange for Martin Skoula and Luca Caputi. Three other Canadian teams made deals yesterday; the biggest of them was Andy Sutton going to Ottawa in exchange for a 2nd round pick. New Montreal Canadiens GM Pierre Gauthier made his second deal in a few weeks as he dealt Matt D’Agostini to St. Louis for Aaron Palushaj and the Oilers acquired Matt Marquardt from the Bruins for Cody Wild. Here are the other minor deals that happened yesterday:
-Anaheim trades Steve Kampfer to Boston for a conditional 4th round pick.
-Anaheim trades Nick Boynton to Chicago for future considerations.
-NY Islanders trade Brett Westgarth to San Jose for a conditional pick.

We’re still waiting for our first deal on Trade Deadline Day, we’ll be with you all day long to bring you the news.

The first few deals happened yesterday as the Olympic break freeze was lifted. First off, Jordan Leopold was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a 2nd round pick; Denis Grebeshkov was also dealt for a 2nd round pick to the Nashville Predators. Three other minor deals happened yesterday:
-St. Louis trades Hannu Toivonen and Danny Richmond to Chicago for Joe Fallon.
-Columbus trades Dylan Reese to NY Islanders for Greg Moore.
-Atlanta trades Nathan Oystrick and a conditional pick in 2011 to Atlanta for Evgeny Artyukhin.

Nothing major has happened as of yet but we expect things to get exciting tomorrow. We know that the Edmonton Oilers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricaned will all be sellers. This means that you can expect guys like Fernando Pisani, Mike Comrie, Fredrik Modin, Raffi Torres, Milan Jurcina, Lee Stempniak, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Mike Van Ryn, Ray Whitney, Scott Walker, Aaron Ward and Joe Corvo to be dealt tomorrow. All these guys are on teams that are clearly sellers and who will be Unrestricted Free Agents at the end of the season. It will be interesting to see if other teams that are near the playoffs such as the Tampa Bay Lightning deal guys like Jeff Halpern and Alex Tanguay.

I’d also like to announce that Sports Jerseys Canada Blog will follow all the NHL Trade Deadline action starting at 10:00AM and post deals the minute they happen. We invite you to follow us all day long tomorrow.

With one shot Sidney Crosby has made the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games a complete success for Canada. This gold medal makes Canada the winningest nation in Winter Olympic history with 14 gold medals. Canadians will remember these games and this goal forever.

Critics may say the “Own the Podium” project has failed for Canada because we will finish third in total medal count. However, the goal of “Own the Podium” was to get the younger generation interested in amateur sports and our athletes have done that. After watching hundreds of hours of Olympic coverage over the past two weeks, here are my top five memories from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics (hopefully the men’s hockey final can be added to this list):

5. Alexandre Bilodeau – First Gold Medal: This medal might have been expected but it was the first gold medal won by a Canadian athlete on home soil. This story is especially touching when you see the relationship he has with his brother Frederic who has cerebral palsy. The pressure was very high early in the games and Bilodeau came through, making all of Canada proud.

4. Charles Hamelin – Two Gold Medals In One Night: Hamelin’s performances might not have made as much noise because they happened during the Canada – Slovakia game but he was tremendous. First Hamelin won the gold in the 500 meters as the Korean skater fell in the last turn and then Hamelin and his teammates dominated the 5,000 meters relay. Short track speed skating is an exciting sport to watch and I’m sure a lot of young Canadians asked their parents if they could sign-up for this great sport after these performances.

3. Men’s Hockey – Canada Defeats Russia: Only in Canada would a quarterfinal win in hockey be near the top of a list like this but I had to include it. Our hockey team was sensational on this night and it was extra sweet because it was against Russia, the other favourites to win the tournament and our hockey rivals of 40 years.

2. Jasey-Jay Anderson – Wins First Olympic Medal In His Fourth Games: Jasey-Jay Anderson worked hard for the past 16 years and despite earning 59 podiums in the FIS World Cup, few Canadians knew him. He changed all that yesterday by winning his first Olympic medal and it was especially sweet because it was a gold and it was in Canada.

1. Joannie Rochette – Wins Bronze A Few Days After Her Mother Passes Away: In 10 years, there are two things that Canadians will remember from these games: whether or not the men’s hockey team won gold and Joannie Rochette’s bronze medal after her mother passed away. Joannie inspired a lot of Canadians and is a hero for a lot of little girls who one day dream to participate in the Olympics.

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics have been a success so far for Canada with 13 gold medals but, years down the road, the only thing that people will remember is whether or not the men’s hockey team won gold. Eight years ago, Canada won the gold on U.S. soil in Salt Lake City, beating the Americans 5-2 in the final. A lot has changed since then as Martin Brodeur, Jarome Iginla, Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger are the only four returning Canadian players while Chris Drury and Brian Rafalski are the only two returning Americans.

As I mentioned a few days ago, there’s no doubt that Canada has a more talented team than the USA but it’s one game and anything can happen. This is especially true after the semi-final games that these teams played on Friday when the Americans dominated Finland and Canada barely hung on against Slovakia.

The Americans are undefeated so far in this tournament winning each of their games by at least two goals while Canada lost to the USA and had a couple of close ones against the Swiss and the Slovaks. The Canadian team has had a very up and down tournament and was especially disappointing in the semi-final after such an impressive performance against the Russians. All the pressure is on the Canadian squad for this game as this game is expected to set a new record for the most-watched sports program in Canadian television history. You have to believe a Canada – USA final will be good for the NHL but a according to this article, the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City didn’t do much for the NHL but that’s a debate for another day.

Everything has been said about this game so there isn’t much analysis to do. The Canadians are much more talented, but Ryan Miller has been the best goalie in this tournament and could steal the game for the Americans once again. One thing is for sure, this will be a great game played between two excellent hockey teams and hopefully the NHL can benefit from this.

The debate has been going on for months now in Montreal and will continue at least until Wednesday’s NHL Trade Deadline. Two things are for sure: if the Canadiens want a chance at the cup they need to improve at the trade deadline, and they have two excellent goaltenders that could interest a number of teams.

Jaroslav Halak has been underrated since the beginning of his North American career in 2004-05. In his first season, Halak played in 47 games with the Lewiston MAINEiacs starting ahead of the 16-year old Jonathan Bernier. The 19-year old Slovak had a 0.913 save percentage in his first season and its interesting to note that his teammate, and 2006 first-round pick, Jonathan Bernier averaged a 0.908 save percentage over his four-year career in Lewiston. The following year, Halak started the season in the ECHL stopping 93.2% of the shots he faced and was then promoted to the AHL where he was nearly as effective with a 0.927 save percentage. In 69 career AHL games, Halak has a 0.930 save percentage and in 86 career NHL games he has a 0.916 save percentage. Sure he has not yet proven that he can play well over an extended period of time in the NHL but Halak has been dominant in every league he has played in since crossing the Atlantic six years ago.

Carey Price on the other hand has been highly scrutinized since his first few seasons in Tri-City and has lived up to expectations, until this year. Many are disappointed by Price’s play this year despite his above-average 0.910 save percentage. One thing everyone seems to forget however is that he is still only 22-years old and that goalies take longer to develop. Here are a few stats you might want to consider:
Marc-Andre Fleury: 0.902 save percentage in his first 117 games (21-22 years old)
Roberto Luongo: 0.915 save percentage in his first 129 games (20-22 years old)
Martin Brodeur: 0.908 save percentage in his first 91 games (19-21 years old)
Carey Price: 0.911 save percentage in his first 129 games (20-22 years old)

It’s true that Brodeur played in a different era but still, none of these goalies were among the league’s best early in their career and Price’s numbers are very good for a goalie that age. The expectations are way too high on Price and in my opinion there’s no doubt that one day, he will be an excellent #1 NHL goaltender.

This then brings up the obvious question, what should Montreal Canadiens GM Pierre Gauthier do? Both have very good numbers so far in the NHL, are very young and will be restricted free agents at the end of the year. The one difference between the two is that, in my opinion, Price has a much higher value than Halak on the market. If the Canadiens have the same evaluation as I do of these two goalies, the right decision would be to trade Price; not because Halak is better but because both are excellent and one has a higher market value than the other. Halak’s performance in the Olympics should have increased his value, and only GMs know how much they value each of these players, but, I believe, the consensus is still that Price has a much higher value because of his younger age.

The Vancouver Sun has an interesting article on the sellers and buyer at the deadline and it seems like the Blackhawks could be one of the very few teams in the market for a goaltender. There’s no doubt that Gauthier will test the market and see what he could get for both of his keepers but a decision probably won’t be made until the summer as there are very few teams, if any, that could afford to make a strong offer for Halak or Price at this point.