NHL Trade Deadline Special

Hockey Christmas as some fans call it - the NHL trade deadline ended today at 3pm with a total of 22 trades, involving 45 players and 21 draft picks. It is probably the most active of all trade deadlines in the major sports, if you can still call hockey a major sport.

The deadline deals that occurred were for the most part so insignificant that it is hard to believe that the major Canadian sports networks spent 8+ hours of coverage on it. Is our nation really that obsessed with hockey - I guess so.

As a sports fan, I pride myself on knowing what is going on in all the leagues. Who has the top teams, who is leading in scoring and which celebrity hottie is now dating another Ottawa Senator. With this trade deadline however, I find myself scratching my head over why these players were traded (economics for the most part), who these players are and how they will help their new team get better. In the case of the Maple Leafs, who made two trades, it was helping them get worse, so they can get a better draft pick, which in turn will make them better.

In the other major sports, the teams that make moves at the deadline are normally involved in the playoff race. Either they are on the bubble of making the playoffs, so they acquire a piece to push them into the big dance or they are already a championship contender and they obtain the "hired gun" to win that elusive trophy. I don't see that in hockey. General Managers seem to be making moves, just to appease the Canadian sports broadcasters or their own egos. How does Columbus and Ottawa making a trade effect the destiny of either of these teams? Carolina and LA Kings. Both teams out of the playoff picture, both in serious economic trouble, is it worth it?

The one trade that might actually help a team was the acquisition of Olli Jokinen by the Calgary Flames. The Flames add a number one centre to a team that is making a push for the Stanley Cup. The only issue I see with Jokinen is his playoff inexperience. He has the most games played of any player without going to the playoffs. Is this really the guy you expect to carry you to 16 wins in April, May and June? He has never grown that playoff beard, will it come in patchy, will it be too itchy for him, you just hope that the Flames did their homework.

Maybe I should just keep to the sports that I enjoy more than getting four vials of blood drawn.