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Frank Doyle
Bruins Still the Winners as Deadline Passes
Frank Doyle searches through the trades to see if anything made a difference, and looks back at an interesting weekend’s hockey.
Stanley Cups have been won in the past on trade deadline day. That’s unlikely to happen this year. Deadline day came and went yesterday without one trade that made people sit back and think: that team will warrant watching now.
The Kings’ singing of Dustin Penner from Edmonton makes the LA offense stronger, and Penner of course was on the Anaheim team that won the Stanley back in 2007. But Ovechkin he ain’t. Detroit beat LA 7-4 in the Staples last night to remind the Angelitos how long a road they have they have to travel still.
The biggest trade in the season occurred eleven days ago, when Boston acquired Tomas Kaberle from Toronto. Puck playing defensemen are the precious gems of the National Hockey League and if you want to be a contender, you grab one when one comes along.
That’s what Boston did and it’s paid off for them. The Bruins have won five straight on the road and are sitting pretty at the top of the Northeast Conference, five points ahead of Montreal. Boston closes out its road trip as a hot NHL betting favorite at Ottawa tonight – what’s not to like?
The Canucks have dominated hockey all year but their current win-one, lose-one policy has to have people scratching their heads. Is it injuries, or a stage Vancouver’s going through, or what? The Canucks have two soft home games this week before going on a five game western road trip. They need to get whatever it is that’s bothering them out of their system.
Because danger lies all around. The Sharks are chomping their way back into contention, with six wins in a row. The Red Wings are the omni-present force, the Kings have arrived and the Bruins have traded to win it all this year. And, as the Sharks themselves can tell Vancouver, that President’s Trophy isn’t always a blessing.