Pre-Olympic Trade Recap

With the Trade Freeze going into effect at 3pm this afternoon, teams looked to make a few moves early.  There were two notable deals completed today.

The first was between the Minnesota Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks.  Chicago sent D Cam Barker to Minnesota for (former Flyer) D Kim Johnsson, and D Nick Leddy, a 1st round pick in 2009.  This sure looks like a salary cap move for the Blackhawks.

The second deal involved Ottawa and Carolina.  Carolina sent veteran winger Ray Whitney to the Senators for (former Flyer) D Alexandre Picard and a 2nd round pick.  It’s not much of a surprise that Whitney was moved, as the rumor mill was churning for quite some time.  Whitney was a guy I thought we could use here in Philly for some extra scoring depth.  Following this, the Senators also place Johnathon Cheechoo on waivers.

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Thrashers trade Kari Lehtonen to Dallas

The Atlanta Thrashers have traded goaltender Kari Lehtonen to the Dallas Stars for top prospect, Ivan Vishnevskiy and a 4th round draft pick in 2010.

This trade adds Lehtonen to an abundance of goaltenders in the Dallas Stars system, however, with all four of them set to become unrestricted free agents this summer, this move makes a lot of sense.

Lehtonen has had his share of issues this season, but has been reliable for the Thrashers.

With the rumors surrounding Marty Turco’s immediate future with the Stars, it’s been assumed that they were looking for some youth in-between the pipes.

The Stars give up a young, defensive prospect who is small, quick, and mobile who has tremendous offensive talents. Picture a young Sergei Zubov. Vishnevskiy was a fan favorite, and rightfully so. However, his play was nothing but potential.

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Flyers acquire Ville Leino from Detroit, in exchange for Ole-Kristian Tollefsen

Ole-Kristian Tollefsen’s short, injury-plagued stint with the Philadelphia Flyers has come to an end. The Flyers traded the 25 year old defenseman and a fifth round draft pick in the 2011 Entry Draft this morning to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange of forward Ville Leino.

Ville Leino was orginally signed by the Red Wings in 2008 from Jokerit of the Finnish League. Ville Leino has played in 55 NHL games over two seasons, and has scored 9 goals and tallied 7 assists. Last summer, the Wings re-upped his contract, signing him to a two-year deal.

The kid’s apparently got skill. From the little I know about him, a few Red Wing fans have filled me in and say he’s a pleasure to watch, and has tremendous potential.

Here’s a clip of Leino’s first NHL goal:

The Flyers lose defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, who has been troubled by injury for the majority of the season – a big worry at the time of OKT’s signing was his ability to play without getting injured. Tollefsen became expendable last week when the Flyers signed Lukas Krajicek.

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WE BELIEVE IN ORANGE 2010 trade deadline coverage

I said new features would keep coming, didn’t I?

This isn’t much of a feature, but in the coming days I’ll be making the site accessible to all of your 2010 NHL trade deadline coverage. We’ll be covering a lot of the rumors, trades, and failed trades up until the March 3rd deadline.

If you’re tired of reading Eklund’s jargon, you’re always welcome here.

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