The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Opening up the newspaper on Sunday to see all the trades that took place up to and during the draft was pretty cool. Because it all came trickling in small doses, it might not have seemed that exciting for those who check the NHL news daily, but to get up to date after a three day break was pretty neat.

First, Luongo going to the Canucks for Bertuzzi. This is a great move by Vancouver as I have no confidence in Todd Bertuzzi performing at the level he was at pre-Moore incident. Some say he now has motivation, but being away from the game for about 1 1/2 years should have been motivation enough. Vancouver should be good enough to make the playoffs once they find a new linemate for Naslund. Florida still needs some tweaks to get into post-season contention.

Alex Tanguay to Calgary...Flames fans should love this move. I don't think giving up Jordan Leopold is that big a blow to their defence and Tanguay should be able to help Iginla shoulder the offensive load. Obviously, Colorado feels Marek Svatos is no fluke and will be able to continue his impressive rookie campaign once his injury heals.

My Sens apparently made a pitch to Florida offering Havlat, Phillips, Emery and a first rounder for Luongo. I think the snag for the Senators is Havlat only wants to sign a one year contract and test the free-agent market next year. This has also gotten in the way of Ottawa trying to get goaltender Toskla from San Jose. Quite frankly, aside from his performance against Tampa Bay where they ousted them in five games, he was injured for most of the season and was nowhere to be found during the Buffalo series. He's looking for a big pay day, but hasn't really proven to me he's an NHL all-star yet.

I'm glad GM John Muckler didn't compound his error by resigning Tyler Arnason. Arnason wouldn't take a pay cut from $1.6 million, which is interesting since he's worth about $1.60. He should thank the league that there's a league minimum. The Arnason-Bochenski trade was one of Muckler's worst moves, although he commented Bochenski was an "expendable" player. Funny, I thought he was a "promising" player, and unlike Tyler had some heart and interest to play for Ottawa.

Hard to say what's going to happen with Redden and Chara, although with Chara's agent stating Zdeno wants to stay in Ottawa so long as it's for "fair market value" is just another way of saying "I want $7-8 million a year". Considering Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer don't make that, he's out of his mind. Looks like Redden will be the one that stays in Ottawa. I think the Senators should see if Ottawa native and multiple Stanley Cup winner Aaron Ward has any interesting in playing for his hometown.