Another Trade Deadline has come and gone in VHA and it was a busy day as some clubs loaded up for the playoffs while others prepared for the offseason.

Deal by Deal:

To Pittsburgh: Freddie Hamilton and Craig Adams
To Toronto: Kyle Clifford and Pittsburgh’s 4th round pick in 2012

The Lowdown: The Maple Leafs added a young up and coming player in Kyle Clifford in this move that sees the Penguins unite Canadian World Junior Teammates and brothers Freddie and Dougie Hamilton in Pennsylvania.

Winner: Toronto wins in the short term as Clifford is a nice player

To Boston: Tobias Enstrom, Andrew Brunette and Arturs Kulda
To Nashville: Stephen Weiss and Johnny Oduya

The Lowdown: The Preds were thought to be a seller on deadline day but raised some eyebrows in adding Stephen Weiss. This move will improve Nashville’s top line scoring while the swap of the other pieces should give the Preds a fighting chance.

Winner: Boston wins this one if Nashville does not make it to the playoffs. Enstrom is a solid top four offensive defenseman and is signed for a reasonable amount until 2015.

To Pittsburgh: Marc Andre Gragnani and Los Angeles’ 5th round pick in 2012
To Los Angeles: Eric Brewer

The Lowdown: The Kings just added a solid #2 defenseman for their possible Cup run. Brewer should help solidify the one apparent weakness of the Kings on defense. Pittsburgh meanwhile added a quality young defenseman who may develop in to top four defenseman one day.

Winner: Pittsburgh wins this one. Brewer is an upgrade for LA but the cost was high. Gragnani is a nice pick-up for the Pens. If the Kings win the cup though, I doubt Walter will cry too much.

To Florida: Tim Brent and Los Angeles’ 3rd round pick in 2012
To Los Angeles: Alexei Ponikarovsky

The Lowdown: Brent is entirely replaceable on the fourth line but the 3^rd round pick is nice for what is a fading Ponikarovsky.

Winner: Florida wins this one, but the Kings next move makes up for this one.

To Colorado: Alexei Ponikarovsky, Los Angeles’ 3rd round pick in 2013 and Scott Winkler
To Los Angeles: Petr Sykora

The Lowdown: Sykora is a nice upgrade over Ponikarovsky, but the Avalanche added another pick in the 2013 draft. Winkler is a throw in on this deal, but with him poised to turn pro next year, may end up as an NHLer one day.

Winner: Los Angeles wins this deal as they made a nice upgrade in adding a pure shooter in Sykora.

To Anaheim: Mike Green
To Edmonton: Ed Jovanovski, Kurtis Foster, Boone Jenner, Anaheim’s 1st pick in 2012

The Lowdown: If he can stay healthy, the Ducks just heisted the Oilers in this one. Jenner is a blue chip prospect and the Ducks’ pick should be in the 20-30 range. If Green can’t stay healthy, the Oilers win this one going away with two solid chips for an injury prone defender.

Winner: The Ducks should win this one this year but who the hell knows for the longterm. Ask us again in a year.

To Edmonton: Stanislav Galiev and John Gibson
To Vancouver: Los Angeles’ 2nd round pick in 2012, Michal Neuvirth
To San Jose: Marc-Edouard Vlasic

The Lowdown: I really like three-way deals. This deal addresses everyones goaltending needs. Gibson is a grade A goaltending prospect but Mr. Pickles aka. M-E Vlasic is an exciting young defender. Adding Neuvirth for Gibson in effect turns the clock forward a couple of years for the Canucks.

Winner: Win Win Win in my books. All sides addressed needs. Nice deal boys.

To Pittsburgh: SJ 4th round pick in 2012
To San Jose: Martin Biron

The Lowdown: With the departure of Neuvirth, the Sharks needed to add a backup netminder. Biron is the best in the business. For the Penguins, they had no interest in keeping Biron as their starter next year so moving him made sense

Winner: San Jose wins this one. A late round pick for a quality goaltender who is on a cheap contract is a no-brainer.

To Boston: Matt Beleskey and Bryan Cameron
To Calgary: Sean Bergenheim

The Lowdown: The Flames added a solid top nine forward for essentially spare parts. Beleskey and Cameron may turn out to be players, but Bergernheim should help the Flames out nicely

Winner: The Flames win this one. The Bruins got what they could get, but Calgary has little chance of ever regretting this deal.

To Edmonton: Mike Ribeiro
To Colorado: ANA 1st Round Pick in 2012

The Lowdown: On the surface this deal makes little sense to the Oilers but once Ribeiro is tagged by the Oilers, this deal makes far more sense in Edmonton. With the Avs having Parise to re-sign, Ribeiro was not in the cards in Denver.

Winner: Colorado wins this deal, but the Oilers won’t cry if Ribeiro stays in Edmonton next year. The problem I see is that Ribeiro will be expensive next year and at 32 years old now, will likely demand a longer term then the Oilers will like.

To Dallas: Mike Knuble, Joonas Nattinen and SJ's 5th round pick in 2012
to San Jose: Curtis Glencross

The Lowdown: Sergio must have paid by the pound in this deal as three assets for a second line tweener is a hefty price. In Nattinen, the Stars added a question mark while the 5^th round pick is another draw from the lotto.

Winner: Quality is better then quantity so San Jose wins this one.

To Calgary: Jaromir Jagr and COL 5th rounder in 2012
To Colorado: Ryan Potulny, CGY 2nd round pick in 2012 and CGY 4th rounder 2012

The Lowdown: The Flames added a future hall of famer and bonafied top six winger for a spare part in Potulny and a couple of draft picks. The purge continued in Denver as they cleared off another UFA from their list.

Winner: I’ll give the edge to the Flames in this one as Potulny carries no value to me. Jagr should lead the Flames to the Northwest Division crown and home ice advantage to start the playoffs.

To Philadelphia: STL 1st round pick in 2012, Dustin Penner, Jake Allen and Stefan Noesen
To St. Louis: Daniel Alfredsson and Kyle Palmieri

The Lowdown: Bill is likely the Statue of Liberty…he took Kyle’s huddled masses (Penner) yearning to be free (bought out). In return, he got a first round pick and a nice package of prospects. The Blues added a nice young player and the winger that may put the Champs over the top for a possible repeat.

Winner: If the Blues win the Cup they win this deal. Otherwise, the Flyers win this deal.

To Colorado: Brock Beukeboom
To Anaheim: Jason Garrison

The Lowdown: The Ducks replace the injured Hamonic with Garrison for a project defenseman who is still a couple years away from prime time. With that last name though, the Avs may have a player one day.

Winner: I think the Ducks win this one. I could see him sticking around in SoCal.

To Colorado: Columbus’ 3rd pick in 2012
To Columbus: Matt Cooke and Mike Rupp

The Lowdown: Val added two pieces of depth for a playoff chase for a mid-round draft pick.

Winner: Columbus should win this deal unless the Jackets miss the playoffs.

To Colorado: ANA 3rd draft pick in 2012
To Detroit: David Jones

The Lowdown: Read the above except swap Matt in for Val.

Winner: This is a low cost upgrade for the Red Wings. With them poised for a long playoff run, Jones may play a key role in their run.

To Columbus: Simon Hjalmarsson and Brendan Mikkelson
To Detroit: Ian White

The Lowdown: Detroit moves a pair of failing prospect in Mikkelson and Hjalmarsson for an effective defenseman

Winner: Detroit wins this deal mainly because Columbus loses it. The Jackets loss is for two reasons. One, I don’t see either prospect ever being a top six defenseman. Two, if the Jackets make the playoffs, they will likely face Ian White and the Detroit Red Wings in round one.

To Columbus: Jason Pominville, EDM 4th in 2012 and 5th round pick in 2012
To Edmonton: Jacob Josefson and David Honzik

The Lowdown: Pominville is a really nice pickup for Columbus, but the Oilers did will to grab Josefson.

Winner: Columbus wins this one if one of their two draft picks turn out. Somehow they got draft picks along with Pominville in this deal. However with Val’s draft history, this win may fall flat.

To New Jersey: Aaron Palushaj
To San Jose: Sami Salo

The Lowdown: Old prospect for solid defenseman.

Winner: The Sharks win this deal until Salo gets hurt as usual. Once that happens, the Devils win this deal.

To New Jersey: Colten Teubert
To Anaheim: Clarke MacArthur

The Lowdown: The Ducks more then replaced the injured Fedotenko in adding MacArthur, but the Devils added a former first rounder.

Winner: Unless the Ducks go deep in to the playoffs, they will regret moving Teubert. New Jersey won this deal.

Three Big Winners:

Colorado – Multiple Picks in each of the first four rounds.

San Jose – Mortgaged some of their future for this playoff run

Calgary – Didn’t mortgage much and added several nice pieces

Three Big Losers:

Los Angeles – Moved Tim Brent, two 3^rd round picks and Scott Winkler for Petr Sykora

Columbus – Made their likely first round opponent better for a two iffy prospects

Anaheim – They sold off every draft pick along with several prospects and still have to rely on their 42 year old goaltender.