#douglassmurray

                                                             Iginla most likely to end up with new team

           One week from today at 3 p.m. is the NHL trade deadline. A burst of moves is sure to be made on that day, especially in the last hour. This year’s deadline is more interesting than most in the past for the simple fact that this season was shortened to 48 games.

            Over the normal 82-game seasons the trade deadline usually occurred in February. At that point there would be a sense of which teams are in the running for a playoff spot so you know those teams would be making a push to acquire new players.

            This year it’s more a question mark as to how many teams will be aggressive in pulling off some trades. Most teams have played 32 games which is two-thirds of the season and some that are not in the playoff picture now still might be optimistic in their hopes of making a late season surge.

            As it stands right now in the Eastern Conference, 14 teams all have a shot at the eight playoff spots. The Philadelphia Flyers are 14th in the conference and are only seven points from the 8th and final spot.

            The Western Conference is even tighter. All of the 15 teams are still in it. The Colorado Avalanche are last in the conference. They have 26 points and are only eight back from the 8th place San Jose Sharks.

            There are lots of older players that teams are looking to trade just so they can get younger for the future. One of those players is 35-year-old Jarome Iginla. He has played his whole career with the Calgary Flames and they are currently shopping him. Iginla has 525 goals and 1,095 points over his 16 seasons. Even at his age he is an impact player. Teams that have shown interest in him are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins.

            I think it’s most likely he’ll end up with the Blackhawks or Kings.

            Other impact players that are possible to be traded include, the Washington Capitals Mike Ribeiro, the Calgary Flames Miikka Kiprusoff, the Edmonton Oilers Ales Hemsky, the San Jose Sharks Dan Boyle, and the Buffalo Sabres Thomas Vanek.

            I think we’ll see a lot of the teams in the upper half of the standings try to make the most moves just so they can separate themselves even more from the rest of the league. I’m talking about the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks.

            The top team in the Eastern Conference right now is the Pittsburgh Penguins and they are the first team to make not one, but two impact trades already. On March 24th they sent their top defenseman prospect Joe Morrow and a 5th round pick to the Dallas Stars in exchange for forward Brenden Morrow and a 3rd round pick. Just one day later they sent two draft picks to San Jose for defenseman Douglas Murray.

            Ray Shero has always made multiple moves near the deadline in his tenure as the Penguins GM and he got the ball rolling with these two trades.

            Brenden Morrow will add leadership and Douglas Murray is going to add more toughness and physicality to an already stout defensive lineup.

            Injuries will also play a part in what deals may go down. The New Jersey Devils weren’t very interested in making many moves at the deadline but they may have to now because of the injury to Ilya Kovalchuk. He’ll be out 2-4 weeks.

            All I can say is expect a hectic 24 hours on April 3 for every single NHL club.