The San Jose Sharks have dealt enforcer Jody Shelley to the Rangers* for a 6th round draft pick.

 It’s tough to gage the reasoning for this one from the Sharks perspective.  Creating roster space for a prospect? A player coming back off the IR? Maybe Shelly is a cancer in the dressing room?  If you have any theories let me know in the comments section.

Shelly was involved in a stupid play on Monday in Toronto, which may be the straw that broke his…time…as a Shark.  He was levelled in to the boards by Dion Phaneuf of the Leafs.  Shelly didn’t like it and tried to start something with Phaneuf right in front of the Leafs’ bench.  The new Leaf d-man kept his cool, Shelly took a minor for roughing, and less than a minute later the Leafs scored to tie the game.  Not smart.

 Shelly has 78 penalty minutes in 36 games this season.

*The pick becomes a 5th rounder if Shelly signs in New York

The Chicago Blackhawks solved some salary cap issues, trading Cam Barker and his 3 year, $9.25 million contract to the Minnesota Wild for Kim Johnnson and Nick Leddy (1st rounder in 2009).

 I’ll tell you, I like Cam Barker a lot.  He’s big (6-foot-3, 213), skates well, and can dangle from the point on the power-play.  The 23-year-old was the distributor on the ‘Hawks pp last season, but has digressed with just 4 goals and ten assists so far in 2009-2010. 

In a sense he’s expendable, with Brent Seabrooke, Duncan Keith, and Brian Campbell logging lots of minutes in Chicago.  But it must be difficult for the ‘Hawks to part with their former 3rd overall pick, who still has so much up-side.

Yeah, they receive a prospect in return (Leddy has one goal and four helpers in 19 games at the University of Minnesota), and Kim Johnsson is a veteran who will help hold down the fort, but I’m going to give the victory to the Wild.  They may have grabbed a future all-star.  If Barker is free in your pool I would take a good look for the stretch run.

The Canadiens have acquired Dominic Moore from the Panthers in exchange for a 2nd round pick in 2011.

 For the third straight season Moore will be switching teams, and it’ll be his 7th NHL squad before the age of 30!  In my mind, when a player gets dumped from team to team, year after year, it signals that they aren’t the most wanted man, more off the ice than on.  The scouts from opposing clubs see the player’s talent, think they could be of use, but after three-quarters of a year in the locker-room it’s time to move on.

 I feel we saw Moore at the top of his game in Toronto, when he and Jason Blake had some chemistry for a couple of months before Moore was dealt to the Sabres at the deadline.  They were impressive at controling the puck in the offensive zone.  Moore also has speed.  But if I were a GM I wouldn’t be touching him.

 Once again, Moore is an UFA at the end of the season.

The Ottawa Senators have added veteran forward Matt Cullen from Carolina for 24-year-old defender Alex Picard and a 2nd-round pick.

 Cullen will add even more depth to the Senators already healthy forward unit.  Their power-play has been their trouble spot this season (27th ranked) and Cullen is known for his skills with the man advantage, often playing QB on the point for the Hurricanes.  He has 12 goals and 28 assists this season, and had 49 points in 59 games in 2007-2008.

The Sens will now be able to roll three strong lines up-front in the playoffs.  Last night against the Caps they showed they have more than just the top unit. Now their centre trio of Spezza, Fisher, and Cullen is 2nd to few in the NHL (Penguins, Sharks?). 

 It’s unfortunate that the Hurricanes have to take apart their team once again, as they’ve been playing much better hockey since the new year.  But hey, that’s how you do it in this league.  If you’re not ready to make a run this season, re-tool for the future.

For the ‘Canes, the 2nd round pick is always helpful.  But, Picard? Your guess is as good as mine.  He’s a big guy, (6-foot-2, 210) but is known to be a bit soft in relation to his size.  He does have a hard blast from the point.

 Also of note on the Sens front, Bryan Murray was given a 1-year contract extension.

The Dallas Stars have acquired former 2nd overall pick Kari Lehtonen(2002 draft, behind Rick Nash) in exchange for 21-year-old defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy (also a 1st rounder, 27th in 2006) and a fourth round pick.

 This is an interesting one from both sides.  I guess it means Don Waddell and the Thrashers are banking on Ondrej Pavelec heading in to the future (at least down the stretch this year).  From the Stars perspective, they now have three goalies (Alex Auld, Marty Turco, and now Lehtonen), meaning there is probably some more trade action coming from them in the near future.

 Lehtonen is still young.  I’m a big fan of teams who acquired older, more experienced goalies.  That being said, he has had numerous injury troubles and isn’t known to be the hardest worker, either on or off the ice.  We’ll see how his career turns out.  could be a steal for the Stars.

Just so we’re all clear, it’s Niclas Wallin, the defenseman from the Hurricanes going to the Sharks, not Rickard Wallin (no relation) of the Leafs.  The Sharks acquired Wallin and a 5th rounder for a 2nd round pick.

 The 35-year-old is a rental.  His 1.75 million dollar contract expires at the end of the season.  But he brings some good assets to the Sharks.  He is cheap, for one (noted above).  He has won a cup before with Carolina, something relatively few of the Sharks have done.  And he provides ‘stay at home’ security, including the ability to log lots of pk minutes.

Although he has played his entire 9 year career with the Hurricanes, he is also excited about playing for a contender, something he made clear before his first game as a Shark, Monday night in T.O.:

“They finally got the deal done…a couple days ago. I’m really excited. It’s a great chance to come to a winning team and a team that has every tool to win a championship.

“That’s the bottom line, that’s what you play hockey for, you want to win … I’m the happiest man in the world right now.”

Lastly, he has been matched up with the talented Dan Boyle, allowing Boyle to frolic in the offensive zone with a little less guilt.

Wallin looks like a solid addition for a team that could make some serious noise come playoff time.

After the doozies we’ve had to start the trade season everything will likely seem minor from here on out. Forward Ville Leino was dealt from the Red Wings to Philly for 25-year-old defender Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and a 5th round pick in the ’11 draft.

At one point it looked like Leino was primed to be a classic Detroit Red Wing sleeper signing.  He has some serious quickness on the ice, as well as nifty hands with the puck.  But his numbers have yet to match his skills (nine goals and seven assists in 55 career games) so they’ve shipped him out for some help on D.

 Tollefsen, on the other hand, has only played 18 games this season due to both mcl and concussion problems…yikes.  He signed with the Flyers last July after spending his first three seasons in Columbus and is a restricted free-agent this summer.

With the Wings dumping of Leino, Johan Franzen could be close to returning from his torn acl injury.

The biggest name on sale has been snatched up by Lou Lamoriello and the New Jersey Devils.  Ilya Kovalchuk and has been traded to the Atlanta Thrashers for D-man Johnny Oduya, rookie forward Niclas Bergfors, prospect Patrice Cormier, and a 1st round pick in 2010.

This trade seems out of character for Lamoriello.  The Devils are giving away a chunk of future talent for a temporary stud. 

 Yes, he is a stud.  Kovalchuk can really score.  He’s a former first overall pick who always has top of the league numbers. 

 The question is, has he ever won anything? Even a single playoff series?  The city of Toronto would go nuts if the Leafs made this deal. 

 Then again, Toronto doesn’t have an aging Marty Brodeur between the pipes.

The 2010 NHL trade season got off to a sizzling start last weekend with the deals that rocked Toronto.  First, Brian Burke acquired Dion Phaneuf, Fredrick Sjostrom, and Keith Aulie from Calgary in exchange for Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers, and Ian White.  Then, less than an hour later, Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala were dumped on Anaheim for Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

 We’ve all heard lots on these two deals so I’ll give you my quick take and move on.  I could see the Calgary trade working for both sides, at least in the short term.  For years now the Flames have needed depth on forward to compliment Jarome Iginla.  Although none of the players they grabbed from Toronto are perennial first liners, they had scored 47 of the Leafs 149 goals prior to the trade (Hagman 20, Stajan 16, White 9, Mayers 2).  Yes, giving up Dion Phaneuf would have been a sin just 18 months ago, but he’s been having trouble in Calgary over the last couple of seasons.  They also have some of the best depth on the blue-line in the entire NHL after the signing of Jay Bouwmeester in the off-season.  The addition of Ian White, who many Leaf fans would say has been their best D-man over the past two seasons, also fills a bit of the Phaneuf whole.

On the other side of the coin, the Leafs pick up a defenseman with a resume second to few by the age of 24.  He is a two time all-star, world junior ‘monster’, and even with his poor play of late, was still on the radar for team Canada Olympics right to the end.  Sjostrom is a cheap speedster who they hope will help their league worst penalty kill, and Aulie is a six-foot-six defender who also played well for Canada at the world juniors, along side Tyler Myers.

 Burke is known for saying the best deals are the ones that work for both sides, because it means they will come back for more business, and I could see this one being an example.

 On the flip side, what were the Anaheim Ducks thinking when they took Blake and Toskala for Giggy?  Alright, I get the reasoning, trading Giguere’s $7 million contract for next season, where he would have just sat on the bench behind Jonas Hiller, in exchange for Blake’s $4 million in each of the next two seasons.  The theory, at least Blake will do something worthwhile…they hope.  But could they not have got more for a 32-year-old Stanley Cup champion and former playoff MVP?  It makes me wonder if the Ducks still had a favour to pay to former GM Brian Burke.  Toskala becomes a free agent on July 1st.

So there it is, the beginning of the madness.  Stay tuned for more as the Ilya Kovalchuk talk is already heating up. 

Let’s face it. Ever since the lockout, most of the action on the trade front has happened before that magical day known as the Trade Deadline (this year it’s March 3rd).  The deadline day itself is usually a snore.

However, this year is different because of one thing: The Olympics. With the NHL on a break for most of February, the General Managers having nothing better to do than to sit around and to let their imaginations run wild.

And that, mes amis, is why this year’s deadline may be filled with more action than we have seen in years.

Keep track of all the significant movements with THE FAN 590′s Eric Prime serving as your guide – only on fan590.com.