There Are No Winners or Losers

Except for Montreal which bit it big with their pathetic and head-scratching showing at the trade deadline. Bear with me for a minute while I rant. The worst thing someone can do for their head on the day after the trade deadline is to read the fall-out articles. Sports writers for the most parts are like political pundits: They know what they're talking about, they just don't know what it means.

Case in point would be a certain sports writer on a popular search engine/web domain who decided to assign grades for the moves (and non-moves) made on Tuesday. Montreal, who could only manage to ship off a goaltender for a 2nd round pick in 2009, received a C- grade. With all the talk about the great additions Les Habs were going to make, this underwhelming swap does not equal addition by subtraction. Yet four spots below the Canadiens were the Isles with a D+ rating being chastised for not adding a scorer. Wasn't that what half the league was trying to do on Tuesday? It seemed that at least the Isles got picks for a deep 2008 entry draft in exchange for a waning winger and a defenseman prone to lapses in defense. All in all it seems harsh that teams like the Islanders, who are thinking about the future first, are getting the sports writer cold shoulder media-wide. There were no winners or losers on Tuesday, just more of the same.

What did remain most surprising about Tuesday, though, was the fact that only 3 top tier players (Richards, Hossa and Campbell) were moved while rumored bodies Jokinen, Rob Blake and Marleau remained in place. I am not quite sure it was as exciting a day as everybody keeps making it out to be.