HOCKEY HEADLINES | Trade Deadline, Bowman, Maatta, Coburn, more

By Dean Matheos, Staff Writer

Mikkel Boedker (Photo by Getty Images)

► Trade deadline

• Despite a last minute flurry of moves, It was one of the quieter NHL trade deadlines. Here are some of the more interesting moves.
• Brandon Pirri went to Anaheim in exchange for a sixth round pick in 2016.
• Mikkel Boedker was sent to Colorado in exchange for Alex Tanguay, Conner Bleackley an Kyle Wood. The Avalanche also got some blueline depth acquiring Eric Gelinas from the Devils in exchange for a third round pick in 2017.
• Kris Russel is the newest member of the Dallas Stars as he was acquired for Jyrki Jokipakka Brett Pollock and a conditional second round pick in 2016.
• The Bruins acquire both Lee Stepniak and John-Michael Liles while hanging on to Loui Erikson.
•  The majority of trades came during the weekend including some moves from the Florida Panthers Bringing in Jiri Hudler, Teddy Purcell and Jakub Kindl.
• Toronto kept unloading as the traded James Reimer to San Jose along with Jeremy Morin For Alex Stalock, Ben Smith and a 2018 conditional fourth round pick. Leafs also trading Daniel Winnik for the second dealine in a row this tome to Washington.
• Kris Versteeg is off to Los Angeles as the Kings add some scoring depth.
• Penguins get Justin Shultz as they try to fix their blueline.
• Finally one of the biggest trades is Eric Stall going to the Rangers for Aleksi Saarela and a second round pick in both 2016 and 2017.

► Chicago loading up

• The Chicago Blackhawks are preparing to make a serious push for the Cup. They shored up the back end as they swapped defencemen sending Rob Scuderi to the Kings in exchange for Christian Ehrhoff.
• Up front they brought back Jets captain Andrew Ladd. He came along with forward Matt Fraser and defenceman Jay Harrison with Marko Dano a first round pick in this years draft and a conditional third in 2018. Jets also retain 36 per cent of Ladd’s salary.
• They were not done there as they then acquired forwards Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann from Montreal in exchange for forward Phillip Danault and a second round pick in 2018.
• Chicago looks good for a Stanley Cup run as they try to win it in back-to-back years.

► Maata staying put in Pittsburgh

• Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta signed  a 6-year deal worth $24,498,000 to stay in Pittsburgh for long term.
• Penguins lock up one of their most valuable defenseman looked up for years to come.

► Coburn staying in Tampa

• Braydon Coburn and the Lightning have agreed on a 3-year contract extension.
• Coburn has been playing well for the Bolts and got rewarded with a new contract.

► Habs blueline taking a hit

• The Montreal Canadiens are having their problems on the back end.
• First they learned that Tom Gilbert is done for the year. Then news came that Jeff Petry will be gone for the year as well. It gets worse as Nathan Beaulieu is also sidelined but only for 2-3 weeks.
• This gives an opportunity to guys like Greg Pateryn and Victor Bartley.
• Also they have called up forward Michael McCarron and defenceman Morgan Ellis to fill in for the injuries and trade. Both represented the Ice Caps at the AHL All-Star game.

Tags: Andrew Ladd, Chicago Blackhawks, Christian Ehrhoff, deadline, featured, Mikkel Boedker, Montreal Canadiens, NHL, Olli Maatta, Stan Bowman, trade