* Pre-Skate *
I'm sure I'll be talking trades all week long. With that, let's hit the most recent trade. Pittsburgh traded Alex Goligoski to Dallas in return for Matt Niskanen and James Neal. Pittsburgh is easily the winner in this trade. I think Pittsburgh is the winner of the trade. Not much to discuss with Niskanen. He's been decent prior to this season, but he seemed to regress this year. Maybe a change of scenery will help that. Goligoski is definitely a decent addition. He'll immediately be a top four defenseman for the Stars. James Neal will help ease some of the pain Pittsburgh has and will be feeling with Crosby out with concussion issues and Malkin likely out for the season. He has 21 goals this season and plenty of upside. It's not that Dallas didn't get quality, but more that they didn't get enough in return. I would have at least tried to get a draft pick in this trade. Guys like Neal could have fetched a decent return as the trade deadline approaches and contending teams get desperate to add a player. Regardless of how I feel, the trade makes sense for both teams in terms of their needs. I might also be missing the fact that Dallas might have wanted to shed salary to make a serious attempt to sign Brad Richards.
* Results *
As expected, some of my picks were horrendous and others were brilliant. I came out of tonight with a beat up 4-6 record. Picking some of my nightly awards proved difficult. At the least, I was able to sense the Flyers loss tonight. Let's take a look.
2/22/2011 - Tuesday
Rangers at Hurricanes : Pick - Hurricanes : Result- 4-3 Rangers : Wrong (SO/L) : 54-44
Coyotes at Flyers : Pick - Coyotes : Result- 3-2 Coyotes : Correct (OT/W) : 55-44
Islanders at Maple Leafs : Pick - Islanders : Result- 2-1 Maple Leafs : Wrong : 55-45
Predators at Blue Jackets : Pick - Blue Jackets : Result- 4-0 Blue Jackets : Correct : 56-45
Sharks at Red Wings : Pick - Red Wings : Result- 4-3 Sharks : Wrong : 56-46
Avalanche at Blues : Pick - Blues : Result- 4-3 Avalanche : Wrong : 56-47
Oilers at Wild : Pick - Wild : Result- 4-1 Wild : Correct : 57-47
Devils at Stars : Pick - Devils : Result- 1-0 Devils : Correct : 58-47
Bruins at Flames : Pick - Flames : Result- 3-1 Bruins : Wrong : 58-48
Canadiens at Canucks : Pick - Canucks : Result- 3-2 Canadiens : Wrong : 58-49
Results Format
Game : Pick : Result : Pick Result (OT or SO W or L based on my pick) : My Season Record
OT/W or OT/L - My pick won or lost in OT.
SO/W or SO/L - My pick won or lost in a shootout.
=Dumbest Pick of the Night=
Bruins at Flames : I think I put too much stock in the Flames after their Heritage Classic victory. I underrated the Bruins when I made the pick. Just being honest. I could stand behind the Flames playing great lately and Bruins having a more rough time, but my pick wasn't made purely on that. The Bruins made some big additions and goaltender Tim Thomas is amazing most nights. This isn't to take away from Calgary, but I'm dumb for knocking down a team that could very well be Eastern Conference Champion contenders.
I could pick a couple of the other games I lost but I feel like they were too close and still held better rational sense than the Bruins/Flames game.
=Hardest Pick of the Night=
Sharks at Red Wings : This game featured two great teams facing off with one another. I could easily see both of these guys ending up in the Western Conference Finals. Picking between them was very difficult as both had legitimate reasons to be my pick.
=Easiest Pick of the Night=
Devils at Stars : Devils have been amazing lately and Dallas has been awful. Can't get much easier than that.
* Picks *
2/23/2011 - Wednesday
Couple of tough games to pick from here. Thrashers/Sabres game could go either way. I think the Lightning will be the team to hand the Coyotes their first loss in eight games as Phoenix is on an eight game winning streak. They almost lost tonight in Philly but were lucky that Philly hit the post and couldn't convert the power play. A rested Tampa Bay over a Phoenix team that skated tonight. I like the Avalanche over the Oilers based on recent play. Same with the Sens over the Panthers. Ditto for the Ducks over the Kings. I think Pittsburgh loses to the Sharks just based on what is on paper. As always, my picks are only for entertainment value.
Thrashers at Sabres ==> Thrashers
Panthers at Senators ==> Senators
Sharks at Penguins ==> Sharks
Coyotes at Lightning ==> Lightning
Oilers at Avalanche ==> Avalanche
Kings at Ducks ==> Ducks
Seeya tomorrow.
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