The Hockey Herald

via NHL.com:

The St. Louis Blues made their second major deal in less than 24 hours when they dealt former No. 1 overall pick Erik Johnson to Colorado early Saturday.

Hours after sending captain Eric Brewer to Tampa Bay for junior defenseman Brock Beukeboom and a draft pick, the Blues dealt Johnson, also a defenseman, to the Avs along with forward Jay McClement and a first-round pick for rookie defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, third-year forward Chris Stewart and a second-round pick.

via Ian Mendes:

Brian Elliott is headed to Colorado. Trade done. Working on details.

I’m thinking Craig Anderson could be coming back this way.

It’s that time of year again and we’re only 12 days from the trade deadline.

With that said we have compiled a list of the top 10 players who could become available by the 2011 trade deadline:

1. Tomas Kaberle D
Age: 32
Cap hit: $4.25 million
Teams interested: Sharks, Blue Jackets, Bruins, Canadiens, Rangers

2. Ales Hemsky RW
Age: 27
Cap hit: $4.1 million
Teams interested:  Rangers, Blue Jackets, Flyers, Kings, Thrasher, Penguins

3. Tomas Vokoun G
Age: 34
Cap hit: $5.7 million
Teams interested: Flyers, Blackhawks, Sharks, Capitals

4. Zach Bogosian D
Age: 20
Cap hit: $3.37 million
Teams interested: Oilers, Blue Jackets, Panthers, Sharks

5. Robyn Regehr D
Age: 30
Cap hit: $4.02 million
Teams interested: Lightning, Sabres, Canadiens, Ducks, Bruins, Thrashers 

6. Dustin Penner LW
Age: 28
Cap hit: $4.25 million
Teams interested: Kings, Canadiens, Predators, Hurricanes, Penguins

7. Stephen Weiss
Age: 27
Cap hit: $3.1 million
Teams interested: Kings, Blue Jackets, Wild, Bruins, Penguins

8. Jason Arnott
Age: 36
Cap hit: $4.5 million
Teams interested: Stars, Hurricanes, Rangers, Penguins, Canadiens, Lightning

9. Chris Phillips D
Age: 32
Cap hit: $3.5 million
Teams interested:  Sharks, Stars, Capitals, Canadiens

10. Bryan McCabe D
Age: 35
Cap hit: $5.75 million
Teams interested: Blues, Lightning, Bruins, Rangers

via Denver Post:

Peter Forsberg’s answer is yes.

Forsberg, the longtime Avalanche star, has decided to play for the Avs and is expected to sign a contract today and travel with the team to Phoenix.

Forsberg took part in today’s practice with the team, then announced he will play with the team. He is not expected to play tomorrow in Phoenix, however.

added 1:27pm,

DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that the team has signed forward Peter Forsberg for the remainder of the 2010-11 season.  The former Hart Trophy winner has decided to try an NHL comeback after practicing with the Avalanche since Jan. 22.  He is expected to join the team and be available to play at some point on their upcoming road trip.

via Bob McKenzie tweet:

COL’s Scott Hannan has been traded to Washington Capitals. Details to follow.

via Adrian Dater tweet:

Scott Hannnan for Tomas Fleischman

via Stanley Cup of Chowder:

The Bruins announced this evening that the they have traded defenseman Matt Hunwick to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for former Boston University defenseman Colby Cohen.

Hunwick’s $1.45 million cap hit that is cleared will give the Bruins enough cap relief to make room for Marc Savard. Peter Chiarelli said in a conference call this evening that “this will be enough to activate Marc Savard when he is ready”. Chiarelli called the move “one of the steps to take care of the cap situation” The Bruins will still need to clear up space to activate Marco Sturm when the time comes, which Chiarelli addressed saying, “we still have another move to make”.

The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that the team has acquired defenseman Ryan O’Byrne from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for forward prospect Michael Bournival.

O’Byrne, 26, has skated in three games for the Canadiens this season, tallying no points and four penalty minutes.  The 6-foot-5, 234-pound defenseman was Montreal’s third-round pick (79th overall) in the 2003 Entry Draft.  He dressed in a career-high 55 games during the 2009-10 season (1g/3a) and also appeared in 13 of Montreal’s 19 playoff contests.

“Ryan is another young defenseman who will add size and depth to our team,” said Avalanche General Manager/Executive Vice President Greg Sherman.

added 12:20pm, Eric Duhatschek:

O’Byrne who wasn’t playing much for the Canadiens anyway, even before Andrei Markov returned to the line-up this past week. With Markov back and PK Subban doing fine, there didn’t appear to be much of a chance that would change any time soon.

With Colorado, on the other hand, he could end up playing a lot of minutes, until some of their injured vets start to recover. O’Byrne is 6-foot-5 and adds some size – and the deal essentially boils down to a swap of third rounders, O’Byrne 79th overall in 2003, Bournival in the third round, 71st overall, in 2010 and now playing for QMJHL Shawinigan. Bournival may even help the Canadiens some time down the road. Colorado on the other hand needs help from O’Byrne right now.

By Peter Levi

Continuing my look at the NHL going into the 2010-11 season.  Today I take a snapshot of the Northwest division.  Conference rankings are listed in brackets next to the team.

Vancouver (3rd)
Roster losses: Kyle Wellwood (UFA – KHL, 75-25), Steve Bernier (T – Florida, 59-22), Pavol Demitra (UFA – KHL, 28-16), Willie Mitchell (UFA – Los Angeles, 48-12), Michael Grabner (T – Florida, 20-11), Ryan Johnson (UFA, 58-5), Darcy Hordichuk (T – Florida, 56-2)
Roster additions: Keith Ballard (T Florida), Dan Hamhuis (UFA Nashville), Manny Malhotra (UFA San Jose), Raffi Torres (UFA Buffalo)
Prospect signings: Anton Rodin (36-5 SEL), Peter Andersson (21-5 SEL), Eddie Lack (2.67, 0.911 SEL), Jordan Schroeder (37-28 NCAA), Bill Sweatt (39-33 NCAA), Chris Tanev (39-34 NCAA), Cody Hodgson (13-20 OHL), Yann Sauve (61-36 QMJHL), Prab Rai (67-69 WHL), Kellan Tochkin (72-68 WHL), Stefan Schneider (72-23 WHL), Kevin Connauton (69-72 WHL)
Forwards: Henrik Sedin (82-112), Daniel Sedin (63-85), Ryan Kesler (82-75), Alexandre Burrows (82-67), Mikael Samuelsson (74-53), Mason Raymond (82-53), Raffi Torres (74-36), Manny Malhotra (71-33), Jannik Hansen (47-15), Tanner Glass (67-11), Rick Rypien (69-8)
Defence: Christian Ehrhoff (80-44), Alexander Edler (76-42), Sami Salo (68-28), Keith Ballard (82-28), Dan Hamhuis (78-24), Kevin Bieksa (55-22), Andrew Alberts (76-12), Shane O’Brien (65-8), Aaron Rome (49-4)
Goaltenders: Roberto Luongo (2.57, 0.913, 68-40-22-4), Cory Schneider (2.51, 0.919, 60-35-23-2 AHL)
Injuries: Sami Salo, Alexandre Burrows
Strengths: blueline, top six forwards
Weaknesses: expectations
Analysis: the Canucks had a fantastic regular season, but could not carry it over to the playoffs.  The team has improved its defence corps with the additions of Ballard and Hamhuis and still has excellent forward depth in its prospect pool.  There’s every reason to think Vancouver will win the division, barring some long term injury to Luongo.

Colorado (8th)
Roster losses: Darcy Tucker (retired, 71-24), Brett Clark (UFA – Tampa Bay, 64-20), Matt Hendricks (UFA, 56-16), Marek Svatos (UFA, 54-11), Stephane Yelle (UFA, 70-8), Ruslan Salei (UFA – Detroit, 14-6)
Roster additions: Daniel Winnik (T Phoenix)
Prospect signings: Jonas Holos (51-14 SEL), Kevin Shattenkirk (38-29 NCAA), Colby Cohen (36-30 NCAA), Zach Cohen (38-25 NCAA), Cameron Gaunce (55-37 OHL), Joel Chouinard (65-68 QMJHL), Luke Walker (61-57 WHL)
Forwards: Paul Stastny (81-79), Chris Stewart (77-64), Matt Duchene (81-55), Milan Hejduk (56-44), T. J. Galiardi (70-39), Peter Mueller (69-37), Ryan O’Reilly (81-26), Brandon Yip (32-19), Daniel Winnik (74-19), Cody McLeod (74-18), David Jones (23-16), David Koci (43-1)
Defence: John-Michael Liles (59-31), Kyle Quincey (79-29), Ryan Wilson (61-21), Kyle Cumiskey (61-20), Scott Hannan (81-16), Adam Foote (67-9)
Goaltenders: Craig Anderson (2.64, 0.917, 71-38-25-7), Peter Budaj (2.64, 0.917, 15-5-5-2)
Injuries: Kyle Cumiskey, Peter Mueller
Strengths: young players
Weaknesses: few key established veterans
Analysis: everything went right for Colorado last year, from Anderson’s career year to the excellent play of the team’s rookies.  There’s no question the team will take a step back this year, as it’s too much to expect the entire roster to continue on that positive trend.  I expect Colorado to be on the bubble come playoff time.

Calgary (10th)
Roster losses: Nigel Dawes (buyout – Atlanta, 66-32), Eric Nystrom (UFA – Minnesota, 82-19), Chris Higgins (UFA – Florida, 67-17), Jamal Mayers (UFA – San Jose, 71-14), Brian McGrattan (UFA, 34-4)
Roster additions: Olli Jokinen (UFA New York Rangers), Alex Tanguay (UFA Tampa Bay), Tim Jackman (UFA New York Islanders), Raitis Ivanans (UFA Los Angeles), Henrik Karlsson (UFA San Jose), Brendan Morrison (UFA Washington)
Prospect signings: Greg Nemisz (51-70 OHL), Bryan Cameron (62-78 OHL), T. J. Brodie (65-56 OHL), Christopher Breen (65-14 OHL), Mitch Wahl (72-96 WHL), Lance Bouma (57-43 WHL)
Forwards: Jarome Iginla (82-69), Rene Bourque (73-58), Matt Stajan (82-57), Olli Jokinen (82-50), Niklas Hagman (82-44), Brandon Morrison (74-42), Alex Tanguay (80-37), Daymond Langkow (72-37), Curtis Glencross (67-33), Ales Kotalik (71-27), David Moss (64-17), Mikael Backlund (23-10), Tim Jackman (54-9), Raitis Ivanans (61-0)
Defence: Ian White (83-38), Mark Giordano (82-30), Jay Bouwmeester (82-29), Robyn Regehr (81-17), Steve Staios (58-10), Adam Pardy (57-9), Cory Sarich (57-6)
Goaltenders: Miikka Kiprusoff (2.31, 0.920, 73-35-28-10), Henrik Karlsson (2.45, 0.914 SEL)
Injuries: Olli Jokinen, Matt Stajan, Daymond Langkow
Strengths: defensive play, goaltending
Weaknesses: depth, offence
Analysis: the Flames have overhauled their roster over the last six months, but the result is little different than what they had before.  They haven’t addressed their scoring issues on either the front or back ends; the team doesn’t have the talent nor depth to make the playoffs this year.

Minnesota (13th)
Roster losses: Owen Nolan (UFA, 73-33), Andrew Ebbett (UFA – Phoenix, 61-15), Shane Hnidy (UFA, 70-14), Derek Boogaard (UFA – New York Rangers, 57-4), Petr Sykora (UFA – Czech Extraliga, 14-3), John Scott (UFA – Chicago, 51-2)
Roster additions: Matt Cullen (UFA Ottawa), Eric Nystrom (UFA Calgary), John Madden (UFA Chicago), Jose Theodore (UFA Washington)
Prospect signings: Jarod Palmer (44-45 NCAA), Bjorn Krupp (67-11 OHL), Tyler Cuma (52-22 OHL), Matthew Hackett (2.62, 0.925 OHL), Marco Scandella (31-31 QMJHL), Jared Spurgeon (54-51 WHL), Colton Jobke (69-8 WHL), Josh Caron (60-6 WHL)
Forwards: Mikko Koivu (80-71), Andrew Brunette (82-61), Martin Havlat (73-54), Matt Cullen (81-48), Antti Miettinen (79-42), Guillaume Latendresse (78-40), Kyle Brodziak (82-32), John Madden (79-23), Cal Clutterbuck (74-21), Eric Nystrom (82-19), Chuck Kobasew (49-15), James Sheppard (64-4), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (injured)
Defence: Marek Zidlicky (78-43), Cam Barker (70-21), Brent Burns (47-20), Nick Schultz (80-20), Greg Zanon (81-15), Clayton Stoner (26-10 AHL), Maxim Noreau (78-52 AHL)
Goaltenders: Niklas Backstrom (2.72, 0.903, 60-26-23-8), Jose Theodore (2.81, 0.911, 30-7-7), Josh Harding (3.05, 0.905, 25-9-12-0)
Injuries: James Sheppard, Josh Harding, Marek Zidlikcy, Guillaume Latendresse, Cam Barker
Strengths: defensive play
Weaknesses: scoring, depth
Analysis: the Wild are trying to add scoring depth to their lineup, but are still thin up front and cannot deal with any injuries or poor performances in their top six.  The defensive corps is also very thin.  While the team should be a little better than last year, they are not in the playoff hunt.

Edmonton (15th)
Roster losses: Patrick O’Sullivan (T – Phoenix, subsequently bought out – Carolina, 73-34), Ryan Potulny (UFA – Chicago, 64-32), Robert Nilsson (buyout – KHL, 60-27), Mike Comrie (UFA – Pittsburgh, 43-21), Ethan  Moreau (waivers – Columbus, 76-18), Marc-Antoine Pouliot (UFA – Tampa Bay, 35-14), Aaron Johnson (UFA – Nashville, 41-10), Fernando Pisani (UFA – Chicago, 40-8)
Roster additions: Kurtis Foster (UFA Tampa Bay), Jim Vandermeer (T Phoenix), Colin Fraser (T Chicago)
Prospect signings: Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson (49-29 SEL), Linus Omark (56-36 KHL), Teemu Hartikainen (53-33 SM-Liiga), Chris Vande Velde (42-41 NCAA), Taylor Hall (57-106 OHL), Phillippe Cornet (65-77), Toni Rajala (60-63 WHL)
Forwards: Dustin Penner (82-63), Sam Gagner (68-41), Gilbert Brule (65-37), Shawn Horcoff (77-36), Andrew Cogliano (82-28), Ales Hemsky (22-22), Colin Fraser (70-19), Zack Stortini (77-13), Ryan Jones (49-12), J. F. Jacques (49-11), Steve MacIntyre (22-1), Jordan Eberle (57-106 WHL)
Defence: Kurtis Foster (71-42), Ryan Whitney (81-39), Tom Gilbert (82-31), Sheldon Souray (37-13), Jim Vandermeer (62-12), Ladislav Smid (51-9), Jason Strudwick (72-6)
Goaltenders: Nikolai Khabibulin (3.03, 0.909, 18-7-9-2), Jeff Deslauriers (3.26, 0.901, 48-16-28-4), Devan Dubnyk (3.57, 0.889, 19-4-10-2)
Injuries: Jean-Francois Jacques
Strengths: forward depth
Weaknesses: defence, goaltending
Analysis: the Oilers are in rebuilding mode and have a wealth of offensive talent upfront.  Their goaltending is going to be the problem, with an aging Khabibulin and two prospects who aren’t ready for prime time.  The team won’t make the playoffs, but it will be fun to watch their prospects develop.

via CBC:

The Colorado Avalanche fired vice-president and general manager François Giguère on Monday. leaving team president Pierre Lacroix to act as GM until a replacement is found.

“The results of this season are unacceptable,” Lacroix said in a release.

“We are too proud of what we have accomplished in this market to ignore where we are and what happened in just a very short period of time. Ownership and the dedicated Avalanche fans throughout the region deserve better results.”

via The Canadian Press:

Brodeur can break the record in New Jersey on Tuesday night – St. Patrick’s Day – when the Devils host the Chicago Blackhawks. Roy, though, will likely be back with the Remparts, who open a playoff series Friday against Baie-Comeau.

“I don’t see Patrick like other people do,” Brodeur said after the game. “I played with him, I’ve played against him, I’ve known him pretty good throughout the years.

“We’re not the closest friends, everybody knows that. We’re not guys who are going to call each other. We played in somewhat different eras. The six years in age between us makes a difference. But I was happy to see him today and every time I have a chance and we’re in the same room, we’ll take time to talk.

“He’s a guy I looked up to when I was young. And now, tying the record of your idol, that’s pretty cool. Not many athletes have a chance to do that.”