Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Wheeling and Dealing

The Washington Capitals have been busy in recent years at the trade deadline. Stockpiling draft picks and youngsters in exchange for established veterans has been George McPhee's M.O. But today, McPhee was the busiest of the buyers.

In addition to the earlier acquisition of Cristobal Huet, McPhee and the Capitals have added Sergei Fedorov and Matt Cooke. The Capitals sent last year's second round choice (46th overall,) Ted Ruth, to Columbus in exchange for the 38 year old Fedorov. In acquiring agitating left wing, Cooke, Matt Pettinger gets the change of scenery he needs as he's sent to his hometown Vancouver Canucks.

The Fedorov trade brings in a veteran with 163 points in 162 games of playoff experience to go along with three Stanley Cup rings. Fedorov gives the Capitals yet another Russian and a player to fill the void left by Michael Nylander's injury. Fedorov will play center, allowing Viktor Kozlov to return to the wing where he has been much more effective this season. Though Fedorov never quite became the player it was thought he would develop into after scoring 56 goals and 120 points as a 24 year old, he has remained a consistent playmaker who ranks 52nd all-time with 1,133 points in 1,178 regular season games.

You can be sure Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin are excited about yet another countryman joining the roster. The chemistry should form quickly, allowing the Capitals to forge two strong scoring lines, something they have lacked since Nylander went on the IR.

The checking lines got an infusion of their own with the addition of Matt Cooke. The 29 year old Cooke comes to town in exchange for Pettinger, one of the biggest disappointments of the season in Washington, who goes home to Vancouver. Cooke has followed up a 10 goal, 30 point campaign of a year ago with 7 goals and 16 points this year. Not exceptional numbers...unless compared to Pettinger's 2 goals and 7 points. The two, however, are completely different players.

Pettinger is supposed to use his speed and determination to net him 20 goals as the offensive spark of a checking line. When he doesn't score (as has been the case this year,) there's not much left to help the team. Cooke, whose best season came in 2002-03 when he scored 15 goals and 42 points while registering a +21 rating, is a pesky player the Capitals' lineup lacks. Matt Bradley is supposed to fill that role, but hasn't done the job. Enter Matt Cooke, who routinely forces opponents off their game as an agitator -- they don't even have to be on the ice. Cooke, a regular penalty killer, ranked fourth among Vancouver forwards in shorthanded ice time. He will provide an aggressive spark that comes in handy down the stretch and during the playoffs.

Fedorov is making just over $6 million this season and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Cooke, also unrestricted after this season, makes $1.525 million. With Huet also unrestricted beyond this season, it is, of course, unkown at this time if any of the three acquisitions will be signed to an extension with Washington, but Huet and Cooke are my best bets. With Nylander returning from injury next year, there will not be a need for Fedorov to come back.

With the Capitals in a fight to win the division, let's take a quick look at the moves made by other Southeast Division teams today:

• Atlanta traded Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis to Pittsburgh for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito, and a 1st round pick
• Tampa Bay traded Brad Richards and Joham Homqvist to Dallas for Jeff Halpern, Jussi Jokinen, and Mike Smith
• Carolina traded Andrew Ladd to Chicago for Tuomo Ruutu
• Florida traded Karlis Skrastins and a 3rd round pick to Colorado for Ruslan Salei
• Florida traded a 5th round pick to Toronto for Wade Belak

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