The Puck Stops Here

The Calgary Flames have traded for Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau, sending Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ference to Boston. Brad Stuart was thought to be the best defenceman who was available at the trade deadline this year. This would show that no truly great defencemen are available this year. Stuart is definitely not one of the ten best defencemen in hockey. He was definitely not the best defender on Boston (that is Zdeno Chara). He won't be the best defender on Calgary (Dion Phaneuf, Robyn Regehr and maybe Roman Hamrlik rank ahead of him). That is not to say that Stuart is not a good defender. There do exist some bad teams (for example Columbus) who would immediately consider him their top defenceman if they acquired him. However, there is still plenty of room for a bigger impact defender to get traded this year.

Interestingly, Boston is moving two of the three players who they got in return for Joe Thornton. Now the Thornton trade is for Marco Sturm, Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ference. That looks awful for Boston.

Calgary's strong defence gets a little stronger. Will that make a big impact on the playoffs? It is possible, but it probably won't be a deal that changes the entire playoffs this year. There is still plenty of time for a much bigger impact trade to occur this year. If Peter Forsberg or Todd Bertuzzi can be healthy, they would likely make a much bigger impact. A top goalie to a market in need of one would likely be a bigger impact deal.