After spending his first six seasons in Florida, Jay Bouwmeester moved on to Calgary this offseason, signing a five-year, $33 million contract after his rights were traded for defenseman Jordan Leopold and a third-round pick. Would Florida have received more for Bouwmeester at the NHL's trade deadline? Probably, yes. But, as I've argued in this space many times since then, Florida still made the right decision, even though it lost its best player, and didn't have a trip to the playoffs to show for it.
After acquiring his negotiating rights from the Florida Panthers during this past weekend's NHL Entry Draft, TSN is reporting on Tuesday night that the Calgary Flames have signed defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to a five-year contract with a $6.6 million salary cap hit. With Bouwmeester now locked in for the long haul, the Flames, on paper, have a rather scary looking defense with Dion Phaneuf, Robyn Regehr and Bouwmeester.
Trouble is, the salary cap situation is looking rather scary as well.
The Florida Panthers took quite a gamble at the NHL's trade deadline by holding onto soon-to-be free agent defenseman Jay Bouwmeester. In the end, the Panthers not only missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season, but now they've also lost their one-time franchise defenseman, as the team traded his rights to Calgary for Jordan Leopold and a third-round pick.
Leopold, like Bouwmeester, will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, assuming deals can't be reached before then.
Around 10 AM ET Friday morning, the Florida Panthers announced on their twitter feed that some breaking news was set to be announced within the hour. The first thought, of course, was centered around the possibility of the team trading defenseman Jay Bouwmeester's rights to a club that intended to sign him. Or, perhaps, that a general manager had been named.
Two hours later, TSN's Darren Dreger announced, via his own twitter feed (naturally), that Florida and Phoenix had made a trade. The deal? Steven Reinprecht to Florida in return for Stefan Meyer. Considering the initial build up, it was kind of a letdown.
In our final installment of this season's power rankings, we take a look at how the teams might finish in the NHL standings. The San Jose Sharks have yet to claim the President's Trophy, but a win in their regular season finale, or one loss by the Boston Bruins, will give the Sharks the best record in the NHL for the first time in franchise history.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the standings, the New York Islanders are hoping that all of this losing will mean a big win in June.
Each Friday throughout the season, I'll provide you with my predictions on whose stock is on the rise and whose is failing miserably likethe American job marketpretty much everything these days. It's a neat little segment entitledBuys and Sells. There are a few teams/players/issues to buy and a few to sell.
The playoff picture has been in the making for seven months now like an exquisitely handcrafted piece of art. As of this morning, the Eastern Conference race has been completed while there are still two spots up for grabs out west. Today, we'll take a look at the teams that got in, those that didn't and those that are still hanging on to faint glimmers of hope.
The defending champs claim the top spot in this week's power rankings, while the Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes make jumps of their own as they look to earn playoff berths in their respective conferences.
There's also a new team taking over the basement, thanks to a pair of blowout losses on home ice in the past week.
Flames 5, Flyers 1: The Calgary Flames were the big winners during the NHL's trade deadline, picking up Olli Jokinen from the Phoenix Coyotes and Jordan Leopold from the Colorado Avalanche. It didn't take the two newcomers long to make an impact for the Flames, as they each scored in the first period of Calgary's 5-1 win in Philadelphia.
Jokinen scored a pair of goals in the first period, while Leopold added his seventh of the season to help the Flames race out to a 4-0 lead.
Weeks of rumors, innuendo, and e5s will finally come to a head on Wednesday. At 3pm Eastern, the NHL trade deadline will pass. You can follow all the activity with our NHL Trade Deadline Tracker.
Entering play Tuesday night, 23 NHL teams are either in a playoff position or within six points of one. While this is great for the playoff races, it's not so good for the deadline. It minimizes the number of potential sellers, drives up the trade market for the few players who should be available, and leaves us wondering if any big deals will go down. Here's a look at how the Eastern Conference looks heading into the deadline.
Panthers 6, Capitals 2: After a couple of blowout losses this past week, the Florida Panthers rebounded for a convincing 6-2 win in Washington on Sunday, thanks in large part to a 3-for-6 effort from their power play. After Alexander Semin gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead, the Panthers picked up three consecutive power play goals on their way to a four goal first period.
After acquiring his negotiating rights from the Florida Panthers during this past weekend's NHL Entry Draft, TSN is reporting on Tuesday night that the Calgary Flames have signed defenseman 
The Florida Panthers took quite a gamble at the NHL's trade deadline by holding onto soon-to-be free agent defenseman 
Around 10 AM ET Friday morning, the Florida Panthers 
In our final installment of this season's power rankings, we take a look at how the teams might finish in the NHL standings. The San Jose Sharks have yet to claim the President's Trophy, but a win in their regular season finale, or one loss by the Boston Bruins, will give the Sharks the best record in the NHL for the first time in franchise history. 
Each Friday throughout the season, I'll provide you with my predictions on whose stock is on the rise and whose is failing miserably like
The defending champs claim the top spot in this week's power rankings, while the Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes make jumps of their own as they look to earn playoff berths in their respective conferences.
Weeks of rumors, innuendo, and 
