The Trade Deadline

It's that time of year again, the trade deadline. Time when many of the GMs in the league freak out like a teenager before the prom who doesn't have a date. Oh, sure, a lot of these guys like to use buzzwords like "fiscal responsibility" and "bottom line economics" but someone always blinks and someone always makes a crazy trade.

Speculation is that the Islanders have three guys who might be available to move. Not coincidentally, all are working with deals that are ready to expire.

Of course, everyone in the media sees Mike Comrie as a guy who will/can be moved to a contender. I don't think he is going anywhere. Mike has been a good soldier while with the Islanders and if the brain trust didn't see him as an important player on the team, they would have never given him the A when Brendan Witt and Mike Sillinger went down. I know these letters haven't meant a lot in the past but I don't believe that this group sees the letter as anything but a privilege. He's taken on more leadership this year and has, from all accounts, been a good teammate.

Ruslan Fedotenko is another one. He signed a one-year deal before the season and while he has played well, The Tank has not lived up to his pay for play. Tank also admitted in a published report that he and his agent had not heard anything from GM Garth Snow in regards to a new contract. To me, that does not bode well. If the management corps saw Fedotenko as a piece of the puzzle needed to move the franchise forward, they'd have been talking turkey by now.

Last but not least, is Miro Satan. Again, his numbers have not lived up to his contract this season but in all honesty, the guy has been working hurt for most of the year. This is the last year of the contract he signed as a free agent four years ago and his situation going forward is hard to read. I want to believe that the team would want him to resign but they would also want him at a reduced rate to match reduced productivity.

The Islanders aren't, at this time, sellers in the marketplace. GM Garth Snow is probably shopping to see if he can add some goals to the lineup. Today's online rumor has Calgary moving an unhappy Alex Tanguay to the Islanders. Take that for what you will. I always wonder when an exclusively-Western Conference player moves East (or vice versa) if the player is going to adapt successfully to a different style of play. Travel-wise, of course, it's always easier to move from West to East instead of East to West, because of the crazier travel in the other conference. Still, the styles are different enough that you have to wonder how a guy like Tanguay would do in the tighter-checking Eastern Conference.

We'll see how it all goes down tomorrow. Thanks to my department head, who scheduled a meeting from 1-3 PM tomorrow, I will miss out on the "Oh, shit!" moment from last year when I read that Ryan Smyth left Edmonton for Long Island on tsn.ca trade tracker. Stupid meetings.