The Most Recent Trades

Florida sends Bryan McCabe to New York for the Rangers for Tim Kennedy and a 3rd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact: for the Rangers, McCabe gives them a steadying influence on the back end that they have not seen since the Brian Leetch days. We are not saying this Bryan will be as good offensively as that Brian, but McCabe has better offensive upside than the likes of Staal, Del Zotto and Gilroy. McCabe is not a 60+ point defenceman anymore but he's a good bet to get some look on the PP. For the Panthers, this is all about at least getting a dp and dumping some of McCabe's salary. This will mean more minutes for Kulikov and eventually, Erik Gudbransson.

Ottawa sends Alexi Kovalev to Pittsbrugh for the Penguins for a conditional 7th round pick. Fantasy Impact: this is clearly a low risk/high reward deal for the Penguins. Kovalev has not been close to the guy they were hoping they were getting when he was signed to a 2 year deal for $5M per season almost two seasons ago. This season Kovalev has been even worse, but even at the age of 37, Kovalev still has enough offensive skills to make a difference for the next 20+ games; particularly for the Pens PP that is missing Crosby, Malkin and Kunitz. Kovalev is as enigmatic as they come and he might bag a few tallies early, but we think he'll live up to his pool killer moniker while a Pen.

Atlanta sends Brent Sopel and Nigel Dawes to Montreal for the Habs' Ben Maxwell and a 4th round pick. Fantasy Impact: Brent Sopel's days as an offensive option are long gone. He is a pretty accomplished shot blocker and was a stalwart on defence for the Chicago Blackhawks run to the Cup last year. Sopel's likely to log about 20+ minutes given the shortage of NHL ready defencemen at the Habs disposal now, but he's not going to post much more fantasy worthy stats. Dawes and Maxwell are simply changing spots on their respective AHL rosters.

Florida sens Cory Stillman to Carolina for the Hurricanes Ryan Carter and a 4th round draft pick. Fantasy Impact: Stillman is similar to Kovalev, but without all of the drama. He has the ability to score the key big goal now again, but he's not likely to be a 20+ goal scorer again in the NHL. If you are in a real deep league, Stillman might be worth a waiver look see, assuming he's relatively injury free.

Tampa Bay sends Dan Ellis to Anaheim for the Ducks' Curtis McElhinney. Fantasy Impact: this is a deal that sees the Lightning save some $ in changing McElhinney for Ellis' salary, while the Ducks get a bit more depth in net with incumbent No. 1 on the DL suffering from vertigo. For the Ducks, Ellis will be an upgrade from McElhinney and they are likely to ride Ellis or recent call up Ray Emery until Hiller returns. Emery seems like the better bet from a fantasy poolie perspective, particularly in keeper leagues where if he performs well, someone is likely to take a gamble on signing him in the off-season.