Roberto Luongo was traded to from the Panthers to the Canucks for Todd Bertuzzi. Pretty fair trade. Perfect for Todd. He needed to get as far away from Vancouver or Colorado as possible. A move to the South East division was right in order.
Alex Tanguay is now a Calgary Flame. Great news for Flames fans.
Pavel Demitra has been traded from the Kings to the Minnesota Wild for Patrick O'Sullivan and the 17th pick at this years draft.
Atlanta sent former number one overall pick Patrik Stefan and defenceman Jaroslav Modry to the Stars for Niko Kapanen and a 7th round pick.
In a trade that I am personally excited about, the Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired the 2004 rookie of the year Andrew Raycroft from the Boston Bruins in exchange for their 2005 first round pick Tuuka Rask. Rask is quite possibly the best goalie in the world that is currently not playing in the NHL. Great move by the new Bruins management.
The NHL draft took place this past weekend as well and the top 5 picks went as follows:
1. St. Louis Blues select defensman Erik Johnson
2. Pittsburgh Penguins select center Jordan Staal
3. Chicago Blackhawks select center Jonathan Toews
4. Washington Capitals select center Nicklas Backstrom
5. Boston Bruins select center Phil Kessel
That's all the big news. This summer will be pretty busy and exciting as teams look to rebuild and tweek things. Chris Pronger has asked for a trade out of Edmonton and Martin Biron has asked for a trade out of Buffalo. Should be a fun off-season.
