In an effort to address the serious lamp-lighting deficiency that has plagued the Los Angeles Kings all season long, the club made the first major move of the NHL Trade Deadline period, acquiring three-time 30-goal scorer Jeff Carter from the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday in exchange for defenseman Jack Johnson and a first-round draft pick in either the 2012 or 2013 NHL draft.

The Kings have just 125 non-shootout goals in 61 games, a League-low 2.05 per game. There is no question that they needed help up front, and they are hoping Carter can provide that.

“I am obviously excited,” Carter told the Kings’ website. “I am familiar with the team and a lot of guys on the team. I looked at the Kings at the start of the year as being a club in a good position to win. I look forward to coming to L.A. and being a part of it all.”

The 27-year-old Carter has 15 goals this season, but he has been limited to just 39 games due to injury. However, despite his low goal total, eight of his goals have come with the man advantage. Nobody on the Kings has more than five power-play goals.

As the the Kings make a push for the postseason, it is also a plus that Carter brings a healthy amount of playoff experience. In 47 playoff games, Carter has 13 goals and 21 points. Along with current Kings forward Mike Richards, the duo was a big part of the Flyers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010.

In regards to the other part of the deal, what most people forget is that Johnson was the third overall pick in the 2005 NHL draft—i.e., the Sidney Crosby draft. However, Johnson was always in the shadow of fellow young defenseman Drew Doughty. Now in Columbus, the smooth-skating Johnson will be on the team’s top defensive unit and will be expected to log a ton of minutes.

In 343 regular-season games, all with the Kings, Johnson has 124 points (30 goals, 94 assists) and 256 penalty minutes.

With the NHL’s Feb. 27 deadline rapidly approaching, journalists and bloggers alike have been scrambling to be the first to announce the latest trade rumor or break that story on the next big trade.

Unfortunately, this kind of desperation to seemingly manufacture a story out of thin air goes well beyond the arena of rumors and into the realm of mere fantasy.

And the protagonist that every hockey writer has loved to use as their lead character in their fairy-tale trade scenarios over the past two months? Teemu Selanne.

Whether it’s Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun who heard the New York Rangers had “inquired” about Selanne a couple months ago, or the recent Detroit Free Press Article from Helene St. James who believed the Finnish Flash would be a “fabulous addition to Detroit‘s lineup,” or even the legion of delusional fans in Winnipeg who have foolishly been clamoring for Selanne’s return to the franchise that drafted him since the season began, the vast majority of the other 29 cities in the league outside of Anaheim can’t help but imagine what No. 8 would look like in their team’s sweater.

Well, as much as I’m against invoking burned out rockers from the ’70s, Steven Tyler summed it up rather well: “Dream on.”

“We haven’t even talked about that,” Selanne said in regards to a potential trade. “There’s good things going here right now. We all really believe we can make it to the playoffs. It hasn’t been on my mind at all.”

The Ducks are 4-1-2 on their current eight-game road trip, and are 15-3-4 since Jan. 6. They currently sit just six points in back of the Los Angeles Kings for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

What everyone outside of Orange County doesn’t seem to understand is that even if the Ducks hadn’t gone on their recent tear, Selanne loves it here (sorry, Winnipeg, minus-30 degree weather isn’t exactly a strong selling point). And even if an actual opportunity came up, Selanne would waive his no-trade clause to finish the season with another team.

But as was probably the case all along, don’t expect to see Selanne changing zip codes anytime soon.

“We all knew that this trip is going to be do or die and so far we have played so well here that I don’t even have to think about any other options,” Selanne said. “So that’s a good thing and I’m very happy about that.

“I know it’s my call. This road trip has helped me a lot.”

With the NHL’s trading deadline now just five days away, the lack of activity on the trade front proves the vast majority of NHL teams still believe that there is a seat waiting for them at the playoff table.

That is, almost everyone except the Tampa Bay Lightning. While the majority of GMs have been scrutinizing the standings over the past week, Lightning GM Steve Yzerman was busy wheeling and dealing.

Yzerman got down to business last Thursday, sending pending unrestricted free agent Dominic Moore and a seventh-round draft pick to the San Jose Sharks for a second-round selection in the 2012 NHL draft.

Two days later, the Lightning traded defenseman Pavel Kubina, another free-agent-to-be, to the Philadelphia Flyers for a second-round pick in either 2012 or 2013, a 2013 fourth-round choice and minor league left wing Jon Kalinski.

Yzerman’s next—and possibly his most controversial—move came on Tuesday when he dealt gritty power forward Steve Downie to the Colorado Avalanche. The Lighting would obtain defenseman Kyle Quincey, who Yzerman promptly shipped off to Detroit just minutes later in exchange for another first-round draft pick.

Whenever a team becomes a hard seller before a trade deadline, it takes fans a little time to adjust. But the Lightning’s latest string of moves is sure to leave plenty of their fans scratching their heads.

Thanks to last night’s 3-2 over Anahiem, the Bolts currently sit in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, just five points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the final playoff spot. With their current positioning, the team isn’t exactly a long shot to qualify for the playoffs. And Yzerman even admitted trading Downie to the Avalanche was in the short term “maybe one step backwards,” which is not the best message for a team fighting for its playoff life.

But when you step back and see what Yzerman is doing by stockpiling draft picks, you see a guy setting up a team to win in the future—not just qualify for the postseason.

“I’m trading players and popular players for draft picks. These moves are made for the future,” Yzerman said. “My only message is I’m going to do what I feel is necessary to be a Stanley Cup contender, and I think these moves help us get going in that direction.”

 photo credit: Fifth World Art

While much of the focus leading up to the NHL’s Feb. 27 trade deadline continues to be on where Rick Nash will be dealt, another interesting rumor is beginning to take shape involving another current member of the Columbus Blue Jackets: Jeff Carter.

It’s been no secret that Carter has been unhappy since he set foot in Columbus. It’s also been made public knowledge recently that the Jackets have been trying trade the forward and the remainder of his 11-year, $58 million contract he originally signed with the Flyers.

Enter the Los Angeles Kings.

With just 124 goals (yes, that’s the entire team), the Kings desperately need scoring right now. Carter is a three-time 30-goal scorer, including the 2008-09 season in which he put up a career-high 46 goals. However, he has just 12 goals through 38 games this season. And even if the Kings were able to work out a deal with Columbus, they only have $855,000 in cap space right now, so they would have to dump salary as well as trade away some good, young prospects such as Jonathan Bernier and/or Slava Voynov.

And while a slight drop in production and the price of Carter might cause the Kings to be uneasy, their biggest fear may be reuniting him with Mike Richards. That may seem odd, seeing as how the duo led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final during the 2010-11 season, but during their time in Philadelphia, the two were labeled as a form of cancer in the locker room. They were often criticized for their lack of work ethic and allegedly, they enjoyed the night life in Philly a little too much.

“There’s no secret to the possibility of him being traded,” Richards said. “Obviously, if he came here, that would be a benefit to our team. But, we don’t want to give a lot of things up because I think we have a good group here too.”

Carter would help on the ice, but if the Kings do end up trading for him, they need to make sure to keep him and Richards away from Hollywood.

 photo credit: Rhys Asplundh

Eric Staal’s shorthanded beauty

Kovi’s sweet tip-in

Ribiero’s ridiculous pass to himself leads to an OT winner

Stamkos makes the Caps’ D pay

Toews scores a Bobby Orr-esk goal

The first few trades of February have been made over this past week, and with just 10 days until the trade deadline, you can bet there will be more made before the 27th. Here are just some of the big names that are expected to be on the move and where they could end up.

To Toronto: Rick Nash

To Columbus: Mikhail Grabovski, Luke Schenn, Nazem Kadri, Jonas Gustavsson, Korbinian Holzer, 2012 first-round pick

Nash remains the hottest trade commodity heading into the deadline. The Jackets reportedly want a young forward, a young defenseman and definitely a goaltender at the least in return for Nash. While Los Angeles is also supposed to gunning for Nash, Toronto and GM Brian Burke can offer the Jackets the most. And even though some in Toronto may feel that Burke isn’t prepared to unload key parts of his roster, Toronto is still lacking that superstar player they haven’t had since Mats Sundin retired.

If Nash does get dealt, expect to see him in Toronto blue.

To Nashville: Andrei Kostitsyn

To Montreal: 2012 fourth-round pick

Nashville made a huge splash earlier in the week by picking up veteran blueliner Hal Gill from the Montreal Canadiens. In order to ensure that the Preds do in fact make it past the second round of the playoffs this season, look for them to talk to Montreal again about possibly trading away Andrei Kostitsyn to Nashville to reunite him with his brother.

To Los Angeles: Jeff Carter

To Columbus: Jonathan Bernier, Jack Johnson, Dustin Penner

The Kings may be in the running for Rick Nash, but they may have a better shot at landing the disgruntled Jeff Carter. Not only would Carter, a three-time 30-goal scorer, add some scoring punch to a team that desperately needs it, the move would also reunite him with Mike Richards, the tandem that helped lead the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010?

To San Jose: Tuomo Ruutu

To Carolina: 2012 first-round pick

Ruutu was a much more coveted player before it was recently announced that he has an upper body injury and won’t be ready to play again until March. This makes it hard to move him, and the Hurricanes weren’t dead set on moving him anyway. However, San Jose has been lacking secondary scoring all season long, so they might take a chance on the former first-round pick.

As if the Nashville Predators didn’t already possess one of the most dominant defensive corps in the NHL with Shea Weber and Ryan Suter at the helm, the club now looks that much more dominant after just recently adding veteran Hal Gill.

In a trade with the Montreal Canadiens, the Preds picked up Gill and a conditional 2013 draft pick in exchange for forwards Blake Geoffrion and Robert Slaney, plus a 2012 second-round pick.

“Hal Gill brings our team a number of elements—size, penalty-killing ability, depth on defense and playoff experience,” said Predators General Manager David Poile. “He has won a Stanley Cup and played a combined 69 playoff games over the last four years, experience that significantly benefits our team.”

Last season was the first time in franchise history that the Preds made it past the first round of the playoffs. The 36-year-old Gill will undoubtedly bring leadership and a sense of calm to a Nashville team that currently is deficient in players with Stanley Cup experience.

In 14 seasons, Gill has 36 goals and 143 assists in 1,047 regular-season games with the Bruins, Maple Leafs, Penguins and Canadiens, but it is his imposing 6’7” frame and knack for making responsible plays in his own end that will be most valuable to the Preds come playoff time.

 photo credit: Dan4th

When the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins get together, you know the players are going to bring a little something extra—and so do the fans.

But sometimes with emotions running high, lines inevitably get crossed. Such was the case during the Bruins’ 4-3 shootout win over the Habs Wednesday night. In what appeared to be a frightening incident, the Bell Centre crowd stood and passionately cheered when Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was face down on the ice after being hit in the throat by a puck fired off the stick of Tomas Plekanec.

Plekanec showed some class and sportsmanship by checking immediately on Chara as soon as he went down. The fans that support his team didn’t show the same sympathy, and the Bruins weren’t too pleased.

“That was embarrassing,” said Brad Marchand. “The fact that they were cheering like they did when Zee was hurt was classless.”

Chara didn’t appreciate it, either, although he wasn’t too surprised.

“[The] way the fans [react] I can’t control, but at the same time it’s not sportsmanlike and it’s disappointing,” said Chara. “When a guy is laying down on the ice hurting and there’s a standing ovation for that . . . what can I say? There is nothing much I can say about it.”

For most Habs fans, seeing Big Z on the ice was probably sweet revenge for his hit on Max Pacioretty last year, in which the Montreal forward suffered a severe concussion and fractured vertebrae in his neck when he was ridden into the stanchion.

Bruins coach Claude Julien, who used to manage the bench in Montreal, knows firsthand that the fans in Montreal can get out of hand.

“It’s an opposing rink and he’s been booed before so it doesn’t really matter,” Julien said. “I’ve seen worse here. I’ve seen them boo the American national anthem when I was here so sometimes it’s disappointing but it’s all about passion. Sometimes they care so much that maybe they don’t think what the right thing is always to do but that’s just the way it is.”

Unfortunately, the Canadiens are eight points out of a playoff spot and there’s a good chance that they won’t be around once the postseason begins.

The Chicago Blackhawks are fortunate that they started off the 2011-12 season so strong, otherwise they would be in a lot worse shape than 65 points and the sixth spot in the Western Conference standings.

The Hawks are winless in nine straight (0-8-1), including seven in a row on the road. Things won’t get any easier for the club as they head into Thursday’s showdown at the Garden against the No. 1 team in the league, the New York Rangers.

However, despite the Hawks’ recent woes, the team is trying to remain positive.

“You’ve got to realize in this sport and in this business, there’s good days and bad days, and that comes with everything else, not just hockey,” captain Jonathan Toews said. “For the guys who have been in Chicago for a while, we’re used to success, and we’re used to winning. Moments like these probably make you appreciate that a little bit more.”

Toews and the club may not be panicking, but they definitely are gripping their sticks tighter. Toews and fellow superstar Patrick Kane haven’t exactly been lighting it up over the Hawks’ losing streak: Toews only has two assists since the All-Star break, and Kane has a goal and three assists.

Their power play is ranked 17th in the league, their penalty kill is a dreadful 27th. And whether it’s Corey Crawford or backup Ray Emery, the goaltending hasn’t exactly been stellar, either.

“It’s tough to get some sleep at night,” Toews admitted.

At least the Hawks can take solace in the fact that after their game with the Rangers, they have a stop in Columbus before finally returning home for the first time in over two weeks.

Until then, as bleak as things may seem, Towes and the team are going to try to stay positive.

“Something’s got to give. Something’s got to go our way eventually. They say if you keep doing the right things the hockey gods are going to reward you and we’re hoping that’s going to happen soon.”

 photo credit: Stoli151