blockbusters

Two massive deals in the NHL over the weekend.  Firstly, the Colorado Avalanche sent Chris Stewart, Kevin Shattenkirk and a second rounder to the St Louis Blues for Erik Johnson, Jay Mclement and a first rounder.  This was a huge trade for both teams, as each traded away what seemed to be key pieces to their future.  Erik Johnson is no doubt a solid defenseman, but if the Blues could go back in time to the 2006 draft they most certainly would select Jonathan Toews.  That being said, he is quite young and is still developing while playing at a high level.  In Chris Stewart the Blues are getting a 23 year old power forward who racks up points and PIMs, and is coming off a breakout season in which he scored 28 goals.  Shattenkirk is a promising young defenceman and I am very surprised Colorado gave him up this easily.  Im my mind, the Blues win this trade in a landslide.  Peter Stastny, hall of fame father of Colorado's Paul Stastny, also thought so and ripped the team saying the trade impeded their progress by 3-4 years.  In another blockbuster deal, the Dallas Stars shipped James Neal and Matt Niskanen to Pittsburgh for Alex Goligoski.  It has been no secret for the past 2 years Sidney Crosby has been urging the Pittsburgh front office to go out and get him a scoring winger, and now he finally has his wish.  You can bet his headache felt a bit better after hearing about this deal, as in Neal Pittsbugh gets a 23 year old winger with a heavy shot, and a lot of potential.  Playing on a line with Sid this guy could easily score 40 goals next year.  You can bet each of these players were scouted heavily by the organizations they now play for, and with the amount of youth involved it will take 3-4 years for us to figure out which of these teams benefit the most from the trades.