Why teams ignored the trade deadline

Heading into last week’s NHL trade deadline the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins were expected to make roster-bolstering deals.

But they did little or nothing, and their inability to address their significant roster needs due to lack of salary cap space could have potentially adverse consequences on their performances over the final weeks of the season and into the 2010 NHL playoffs.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren managed to clear nearly $2.6 million in cap space prior to the deadline by a combination of player demotions and placing oft-injured goalie Ray Emery on long-term injury reserve for the remainder of the season.

Some believed Holmgren was pursuing a potential replacement for Emery at the deadline, but they’ve received quality goaltending from backup Michael Leighton while those potentially available as a replacement were either too expensive (Florida’s Tomas Vokoun) or no improvement over Leighton.

The Flyers were among several teams interested in Nashville Predators defenseman Dan Hamhuis but weren’t willing to pay the Predators' high asking price of a top prospect or good young player and lacked the high draft picks they were seeking as part of the deal. It was the same story with Holmgren’s rumored interest in forward Raffi Torres, who was eventually dealt to the Buffalo Sabres.

Currently sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference, the Flyers are presently in a tight battle to retain a playoff berth as only seven points separates them from the 11th overall Tampa Bay Lightning, with the Bruins, Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Atlanta Thrashers jammed in between. Without additional scoring punch or blueline depth, the Flyers could find themselves battling to hang on to a postseason spot.

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli went into the deadline needing to add a puck-moving defenseman and a scoring forward. He addressed the former by acquiring Dennis Seidenberg from the Florida Panthers but came up empty-handed for a scorer.

Sitting at the bottom of the league in goals-per-game average before deadline day, the Bruins now have no choice but to hope forwards David Krejci, Michael Ryder, Blake Wheeler and Milan Lucic — who are well below their production from last season — can regain their scoring touch over the season’s final weeks.

If those players who step it up, the Bruins could nail down a berth. But if their offense keeps sputtering, they could find themselves outside the postseason picture, which would be a considerable embarrassment for a club that topped the Eastern Conference last season.

Like the Bruins, the Rangers were believed to be seeking a puck-moving blueliner and a scoring forward but with too many fat contracts eating up valuable salary cap space, there was nothing GM Glen Sather could do by deadline day. Granted, Sather did make a major move over a month ago, shipping underachievers Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik to Calgary for center Olli Jokinen, who’s had seven points in nine games as a Ranger.

That’s helped a bit, but the Rangers need more offensive depth beyond the Marian Gaborik line and with the expensive contracts of blueline disappointments Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival eating up valuable cap space, Sather was forced to the sidelines on deadline day.

Currently sitting two points out of the final playoff berth in the East, the Rangers will be forced to ride the Gaborik line and the goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist the rest of the way and hope it’ll be enough to squeak into the playoffs.

Unlike the Flyers, Bruins and Rangers, the Blackhawks are in no danger of falling out of playoff contention. They lead the Central Division by 16 points over the Predators and are sitting second overall in the overall Western Conference standings, nearly 18 points ahead of the eighth overall Detroit Red Wings.

Thanks to their impressive depth at forward and defense, many fans and pundits consider the Blackhawks a legitimate Stanley Cup contender but their goaltending is consider their weak link. Despite GM Stan Bowman’s insistence he was happy with his tandem of Cristobal Huet and Antti Niemi, there was rampant speculation leading up to deadline day he was either trying to trade Huet or would demote the French netminder to free up cap space to land Vokoun from Florida or Dwayne Roloson from the Islanders. If Huet was being shopped, his expensive contract ($5.65 million per season) and inconsistent play made him untradeable.

Barring a stunning meltdown between now and the end of the regular season, the Blackhawks should easily make the playoffs among the top three seeds in the West and with their strong defense and lethal scoring punch, could march again to the Conference Final. But their inability to improve their goaltending could spell the difference between advancing to the Stanley Cup Final or a disappointing early playoff exit.