Trade Deadline #1

San Jose made the first strong move of the deadline. The Sharks will have a lot to say in media conferences and media releases now that they have acquired Brian Campbell. The big PR move in this deal is that the Buffalo Sabres have lost yet another strong name from their 2006-2007 team. Last year they lost Briere and Drury for nothing and made the strong Sabres fan base very mad. This year, the Sabres have at least gotten Steve Bernier in return. Bernier is a good right winger and will give the Sabres some scoring power. However, losing Campbell is hard on the defensive core for the Sabres. It will be interesting to see how the Sabres fans will handle the loss of someone like Campbell. Even more interesting, how the the Sabres PR team make the deal look like it was the best move for the Sabres.

Also, the Dallas Stars have just traded Mike Smith, Jeff Halpern, and Jussi Jokinen to Tampa Bay for Brad Richards and Johan Holmqvist. Dallas will have a lot to celebrate with a player like Richards joining their team. Tampa Bay will will finally have some decent goaltending from Smith. Both teams will be able to brag about the benefits of this deal. Big name deal with not a whole lot of PR involved. The Stars do gain a nice publicity piece by getting Richards.

Just to mention, Wade Belak has been traded to Florida. I can’t believe that Leafs fans won’t get to see the colourful personality of Belak around Toronto anymore.