Halpern, Sliced Bread in Tampa

Posted by admin on 26th, 2008

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Change. Often said to be as good as a holiday, sometimes said to be a hockey players best friend. For Jeff Halpern, the change of teams from Dallas to Tampa Bay seems to have litten a spark within him, and he’s been shining on a regular basis since.

You could go as far as to say that for the moment, Jeff Halpern is the best thing since sliced bread for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In the 64 games Halpern played with the Dallas Stars this season, he put up seemingly good numbers of 10 goals, 14 assists for 24 points. Halpern, the checking center on the Stars roster was not expected to be a top line goal scorer.

The trade deadline however saw Halpern shipped to Tampa Bay Lightning along with team mates Jussi Jokinen and netminder Mike Smith. Halpern has not looked back! In the 13 games with the bolts this season Halpern has put up 7 goals and 8 assists for 15 points… better than a point a game!

In todays 3-1 win over the Florida Panthers, Halpern netted a goal and 2 assists.

Jussi Jokinen has 1 goal and 9 assists for 10 points in 14 games with the Lightning, down on goals from his average with the Stars, but up on points.

*** image courtesy of gettys images .
*** Original location of image: http://lightning.nhl.com

Tags: basis, bread, Center, Change, checking, Courtesy, Dallas, Deadline, Florida, friend, Game, goal, hockey, holiday, image, Jeff Halpern, Jokinen, Jussi, lightning, litten, location, Mike Smith, moment, netminder, Original, panthers, point, roster, scorer, season, Sliced, spark, Stars, TAMPA, Tampa Bay, Team, thing, trade

McKeon Grades the Trades

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Posted by admin on 27th, 2008

Ross McKeon of Yahoo! Sports has been busy today, grading all 30 teams of the NHL according to how they did with the Trade Deadline.

It may come as a suprise to some that Dallas and Pittsburgh, the 2 teams who made the blockbuster trades yesterday are graded so differently.

McKeon grades the Dallas Stars at #1, citing their trade as “the big strike”.

1. Dallas Stars – Grade: A+: The Stars made the big strike by acquiring arguably the best player available for now and moving forward. Center Brad Richards was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner when Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup in 2004. He’s 27, skilled and durable – just a perfect fit for any team. Never mind that $7.8 million owed for each of the next three years. The Stars parted with backup goalie Mike Smith, who may emerge as a No. 1 with the Lightning, Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern and a fourth-round pick. Dallas did not have to surrender any of its young defense, another key. That deal makes a lot more sense than what Pittsburgh gave up to Atlanta in the day’s other blockbuster.

The Pittsburgh Penguins however, failed to gain such a high ranking, coming in at #22 with a D+ grade.

22. Pittsburgh Penguins – Grade: D+: No one can accuse the Penguins of being shy at the deadline. Pittsburgh changed more than any team by adding three players and deleting two from the roster and one from the pipeline and parting with three draft picks in two separate deals. Pittsburgh got rental Marian Hossa to play alongside either Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby. They got versatile and dependable Pascal Dupuis in the same deal with Atlanta but surrendered young, popular teammates Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen and prospect Angelo Esposito. You have to wonder what team chemistry will form out of all these moves. In addition, Hal Gill comes aboard to add size and a physical element on defense. First-, second- and fifth-round picks were dealt away.