wild/nhl

And the Wild do nothing... The Columbus Blue Jackets have traded center Antoine Vermette to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for goalie Curtis McElhinney, a 2012 2nd round pick and a 2013 5th round pick.

I guess the Wild are stuck with what's his name now. TFP has learned that the Colorado Avalanche has traded defenseman Kyle Quincey to the Tampa Bay Lightning. In exchange for Quincey, the Lightning has dealt right wing Steve Downie to Colorado, as first reported by TSN's Bob McKenzie. The Lightning then shipped Quincey to the Detroit Red Wings for a 2012 first-round pick and defenseman Sebastien Piche.

Fletcher is really starting to remind me of the old timers you sometimes hear about that live in poverty and eat cat food, then they pass away and the family finds their mattress stuffed with oodles of cash. Personally I'd like to at least have a burger, instead of stuffing the mattress and being force fed little friskies. If, as most seem to believe, DR left the cupboards bare, Miser Chuck has, theoretically, filled them to bursting while leaving us to starve.

wash- let's stick with your food thought, I'd say the food is in the oven and cooking, it's not ready to eat yet. Standing at the oven yelling hurry up likely won't get it ready any faster.

I agree Just, but there's more food in the oven than there's room on the table and not all of it will be delicious. The dinner guests also should be aware that Fletcher is not an experienced chef! LOL Enough of the food analogies... But bringing in a small portion of take-out from a great restaurant to supplement the meal would make me hungrier. :-)

slugmccrackn made a great point on the Vermette deal, the Wild could have easily competed in getting him and I guarantee he would have helped this team win more than another callup from Houston. The price was relatively low and I can't understand why Fletcher is aiming for the basement.

I would bet that Fltcher has a couple of deals cooking right now for Harding and Zidlicky at a minimum. I also think he knows that there is a slight void between his top NHL guys and the prospects coming in the future so we may see him trade for a couple of top prospects that are in the more "ready" stage of their careers who can benefit from some time in the AHL(Houston) but who can have more of an impact when called upon if needed by the big club. Toronto has such a prospect(young 6-5 ctr/lw) and they are in the market for a goalie. I am sure that Fletch and the boys know that they need to fill in the system a bit more with some 20+ year old forwards who are more NHL ready for top 6 responsibilities. There should be at least 2 trades by Monday and I still would not be shocked to see a big trade made by Fletch also.

Vermette is 29 years old with a 3.75 million dollar price tag through 2014. Very good numbers 2 years ago, but declining ever since. It seems to me that Columbus was trying to lose that contract. Who would we have traded? Kuemper? Certainly not Harding or Hackett. The 2nd rounder? Maybe. To me, I think the Coyotes got fleeced, mainly because they are stuck with that contract. Cullen has better numbers than this guy and is cheaper...slightly. I agree that we have enough young prospects that a month ago, we should have tried to make a splash. Now, it is too late and there is no sense in over-paying for an Antoine Vermette.

Toronto has a need for a goalie...maybe we could get Harding to them for Joe Colborne. We might have to throw in a pick. You may remember him from his days at Denver. Big kid that has skill, but can't seem to stay in Toronto as he needs to work on the backcheck.

That's the guy Jake and I am not sure we would have to even throw in a pick right now if Harding will agree to a contract extension prior to the trade which increases his trade value.