I Think We All Know Who the Winner, Losers, and Tweener is in the Pacifc

Really, it's pointless to argue trade deadline winners and losers, don't you think?

San Jose's the winner in the division because they added a puck moving defenseman in Huskins and grit in Moen. Not to mention, some valuable Cup winning experience on a group whose playoff problems have been well chronicled.

LA, Phoenix, and Anaheim are losers because they basically shed salary.

At least in Anaheim's case, it does appear that their moves were done so they could mitigate their losses in the upcoming offseason. Had they not made the moves of dumping Morrison, Moen, Pahlsson (God be with you, Earl), and Huskins, they would have potentially lost 10 players in unrestricted free agency.

I also think the Kings had a plan of action in trading away Patrick O'Sullivan.

It's clear with Phoenix, however, that they were simply dumping salaries to mitigate their financial losses. During his visit with the Musers last week on The Ticket, Razor mentioned that the Coyotes are stuck in a horrible lease in their new building. I don't have the exact figures in front of me, but it's no secret they've been bleeding money.

As for Las Estrellas, their primary goal this trade deadline season was to not knee jerk and trade away one or more key young players just so they could make the playoffs. When JackHull told teams to take a hike when the names of Jamie Benn, James Neal, or Mark Fistric were brought up, my heart rose. Even more so than when I heard this morning that they had claimed Brendan Morrison off waivers.

No offense, but I think JackHull would have been content with just standing pat this year. When Brendan Morrison got waived, the Stars saw an opportuntity to nab the anti-Avery for about the same amount of cap space they got back when the Rangers claimed Avery through recall waivers.

And fortunately, they got him, which makes them a tweener. Certainly weren't sellers this year. But they weren't buyers, either.