Non-trades bigger than trades

• Without the "thunderclouds" as Toronto Maple Leafs general manager BrianBurke put it -- no player with the stature of JayBouwmeester or MarianHossa in play --

Michael Farber | Mar 3, 2010

Non-trades bigger than trades /

• Without the "thunderclouds" as Toronto Maple Leafs general manager BrianBurke put it -- no player with the stature of JayBouwmeester or MarianHossa in play -- DanHamhuis, a top-four defenseman overshadowed in Nashville by Olympians SheaWeber and RyanSuter, stayed with the Predators. RayWhitney, a useful veteran forward with a no-trade clause, remained in Carolina. The only forwards on the move who can comfortably play in a top six are WojtekWolski (Colorado to Phoenix for the unmotivated PeterMueller and former HobeyBaker-winner KevinPorter) and FredrikModin (from Columbus to Los Angeles). Edmonton swapped offensive defenseman LubomirVisnovsky for Anaheim's RyanWhitney -- a pair of Olympians -- but DennisSeidenberg was the one other top four defenseman to be traded, going from Florida to Boston. Seidenberg was effective for Carolina last spring when the surprising Hurricanes reached the Eastern Conference final.

• Calgary is now officially Toronto West. After the DionPhaneuf mega-deal prior to the Olympics that included four Maple Leafs, Calgary general manager DarrylSutter added VesaToskala, who took a quick detour to Anaheim last month, as his backup goalie. While Toskala is an upgrade over CurtisMcElhinney -- expect Toskala to start maybe two games in place of Miikka Kiprusoff in the next six weeks -- he is one more player to come out of a franchise with no recent history of success. In baseball, you can never have enough pitching. In Cowtown, apparently you can never have enough Leafs.

• Boston GM PeterChiarelli fixed a big off-season mistake by off-loading DerekMorris to Phoenix, one of the defenseman's former teams. The Bruins, who signed Morris because they were looking for an upgrade over AaronWard as ZdenoChara's partner on the No. 1 pair, dumped Morris for a fourth-rounder in 2011. Morris earns $3.3 million this season, a one-year deal that helped put the Bruins in salary-cap jail. Morris is one of those vaguely disappointing players, a perpetual tease with a healthy dose of offensive skill. He is not unlike JordanLeopold, a career underachiever acquired by Pittsburgh from Florida on Monday.

• The playoff teams that seemed to need goaltending -- Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago -- did not address those needs. With RayEmery (hip) incapacitated for the season, MichaelLeighton will have to carry the burden for a Flyers franchise that hasn't seemed to get its goaltending right since RonHextall was a pup. The Capitals will again ride the combination of SemyonVarlamov and veteran JoséThéodore while the Blackhawks will try to finesse four rounds out of veteran CristobalHuet, who never has won one even although he did have a strong regular-season stretch run with Washington in 2008, and rookie AnttiNiemi. If neither team wins the Stanley Cup, it will rue not having grabbed Dallas' MartyTurco (an unrestricted free agent July 1) or Florida's TomasVokoun, who looked like the only real difference-maker available, but the goalie carries a $6.3 million price tag for next season, a big hit for teams hugging the salary cap.

• Like Macy's swapping dry goods with Gimbel's, the Edmonton Oilers deigned to make a trade with the Calgary Flames, their bitter provincial rivals. SteveStaios, a third-pair defenseman, was the centerpiece. The Oilers are shedding salary -- Staios will earn $2.2 million in 2010-11 -- but it was shocking to see them deal with the hated Flames. The reason: Oilers GM SteveTambellini, unlike Edmonton president KevinLowe, was never part of the insane Battles of Alberta. For Tambellini, there were no taboos.

• The Phoenix Coyotes, wards of the NHL, added five players. If the Coyotes win the Stanley Cup, will Commissioner GaryBettman, who always congratulates the owners, congratulate himself?

Published Mar 3, 2010

MICHAEL FARBER

Along with the pages of Sports Illustrated, you'll find senior writer Michael Farber in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Farber joined the staff of Sports Illustrated in January 1994 and now stands as one of the magazine's top journalists, covering primarily ice hockey and Olympic sports. He is also a regular contributor to SI.com. In 2003 Farber was honored with the Elmer Ferguson Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame for distinguished hockey writing. "Michael Farber represents the best in our business," said the New York Post's Larry Brooks, past president of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. "He is a witty and stylish writer, who has the ability to tell a story with charm and intelligence." Farber says his Feb. 2, 1998 piece on the use and abuse of Sudafed among NHL players was his most memorable story for SI. He also cites a feature on the personal problems of Kevin Stevens, Life of the Party. His most memorable sports moment as a journalist came in 1988 when Canadian Ben Johnson set his controversial world record by running the 100 meters in 9.79 seconds at the Summer Olympic Games, in Seoul. Before coming to Sports Illustrated, Farber spent 15 years as an award-winning sports columnist and writer for the Montreal Gazette, three years at the Bergen Record, and one year at the Sun Bulletin in Binghamton, NY. He has won many honors for his writing, including the "outstanding sports writing award" in 2007 from Sports Media Canada, and the Prix Jacques-Beauchamp (Quebec sportswriter of the year) in 1993. While at the Gazette, he won a National Newspaper award in 1982 and 1990. Sometimes Life Gets in the Way, a compendium of his best Gazette columns, was published during his time in newspapers. Farber says hockey is his favorite sport to cover. "The most down-to-earth athletes play the most demanding game," he says. Away from Sports Illustrated, Farber is a commentator for CJAD-AM in Montreal and a panelist on TSN's The Reporters (the Canadian equivalent of ESPN's The Sports Reporters in the United States, except more dignified). Farber is also one of the 18 members on the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee. Born and raised in New Jersey, Farber is a 1973 graduate of Rutgers University where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He now resides in Montreal with his wife, Danielle Tétrault, son Jérémy and daughter Gabrielle.