Well, the NHL trading deadline came and went. From the looks of the deals that were made, I can see that Mike has a plan: REBUILD!! Yes, for the 167th time, Mike and the Isles are cleaning the slate and starting all over once again. To be fair though, a lot of deals had to do with cutting the payroll, or, as Mike put it, "tree-pruning."

Here are the deals and how they stack up (IMHO):

Sergei Nemchinov was sent to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a 1999 4th round draft pick, AKA - Some guy whose name will be mentioned once and we'll never hear from again. 'Nuff said. Next?

Ted Donato was sent to the Ottawa Senators for, yes, another 1999 4th round draft pick. Although I am glad to see Donato go (let's face it: the guy was a few donuts shy of a baker's dozen), I think we could have gotten something better, like, say, A PLAYER!! Moving on...

Robert Reichel was sent to the Phoenix Coyotes for left wing Brad Isbister. Here's something I don't get. Reichel was the Isles leading scorer. True, his leadingness would have measured up to obscurity on any other team, but that's beside the point. We obviously need scorers. I don't see how trading a scorer is gonna help matters!

Tommy Salo was FINALLY traded to the Edmonton Oilers for winder Mats Lindgren. I can rest in peace now that Whiner-Boy is gone. With him around, it makes Mike look like this big ogre with some evil Golden Whip of Obscurity that he can snap at any time whenever he feels like it to send you running shrieking into his doghouse and lay there cold and afraid until he falls asleep. Of course, it still seems like we got the load end of the pan with Lindgren. I've never heard of him, but you can't expect to get much in exchange for Salo, n'est-ce pas?

Well, as guess we'll see how THIS goes....

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