The trade deadline is officially over. What a day it was. I will touch on each team and their trades as the games present themselves in the breakdowns. With the deadline officially over, the four nations tournament over, and taking a semi break after a few days of losing before the four nations break, we are officially in full go season. Tonight is a Friday night so the slate is limited, but there’s some games I like.
Winnipeg was a silent assassin on the day fortifying an already immense roster. I could go on forever about Luke Schenn. Schenn is a player who was hated for most of his career from the sheer disappointment of his draft capital. As his career progressed and teams began to move on from the idea of him, Schenn showed his true colors by reinventing himself as a low line blue chip player for teams contending. Schenn is a gritty player who will provide much needed physicality and bring veteran championship leadership to a star team that has failed miserably in the playoffs over the last couple of years. On top of adding Schenn, the Jets went and added Brandon Tanev who they signed as an undrafted free agent to start his career. Tanev won’t go out and score 20 goals for the Jets right now, but he will sure up a fourth line that can provide additional scoring and grit and make a game changing play. The Jets will be knocked for not doing enough to upgrade the top half of their lineup but for a team that leads the league in points, is third in goals per game, and first in goals against per game, sometimes not shaking things up is just as important. A team is as strong as their weakest link and the additions of Schenn and Tanev raise the bar on Winnipeg’s floor. They head into New Jersey tonight against a Devils team that has lost Jack Hughes for the season and made some questionable moves this week. A third round pick for Cody Glass is absolutely absurd and Pens fans should be very happy with the picks the Penguins recouped today, especially from the Jets and Devils. I’m not sure why these lines are so low for Winnipeg tonight but the same happened last night against the Flyers and I’m buying back in. This shouldn’t be much of a game and don’t understand a 2.5 team total at only -140. The Jets should win this game with 3+ goals and have an empty net at the end.
Detroit and Washington stood still for the most part, not doing much to improve themselves. The Caps can argue, like the Jets, “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it.” Detroit comes off a lot more questionable here not doing anything to improve and break their playoff drought. Washington should handle this game but I’m not making a move on it. Ovechkin is close to breaking the all time scoring record so feel free to splash his goal totals each night. I will continue with the last goal scorer prop being the likelihood of him getting an empty net.
We will be back for the 10 pm games tonight with Vegas, Minnesota, and St. Louis.
Official Plays:
- 7 pm Winnipeg ML -125: 2u
- 7 pm Winnipeg Team Total over 2.5 -140: 3u
- 7 pm Winnipeg Team Total over 4 +310: 1u
- 8:30 pm Utah/CHicago under 6.5 -140: 1u
