The Maple Leafs have dealt recently acquired Martin Skoula to the New Jersey Devils for a 5th round pick.

The Bruins sent defensemanDerek Morris to Coyotes in exchange for a 4th round pick in 2011.

Morris, who played for Phoenix in the past, will be that depth defenseman all playoff teams seek. A two way defender he is reliable in his own end and can help the rush and powerplay. It has been a while since the Coyotes have a buyer at the deadline, and it is nice otsee a struggling franchise, especially one with the very public ownership issues involving Jim Balsillie, to be doing well. Morris will be a good addition to the Phoenix blue line.

This is a bit of an odd move for the Bruins. They signed Morris in the off season because they needed more puck movement form their blue line, andas they are still within reach of the playoffs Morris would be the kind of guy they would want to have. If Bruins Gm Peter Chiarelli flips the pick to fill another need (likely a scoring forward), I will notbe surprised. However, a 4th round pick for Morris, when a similar defender like Jordan Leopold goes for a 2nd rd pick (and in general defenders are going for a 2nd), this is a surprisingly low return. Boston could have done much better than this as it seems they are trying more to free up cap space than anything.

Winner: Phoenix. They get a second a pairing defender for a very cheap deadline price. Boston would have been better off keeping Morris for that price.

The first trade of the day has occurred, with the Montreal Canadiens shipping forward Marc D'Agostini to St. Louis for forward Aaron Palushaj.

D'Agostini was once a fairly touted prospect in Montreal despite being a sixth round pick. He has fallen out of favor after a rough year, Montreal decided to give him a fresh start in St. Louis. Palashuaj is a second round pick from 2007 who has yet to see any NHL duty, this being his first year of pro hockey after attending college at Michigan. While Montreal will have to take the time to develop him, whereas less time is need for D'Agonistini.

Winner: Even. A swap of young players, one of whom is struggling. Time will tell who got the better of this deal, but neither player will make an impact on their team this year.

Why so far? Because having free time tomorrow I will be attempting to do a live blog, barring life getting in the way. So, here are the trades that have gone down in the past 24 hours with my analysis on them. Minor league deals are not included for brevity’s sake.

"For me, I'm a winner, I just want to win. "I have yet to play for a team that doesn't like defense in my career. It's not about the team, it's about individuals. Individuals have to take the responsibility to guard the guy in front of them." -- LeBron James

Before the Olympic trade freeze, there were a total of six trades made by teams hoping to get a jump start before the break. So here I am giving you a rather belated review of those deals.

We've been too preoccupied with actually trying to find olympic hockey on television rather than blog about it but have no fear. Cuz I am here to preview your gold medal hawkey game tomorrow. Suffice to say, this will be on NBC. Hooray! Most people can actually watch hockey this time. Anyway, NBC has pissed me off to no end with their programming placements the last two weeks. Flopping games around, showing things in delay and just general disregard for a sport they should be marketing the shit out of. Anyway, it's load of rubbish and probably an article for another time.

A preview of sorts after the jumpo.

Yes, I know most of you who write for or read this site hate the NBA. However, an overwhelming majority of American sports fans prefer the NBA to the NHL as do I. However, I have some anger and frustration with both my beloved Knicks and the NBA in general right now. So without further adieu....

Can I get parents who hate their kids for 300 Alex.