Some of the best deadline deals in the history of the National Hockey League (part 2)
Lubomir Visnovsky for Ryan Whitney
The Anaheim Ducks were in need for a quarter back and they had their eyes set on Lubomir Visnovsky. This is one of the deals that took place during the course of the last season on the 3rd March 2010. There were speculations as to who would be
leaving the Ducks roster.
The speculation in the end saw that it was Ryan Whitney who had to pack his bags. Visnovsky is one of the very talented and skillful offensive quarter backs in the National Hockey League. Things were expected to change with the veteran moving into the Ducks.
But this didn’t happen as they failed to qualify for the play-off.
However, this season has been much better for Visnovsky as he has come up with some game changing and in the end game winning performances. During the course of the season so far, he has scored 46 points which include points from nine goals out of 62 games
he has played so far. This is absolutely phenomenal as the Ducks are in very good position to make their way into the play-offs this time out.
Whitney on the other hand has been performing pretty well with the Edmonton Oilers. The talented youngster has scored two goals and scored a total of 27 points out of the 35 games he has played so far during the course of the season. If he stays healthy
which is highly unlikely, he can surely become a key member of the Oilers team who are in the building phase at the moment.
Keith Tkachuk for Michal Handzus
One of the biggest deals in the history of the franchise saw the Phoenix Coyotes trade their superstar in Keith Tkachuk to the St. Louis Blues on the 13th of March 2001. Part of the deal saw the Blues sending three players to the Coyotes.
The players included Michal Handzus, Ladislav Nagy and Jeff Taffe which gave them a variety of players from defensive to centre to offensive players. The Coyotes had to trade Taffe to the Hawks as he wasn’t ready for the big shot as yet. Currently, he is
a contender for playing in the AHL representing the Hawks.
Nagy, another player part of the deal spent quite a few seasons with the Coyotes during which he scored 52 points while playing in 55 games but later was traded and now plays in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Michal Handzus, centre was asked to play more of an offensive role with the Coyotes which didn’t help the cause. Handzus just spent one season with the Coyotes after which he was traded away to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Tkachuk was associated with the Coyotes since 1991 but after trading him away, the Coyotes came across a very big space which no players or even bunch of players could fill. Tkachuk established his place in the Blues squad and spent nine seasons with the
franchise and spent one season with the Atlanta Thrashers.
During his time with the Blues, he scored 40 goals once and scored more than 20 goals during six seasons that he spent with the Blues. By far the winners of this deal were the Blues who got hold of a very talented and established player who helped them come
across a lot of success.
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