To Oilers: Arnott, Pivonka & Pens' 5th pick

Penguins get a good young solid defender in Boucher, something they felt they needed. This gives them a very good looking defence with 5 very good defenders. Still, Boucher only has 2 pts in NHL this year and not playing the best hockey of his carrer. So the Pens paid a price. A big price!

Oilers get their hands on Arnott who is a good power forward. Maybe he won't bloom into the player many expected now that he plays his hockey in New Jersey but he is a good player. Pivonka was thrown in as compensaton, which seems a little steep. However Pivonka has only played 7 games in NHL this season so maybe the Pens knew that Pivonka was on his way down? He will still make the Oilers a team with better depth this season and even a couple of more seasons after this one. Also thrown in was the 5th pick.

That pick makes this trade sway comletely to the Oilers' favor. They get two solid forwards and one of the is almost good enough to swap for Boucher straight up. And they still got themselves and extra pick out of it...

To Flames: Hatcher K & Dumont

A major star in the trade in Hatcher. But going by the price the Flames paid to get him it seems as if the Pens didn't value Hatcher as high as most teams would have.

Penguins get for their star defender a replacer in Svoboda. Svoboda is a good defensive defender and he won't have problems with filling Hatcher's spot, defensivly. However there is no way Svoboda even comes close to Hatcher offensivly. But here the Pens get two talented forwards that just might fill that room. Maneluk is a rookie this year and he started this season great, but then he got traded and has staled. However his future looks okey as he is big, hard working and he has shown in the minors that he grows during playoffs, something important to NHL clubs. Also Zednik comes to Pens and he is a great aquisition. This trade brings in extra forwards, something that was needed after the Oilers trade. Not only that but they also improve their forwards in this deal a lot.

Kevin Hatcher! To the Flames! A huge trade for them, bringing home one of the best offensive defenders in the world. The defence of Flames till doesn't look too impressive but with Hatcher there is no real telling what could happen. Also young Dumont comes to Calgary. Dumont has been said to become a great star in the future, but so far he has not done anything. However he is so young and so talented that the Flames will bide their time for him to develop. Flames gave up a great deal forward wise to get this deal through and the offesnive power of the Flames seem diminished as Dumont only plays in the minors as this is written.

Flames get Hatcher but Pens get a better team. It's hard to know how to call anybody a winner and the other a loser. Flames get a natural born leader defensivly and one of the greats of the game. Pens on the other hand get more solid in defence defensivly and they get much better forwards wise. They gave up a future star? but got another good rookie + Zednik so even future wise the Pens look good after this trade. Both teams gain something and so the only way to decide this is to look how the teams look now: Pens look better. They got a stay at home defender which they needed and they improved the offense considerably. Flames got a great defender but gave up offense, which they don't have much of. Pens look better of with this trade but should Dumont become a new Samsonov... then Flames wins.

To Red Wings: Mogilny

Two russian star forwards exchange clubs. Red Wings wanted a right winger and Pens a left winger. Both players are known for their lack of consistency and that everybody feels that they can do better then they perform. Mogilny's glory days came when he played together with Bure so he has failed to repeat those numbers he racked up then. Kozlov plays for almost a russian team in Detroit yet he fails to play motivated. Kozlov is more skilled but he is smaller and spends a lot of time in the penalty box due to his dirty play. Mogilny has shown more then Kozlov in the NHL in the past but once again that was because of Bure. The players are very evenly matched other wise and it's hard to call one of them better then the other... The teams wanted a winger for the opposite side and they got one. Even trade.

To Rangers: Korolev, Brown & PJ Stock

Penguins aquire the Great One! They felt they needed a leader up front feeling that Brind'Amour wasn't ready for captaincy and leadership. Greatzky provides them with both. With Greatzky they now have great centers for their two first lines making them look more and more lethal.

Rangers wanted to get younger and so they got rid of 38 year old Gretzky. He will be missed a lot, but the trade was a must for the club as they had almost exclusivly old players and needed to egt younger... fast! They got Korolev as a replacer for Gretzky in the center position. Korolev can't match with Gretzky in any way, but in difference to Gretzky he is young and will be around for some years to come, where as Gretzky might retire any season now. Curtis Brown joins up with Rangers and that is a great aquisition for them. The young winger is making him self known to more and more people this season and he will surely only become better and better. Stock was a throw in just to seal the deal probably. He didnät play in Pens and he wonät play in Rangers either.

Rangers got younger but lost the Great One while Pens bcome a better club, for a few seasons. Nobody thought that Gretzky would ever be this cheap!! But it was a necesary evil for the Rangers. Pens win on this trade as they are a much better team with the Great One. But the trade was understandable from the Rangers point of view.