This is one of my favorite times of year, it’s such a crucial point in the hockey season. A GM’s decisions can make a championship run possible, a playoff push, or even the opposite where they can blow up their team and trade players for the future. There are plenty of examples of trades that have worked and trades that have failed.

An example of a trade that worked was very memorable and emotional. I can remember back in 2000 the Boston Bruins traded Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque to the Colorado Avalanche in a deal that worked out for Colorado. After a 20 plus year career in Boston, Ray Bourque helped lead Colorado to a Stanley Cup Championship. What made this so memorable and emotional was this was Ray’s first and only Stanley Cup. Right after winning his only championship Ray announced his retirement. In my mind no better way to go out than being a champion!

One of the most memorable trade deadlines that I was involved in was in London with the Knights. We traded three top prospects and four future draft picks for NHL stars John Tavares of the NY Islanders and Michael Del Zotto of the NY Rangers. If you just judge trades on the basis of winning a championship than I guess this blockbuster deal was a failure. This deal put us in the hunt for a Memorial Cup but unfortunately we lost in an epic conference final series. I was told later that this series was the first ever in hockey history where every game played was decided in overtime!  The Windsor Spitfires who beat us went on to win the Memorial Cup.

Feb 27, @ 3pm EST is the trade deadline in the NHL. Time will tell if there are winners, losers and or memorable ones.

Good Luck to all the GM’s!