Don't Change, Tinker

The crazy season makes strange things happen, the crazy season being the last chance NHL teams have to trade players or forevermore wonder what could have been if you had changed things when they had the chance. The worst part about this time of the year is that I really think the entire process is reactionary. One GM makes a trade, so the 2nd GM feels he better do something as well, that in turn brings the 3rd GM into the equation to do something he may have not even thought of, all because the 1st GM made the original trade. Now, that's just my half baked theory, I'm pretty sure our favorite teams GM has a plan going into a trade deadline and know what their team needs are, the real question is do you go big or go home when it comes to adding a player for the cup run?

I would assume that there have been many trades made at the deadline that have seen marquee players go to a team and success followed them to a championship. Hell, the Penguins acquired Marion Hossa just last year at the last minute of the deadline and went to the Stanley Cup finals. I have to believe however that teams that take a chance on the big name rentals with 20 games left in a hockey season, are really pretenders rather then contenders, more often then not.

The logic, in my mind, is simple. If your team is really that good, why do you need a top end player? If your a top team, in the East or West, you more then likely have your share of big guns as it is, are they not good enough anymore? To further the problem, adding the deadline superstar, creates an ice time problem, could reek havoc on team chemistry, and almost always results in a team selling the farm to just get the player onto the squad. Does that sound like a team that is considered a contender? I don't. The teams that are close to the winning it all, don't need help on their top 2 lines or in their top 2 defensive pairing. They are looking for support and stability from the players that aren't the money guys. The 3rd and 4th line are key to the playoffs, the 4th defensemen is the difference maker, the old vet goalie brought in as insurance is the piece of mind. The real deals to win Lord Stanley don't change their team, they tinker with it.

Then again, this is just a damned opinion.