Trade deadline reactions

Just some quick notes before my upcoming root canal. (anything to keep my mind off it...)

The trade deadline!

Winners:

* Calgary. The biggest splash with Jokinen, who should fit in well. It'll probably do him a world of good to not have to be the go-to number-one guy; for my money, Jokinen always played his best hockey as Team Finland's number-two center.

* Toronto. Got rid of some players, got some picks. I have to say I thought Burke was crazy to think he could get a first round pick for Antropov, and he didn't.

Minor fail: Philadelphia. Getting Kyle McLaren just isn't going to fix their problems on F. The Scottie Upshall - Dan Carcillo trade is good for both sides, though; maybe on Gretzky's bench Upshall can start fulfilling some of the expectations people had for him when he was drafted, and Carcillo should fit right in in Philly.
Also, Montréal. Right now, I don't believe the team is good enough. They'll make the playoffs, but not much further. Pittsburgh also didn't address their lack of defense.

Fail: Washington. The Caps did nothing at all, despite the last few games showing up the glaring deficiencies of their defensive play. They won't make a deep run; the finals are out of the question. I'm hugely disappointed. Of course, it's likely they couldn't do anything because of their cap trouble, but still.

EPIC FAIL: NY Islanders. All you could get for Bill Guerin was a conditional, at best third-round, pick?!? Boston gave up a second-rounder and two good prospects for Mark Recchi, and all you got was this? Given the low expected value of fourth and fifth-round picks, they gave up Guerin for practically nothing.

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Based on this, I have these playoff predictions to make:

Eastern Conference final: New Jersey - Boston

Western Conference semi-finals: San Jose, Detroit, Calgary, Vancouver

I'll consider it a major upset if either New Jersey or Boston doesn't make the Stanley Cup final. The one thing that could knock Detroit out is their goaltending, in case Osgood doesn't make a recovery, but I think he will.