NHL Trade Breakdown: 2.9.2011

The NHL trade deadline is fast approaching, set to go in effect at 3 p.m. eastern time on Monday, February 28. With just about two and half weeks remaining, it's time for teams to decide whether they are buyers or sellers and for general manager to start negotiations in hopes of building for the playoffs or giving themselves a better shot for next season.

A good numbers of deals went down today, signaling that perhaps the ball is rolling from here on out for these trades to take place. Lets take a look of some of these deals and break down how they affect the teams involved.

Toronto Maple Leafs trade defenseman Francois Beauchemin to the Anaheim Ducks for forward Joffrey Lupul, defensive prospect Jake Gardiner and a conditional 2013 fourth round pick:

Over the last few years, the Toronto Maple Leafs have constantly been a rumor mill for trades, especially involving defensemen. It seems impossible for Tomas Kaberle to avoid this at every twist and turn of his season from a yearly basis. This year, however, he was not alone on the trade block. Francois Beauchemin had long been considered available to any team willing to offer general manager Brian Burke something of substance.

It seems that Anaheim was able to cough up something to his liking. By sending Joffrey Lupul, former first rounder (17th overall in 2008) Jake Gardiner and a conditional fourth round pick in 2013 to Toronto, the Ducks were able to bring a familiar face back to The Honda Center. Beauchemin, 30, spent four seasons with the Ducks and has a Stanley Cup to his credit from playing on their 2007 championship team. And that familiarity to the Ducks, as well as a renewed sense of motivation for playing on a championship contender, could make this a worthwhile acquisiton for the Ducks. It also doesn't hurt that the Ducks managed to shed about half a million bucks in cap space in the process.

But it doesn't come without risk. Beauchemin has largely been a disappointment for the Maple Leafs this year and carries a hefty $3.8 million cap hit this year and next for what has thus far been subpar play. Lupul may not be a gamebreaker, but he is a decent contributor with 25-goal, 50-point potential when healthy that should fill Toronto's need of scoring more goals. And the Leafs gave up an intriguing 20-year old defensive prospect that could have grown into a key asset on Anaheim's blue line along with the likes of Cam Fowler. For a player that has been struggling like Beauchemin, that's not necessarily the greatest gamble.

If Beauchemin truly takes this deal as a reason to step up his game and play with a renewed energy to his game, he can be a nice veteran pickup for a team currently holding onto a seventh-seed playoff position out West by just one point. But if he plays just as he did in Toronto, the Ducks would have been better off holding onto Gardiner and monitoring his progress.

Running Low On Goalies, Isles Swing Deal For Al Montoya

When Rick DiPietro is tabbed as your franchise's No. 1 goalie, you become accustomed to having some level of inconsistency in between the pipes. But this year has been a bit ridiculous for the Islanders, who have utilized the services of five different goaltenders this season and tried to enlist Evgeni Nabokov until the should-be Detroit Red Wing reminded them there was no purpose in him being a part of their organization. Thus far, only two of the goaltenders they did use could really be considered NHL caliber - the oft-injured DiPietro and Dwayne Roloson, who was mercifully dealt to the Tampa Bay Lighting where he is now shining even at 41 years old.

New York found itself in an emergency situation on Tuesday when their newest starting tender Kevin Poulin suffered a knee injury in pre-game warmups prior to taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs. That led to the Islanders going with backup Mikko Koskinen. The native of Vantaa, Finland went on to surrender five goals on 26 shots in a 5-3 loss against Toronto. It was revealed Wednesday that Poulin will miss the remainder of the season with a dislocated left knee cap.

In a relative state of emergency, TSN's Darren Dreger reported early Wednesday in The Dreger Report that Isles general manager Garth Snow was looking to swing a "soft" deal for a new body to sport their crease. By "soft" deal, Dreger explained this trade would not include any high-end talent or early round draft picks. According to Dreger late Wednesday, the Islanders managed to get that deal done relatively quickly. By send a sixth round pick over to the Phoenix Coyotes, Snow picked up former New York Rangers first round pick (6th overall in 2004) Al Montoya.

Montoya has never had a real opportunity to play in the NHL and has just five games in the big league to his credit. While he was selected by the Rangers seven years ago with the intention of being grooming into their next starting goalie, Henrik Lundqvist emerged as the King of New York and Montoya was eventually shipped out in a trade deadline deal with the Coyotes in 2008. Montoya's chances of seeing more playing time in Phoenix was slim, however, as the team already had Ilya Bryzgalov in between the pipes.

But in his very limited amount of NHL action (five games - four of which were starts), Montoya put up a very impressive 3-1 record with a 2.08 goals against average, .925 save percentage and a shutout in his very first NHL start against the Colorado Avalanche. With the Isles' goaltending situation completely depleted at this point, Montoya should have no trouble generating legitimate playing time with an opportunity to prove he can contribute over the long haul as he did two years ago.

That is, of course, until DiPietro returns from his latest facial injury to steal a few games before heading back to the shelf with another guaranteed ailment.