Six Times Steckel

With the trade between the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals that sent Dave Steckel to the Pine Barrens for Jason Arnott, the Penguins will now see the man who injured Sidney Crosby six times a year. In case you have been living on Mars or in the Charlie Sheen Porn Family for the last 2 months, Steckel may well have ended Crosby's season when he hit lowered his shoulder and blindsided him in the head while the puck was the other end of the ice during the waning moments of the Winter Classic's second period. Crosby, slow to get up, would continue in this game and also play the following tilt against Tampa Bay but suffered another cheap head shot via Victor Hedman ( who received a boarding minor for his troubles) and has been missing from the lineup since.

According to a DC sportswriter being interviewed by Mark Madden last Monday, Capitals bench boss and resident NHL whiner Bruce Boudreau apparently gets hot under the collar anytime a reporter merely mentions the Steckel hit. Of course, there is not shortage of subjectsthat raises Boudreau's blood pressure; standing up is probably a daunting task for him. But my misguided point in this post is whether or not the Penguins will seek any further retribution against Steckel now that they will see him six times a year?

My guess is NO. The shorthanded Pens have already met the Caps twice since the Winter Classic and while the Penguins tough guys continued to challenge Steckel to a fight during the first matchup( Much to the ire of Boudreau of course), he did finally drop the gloves against the much smaller Tim Wallace. That would seem to settle the score if there is such thing as a finite hockey code, but as we learned last month on Long Island, enough is not enough for some people. The Bruins haven't gotten enough of Matt Cooke still challenge and target him every chance they get so what's to say the Pens don't call up Ogie Ogilthorpe and have him take a Flying Gillies at Steckel before pummelling the back of his head while he is unconscious on the ice? the answer to that would be simple : organizational class.

A few trades

Dustin Penner is the newest member of the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings, who are fifth in the Western Conference standings with 74 points, are my pick for biggest acquisition. Penner is a legitimate goal scorer with 32 this season and 105 in 343 NHL games.

This was the biggest deal on a rare slow last day for the NHL trade deadline. The Kings are 8 points behind the division-leading Sharks and are ready to make a push. Los Angeles gave up prospect Colton Teubert and draft picks in 2011 and 2012.

The Devils parted ways with Jason Arnott, who went to the Capitals for David Steckel. Steckel is the No. 1 enemy around Pittsburgh for being primarly responsible for Sidney Crosby's absence in the Penguins' lineup. He will fit right in with New Jersey.

I don't think the deal helps the Capitals too much. They need some good blue liners if they want to take that next step.

Pittsburgh didn't do anything, which is fine. I like the additions of Neal, Niskanen and Kovalev.