On what was a very quiet NHL trade deadline day, the biggest move was made by the Vancouver Canucks, who traded center Cody Hodgson and defenseman Alexander Sulzer to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for rookie Zack Kassian and defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani. The rationale for the trade was that Vancouver had sacrificed a little bit of scoring for an upgrade in size and toughness.
It didn't quite work out for Vancouver, as the Canucks were eliminated in the Western Conference quarterfinals by the Los Angeles Kings. Now, Elliotte Friedman of CBC in Canada is reporting that the Capitals were among the teams Vancouver talked to about a possible trade.
The vital part of Friedman's "30 Thoughts" column on CBC's website.
In the March 6 edition of this blog, I mentioned that Vancouver "targeted" a few players in a possible Cody Hodgson deal. Zack Kassian was one, obviously. I also noted Brandon Sutter, who the Carolina Hurricanes love, and made an educated guess at John Carlson (which appears to be true).
It's very hard to blame the Capitals for not doing this deal. Carlson has struggled in his second full season as an NHL defenseman, but the Caps already have a surplus of young centers (Marcus Johansson, Mathieu Perreault, etc.), so it's hard to see where Hodgson would have fit in.
It's an interesting deal to think about, though.