DEAD-ON DEADLINE DEAL

The deal GMs Les Jackson and Brett Hull swung today is a reall good one in many ways.

Brad Richards and goaltender Johan Holmqvist for Smith, Halpern and Jokinen can be broken down into Richards for Jokinen come playoff time(really).

Turco is your boy in net.

Halpern had faded as that gritty 3rd line center and PKer (Ott has shown that he can better fill that role now)

So you're left with the 2004 Playoff MVP, Richards and his hefty cap hit (around $8M), for Jokinen and his shootout prowess.

Nice work.

The Stars now have:
- their top 2 centers all set for the next 4 years (Richards and Ribeiro).
- a player who can transition into the roles Mike Modano and Sergei Zubov (point on the PP) currently fill at age 38.
- a proven playoff performer who can make "that" play when the game is on the line.

This is a "win now" trade that could pay off for years to come.