Blues Do the Deed..

[CMPunk]

And send Ales Hemsky, along with Chris Campoli and 6'5 Dman Ty Wishart to the Penguins for Maxim Afinogenov and Patrick Eaves.

"We wanted an upgrade up front, preferably a guy who could put the puck in the net and Max is that guy. Ales was a great Blue, but we needed a guy on a line with Sid who could bury it. With Ales it was alot of passing back and forth and no one was taking that shot. Patrick is a blossoming young player and we hope he can grow into the edgy, scoring forward he's projected to be.

We'd like to thank Goffie for the ease of negotiation."

[Goffie]

The Pens are very happy with this deal and think it is one that was relatively easy to do for both sides. The Blues wanted Max to pull the trigger, we wanted Hemsky to feed guys the puck. We were deep in young forwards and our Defense is anchored by a 92 year old so we figured we could move the promising Eaves for young Campoli and a defensive prospect we like a lot in Wishart. Thanks Spike for the easy negotiations.

[jam26]

I like this trade for the Pens.

[JiriHrdina]

About as even a deal as you can have.

Hemsky and Maxim are simialr players in that they have tremendous skill but are lacking in other areas. Both great young assets though.

Campoli is a kid I followed since he was drafted and is a great story - late round pick given very little chance of making the NHL. He has great offensive abilities but the rest of his game isn't great and will force him into being a PP specialist and final pairing guy

Eaves is a guy that has a higher ceiling and I like a lot.

So I'd say the Pens get the better of the Hemsky/Maxim exchange but the Blues get the better of the Eaves/Campoli exchange.

In short - Steven is Even.