[Chance Harper]

Are Marty Turco's days in Big D numbered?

The NHL is stuffing some extra action in just before the two-week break for the Olympics, and the action isn't limited to just on the ice. Montreal's front office got a shake-up this week when GM Bob Gainey resigned. Gainey will remain with the team as an advisor with Pierre Gauthier stepping into the GM role. The Dallas Stars added Kari Lehtonen to their roster in a deal with Atlanta. Let the Marty Turco trade rumors begin.

This is the last week of NHL action before the Olympic Games take over. The schedule-makers have compensated by packing a few extra midweek games into the sardine can – as if handicappers weren’t busy enough trying to evaluate the fallout from last week’s big trades.



We’ll give you our take on the early results as well as the latest news you can use.

A New Leaf
If Jean-Sebastien Giguere keeps playing like this, it won’t matter who else was involved in Toronto’s recent shake-up. The former Stanley Cup winning goalie with the Anaheim Ducks recorded back-to-back shutouts in his first two games with the Leafs (19-30-11, -25.30 units) before taking the loss in Monday’s 3-2 final against the visiting San Jose Sharks (-157).

No shame in losing to the best team in the Western Conference. Defenseman Dion Phaneuf and right winger Fredrik Sjostrom have each picked up two assists since coming over from the Calgary Flames. The 'under,' by the way, is 3-1 since the roster shuffle.

Calgary might be having some trouble integrating all those new players. The Flames (29-22-9, 12.82 units) won their first two games after shipping Phaneuf to Toronto, then lost their next two. Then again, maybe this team just isn’t all that good, clinging as it is to that last playoff position in the West with five teams within six points.

As for the New York Rangers (26-26-7, 10.09 units), the other notably busy team in last week’s trades, they’re 1-2 since plucking Olli Jokinen (37 points in 59 games) from the Flames roster. Jokinen has a goal and an assist for the Blueshirts.

Bob
The two toughest gigs in hockey? Montreal Canadiens goalie, and Montreal Canadiens general manager. Bob Gainey resigned his post on Tuesday as Habs GM after seven years of service, citing personal reasons. Gainey will stay on as a consultant, and right-hand man Pierre Gauthier is taking over, so there might not be much of a transition problem in Montreal.

But there’s a problem nonetheless: The Habs are in seventh place in the East and scrambling for the playoffs at 28-26-6 (7.94 units).

The link between the GM and the goaltending situations is self-evident to Habs fabs. Gainey drafted Carey Price fifth overall in 2005, and while Price has his inspired moments, he also has a lower save percentage (.913) than teammate Jan Halak (.927).

Will Montreal use Halak more often in order to secure that playoff spot? Or will Gauthier deal Halak by the March 3 trade deadline to give Price more room to develop – and stock up elsewhere for a playoff run? The answers will have a significant impact on Montreal’s betting odds going forward.

Lehtonen the Sunshine
The Dallas Stars (26-21-12, -12.39 units) have an interesting goalie situation of their own. On Tuesday, Dallas sent promising D Ivan Vishnevskiy and a fourth-round pick to the Atlanta Thrashers for Kari Lehtonen, who has yet to play a game this year after offseason back surgery.

The former No. 2 overall pick joins a crowded crease with Marty Turco (.910 SV%) and Alex Auld (.894) splitting the duties of late. Crowded for the moment, at least – both Turco and Auld are free agents at the end of the season.

Local scribes are treating this deal as the end of the line for Turco in Big D. Stars owner Tom Hicks is preparing to sell the team, and it’s believed first-year GM Joe Nieuwendyk will be putting Turco (who’s making $5.4 million this year) on the trading block. Dallas is also just three points behind Calgary for that last playoff spot in the West, so moving Turco for a useful skater would help that cause.

Lehtonen recently completed a conditioning stint in the minors and says he is ready to return to the NHL. If he can play to form – Lehtonen has a .912 career SV% and holds a number of Atlanta franchise records – Dallas will have power at the trading table and enhanced betting value down the stretch.