Three state natives traded at NHL deadline

While it wasn't the spectacle it has been in years past, the NHL trade deadline saw three state products, including one former Badger moved to new teams.

Brad Winchester was the former Badger moved on deadline day. The Madison native was traded from the St. Louis Blues to the Anaheim Ducks for a third round draft pick.

Winchester was apparently targeted over the summer by the Ducks but chose to re-sign with St. Louis according to the Orange County Register. “He plays both ends of the ice and he plays hard,” Ducks GM Bob Murray said. “We tried to get him last year in free agency and he wanted to go back to St. Louis. I told him, ‘Now we got you.’”

The former second round pick of the Edmonton Oilers, Winchester has established himself as a rugged two way player. Winchester had 86 penalty minutes and 14 points in 57 games for the Blues this season.

The other state native who is an NHL regular that got moved at the deadline was Milwaukee's David Steckel. Steckel was traded Monday along with a second round draft pick from the Washington Capitals to the New Jersey Devils for Jason Arnott.

Steckel, who played his college hockey at Ohio State is currently leading the NHL in faceoff percentage. The 6'7 center may be most famously known as the guy who elbowed Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby in the head during the Winter Classic.

Merrill native Jake Hauswirth was the other state product who was informed that he would be changing teams on Monday. Hauswirth was traded from the Washington Capitals to the Florida Panthers along with a third round pick for Panthers defenseman Dennis Wideman.

Hauswirth, who has spent the past year and a half in the ECHL with the South Carolina Stingrays will most likely start with the Cincinnati Cyclones, also of the ECHL who is Florida's affiliate in the coast.

Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images North America

chuckschwartz(at)live.com
Follow me on Twitter

"First practice", Derek Lee, Ben Street, Kelters and more . . .

• Yesterday, The Badgers took the ice @ the KC with the coaching staff for the 1st time this season. Per Andy Baggot's blog post, practices officially start 1 week before the season opener, but the NCAA allows 2 hrs/wk of instruction by the coaching staff starting Sept 15.
  
  Baggot tells us that Derek Lee can't skate with the coaches until a paperwork snafu is resolved, and he also gives us a preliminary look at line combinations.

  P. Johnson-Street-Davies
  Bohmbach-Geoffrion-Turnbull
  Murray-Stepan-Smith
  Mitchell-Dolan-Grotting
  Meuer-Thurber-Bendickson

• I've been waiting for quite sometime for Madison Newspapers to have an article about any random Badger and what they've been doing in the offseason / their outlook on the upcoming season, and yesterday Andy Baggot obliged with an article on Ben Street.
  
  About his summer and rehabbing his knee:
  

  Earlier this summer, Street spent four weeks working out with other college and pro players in Vancouver, looking to measure his rehabilitation.
  
  "The (athletic) trainers basically said, 'We're going to beat the hell out of your knee and then you'll start to trust it,'" he said. "After the first two weeks there, I felt like I was pretty much back."

  About the upcoming season:

  "On paper, I think we look pretty good and stack up as good as anyone else, probably," Street said.
  

  About the first look at line combinations:

  "There's a competitive air kind of laying over everything," Street said. "(Eaves) put some lines up (in the dressing room) so guys could sort of see where they're fitting in.

  "I'm guessing he'll change (the combinations) about 94 more times before the season starts, but it helps guys (see) where they're starting off and who they might be playing with and who's ahead of them."

• I completely missed this last week (sorry!) -- the Badger Herald had an article about the Kelters' playing both soccer and hockey. (Thanks to Boscacci for pointing it out.)

• Good ol' DPlaya found this complimentary article about Brad Winchester.

• DPlaya also found this article about Ron Vincent's ownership of the Penctincton Vees.

• And while I'm stealing from DPlaya, let me refer you to his coverage of Wisconsities in the NAHL Showcase, the NAHL's Future Prospects Tournament, and the USHL preseason. TW Minor is playing in the Future Prospects Tourney.

• Jonathan Willis calls San Jose a winner, Dany Heatley a winner for now, and Ottawa a loser in the blessed end of the Dany Heatley Saga. (Hey, congrats on the new gig, Jonathan!)
  

• BadgersWHockey tells us that Mark Johnson competed in the Ironman again this year.

• NCAA president Myles Brand has passed away from pancreatic cancer. You can find more articles about Brand here.

• Patick Kane traded Badgers Adam Burish and Jack Skille for almost-Badger Sam Gagner in NHL '10. Hmmm. [Thanks, IC.]

• Here's a nice article on Patrick Eaves with the Red Wings. [Thanks again, IC.]
  

It looks like it's official . . . and other alumni news

• I should have posted this Thursday. Or Friday at the very least. But hey, better late than never, right? With Brian Elliott starting the last 5 games for the Sens, it appeared he just might be their number 1 goaltender. Looks like that's official now, with Martin Gerber being placed on waivers on Thursday. The Sens' website has a really nice feature on Elliott right now, too.
  

  "(Elliott) has made some real big saves at crucial times in games," said Hartsburg. "He's given us the saves and given us the chance in games to get something out of it. Before, there were goals going in at the wrong times. I think what Brian has done for us is when the game is on the line, he's been very good for us."
  
  Added defenceman Brendan Bell, "He is just that calm, steady guy in net and I think if we're going to turn this around, we're going to need that."

• Jake Dowell scored his second goal of the season last night in Rockford's 6-2 win over Iowa.
  

  In the third, Dowell pushed the score to 5-2 with a short-handed breakaway goal at 7:12 with a helper from Jimmy Sharrow. Both of Dowell's goals in 2008-09 have come on the penalty kill.

  Dowell also had an assist and finished +2.
  

  Bertram started the scoring as he picked up a feed from Dowell in front of the net and put it past David LeNeveu at 11:37 in the first period to give the IceHogs the advantage.

• Paul Capobianco has a number of alumni updates. He notes that Ryan Suter, Rene Bourque, and Brad Winchester are all having career seasons in terms of points production. He also notes the success that Dany Heatley and Brian Rafalski are having this year. Good stuff; thanks Paul!
  

• In his 2nd game back with Hartford, Matt Ford recorded another assist. (He also had an assist in his 1st game back). Hartford lost 3-2 to Lowell.
  

Keeping up with Brian Elliott, Brad Winchester

Brian Elliott earned his 16th win of the season with a 4-1 victory over Hershey as he continues to lead the AHL in wins this season. He made 43 saves on 44 SOG. Last night's performance moved him from 10th to 5th in the league for SV% with a SV% of .924.

By the way, we neglected to previously mention that Elliott earned his first shutout of the season earlier this month in a 3-0 victory over Albany, stopping all of the River Rats' 33 shots.

Elliott has been in goal for a majority of Binghampton's games, as he is being prepped for his future with the Ottawa Senators. He has played 27 games, compared to Jeff Glass's 9 games.


Brad Winchester scored the game-tying goal and the deciding shooutout goal (on his 1st shootout attempt of the season!) to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 3-2 (SO) victory over the San Jose Sharks last night. In case you were wondering, Joe Pavelski was held off the scoresheet.

Winchester must like playing against San Jose, as he scored 2 goals in his last game against them in the 5-4 loss on Dec. 13.

After a less-than-spectacular start to the season, Winchester has come on strong lately. With just 6 pts in 13 games with Peoria (AHL) to start the season and just 1 assist in his first 10 games with St. Louis, Winchester has scored 5 goals in his last 7 games.

Alumni updates

• Blackhawks TV has a slow motion video of an Adam Burish body check. By the way, if you missed them earlier, check out Burish's "One Goal" spots on Blackhawks TV -- 1st spot, 2nd spot. Classic Burish.


• Adam Burish hasn't updated his blog in the past week, but Chicago Sun-Times online sports editor Roman Modrowski stopped by to take a shot at Adam and to post a Burish fight video.


• Hockey's Future has released its previews of the Rockford Icehogs, Toronto Marlies, and Manchester Monarchs. No mention of Jake Dowell in the Icehogs preview, but Robbie Earl gets some nice mention in the Marlies preview, and Joe Piskula and Davis Drewiske are briefly mentioned in the Monarchs preview.
  

  Other promising Marlie forwards include late cuts Robbie Earl and Kyle Rogers. Earl, 23, has improved consistently since joining the Marlies two years ago. In 2007-08, he notched 14 goals and 47 points in 66 games after scoring 30 points in 67 games the year before. Earl's ticket to the NHL is his speed which he uses primarily in a setup role. Leaf injuries may allow him to see a few NHL games, but he'll likely bulk up and fine tune his game in the AHL this season.
  
  Joining Martinez and Voinov on the blueline will be Davis Drewiske, Joe Piskula and Drew Bagnall. Each is returning to Manchester for his second season, albeit after only a handful of games for Drewiske. Drewiske and Piskula are solid defensive defensemen who will be looked to as the anchor of the defense and on the penalty kill.
  



• In his blog post about Badger lines, Todd mentioned several recent transactions:
  
  
  • The Los Angeles Kings assigned defensemen Davis Drewiske and Joe Piskula to Manchester (AHL).
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs sent forward Robbie Earl to their Toronto AHL affiliate.
  • The New York Rangers assigned defenseman Brian Fahey to Hartford (AHL).
    
  • Hartford, meanwhile, released forward Matthew Ford to Charlotte (ECHL).
  • The St. Louis Blues sent forward Brad Winchester and defenseman Andy Wozniewski to Peoria (AHL).
  • The Chicago Wolves (AHL) released forward Andy Brandt and defenseman Josh Engel. They'll return to Gwinnett (ECHL).

More Signings: Winchester, Piskula

Madison native and Badger alumnus Brad Winchester has signed a 1-year deal worth $600,000 with the St. Louis Blues. Last offseason he signed a 1-year deal worth $475,000 with the Dallas Stars after the Edmonton Oilers did not extend a qualifying offer. In 41 games with the Stars, Winchester had 1 goal and 2 assists.

Winchester previously played for the Edmonton Oilers, where his best career season so far was the 2006-07 season in which he scored 4 goals and 5 assists in 59 games. My recollections (which could be incorrect) are that he played pretty well in the '06 playoffs and pretty well to start the '06-07 season before fading for the rest of the season.

In his 4-year career with the Badgers, he had 40 goals, 44 assists, and 215 penalty minutes in 150 games.

For what it's worth, I think Winchester can make a go of it in the NHL as a 4th-line winger, but it certainly appears that he needs to find some consistency in his play and his goal-scoring. Anyway, hopefully he will step things up with St. Louis so that they'll want to hang on to him after this season.


Antigo native and Badger alumnus Joe Piskula has re-signed with the LA Kings. It's a one-year deal, but I don't have any salary information. I'd expect he'll spend much of the season in Manchester, which is where he spent most of last season. With Manchester, he had 6 points (0G, 6A) in 55 regular season games. He was held of the scoresheet in 4 playoff games. He did appear in 5 games with the Kings but did not record any points.

I'd like to see Piskula do well, but I think it may take a bit longer for him to develop. In general, it tends to take defensmen longer to develop, and I think perhaps Piskula left the UW a bit early on his development curve. I look forward to following his development and the progression of his career.