Senators Acquire Cullen

			2009/2010 NHL Statistics
To Ottawa	Position	Age	GP	Goals	Points	2010 Cap Hit	2011 Cap Hit
Matt Cullen	Forward	33	60	12	40	$2.875 million	UFA
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To Carolina	Position	Age	GP	Goals	Points	2010 Cap Hit	2011 Cap Hit
Alexandre Picard	Defenseman	24	45	4	15	$800,000	RFA
2010 2nd Round Draft Pick

Well, on this deadline before the Daddy of all deadlines, post-Olympics, the action started nice & early as the race for the roster freeze begins and some teams are going to work on their chemistry beforehand.

The Senators have done like their division rivals and picked up a quality third line centre to help with their defensive play down the stretch. Matt Cullen goes to Ottawa from Carolina and the Hurricanes get younger with prospect defenseman, Alexandre Picard and a 2nd round draft pick.

Ottawa has been quickly rocking up the Eastern Conference standings with some good looking win streaks and now they've potentially gotten better with a little more help down the middle. Cullen will probably start with the Sens in more of a checking role, but as you can see by his numbers, he'll also likely get some time in some sort of scoring capacity this season.

The Hurricanes are likely going to stock up their stables with young players and picks and this was a good move to get Picard. He should be a pretty good minute-eating defenseman down the line.

The Senators are in pretty good shape when it comes to the cap this year. Even the annual numbers with the new addition doesn't topple over the salary cap ceiling, so with discounts for injuries in a number of places, there is a good chance that Ottawa could even still fit in another move before its all said and done.

The Hurricanes have dumped salary here and will continue to until the actual trade deadline comes along.

This is a minor deal in the Sheet pool, as only one team has picked Matt Cullen this season and that person should be awfully pleased with that selection now. The move to Ottawa could likely pick up his scoring pace a little bit, depending on who he lines up with. Picard is on the Sheet, but wasn't taken at all.

Neither player figured into the Draft this season.

The Senators are in play in the East and this is the kind of splash that says, "hello, don't forget about us." As a rental, this is very similar to the Habs trading for Dominic Moore on Thursday, except the value of Cullen is that much higher that a prospect had to go along with the 2nd round pick.

Overall, this is a pretty good deal for both sides, but really, I don't think the Senators have the goaltending to make the deal worth while in the end. It's going to give the team a nice push, but an expensive rental over top of some questionable goaltending is a bold & risky move.

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