NHL Trade News: 6 Deals That Will Have Biggest Impact on the 2011-12 Season

The NHL’s 2011 summer trade winds were particularly cyclonic in and around Philadelphia, the eastern Great Lakes, Minnesota, Colorado and California. The impact, for better or worse, on any of those localities will be patiently gauged over the next six months, beginning this Thursday when the regular season commences.

On the whole, the more prominent transactions figure to hold a noticeably positive sway on the teams that reeled them in, as opposed to utterly ruining the franchises they left behind.

Pending delivery by the new players, this could mean anything from saturating some long-arid scoresheets to cutting down on opposing goal rushes. It could mean anything from making the playoffs a greater potentiality to making them a safe bet to making a later round more conceivable.

On that note, here are the six individuals traded this past offseason who will influence their new club the most in the coming year.

John-Michael Liles to Toronto

After eight years of demonstrating a penchant for playmaking from the point in Colorado, Liles will be leaned on to get the puck moving around the offensive zone in Toronto.

In other words, his task is to restore what the Maple Leafs sacrificed when they exported Tomas Kaberle at last winter’s trading deadline. And given that he is just coming off a career year with 40 helpers last season, the Leafs can expect a little more out of Liles than they would have cultivated from Kaberle.

The insertion of Liles may not be the sole X-factor in delivering Toronto to its first postseason since the 2004-05 lockout. But if the Leafs do finally surmount that hurdle, it is tough to imagine Liles not positively bolstering that cause.

Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi to Minnesota

The Minnesota Wild have not had a single player score more than 25 goals in a season since the team’s last playoff appearance in 2007-08.

Conversely, Dany Heatley has scored no fewer than 26 goals in a single season since the lockout. And Devin Setoguchi, who with Heatley transferred from San Jose in two separate offseason swaps, has broken the 20-goal plateau three years running.

Heatley’s numbers have steadily declined in recent years, but the same has held true for now-former San Jose teammate Joe Thornton. Now that he is no longer with a contender but rather with a floundering franchise with a history of emphasis on defense, he has a chance to jut out and offer some much-needed output in the opposing zone.

Semyon Varlamov to Colorado

Last year’s Colorado Avalanche was buried at the bottom of the league leaderboard with a 3.45 goals-against average.

Furthermore, the 288 opposing goals were the most Colorado has authorized in a single regular season since coming over from Quebec in 1995. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the Avs finished with their single-worst winning percentage in franchise history (.415).

But this year is a chance to start fresh on the home front. Not only will it be Colorado’s first full season with young blueliners Erik Johnson and Matt Hunwick, but also Varlamov’s chance to be a consensus No. 1 stopper, a chance that Michal Neuvirth was not going to permit in Washington.

To contend for a playoff spot, the Avalanche may still need to escalate their offensive output. But the likes of Varlamov promise to cut down on how much goes into their own cage. In turn, Colorado ought to be taken a tad more seriously in 2011-12.

Christian Ehrhoff to Buffalo

In each of the previous two seasons, Ehrhoff led all Vancouver Canucks defensemen with 14 goals. Over the summer, he changed his zip code twice upon being traded to the New York Islanders and then the Buffalo Sabres.

The latter move is a most fortunate twist if he wants to see bonus action beyond 82 games this year.

By allying Ehrhoff with Jordan Leopold and Tyler Myers, the Sabres should have little trouble rolling out a fruitful blue-line brigade. All three defensemen will be vying to crack double digits in their personal goal column for the third consecutive season.

If they can all follow through and do their day jobs on the home front, Buffalo will easily contend for its second Northeast Division title in three years.

Ilya Bryzgalov to Philadelphia

Tretiak and Myshkin they are not, but the Philadelphia Flyers can bank on some long-awaited goaltending stability with the newly-obtained Bryzgalov joining his younger Russian countryman, Sergei Bobrovsky.

Over his past two seasons with the Phoenix Coyotes, Bryzgalov’s numbers are particularly impressive considering the division and conference he was competing in.

In 2009-10, he set new career marks in the way of wins (42) and goals-against average (2.29) and earned the Coyotes their first postseason berth since 2002. He then brought Phoenix to within one game of upsetting Detroit in the first round of the playoffs.

Last year, Bryzgalov went 36-20-10 and made the Coyotes one of four Pacific Division teams to reach the playoffs.

Bryzgalov’s transfer to Philadelphia promises to bring him a similar challenge in the Atlantic Division. He will be tasked with helping the revised Flyers continue to contend for home ice, hold off the rising New York Rangers and challenge the Pittsburgh Penguins for first place.

Mike Richards to Los Angeles

With Ryan Smyth back in Edmonton, the Kings offense will implement a new player who is nine years younger and has been consistently more productive in the post-lockout era.

In addition to that, Richards has already worn the captain’s “C” in the NHL, meaning he is capable of lending a little leadership to the Kings’ youth movement.

The X-factor as to Richards’ immediate impact in Los Angeles will be the impact he feels from the change in environment. One of the reasons he was ushered out of Philadelphia was excessive penchant for social events when he should have been resting and focusing on the task at hand.

If he can shake off that habit and clean up his hitting style (a change that might just come naturally now that he is away from the bully-worshipping Flyer fan base), Richards will play a conspicuous role in bringing the Kings to the next level.

Between Richards, reunited teammate Simon Gagne and a multitude of returnees (Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Justin Williams, Jack Johnson, Drew Doughty, etc.), Los Angeles should break away from Anaheim and Phoenix and breathe behind the top-dog Sharks a little louder.