Okposo, deadline

Team USA World Juniors forward Kyle Okposo has left the NCAA and signed a contract with the NHL's New York Islanders, who picked him in the first round of the 2006 draft. But, Okposo will not be coming to the WHL, where the Everett Silvertips own his rights - he has been assigned by the Islanders to the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

The trade deadline is now just over three days away (3pm Mountain time on Thursday) and there have been no moves in the last two days, since the three trades Saturday morning. I would guess this is the calm before the storm though and we'll probably see the usual 10-15 trades on Thursday.

Some random blabbering about the deadline.....Regina has been the most active so far and are obviously positioning themselves to take a run in the Eastern conference. It remains to be seen what effect the Pats' moves will have on other Eastern front-runners such as Calgary, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Kootenay, Brandon, Moose Jaw, and Swift Current. Calgary has already made one significant move in picking up Brock Nixon. They still have an import spot open, as does Regina, so look for the possibility of one of those teams to acquire a guy like Robin Figren from Edmonton or Juuso Puustinen from Kamloops.

I don't expect to see a lot of moves out of Brandon or Medicine Hat. Both those teams are doing quite well in what is really a rebuilding year for them and I think rather than sell off some of their young players for a quick fix, I think we'll see those teams try to go as far as they can this year with their younger players and build up experience for next year.

Lethbridge is definitely a team to watch.....how do they answer the moves made by two of their biggest competitors in the East? Just my opinion but I think they are very thin on the blueline and really need another top-pairing guy back there to take some of the pressure off Ben Wright. This is where I'd look for Ty Wishart of the Cougars to end up....I know the rumoured price (1st round pick and one or two prospects) for Wishart is ridiculously high right now but unless there is a big bidding war for him this week, the price should come down to something the Hurricanes can swallow by Thursday. You have to believe the Cougars are going to trade the guy; they're not going to the playoffs and so getting anything for him is an improvement on next year's team. I also think the Hurricanes probably have the worst goaltending of any of the top eight in the East - neither one of their goalies is above .900 in the save percentage department - and so this might be another area they need to address this week. Leland Irving and James Reimer are probably available.