It’s a big day in sports today, for players, agents and the tax man, as 3:00 ET/12:00 PT is the NHL trade deadline, and 4:00 ET/1:00 PT is the deadline for teams to put franchise tags on players. It’s also the day equipment managers hate, because they have to make sure the right shit gets in the right bag before it’s air freighted to god-knows-where.

As a Canucks fan, watching last night’s game hurt. To steal a line from a friend, “they had enough guys wearing 60s last night to fill out an offensive line”. So when I go see them play the Bruins on March 13, it’ll be the Sedins and the finest Utica Comets wearing Canucks blue taking the ice.

This post will be updated periodically when important things like that happen.

In the meantime, can we discuss last night’s new “Guardians, Volume 2” trailer?

I’m going to be cautiously optimistic & say, “glorious”. Not a giant fan of the Fleetwood Mac song – I enjoyed “Fox on the Run” better as an action song – but it gave some good hints about what to expect on May 5th, when it opens and takes all of our money.

Plus, as noted last night, Kurt Russell’s beard game has come full circle from “The Thing”.

MAGNIFICENT!

Updates will be posted down here as time progresses. (All times Pacific)

(Unless noted, after 11:00 PT all NHL updates are from TSN.)

• 9:05 AM – per TSN, Panthers acquire Tomas Vanek from Red Wings for defenceman Dylan McIlrath and a 2017 third-round pick in return. The Red Wings will also retain 50 per cent of Vanek’s $2.6 million cap hit.

• per PFT, Rams exercise franchise tag on Trumaine Johnson

• per nfl.com, Colin Kaepernick opts out of his contract to avoid the tag & become a Free Agent

• 9:25 AM – Canadiens acquire F Dwight King from the Kings for a 2018 4th round draft pick.

• 9:30 AM – per TSN, Georges St. Pierre to fight Michael Bisping for the Middleweight title. Date/event to be announced Friday.

• 10:10 – per TSN, Jarome Iginla from Colorado to the Kings in exchange for a conditional 4th round draft pick in 2018 [update: the pick possibly improves each round the Kings advance, up to a second]
  • the Avs will also retain 50% of Iginla’s salary, to keep the Kings under the cap

• 10:30 – consider how slow my day is when I can devote my whole morning to watching NHL & NFL feeds

• 10:45 – America’s wang goalie trade:
  • Tampa gets Mike McKenna from Florida in exchange for Adam Wilcox
    • as back up now that Bishop is on the Kings.

• 11:00 – my first student has arrived.
  • being the first of the month, some of them are likely down at the Ministry doing their check-in’s and benefits validation. Such is the life of an alternate ed teacher.

• 11:05 – Edmonton acquires F Justin Fontaine from the Rangers for F Taylor Beck

• 11:06 – Columbus acquires D Kyle Quincey from the Devils for D Dalton Prout

• 11:10 – Montreal gets F Andreas Martinsen from Colorado in exchange for F Sven Andrighetto

• 11:10 – per PFT, James Harrison resigns with the Steelers
  • a two-year deal; details to be announced later for $3.5 million total

• 11:30 – Tampa acquires F Mark Streit from Philadelphia for a player to be named later F Valtteri Filppula, 2017 4th-Round Pick, and a 2017 Conditional 7th-Round Pick

• 11:50 – Nashville gets F P.A. Parenteau from New Jersey in exchange for a 6th-Round Pick

• 11:55 – Calgary gets F Curtis Lazar & D Mike Kostka from Ottawa in exchange for D Jyrki Jokipakka, some spare consonants, & a 2nd-Round Pick

• 12:10 – well, that appears to be it for the NHL.
  • No last-minute deals that slipped in under the wire.
  • Nothing horribly shocking.
• Now it’s just waiting until the Franchise Tag deadline at 1:00 PT.

• 12:15 – a late-announced trade of F Eric Fehr, D Steve Oleksy & a 2017 4th-Round Pick from the Penguins to the Leafs in exchange for a player to be named later D Frank Corrado.
  • Fucking Leafs.

• 12:25 – the Penguins get D Mark Streit from Tampa for a 2018 4th-Round Pick
  • meaning after all this he just has to drive across state

• 12:30 – to torture litre_cola, the Bruins get F Drew Stafford from the Jets in exchange for a Conditional 6th-Round Pick

So much for thinking all this is over. No Broncos fax-machine issues today apparently.

• 12:35 – Columbus gets F Lauri Korpikoski from Dallas for D Dillon Heatherington

That finally seems like it for the NHL.

• 13:10 – The time has passed for franchise tags to be applied to players for the upcoming season.
  • According to nfl.com, here’s who has been tagged for this season:
    • Le’Veon Bell, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
    • Kirk Cousins, QB, Washington [Redacteds]
    • Melvin Ingram, LB, Los Angeles Chargers of Carson
    • Trumaine Johnson, CB, Los Angeles Rams
    • Chandler Jones, LB, Arizona Cardinals
    • Jason Pierre-Paul, DE, New York Giants
    • Kawann Short, DT, Carolina Panthers

See you tonight for the Open Thread.