The Olympic hockey tournament is in the history books and now the focus turns to the stretch drive in the NHL.

If you slept through Wednesday, you didn’t miss much when it came to the NHL trade deadline…nothing even approached the neighborhood of an “epic” deal - although it was the busiest deadline day with 78 assets (players and draft picks) in 30 transactions.

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Bubble teams traded in the hopes of making a final push for the playoffs and good teams made deals to fine-tune their rosters, with the Washington Capitals definitely fitting into the latter group.

The top team in the Eastern Conference and the entire league, as of Wednesday afternoon, the Caps have 90 points as well as All-Star Alexander Ovechkin.

But while two-time defending MVP Ovechkin continues to be one the NHL’s brightest stars, he hasn’t had as much success as rival and Pittsburgh Penguin Sidney Crosby.

Obviously Washington didn’t acquire any players that are on par with Ovechkin but it did add some very nice complimentary players in the form of right wing Scott Walker, center Eric Belanger and defensemen Joe Corvo and Milan Jurcina.

As it stands, online sportsbooks have the Caps are +120 to take the Eastern Conference and are +375 to win the Stanley Cup.

Phoenix Coyotes: Despite not having a real owner, the NHL-run Phoenix Coyotes are having a fantastic season, sitting third in the Pacific and fifth in the league.

If the season ended today Phoenix would be in the playoffs and the team looks like it wants to maintain status quo or better based on the number of moves it made.

Amongst the major deals at the trade deadline, the Coyotes:
-re-acquired defenseman Derek Morris from Boston,
-dealt forward Peter Mueller to Colorado for center/winger Wojtek Wolski,
-added D-man and power play specialist Mathieu Schneider from the Vancouver Canucks for a minor leaguer and a pick and
-traded concussed defenseman Matt Jones and draft picks for Toronto Maple Leafs winger Lee Stempniak.

Unlike the Washington Capitals, the Phoenix Coyotes’ odds aren’t as favorable in NHL futures betting.

NHL Odds: Phoenix is currently +1000 to take the Clarence Campbell trophy as the Western Conference champ this season and +2000 to go one step further and win the Stanley Cup.

Fittingly enough, the Coyotes will play one of the teams they did trade deadline business with, the Colorado Avalanche.

The two meet in Phoenix on Thursday and the Coyotes have struggled the last nine times they’ve hosted the Avs with a record of 3-6 SU.

No trade had any real impact on the NHL future odds, but the Washington Capitals got better, as did the Phoenix Coyotes. You might want to keep an eye on them in their next few matchups.

Enjoy the NHL action.

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