Pogge traded

The Anaheim Ducks have traded Justin Pogge and a 4th round pick for veteran defenseman Aaron Ward of the Carolina Hurricanes. Anaheim has given the rights of Pogge, the goalie who they deemed as their No 3, over any other prospect goalie to Carolina. Pogge had previously struggled in Toronto, the team who drafted him, before he was traded to the Ducks for a conditional round pick routing itself to the Leafs.

As for many Ducks fans, this may come as a shock that Pogge has been traded. Ward has been struggling this season with Carolina, he has accumulated  1 goal and 10 assists, 11 points in 60 games. He is a -17  we'll have to sit back and see how Ward works out with Anaheim.

The trade of Pogge may result in Timo Pielmeier being named as Anaheim's No 3 goalie, the future to back up Jonas Hiller as quick as next season. Vesa Toskala is most likely remaining in Anaheim for the 2010-2011 season, however, there is just a slight possibility he will.

I guess changing of the guard helped Anaheim's decision that Pogge was out on a transfer and as the Ducks have watched Pielmeier from a far, they liked what he has done, what he has provided for the safe keeping; puckstopping, denial of shots to get through him. Thus, Anaheim has seen Timo has the better guard, in regards of their way for their ways of running things. This is great for Pielmeier, who has been very good with the Bakersfield Condors. His dream may finally be fulfilled of playing in the NHL; now if this comes to be, all he needs is to be selected for the Olympics in the near future!

Pogge had obviously generated interesting from other teams and this year's trade deadline, seems to be some kind of favorite with draft picks, since tons of players have had some sort of draft pick included in their package to their new respective teams.

The trade also may be slightly affected with Marco Cousineau signing a 3-year contract earlier this season. It could go both ways. Cousineau's signing may or may not have an affect on the Pogge trade. However, the Ducks may be in the running to draft another goalie at the NHL entry draft. However, the Ducks can hold back on drafting a goalie at the entry draft this June.

UPDATE:  Anaheim trades Ducks Vesa Toskala for Curtis McElhinney. So that slight possibility of Toskala being a Duck next year is gone. Not surprised though that he's no longer a Duck. Toskala has been traded to the Calgary Flames; this reunites him with Mikka Kippursoff The Ducks acquired Toskala in the J.S. Giguere  trade, which sent the face of Anaheim's goaltending to  Toronto after Hiller signed his $18mil 4-year contract. McElhinney backed Kippursoff and e has only played seven games with Calgary, where he is 3-4-0 with a .885 save percentage and a 3.22 goals against average.

Poor Toskala after he went through that whole immigration process and was so eager to get some new Ducks gear, he is traded back to a Canadian team.

Ducks acquire Joey MacDonald another goalie in MacDonald from the Toronto Maple Leafs. MacDonald played five games for the Leafs behind the Leaf Toskala and their future goaltender in Jonas Gustvasson. He is 1-4-0 with a .892 SV% and a 3.20 GAA. The Ducks are sure getting some goalies this trade deadline

New faces on the Ducks:

Curtis McElhinney.
Nathan Ostyrick
Aaron Ward
Joey McDonald
Lubomir Vinovsky

No longer Ducks:
Vesa Toskala
Evgeny Artyhukin
Justin Pogge
Ryan Whitney