Kevin Dupont

Ryan Smyth officially became an Islander on Tuesday, and that makes Garth Snow a pretty good rookie general manager. With no one paying attention to the comings and goings of Uniondale, N.Y., Snow pulled the coup of the NHL trade deadline, acquiring Smyth, the heart, soul and Great White North spiritual leader of the Oilers.  

Smyth won't bring a Cup parade back to the Nassau Coliseum parking lot, but his acquisition will be enough for the Isles to nose their way back into the playoffs. For a club that has failed to make the postseason in eight of the previous 11 seasons, that may be enough for some fans of the faded Islander dynasty to dust off their old "Drive For Five'' bumper stickers and pull their Battlin' Billy Smith sweaters out of the trunk.

But before anyone gets too excited over any of late-season "rentals'' who landed in new cities prior to the deadline, it's important to remember that rent rarely, if ever, leads to equity.  

True, Smyth is an Islander today, and will remain there for as long as the Isles last into the spring. Ditto for ex-Flyer Peter Forsberg, now in Nashville, and for ex-Blues Keith Tkachuk (see: Atlanta) and Bill Guerin (reunited with former Bostonians Joe Thornton and Kyle McLaren in San Jose).  Come the start of free agency July 1, if not sooner, perhaps Forsberg will decide to remain in Music City, and maybe Tkachuk hooks on with Hotlanta. And you never know, Guerin might sign on long-term with that Black-and-Gold alumni club in San Jose.

Sorry, but I doubt it.

Don't be surprised, when the deadline highs subside, the playoffs end and the smoke clears, to find Forsberg right back in Philly, and at least one, if not both, of the Blues brothers, Tkachuk and Guerin, to be re-listed on the St. Louis roster. And though he left there with some festering acrimony due to failed contract negotiations, Smyth possibly could swashbuckle his way back to Edmonton. Illegal? Hardly. We saw this last season when Doug Weight, flipped from St. Louis to Carolina prior to the Olympic break, returned to St. Louis over the summer and signed a two-year deal worth $7 million. Oh, and a Carolina-minted Cup ring to make it all the sweeter.

The new CBA now allows for players to reach free agency by the age of 27, while most of them  are just entering their playing prime, and that undoubtedly will lead to a rash of rentals being flushed into the market every February. The likes of Forsberg, Tkachuk, Guerin and Smyth are considerably older than 27, but their respective talents are still vital enough that they'll at least be courted by the clubs that just dumped them. Those clubs, by virtue of the assets obtained in dumping them, most likely will look even more attractive to those players.

NHL trade deadline      Discuss: Sound off on moves  |  Trade list Plenty of trades, but few big names move Flames spark Cup talk by acquiring Jokinen Penguins get Guerin to help out Crosby Bruins hope Recchi can help in playoff run Expert: Sather's roll of the dice unlikely to work Rotoworld: Winners, losers  |  Blog Opinion: Some solid under-the-radar moves Clement: Biggest trade winners since '90

Interesting game, isn't it? And who knows just how much of all that was discussed before Mssrs. Forsberg, Tkachuk and Guerin agreed to waive their no-trade clauses in order to accept their deportations? Something tells me that those pre-trade conversations included enough winks and nods to make the International Brotherhood of Lounge Lizards consider filing a class action suit.

All in all, it was an interesting finale to Deadline Day. Some of the other key moves:

PHILADELPHIA
Could it be the Flyers finally, finally, finally have a goalie? Looks that way. Rookie GM Paul Holmgren, who landed a fine ransom in the Forsberg swap to Nashville, plucked Martin Biron from the Sabres for the relatively economical price of a second-round draft pick. Biron, 29, is an unrestricted free agent (UFA) July 1. The Flyers have the cash, and the need, to lock up Biron for a four-year pact worth $3.5 million-a-year or more. The bet here is he takes it.

DETROIT
The Winged Wheels needed some bark up front, and they're betting that Todd Bertuzzi, once the league's most ferocious power forward, can still do some howling. Trouble is, he has barely played this season, forced to undergo back surgery early in the season. The Panthers got a prospect (Shawn Matthias) and conditional picks to let him go. The pain of seeing Roberto Luongo in Vancouver only grows worse.  

TORONTO
For a third time, Yannic Perreault will wear the Blue-and-White. He's a bit old (35), but he is still one of the league's elite faceoff men, which will lighten the load some on franchise pivot Mats Sundin. Without work when the season began, Perreault signed on with the Coyotes, played quite effectively, and it looked as though he might re-sign with Phoenix. As pointed out above, you never know ... and the Coyotes picked up defensive prospect Brendan Bell for Perreault's rental twirl.

PITTSBURGH
The Pens needed some snarl to serve and protect the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and they found it aplenty in heavyweight Georges Laraque (via Phoenix) and the gnarly Gary Roberts (via Florida). It's the kind of protection that could see the Pens battle their way into a second round or even a Conference championship round. Although the price for Roberts (promising blueliner Noah Welch) was steep.

DALLAS
The betting was that the Kings might move Rob Blake, provided someone would take on his $6 million price tag. No takers. So the Kings instead dumped their captain, aging blueliner Mattias Norstrom, on the Stars. Norstrom has a year left at $4.25 million. He's never been much of a scorer, but that's perfect for the Stars, who grind away on opponents like the Devils of the west.

BUFFALO
Banged up with a bunch of injuries, including key forwards Chris Drury and Maxim Afinogenov, the Sabres made a nice pickup in Danius Zubrus, who averaged nearly a point-per-game with the goal-challenged Caps. Zubrus is UFA-bound, and he might easily be wooed back to D.C. over the summer. The Sabres, who gave up a first-round pick, don't care. They just don't want to see a great season go down the drain in the trainer's room.