Scottie Upshall

As the top eight teams from each conference battle it out in hopes to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup, teams on the outside looking in reflect on the past season as they look forward to the future of their team.

The past season had plenty of highs and lows for the Columbus Blue Jackets. From their hot start to being in the thick of trade deadline rumors to falling short in the final games of the season.

A short while ago, the Phoenix Coyotes and Columbus Blue Jackets made a surprising trade. The Coyotes were not expected to make moves today, since they have been sitting well in the conference.

Unfortunately, Phoenix's best defenseman, Ed Jovanovski, recently went down with an injury. Phoenix wanted to boost defense in place of Jovanovski.  

To Phoenix:

Defenseman Rostislav Klesla

Prospect Forward Dane Byers

To Columbus:

Forward Scottie Upshall

Defenseman Sami Lepisto

Here are the pros and cons of this trade.

As February 28th gets closer, the NHL trade rumors keep building. There's been a lot of activity already, including surprising blockbusters with young stars changing teams.

The trade that sent Erik Johnson to the Colorado Avalanche for Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk was one of the biggest trades in recent history.

There is still expected to be a lot of activity, so here's one player from each team who could have to pack his bags.

When Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke began the re-tooling of his club, he promised to bring in a group of players that would play with an element of testosterone, truculence and pugnacity.

The additions of Dion Phaneuf, Kris Versteeg, Colton Orr, Colby Armstrong and Mike Komisarek were a move in the right direction but collectively, this group has failed to put the fear of God in the opposition.

The hardest question in sports is “what if?” The question "what if" is a question which sports journalists love to throw into their articles talking about for what would have been. For the Phoenix Coyotes, the question “what if” became a reality for the 2009-2010 NHL season.

The Coyotes endured the longest off-season heading into the 2009-2010 season. In May 2009, when teams were competing for the Stanley Cup, the Coyotes were facing a competition that affects millions of families in the United States, bankruptcy. 

While the NHL playoffs are raging through a thrilling set of eight first round matchups, the Carolina Hurricanes are still stuck on the seventh tee.

Why?

Well, to put it simply, the 'Canes just didn't do well enough to deserve the postseason, at least this year. Only eight teams in each conference make the playoffs; eleventh place just isn't going to cut it.

After setting a franchise record for wins in a month in December, the Phoenix Coyotes have looked nothing like they were last month.

With four games completed in January the Coyotes have given up 17 goals; last month it took the Coyotes nine games to give up 17 goals.

While it might be impossible to top what they did last month, the Coyotes need to wake up before the curse of the second half haunts the them for the second consecutive season.

Part of the blame behind this skid has been injuries.

However, that is a poor excuse.

The Phoenix Coyotes struggled to win one game last week including a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

The loss against the Red Wings hurt even worse when Coyotes leading scorer Scottie Upshall went down in the second period and did not return.

Upshall appears to have an upper-body injury and will be re-evaluated on Monday before Phoenix leaves for Edmonton.

It is unsure whether the Coyotes' leading scorer will travel with the team who are on a two-game road trip this week before returning home on Saturday to host the New York Islanders.