Boston Bruins center Marc Savard is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with a grade two concussion following a blindside hit to the head by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke.

The incident happened in Sunday’s 2-1 Penguins’ win.

Savard lost consciousness on the play for close to 20 seconds, and lay motionless on the ice for several minutes while medical staff attended to him. The Bruins’ top pivot was then taken off on a stretcher, and taken to a local hospital.

Savard returned to Boston Monday where he met with team doctor Peter Asnis and a brain specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and was diagnosed. He complained of constant headaches and exhaustion, common symptoms of concussions. The 32-year old also admitted he did not remember blanking out, or the events immediately leading up to the point that he took the hit. The team said they have to watch how Savard progresses over the next few days before they will know how long he will be out.

The player who made the hit said he was only finishing his check. Cooke has a sports book reputation for questionable hits, and has been suspended before for what is considered dirty play. However, because the league mandate does not forbid shoulder-to-head hits as long as the puck is in range, the NHL is not expected to levy a suspension.

The incident coincidentally corresponds with the annual NHL general manager meetings in Florida, where hits to the head are the main topic.

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It has been 24 hours since the end of the deadline and it is time for those doing sports betting to decide who came out of the busiest day in NHL history on top and who failed to get the job done.

Winners: Washington, Phoenix and Toronto.

The only knock on Washington was that they could use someone to back up Mike Green and might not be tough enough to deal with the playoffs. They picked up Joe Corvo and then added Milan Jurcina, Jason Chimera, Scott Walker and Eric Belanger. This added a solid, second-unit offensive-defensemen, in Corvo, and a bunch of depth and toughness; making them even more of a favourite to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.

Phoenix made a league high seven moves; with the biggest being the acquisitions of Peter Mueller and Wojtek Wolski. These will bolster their offence and makes them a solid playoff team that no one really wants to meet; a large step from the league joke that they were last year.

The Leafs are in the race for worst in the league but after their big moves before the Olympics Brian Burke was able to pick up three prospects and four draft picks while only giving up a minor league goaltender and two second to third line wingers. Great for a rebuilding team.

Losers: Flyers, Red Wings, Blackhawks and any other team looking for a goaltender.

In either the first games since or the last game before the deadline, each of these teams had to pull their goaltender during a blowout. Each team wanted a top tier goaltender and none of them managed to pick one up. Of the big names like Turco, Vokoun, Ellis and Halak rumoured to be on the block, none of them were moved. The only goalie that got traded was Vesa Toskala who moved for the second time in a month to the

With the Trade Deadline looming, reports out of Toronto have at least two teams putting down offers for Alexei Ponikarovsky. Whether Brian Burke pulls one today or waits until closer to the deadline to see if he can get a better deal is still to be seen but all signs point to the power forward being with another team before 3 pm tomorrow. Wayne Primeau and Lee Stempniak are said to have been asked about and are readily available to gather draft picks and free up some playing time for the Leafs young forwards.

The Philadelphia Flyers are actively pursuing Nashville’s Dan Hamhuis and it is reported that forward Ryan Parent and some other compensation (likely a mid-round draft pick) would be going the other way. The Flyers are trying to beef up their back line in case they are unable to acquire a better goaltender; something they have been rumoured to be inquiring about since Ray Emery was shut down for the remainder of the season.

The first of many players expected to be shipped out of Edmonton is heading to Nashville as the Oilers have sent Denis Grebeshkov to the Predators for a second round pick. In a nosedive since early in the season, the Oilers have made it clear that they will listen to any offers that will give young players or draft picks in return for their veterans.

Carolina and Florida have also made it clear that they will be sellers at the deadline with Joe Corvo, Aaron Ward, Andrew Alberts and Dennis Seidenberg heading up a group of highly sot after defensemen available from the two clubs.

The Flyer, Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes are at the top of the list of clubs actively trying to improve their defence heading into the playoff push and you can expect a combination of the teams doing deals.

In the lead-up to the start of the tournament, Olympic Hockey odds had three favored teams; Canada, Sweden and Russia as at least two of the teams have been in each semi-final since the Soviet Union collapsed. Until this year, that is. There is only one remaining after the quarterfinals; the Canadian team that had to go through a qualifying game just to advance.

The powers of hockey are quickly seeing the gap between them and the former weak teams close at an alarming rate. While the tournament still had teams like Norway, Latvia and Germany, who were completely outplayed, Switzerland played the USA to a 3-1 loss, took the Canadians to a shootout and Belarus was in a close 4-2 loss to Sweden.

While these teams are not going to challenge for medals, the Slovakian team is off to the semi-finals along with a much improved American team and an always scrappy Finland. Slovakia has never placed higher than fifth in the Olympics but with the Marians (Hossa and Gaborik) and a strong young goaltender in Jaroslav Halak, they are a team to look out for.

The Finns have always been able to shut down a strong offence to knock a favorite out of the tournament; this year it was Sweden. Always a strong team they have never advanced to the elite level; never placed higher than second at the Olympics and in the IIHF World Cup they have 11 top four placements but only one gold in the past fifteen years. This might be their year as they have a matchup with USA who has only one medal (silver in 2000) since the Miracle on Ice.

The clear favorite should not be the Canadians. They dismantled the Russians in the quarterfinal and having fixed the defensive issues that cost them their game against the Americans, they are a lock for a medal; the question is what color.

After making 15 saves and posting a shutout, against lowly Norway on February 15, Roberto Luongo then watched as Martin Brodeur allowed seven goals on 46 shots (.848 save percentage) over two games.

For Tuesday’s game against Germany, Luongo will get his third career Olympic start in an arena that he is very familiar with which should change Olympic hockey odds.

The Montreal, QC native is in his fourth season with the Vancouver Canucks, who conveniently play out of GM Place; which has so cleverly been renamed Canada Place for the duration of the Olympics.

On home ice Luongo has boasted a 87-36-14 record (including 21-7-1 this season) and 16 shutouts over his time with the Canucks and has a good chance of improving to 2-0 in Olympics if Canada pulls out the victory over Germany.

Whatever the outcome, you can expect a giant cheer of “Loooouuuu” when he hits the ice tonight.

While Luongo was receiving word that he would start, Joni Pitkanen was learning that he is being suspended for the quarterfinal round.

The Finland defender had been put under review after receiving a game misconduct for an elbow to the head of Sweden’s Patric Hornqvist on Sunday.

After the incident, both Hornqvist and Pitkanen did not return and there is no word yet whether the Swedish forward will suit up for the next game.

The Finn’s will have a day to figure out their line-up as they earned a bye to the quarterfinals by finishing with the fourth best record in the round robin.

One other report out of Vancouver; Toronto Maple Leaf Mikhail Grabovski was arrested after an altercation outside of a club on Pacific Boulevard.

The 26 year-old forward was held off of the Belarusian team with a wrist injury but joined his countrymen to provide support throughout the games. An investigation is pending.

Anyone who follows Olympic Hockey betting will know that the rivalry between the Canadian and United States teams is one of the biggest rivalries in the sport.

After demolishing Norway 8-0 in their opener after only one practise as a full team, the Canadians will have worked out any of the kinks and will be ready for the American side that struggled to finish off a pesky Swiss team 3-1.

The Canadians have a powerful offense that is going to put up a lot of goals in this tournament and unlike the other big offense in the tournament, Russia, is strong at the back end. The Americans have been hurting on defence with the losses of Mike Komisarek and Paul Martin and being a young group with only Brian Rafalski being over 30 years old.

The biggest factor in this game will be Ryan Miller. He is having an incredible season this year with the Buffalo Sabres and has nine games with over 35 stops and has only lost two of them, both of which came in overtime. If he gets on a hot streak, the Canadians might be in trouble.

While the American team has a solid team, they will be no match for the powerhouse Canadian side. The U.S. team will have two solid lines however their third and fourth lines are no match and their top lines are undersized.

Their top forwards are Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane and Zach Parise, each of whom stands less than 5’11”. The whole Canadian team boast only three players under six feet tall. The size and physicality of the Canadian side will be too much for the Americans and, much like what happened in the game against Norway, they will be worn out and allow a lot of goals in the third period.

NHL Trade Rumors

The NHL is on Olympic Break while its stars travel to Vancouver to play in the 2010 Olympic Games. While they’re away (until February 28^th) there is a trade hiatus in the NHL. That hasn’t stopped GM’s from talking of course and we now have almost two weeks for blockbuster deals to take shape.

Sports Interaction Review: NHL Trade Deadline

Teams that will become scary with one addition:

Pittsburgh Penguins: Looking to add a forward to play with Malkin. Pens having been looking at Carolina’s Ray Whitney and Toronto’s Alexei Ponikarovsky to be the lucky benefactor of some crisp Malkin passes and a chance to win a Stanley Cup. Malkin is slumping in production this year and getting him a scorer to feed can’t hurt. This team is a Stanley Cup favorite every year they have Malkin and Sid the Kid on their roster together.

Philadelphia Flyers: With the career of goalie Ray Emery in jeopardy with a hip injury similar to that A-Rod had this past season with the Yankees, the Flyers are in the market for a goaltender. Montreal has two in Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price that both could be starters and are likely to move one or the other by the deadline. Florida G Tomas Vokoun has also been rumored to be on the market and is by far the best goaltender out there. The Flyers maybe the only team with enough assets up front to make a blockbuster deal for the All-Star net-minder, and would be a serious contender with a quality backstop like Vokoun.

Best 3 guys reportedly on their way out:

Toronto Forward Alexei Ponikarovsky: Underrated winger for the Maple leafs has played well the past couple of years without a true center. He likely will not return to Toronto and become a free agent so the Leafs would be wise to move him. Ponikarovsky is ready to be a top 6 forward for a contender right now.

Nashville D Dan Hamhuis: Defenseman has played significantly better than his contract pays and Nashville will not be able to re-sign him. They will not want to lose out on him and the Devils amongst others are looking for a big defenseman. He will be an impact player at this deadline for any team that needs some size on its blue-line.

Carolina Forward Ray Whitney: Whitney is the marquee name out there right now at the forward position with Ilya Kovalchuk traded to New Jersey. Whitney has posted 19 goals and 29 assists on a struggling Hurricanes team and is their best chance to get some much needed prospects in the farm system. The Canes will ask for a lot for Whitney who may be the first to be traded after the Olympics.

We’re betting management all across the NHL are working the phones right now, trying to get a deal done before the Olympic roster freeze on Friday at 3 PM ET. With action resuming on March 1^st and the official trade deadline on March 3^rd, there won’t be much time, so expect a couple of these deals to go through.

Ray Whitney

The Carolina forward is being chased by Los Angeles, and the Hurricanes are asking for a prospect and a draft pick for the 37-year-old who has 16 points and 28 assists in 57 games. Whitney would add scoring for the Kings, who missed out on Ilya Kovalchuk, and he would also add a veteran presence on a very young team that is exceeding expectations.

Paul Kariya/Keith Tkachuk

These two St. Louis Blues veterans are free agents this summer, and it seems like Tkachuk’s name also comes up in trade talks. But as Bill Guerin showed last year in Pittsburgh, veteran experience can be key in the playoffs. It’s just a matter of what the Blues want for the 37-year-old Tkachuk and the 35-year-old Kariya, who both have 28 points in 55 and 54 games, respectively.

James Wisniewski

The 25-year-old Anaheim defenseman is reportedly being shipped around as the Ducks don’t think they’ll be able to afford the raise he should get in arbitration this summer. Wisniewski is averaging a career high of 24:18 in ice time, and the word is his old club, Chicago, wants him back to provide stability at the back. Wisniewski would be an excellent fit for chemistry for Chicago, who is already though to be the NHL betting favorite in the Western Conference.

Gainey announced on February 8 that he would be vacating his position in a surprise move citing that he was not planning on re-signing, when his contract runs out in June, and wanting the new GM to be able to make the trades at this deadline that will affect the team next year.

The Canadiens also announced on Monday that Marc-Andre Bergeron (knee) and Benoit Pouliot (shoulder) would be sidelined until March. This adds to the growing list of long-term injuries that now sits at five and takes two of the better offensive players out of the Habs line-up.

Bergeron leads the defence with 10 goals and 28 points including 20 on the Montreal powerplay that ranks second in the league. Pouliot has played very well after coming over from Minnesota earlier in a trade for Guillaume Latendresse; scoring 11 goals and 14 points in just 20 games.

They will join leading goal scorer Mike Cammaleri (knee), Paul Mara (upper body) and Andrei Kostitsyn (knee) in the press box until at least their March 2 game following the Olympics. The game against the Bruins kicks off a tough four game road trip that starts in Boston and heads to the opposite coast for games against Western Conference leading San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles.

Sitting at 62 points, the Canadiens are third in the Northeast division and sixth in the conference but cannot afford to start losing as there are six teams within five points of them in the standings. Having gone 7-7-3 since New Years, they will need to come together as a team to keep in the playoff hunt; which will be hard to do with the locker-room rift caused by the goaltender battle between Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price.

US sportsbook odds (US sportsbook reviews) didn’t even give Phoenix a shot of staying in the city, much less making the playoffs, but there the Coyotes are in fourth place in the Western Conference as they travel to Chicago on Friday to meet the second-place Blackhawks.

Coyotes vs Blackhawks odds – Friday, February 5, 8:30 PM ET

The Coyotes have won five in a row, and captain Shane Doan has grabbed the team by the scruff of the neck, notching nine points in a current four-game point streak. In their five-game winning streak, four of the wins have come by one goal, including two in the shootout and one in overtime. So if anything, you know it’ll be a good game when you watch the Coyotes.

The Blackhawks have dropped two straight, but it’s no time to panic for a young Chicago team that is still the Stanley Cup favorite in the West. But the Blackhawks can definitely take confidence from a recent road trip in which they went 5-3, and now they have four very winnable games before the Olympic break starts.

The Blackhawks should be favored at home, and they’re a sparkling 21-6-1 at the United Center, where they’ve won four straight over the Coyotes. Chicago is also 8-2 in their last 10 against the Coyotes, who have won their last three games on the road, so something has to give. Cristobal Huel has looked shaky in goal over the last couple of games, but the offense hasn’t been great either. That isn’t a good sign against a Phoenix team who is building up steam heading into the break.

NHL picks: Phoenix