I will admit, had this deal been announced at this time last season, I would have bought anyone nearby a drink in order to toast his departure. He was my favorite Flames whipping boy last season, owing to his penchant for comitting baffling, defensive-zone gaffes at inopportune times.

Metrognome takes the words right out of my mouth, but as he notes, things have changed. He started last season very poorly, but ended up being maybe the Flames best defenceman in the playoffs.

Pace Mirtle, I think the key to the outgoing part of this trade is not Kobasew, but Ference. Life as an NHL GM -- outside of Edmonton, at least -- means that sometimes you just have to turn the page on a younger player, even with the full knowledge that he may end up being productive somewhere else. If you never "give up" on a young player who may have greater potential, where do you end up? I suppose right now, Marc Savard and Martin St. Louis could be working the #1PP unit with Iginla. Then again, we'd also be wondering why Rico Fata and Oleg Saprykin can't develop any chemistry with Matt Lombardi, and I'd be sitting in a cold bath blankly stroking a toaster.

Giving up Andrew Ference, though, is a big risk. While he'll never become an offensive dynamo, he's only 27 and it's unlikely that he's peaked as a quality defender. And even if he has: there is not a team in the NHL who doesn't have room on their roster for an everyday defenceman who can take a regular shift, kill penalties, mentor his teammates, work his ass off, and is signed for 3 more years at $1.4M/year. Not one.

It's Tuesday afternoon now, 3 days later, and the point above has been made elsewhere, as well as just about everything else that can be said about this deal. That includes "The X Factor", as in, what kind of void has been left in the dressing room, and what are the implications (both direct and karmic) of trading a guy who recently signed a long-term deal for a "hometown discount".

I'm going to go out on a limb here (read: make myself look stupid) and guess that there was another unstated reason why this trade was made. Call it the Peplinski Underwear Theory.

There is a certain order, or Law of the Jungle, when it comes to team sports -- hockey as much as any of them. I don't know if you'd properly call it old school, and I frankly don't know if it's legit or just superstition. But the Law is that a player's leadership role (or presence) on a team must be roughly commensurate with his on-ice role.

Andrew Ference is by all accounts a good guy and a smart guy. The media loves him because he's frank and thoughtful. He was obviously very popular on the team, and here's where I veer closer to my point. You know how between the two HNIC games on Saturday nights, they always show a clip of the teams in the late game coming off the bus? You always saw Iginla, Ference, and Regehr together. Sometimes they were merely bunched; sometimes they were chatting, laughing, whatever.

I'm guessing that -- not by design, but through sheer force of personality -- Andrew Ference had a presence on the Flames that exceeded what you would you expect from a 27-year-old 3rd-pair defenceman. I'm further guessing that the Coach was uncomfortable with this (cosmic imbalance!).

In the 1989 Stanley Cup Finals, Jim Peplinski was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career -- twice. It wasn't a decision on merit, exactly (he was certainly more effective than Lanny at that point, who drew in for the clinching game in Pepper's place). It was Terry Crisp's signal to Al Macinnis, Doug Gilmour, and the other top guys that they were the leaders of the team and they were responsible, regardless of Peplinski's leadership qualities and the C on his sweater (he shared it with Lanny and Tim Hunter, who was also a G6 scratch). This is why, in all the pics from the Montreal Forum of the Flames celebrating with the Cup, Jim Peplinski is wearing red long underwear: because he wasn't playing; he was riding a stationary bike in the dressing room, watching it on TV.

So there's your theory as to other reason why the Flames were willing to give up Ference. They want Iginla and Regehr to be the clear Big Dogs. You might think I'm on crack; that's fine, I just hope I've explained myself clearly.