Trade Alert: Lee Stempniak to Toronto

The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded Steen and Colaiacovo to the St. Louis Blues for Lee Stempniak (NHL.com).

Fantasy Impact for Toronto: Stempniak is certainly the most valuable player in the deal. He had a slow start to the season with only 1 point through his first 6 games and missed a handful of games due to injury, but has been getting it going more recently. Overall he had 13 points in 14 games on a good, young Blues team. Lee goes to another up and coming team in the Leafs, who have been playing surprisingly well thus far in 2008-2009. Overall Stempniak was seeing pretty good minutes in St. Louis lately, he should have similar minutes for Toronto as well, so his value stays relatively the same for the time being. It’s quite possible he lands on the top line for the Leafs.

Fantasy Impact for St. Louis: Alex Steen only has 4 points in 20 games played so far this season. He’s been struggling to say the least. Short term he does get a boost going to injury-riddled St. Louis, though, as he could get some good minutes with superior teammates than he had in Toronto, where he was relegated to the 3rd line most of the time. Steen should be playing center for one of the top lines for the time being, due to all the injuries the Blues have. He could be worth a pick-up in the short term, if you’re in a very deep league, as he may grab some points right off the bat because of the situation. Tread with caution, though, especially if your league has a transactions limit. Colaiacovo has proven to be very injury prone and is not a fantasy contributor at this point.