Introducing The Milbury Scale

Happy Trade Deadline Day to one and all! The next few hours (and the ensuing aftermath) should make for an interesting and (hopefully) unpredictable time for puckheads across the land. Here on FanHouse, we'll be offering updates and analysis throughout the day. We also encourage you to check out our own James Mirtle's coverage, the updates from Lyle "Spector" Richardson, the mainstream media coverage from Newsday and TSN's Trade Centre, and the audio and visual coverage from The Fourth Period, where I'll be appearing on their live streaming radio show today at 1 p.m. There's just so much information out there, why would anyone by dumb enough to pay for it?

But none of those media outlets have what we have this deadline on FanHouse: The Milbury Scale for trade evaluation. That's right: We'll be rating each transaction through the mystique of Mike Milbury, current NBC analyst and one of the most disastrous (and tenured) general managers in recent NHL history. Here's how it works:

One Milbury: A fair trade that helps both teams, both in the short term and in the long run. No winner, no loser: Just a solid deal founded on smart financial and hockey needs.

Two Milburys: A trade that could, down the road, burn one team in a big way. We're talking a trade of blue-chip prospects for a rental, if the team that's renting clearly isn't going to win it all this season.

Uh-oh! Three Milburys means a clear winner in a deal at the time of the trade. Someone got a little too desperate, or someone just got hosed!

Disaster on an epic Four Milbury scale. Bertuzzi, McCabe and eventually Jarkko Ruutu for Trevor Linden! Luongo and Jokinen for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha! YASHIN!