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Pre-game reading: Adding Shattenkirk means less power-play time for others

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By trading for Kevin Shattenkirk before the deadline, the Capitals are going all in to win the Stanley Cup after years of playoff disappointment.

-- Up top, Jeremy Roenick and Keith Jones discuss what Kevin Shattenkirk brings to Washington after yesterday’s big trade with the St. Louis Blues.

-- Here’s Capitals GM Brian MacLellan on the acquisition: “When you bring in a player of this stature, there’s an excitement, an energy that goes throughout the room. Everybody gets pumped up for the last part of the season. They get excited. You can never tell what it does to the chemistry. ... It changes roles a little bit. People get less ice time. People get less power play time.” Indeed, it will be interesting to see how the addition of Shattenkirk affects a team that already had two capable, right-shooting d-men in John Carlson and Matt Niskanen. There’s only so much PP time to go around, and those two will likely have to accept less now. File it under “a good problem to have.” (CSN Mid-Atlantic)

-- The Blues traded Shattenkirk in large part because their GM, Doug Armstrong, didn’t believe his team was a top contender. That being said, Armstrong’s not giving up entirely on the season. “Everyone says Minnesota is a Cup contender. Everyone says Chicago is a Cup contender, based on what they do and with their experience. Last year at this deadline, everyone said St. Louis is a Cup contender. Now we are at the dark horse part of that. But dark horses win every once in a while, too.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

-- A list of the best trades that each NHL team has ever made. Plenty of goalies involved, from the Habs getting Ken Dryden to the Avs getting Patrick Roy. (ESPN)

-- Speaking of hockey history, here’s a story about Ralph Slate, the man behind HockeyDB. “Slate’s love of hockey and history – and his tech savvy – underpins HockeyDB, which gets about 1.3 million unique visitors a month. What began as a curious college student’s attempt to locate the alumni of his school hockey team grew into a quest with no finish line.” (Globe and Mail)

-- With six points in his last seven games, Bruins forward Ryan Spooner is loving life under Bruce Cassidy. “I felt like the last coach... he just didn’t really trust me. It might’ve been kind of on me not really playing to the potential that I have, but at the same time ... I just don’t think that he really liked me as a player.” Spooner is, of course, talking about Claude Julien, who certainly did have an up-and-down relationship with the young, offensive-minded player. (CSN New England)

Enjoy the games!