Hey Barry, do you think the Philadelphia Flyers will be the team to come out of the East? If John LeClair and Tony Amonte can get the offense going they seem to have all the pieces in place, including a goaltender who is better than most give him credit for being. - Andrew Spotts, Richmond, Va.

Melrose: Well, the Flyers have had enough offense all year, but the problem was that the offense wasn't scoring goals. It was just a case of players like Mark Recchi, Simon Gagne and Jeremy Roenick not getting the job done, and with LeClair and Amonte in the mix there are no more excuses.

And while everyone says that Roman Cechmanek is Philly's Achilles' heel, don't forget that he was the Flyers' strongest player in the playoffs last year. They didn't go after a goaltender at the deadline, so they obviously feel that he is the guy to get it done for them.

	Nikolai Khabibulin could help Tampa Bay make a playoff run.

Last year we saw the Carolina Hurricanes take everyone by surprise and make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. Is there a similar team in this years mix that make an unexpected run through the playoffs? -- Hockey Fan-atic, Parts unknown

Melrose: The only team I see with any chance of making a run like that is the Tampa Bay Lightning, because of the goaltending of Nikolai Khabibulin. He has been playing great lately and is the main reason the Lightning is fighting the Washington Capitals for third place in the Eastern Conference.

But the top four teams in each conference are very strong and all got better at the deadline, so I don't see much of a chance for major upsets like last year.

For the first time, the Atlanta Thrashers didn't do much at the trade deadline. Is that a sign that we're seeing the same team that we'll see for a few years? Does that mean that Don and Bob Hartley like what they have or that they didn't have anything anybody really wanted? -- Andrew Tripp, Macon, Ga.

Melrose: The Thrashers did move guys like Richard Smehlik and Pascal Rheaume, but the players other teams want are the youngsters on the roster and the Thrashers aren't going to let any of them go. Atlanta has a good nucleus there with guys like Dany Heatley, Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrik Stefan and Marc Savard, and that is what they are building around.

The Thrashers got some draft picks back in the deals they made and will get another high pick of their own this year, and next year will be the time for them to start making a run at the playoffs. They are doing things the same way the Ottawa Senators did, taking their lumps until the kids develop.

Barry, the St. Louis Blues finally picked up the veteran goalie everybody said they needed when they got Chris Osgood. So are they now Stanley Cup contenders? If Osgood wants to keep the nickname "Ozzie" he had better play well, because the people of St. Louis are used to seeing a guy by that name come through -- Danny, Hardin, Ill.

Melrose: Osgood has been on two cup-winning teams and knows what it takes to go all the way, so the Blues are definitely contenders. But he hasn't had a good year and is hurt right now so he needs to get some games under his belt before the postseason.

St. Louis is a good hockey club and if the Blues don't win a couple of rounds this year it will be a disappointing year for them.

Even with all the trades that happened at the deadline, were you surprised by anything that didn't happen? -- John, Detroit

Melrose: Bob Boughner not being traded by the Calgary Flames was the biggest surprise to me, and it was strange that the Phoenix Coyotes didn't move Sean Burke after all the talk surrounding him. Vincent Damphousse not leaving San Jose was also a bit surprising.

Any time a quality veterans on losing teams, especially the defensemen who are so much in demand, don't change cities at the deadline it is kind of shocking.

Barry, What's up with the New Jersey Devils? Ever since Martin Brodeur got his 30th win, they seem to be in a huge funk. What happened to their confidence and has the team grown weary of Pat Burns already? -- Ed, West Chester, Pa.

Melrose: I don't think the slide has anything to do with Burns. The Devils have just given up too many goals. They don't score many goals, and when they give up four or five in a game they will have a tough time. New Jersey has to get back to the good defensive play that had it allowing one or two scores per game. I can't really see one particular reason for the defensive troubles, but Brodeur hasn't been as good as he was early in the year and is facing a lot of desperate, hungry teams at this point in the season.

The Devils also need guys like Scott Gomez, who has been in the doghouse lately, to step up and start producing. This is not a great time to have to bench one of your top three or four forwards.

Barry, - I have never heard of a trade bungle like the one involving the Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames and Dean McAmmond. A decent player is going to suffer because of the ineptness of the front-offices. What do you know about this situation? -- Catherine Waldron

Melrose: There is some ineptness on both sides here, because both teams should know that there is a rule prohibiting a player from being traded away and then going back to his original team. If a guy is traded four weeks or less before the waiver draft he can't go back during the same season, something designed to prevent teams from hiding guys from the waiver draft.

In this case, McAmmond came to the Avalanche in the deal that sent Chris Drury to Calgary just days before this year's waiver draft and was then shipped back to the Flames.

The NHL has stepped in and declared him ineligible for the rest of the season -- which doesn't mean much to the Flames since they are out of the playoffs -- but it's not fair that he will be missing from the lineup when they take on other teams that are fighting for a playoff spot. The bottom line is that both teams should have known the rules and neither looks very smart right now.

Do you think the trade deadline should come earlier in the season? It seems kind of ridiculous that teams with only 12 games left can suddenly take a very different lineup into the playoffs. It just doesn't feel right.

Melrose: I agree and I would like to see it moved up to somewhere around the NBA deadline in early February. There are just too many trades and teams seem to have no commitment to some players. An earlier deadline would mean more of a commitment to the players coming on board and tougher decisions to be made on both sides.

All that would be good for the sport, and it sure doesn't look good for the league to have 40 guys switching teams all at once.

Barry Melrose, a former NHL defenseman and coach, is a hockey analyst for ESPN.