Puck Daddy's NHL Trade Deadline Live Blog, Hour 1

8:40 a.m. EST -- The Anaheim Ducks decide to make Earl Sleek's day and ruin our good fun: Both Sportsnet and TSN are reporting that Chris Pronger is off the trading block.

If anything, this is a clear indication that the return for Pronger at this deadline wasn't what GM Bob Murray expected, because if he wasn't being shopped by the Ducks he was certainly being pursued by other teams. That's understandable: If you're the Boston Bruins or the Washington Capitals, why break up teams that have rocketed to the top of the standings in order to add a piece like Pronger, when you might have enough to win anyway?

Does this mean Pronger's safe for next season? I don't buy it. The summer will afford a chance for Murray to broaden the scope of his suitors -- if he decides to still deal him --and to get a better understanding of who is staying and going in the Ducks' Offseason of Change. And if the Bruins or Capitals or another team fall short of the Cup, then Pronger immediately becomes that "last piece of the puzzle" star.

This is all a little surprising, because we've had people stone-cold convince us that Pronger was going to move today. Which means we've got hours of elbows/suspension/fans burning cribs/cuckolded husband jokes that are simply going to waste. Thanks, jerks.

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8:19 a.m. EST - Great job out of the Vancouver Canucks getting Alex Burrows under contract last night in a four-year, $8 million extension. He's a superlative pest, and for all the talk about what to do with the Sedins and the arrival of Mats Sundin and the captaincy of Roberto Luongo, it's Burrows and Ryan Kesler that are the pulse of this team.

As far as the Canucks go, the name that was coming up over and over again last night during the team's game against the Minnesota Wild was defenseman Kevin Bieksa, and it was in the context of Jay Bouwmeester.

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8:00 a.m. EST -- Happy Hockey Rumors Christmas, everyone. Today is going to be a gas ... or it'll get the gasface. One of the two.

Here's how things will work today on Puck Daddy: We're going to have these "live blog" posts going up every hour, on the hour. Trades, news, analysis, observations or general pithiness will be published on top of the most recent information in the post, so it'll end up reading in reverse chronological order. In other words: Hit refresh and check the top of the post. A lot. Any vital non-Hockey Rumors Christmas news will get its own post.

The goal here is to have you guys break news and fill in the blanks down in the comments on each deadline post: Share every rumor you hear, every proposal you make, every wish list for your team as the day progresses. Every hour will be its own conversation, and then we start it again fresh the next hour.

As we mentioned the other day, we're bringing back a classic bit for this deadline: The Milbury Scale, in which we rate a trade's fairness and effectiveness with floating noggins featuring perhaps the most inept general manager in the history of the NHL.

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. Think Brad Boyes for Dennis Wideman.

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.

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. Sergei Fedorov for Ted Ruth is a Three Milbury trade.

Four Milburys! Bertuzzi, McCabe and eventually Jarkko Ruutu for Trevor Linden! Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha! YASHIN! DISASTER!

So there's that. Coming up: The teams that have captured our imagination today. What are your predictions for deadline day?

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