On the day of the trading deadline the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning made a major deal-the Stars dealt reserve goalie Mike Smith, Jussi Jokinen and Jeff Halpern to the Lightning for center Brad Richards and goalie Johan Holmqvist.

“I have played in the playoffs the last four years. I can’t wait to get back in them,” Richards said. “I will keep playing the way I always have in the playoffs, and been successful, and we’ll see what happens.”

On the season Richards has scored 18 goals, with 33 assists and 51 total points. The other new Dallas Star, goalie Johan Holmqvist has a season record of 20-16-6, with an .890 save percentage in 45 games played. Holmqvist started his career as a New York Ranger in 2002.

The new goalie for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Mike Smith, will undoubtebly be the team’s starting goalie for the remainder of the season. This season he has a 12-9-0 record with a .906 save percentage, better than that of Holmqvist’s. Jussi Jokinen has scored 14 goals and passed out 14 assists this season, and Jeff Halpern has scored 10 goals and amassed 24 total points this season.

Brad Richards has high expectations of the 2008 Dallas Stars, and thinks highly of the organization, he told television station TSN.

“I just know (Dallas is) a really good organization,” Richards said. “They have a chance to win now. There are some great players there that I’ll get a chance to play with. There’s a lot of stability in that organization.”

A frequent subject of trade rumors prior to the deadline was defenseman Dan Boyle. However on the day of the deadline, the Lightning locked up Boyle to a 6 year deal, worth 40 million dollars.