Okay, let's get this straight: The Bruins were part of a three-way trade with the San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens that sent Habs' goaltender Jeff Hackett to Boston?

	CHIRPIN'
	"I am not a star. Petrov is." -- Montreal defenseman Andrei Markov, referring to his teammate Oleg Petrov's exclusion from the All-Star team. Petrov has seven goals in 39 games and averages 13:30 in ice time
	THE NUMBER
	158:42 That's the length of time the Penguins went between goals before Milan Kraft scored against the Bruins on Thursday night.
	WHO'S HOT
	Marian Hossa is on fire again. The Ottawa dynamo has six goals and three assists in his last seven games.
	WHO'S NOT
	Darcy Tucker, the feisty Toronto forward, has a paltry seven goals in 48 games and is a minus-12.

All I can say is Hell really has frozen over.

Since when to the Canadiens make a deal that sends a quality netminder to their hated division rival? Don't even TRY to make the argument that the Canadiens had no idea the Sharks -- headed by another Boston boy, Dean Lombardi -- were going to turn around and send Hackett to Boston. Canadiens' general manager Andre Savard said he was aware of it during a conference call with Montreal writers on Thursday night.

And what do the Habs get in return for all this wheeling and dealing? Forward Niklas Sundstrom and a third-round draft pick. Geez, I hope the front office is getting a jump on planning that Stanley Cup parade route. That's no knock on Sundstrom. Is he a good player? Sure. He had 24 goals with the Rangers back in 1996-97, but the most he's had since is 12 in 1999-2000. This year, he's scored twice in 47 games, not exactly an offensive juggernaut. What the Canadiens desperately needed was a defenseman. Instead, they bail out the Bruins in net and land a small, two-way forward.

Savard's recent deals haven't turned out very well. During the offseason, he acquired Mariusz Czerkawski in a trade with the Islanders. Major flop. He signed Randy McKay as an unrestricted free agent. Ditto. Now Hackett, who has had a better season than Jose Theodore and has been clamoring for more ice time, goes to Boston.

Meanwhile, netminder Mathieu Garon, who was summoned to Montreal from Hamilton after the trade, could become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Though 25 years old, Garon has been a pro for five seasons and has played only 16 games in the NHL. He'd have to play in 10 more games this season for the Canadiens to retain his rights, which is unlikely barring an injury to Theodore. Garon already has posted a 15-2-2 record with an AHL-leading 1.77 goals-against average and .937 save percentage.

Bruins' general manager Mike O'Connell, who said he wouldn't make a deal for disgruntled defenseman Kyle McLaren until the right one came along, was getting killed on the airwaves in Boston when the club went into a protracted skid in December that lasted well into the new year. For some reason, fans in Boston always think other teams should give them a nickel for five pennies or a dime for two nickels. If you can fault O'Connell at all, it's for not getting a prime-time netminder during the offseason when they had already made the decision (reached during their first-round playoff loss to Montreal) to bid a not-so-teary farewell to Byron Dafoe. Instead, management was content to give John Grahame and Steve Shields a shot at fighting it out. But that experiment, which looked like a success early on, turned into a failure when those in front of the netminders started playing poorly and exposed the tandem's weaknesses. Hackett was available last summer but Savard wasn't willing to deal him to Boston for obvious reasons. That changed when this three-way swap became the only available option.

If there's an upside for Montreal, it's that they will save money. The Sharks will pay a quarter of Sundstrom's salary this year and next. But on the ice, it appears they lost in this deal -- badly. The Habs will hope the rollercoaster that starter Jose Theodore -- owner of a three-year, $16.5 million contract -- has been riding will settle down. Time will tell.

Coach Michel Therrien has already lost his job. If the Bruins ride Hackett all the way into the playoffs and the Habs miss that eighth spot by a country mile, any idea who will be next?

Depth chart