This year's trade deadline saw 55 players and 25 draft picks moved in 31 deals. Sounds busy, right? Well, actually, it wasn't—at least not for 28 teams.

The Washington Capitals and Phoenix Coyotes accounted for 11 of the 31 trades on March 3. While they were busy rearranging their lineup, most other franchises were happy making minor swaps. By my count, only one trade that didn't involve Washington or Phoenix moved a noteworthy player, and that was the Lubomir Visnovsky deal between the Oilers and Ducks, two teams out of the playoffs.

The Ilya Kovalchuk and Dion Phaneuf trades before the Olympic break took the wind out of deadline day. Phoenix, though—probably the last team you'd expect to make a flurry of deals at the deadline—made seven of them. The Coyotes traded away former eighth overall pick Peter Mueller, who requested a trade after his production dropped to 13 goals this year (down from 22 in his rookie season). They also shipped out five picks and four minor leaguers/prospects.

In return they received, notably, wingers Lee Stempniak and Wojtek Wolski and defensemen Mathieu Schneider and Derek Morris. Not bad for a team hindered by money trouble. It's the most transactions I've seen from a playoff team in a long time.

Phoenix is 3-0 since the deadline.

Washington, meanwhile, added Scott Walker (for the bargain place of a seventh-round pick), veteran forward Eric Belanger, one-time Capital Milan Jurcina and fellow defenseman Joe Corvo.

Walker and Belanger shore up the lower lines on offense, but I don't think Jurcina and Corvo were what the Capitals needed on the blue line. Washington needed a shutdown defenseman to complement the scoring they get on the backend from Mike Green. Instead, they added Corvo, who fits their run-and-gun game plan well but doesn't add anything they don't already have.

Come playoff time, I could see a team like New Jersey knocking off the top-seeded Caps—they have the defense to shut down Alex Ovechkin (at least a little bit), and I don't think Washington has a defensive pair to match up against Kovalchuk and Olympic star Zach Parise. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, though.

For the Penguins fans out there, I'll add my two cents on Pittsburgh's addition of defenseman Jordan Leopold. He's an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, so I don't think the Pens added him for a long-term benefit, although I could see a team signing him this summer in hopes he'll re-emerge as the top four defenseman he was in Calgary before injuries ruined him.

No, the Penguins just acquired him for depth. Pittsburgh's defense was ravaged by injuries in November, so the front office is just making sure they have a competent player that can step up should it happen again. Better safe than sorry.

With two days and three games to go in Olympic hockey, it’s time to take a quick look at the four remaining teams. I gave up making predictions after Slovakia beat Sweden, but here’s what I’m going to do. For each team, I’ll discuss why it might win--and why it might not. You can reach your own conclusion.

The United States: Why They Can Win It

1. Ryan Miller. Miller has carried Team USA up to this point, and there's no reason why he can't continue to do so. He is fulfilling his lifelong dream to play in the Olympics--his cousin's appearance in the 1988 Calgary games inspired him--and he played as well as he did with the Buffalo Sabres earlier this year to guarantee the starting job in Vancouver. Now that he has it, he'll come through in the clutch.

2. The Bottom Six. Every remaining team has All Stars on its top line. Canada has four lines of All Stars. The USA, though, built a real team, opting for two scoring lines, a defense-first line and a tough-as-nails fourth line. No other contender has the hitting up front the US has, and Ryan Kesler and Chris Drury have already limited Canada's offense once this Olympiad.

Why They Might Not

1. The Defense. Ryan Whitney and Jack Johnson love to pinch in the offensive zone. Unfortunately, they love to do it nearly every play. While Ryan Miller bailed out a US defense that gave up too many odd-man chances in the preliminary round, all it takes is one average performance by the Michigan native--not even bad, just mediocre--to eliminate the Americans.

2. Canadian Revenge. It's tough to beat Canada once. It's tougher to beat them twice. Should they meet for gold, the Canadians will have Roberto Luongo in goal. In his home rink. In his home country.

Canada: Why They Can Win It

1. The Sharks Line. Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley form a rare Olympic line that has experience playing together. Most Americans have had less than two weeks to get to know each other, but this all-San Jose line has played together all year. Heatley has four goals and three assists in five Olympic games.

2. The Other Three Lines. Jarome Iginla has five goals already this tournament. Jonathan Toews has seven points. I haven't even mentioned Sidney Crosby yet. Good thing the Americans brought as many checking forwards as they did--they will need every one of them in a possible rematch against Canada.

3. The Home Crowd. I can barely hear the announcing crew when I'm watching a Canada game on television. It seems the crowd supplies Canada with enough energy to play two games. Did you see the jump they had to start against Russia?

Why They Might Not

1. Inconsistency. You never know which Canada is going to show up: the one that scores seven on Russia or the one that can't finish off Switzerland in regulation. The inconsistency goes back to past Olympics. They won gold in '02 and followed it up with a stinker in Torino. If they hype themselves up for a possible rematch against the US too soon, Slovakia could upset them. (The same goes for the US, who should worry about Finland before thinking about Crosby.)

Slovakia: Why They Can Win It

1. Momentum. It's why the Oilers made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006. It's why the Florida Marlins pull a World Series out of nowhere every eight years or so. It's why I know where George Mason is. Sweden was a team as talented as Canada. Sure, another upset seems unlikely, but that's why they play the game.

Why They Might Not

1. The Let Down. Maybe I'm only saying this because I'm listening to Radiohead right now, but Slovakia's fans are due for a let down game. The team already topped its best Olympic performance ever (5th at Torino), and it might content itself a little too much with that fact. It's a sports cliché, but Slovakia's "just glad to be there." It's like the first game back after a long road trip. You'd think the home team would come out firing, but all too often it's just happy to be home.

Finland: Why They Can Win It

1. The System. Scandinavia churns out defensively-aware players like no one else. When Finland's on its game, scoring on Miikka Kiprusoff sounds like a fantasy. Kiprusoff has a goals-against average of 0.33 in Leijonat victories.

2. The History. Finland's a soundly-coached team that's well put-together at every position. Historically speaking, Finland knows how to win at the Olympics, medaling in four of the last six Olympiads. That's not bad for a team with very few recognizable stars.

Why They Might Not

1. The Matchup. I've always considered Finland to be Sweden Lite. They defend well and play stellar in goal but in the end don't have the firepower that the Swedish Sedin twins or Henrik Zetterberg brings (that explains why Sweden shut out Finland earlier this week and also beat them for gold in '06). The United States poses the same problems for Finland that Sweden does. They have a great mix of scoring, checking and hockey sense up front. They have one of the best goaltenders in the world. They forecheck and hit like the Finns do--except better. As good as Finland is, the team simply doesn't have enough skill to stop the United States and Canada from meeting up again on Sunday afternoon.