Who got the better of today's trades based on the contributions of the players involved and their salaries? More below the jump...

Edit: For those not familiar with GVT, it stands for "Goals Versus Threshold" and is an advanced metric developed by Tom Awad of Puck Prospectus that gives us a common measurement of total contribution of all players, regardless of position. For more on GVT, follow this link.

Calgary received: 

• Ian White: 7.7 GVT, $850K (RFA)
  
• Niklas Hagman: 6.4 GVT, $3m
  
• Matt Stajan: 6.3 GVT, $1.75m (UFA)
  
• Jamal Mayers: -.2 GVT $1.33m (UFA)
• Total: 20.2GVT, $6.93m cap hit

Toronto received:

• Dion Phaneuf: 5.0 GVT, $6.5m
• Fredrik Sjostrom: .2 GVT, $750k
• Keith Aulie: ?/$733k (No cap hit, since playing in CHL)
• Total: 5.2 GVT, $7.275 cap hit

On the face of this, Toronto got ripped off. Considering the expiring contracts of both Stajan and Mayers, however, this trade should really be considered Phaneuf, Sjostrom and Aulie for White and Hagman. Presumably, the Leafs were anticipating that White would require a hefty raise and they weren't convinced he would be as valuable at a higher cap hit.

Given the GVT/$ numbers, this trade clearly favors the Flames in the short run (and in the long run, we're all dead). The long-term "winner" of this trade will depend heavily on two factors. First, is Phaneuf the #1 defenseman/Scott Stevens clone that people thought he was when he broke into the league, or is he the guy whose defensive deficiencies caused him to lose about 3 minutes of ice time/game to Bouwmeester? Second, how good will Aulie be? Given his size and WHL background, will he be another Braydon Coburn? Or, more likely, will he be another Matt Walker? (Anyone who's seen Aulie play, feel free to chime in - I only saw him in the WJHC two years ago.)

Toronto Received:

• Jean-Sebastien Giguere: -2.4 GVT, $6m

Anaheim Received:

• Jason Blake: 3.4 GVT, $4m
• Vesa Toskala: -15.0 GVT, $4m (UFA)
• Total: 11.6 GVT, $8m cap hit

This trade seems a little more even. Anaheim gets rid of a troublesome contract and picks up a guy in Blake who can join up with Todd Marchant and Dan Sexton to make a "goofy-looking, ridiculously-fast, short American" line. What team doesn't need that in their arsenal?

This trade really boils down to Burke's confidence that Giguere can turn his game around in Toronto. I see this as a similar trade to the one that Colorado made for Jose Theodore in 05-06. The Leafs aren't really giving up much (they're actually gaining some cap freedom two years out), and they're picking up a former Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup-winning goalie who can't possibly be as bad as Toskala. . . Can he?

PS - Once the Jokinen-Kotalik trade becomes official, I'll add that on here. It's been on-again/off-again since last night.