CFL trade deadline passes with no movement, perhaps thanks to teams' postseason dreams

Every year, the NHL trade deadline sees a flurry of media and popular frenzy, and just about every year, the CFL trade deadline passes with barely anyone noticing. That was the case again in 2014, with Wednesday afternoon's CFL deadline seeing next to no coverage. Why is that? Well, a big part of it is the lack of trades. There were no trades at all even close to the deadline this year, and that's something we've seen before. One factor that might have particularly reduced the impetus to trade this year? So many teams are still carrying postseason hopes.

With four weeks left in the CFL season, no one has officially been eliminated from postseason contention yet, and even 2-12 Ottawa is about the only team that can be all but ruled out. (To make the playoffs, the Redblacks would have to win all four of their remaining games, have two of 6-8 Montreal, Toronto and Hamilton lose all four of their remaining games, and beat two of those teams in a tie-breaker to clinch second place in the East and host the West team crossing over. That's only happening with an Infinite Improbability Drive.) The Redblacks aren't all that inclined to be sellers, though, as they're attempting to build hope for next year.

Other than Ottawa, every other team (even 6-9 Winnipeg, two games back of B.C. for the final crossover spot) still has postseason dreams, and that means there are no strict sellers out there. That's unlike last year, when the long-out-of-contention Bombers sent pending free agent DE Alex Hall to Saskatchewan ahead of the deadline in what was a pure planning-for-next-season move, and a good one for them. (Interestingly enough, Hall is currently a free agent after being cut by the NFL, so a CFL club could bring him in if they wanted.) That means there was no one with motivation to trade good veteran players just for draft picks or prospects.

Even without pure sellers, though, a trade could still have happened. While Kirk Penton of The Winnipeg Sun's list of potential team targets was somewhat tongue-in-cheek (no one's trading Chad Owens or Jon Cornish), his list of team needs had some merits. Montreal could use ballhawking defensive back, Toronto's linebacking corps could use a boost, Edmonton might need a little receiver depth and Calgary could use Canadian depth on the defensive line. We're not likely to see star-for-star trades at this point, but what if, say, the Eskimos had sent a depth defensive back or linebacker to Toronto for a depth receiver? That's the kind of thinking that could help both squads ahead of the postseason, exchanging depth where they don't need it for depth where they do. We didn't even see much of that, though, apart from Hamilton sending import DE Brandon Boudreaux to Saskatchewan last month for picks and a negotiation-list player.

We explored some of the reasons behind the lack of in-season trades last year, but there are a few other factors to consider. One issue is playbook installation; even if you get a talented player, it can take time to get him up to speed in your offence or defence, so you're sometimes better just promoting someone less skilled from your practice squad. Another is teams' limited roster spaces and players' desire to get into games; if someone isn't being used often, they're likely to either ask for their release (as Winnipeg's Nic Grigsby did Wednesday) or be given it to bring someone else in. Thus, waiting can sometimes mean you get a player you could have traded for for free. Perhaps the most important factor is the amount of talent out there, though; there are so many capable college players who don't have NFL jobs for one reason or another (consider the impressive pedigrees of those who showed up for an open, no-guarantees Calgary tryout in New Orleans this offseason) that many general managers believe they can find capable free agents that they don't have to give another team assets for. All of that sadly leads to some boring trade deadlines.