Every trade deadline has trades that work, trades that could work and trades that fail the sniff test nearly immediately.

How does one suss out the good from the bad from the potentially horrendous?

Let The Milbury Scale be your guide!

Once again, Puck Daddy (and the Sportsnet Trade Deadline extravaganza) will unleash The Milbury Scale on every trade made through 3 p.m. EST. In case you need a refresher:

One Milbury: A fair trade that helps both teams, both in the short term and in the long run. No winner, no loser: Just a solid deal founded on smart financial and hockey needs.

Two Milburys: A trade that could, down the road, burn one team in a big way. We're talking a trade of blue-chip prospects for a rental, if the team that's renting clearly isn't going to win it all this season.

Three Milburys: There’s a clear winner in a deal at the time of the trade. Someone got a little too desperate, or someone just got hosed.

Four Milburys! Bertuzzi, McCabe and eventually Jarkko Ruutu for Trevor Linden! Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha! YASHIN! DISASTER!

So how did some of the trade deadline’s early deals rate under The Milbury Scale?

Buffalo Sabres trade Ryan Miller and Steve Ott to St. Louis Blues for Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart, William Carrier, 2015 1st-round pick, 2016 cond. 3rd-round pick

The assumption is that Miller will sign with the Blues and that the Sabres will flip some of the assets in this trade. So the jury’s obviously out for a while, but it might actually have the potential to tip Buffalo’s way if Miller fails to advance the Blues any farther and if one or two of the fruits from this deal ripen for the Sabres.

We’ll give this one … THREE MILBURYS.

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Anaheim Ducks trade Dustin Penner for Washington Capitals’ 2014 4th-round pick; trade 2014 4th-round pick to Dallas Stars for Stephane Robidas

A nice bit of reallocation by GM Bob Murray, as he flips Penner’s inflated point totals playing with Getzlaf and Perry for a fourth rounder than he turns around for a top four veteran defenseman who can be a significant addition to the Ducks’ blue line and, in turn, takes away an asset from a potential playoff foe in Dallas.

Will they miss Penner’s scoring, especially in the postseason? We’ll assume they’ll fill the void today.

Assuming Robidas is healthy, this is … FOUR MILBURYS for Murray!

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