Hamilton Tiger-Cats' GM Marcel Desjardins took much of the mystery and intrigue out of the CFL's trade deadline.

The biggest question leading up to deadline, which was set to pass at 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday, was exactly where talented running back Corey Holmes would end up. Holmes was the CFL's top special-teams player and a finalist for the league's outstanding player award last season but was in the final year of his contract and appeared to be at an impasse with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on an extension.

If he couldn't re-sign Holmes, Desjardins was prepared to deal him prior to the deadline to ensure he at least got something for Holmes, who was expected to test the free-agent waters in the off-season. But on Monday afternoon. Holmes and the Ticats agreed on a three-year extension.

``I had talked to some teams and gave them a sense of what I was looking for but we were never close to doing anything,'' Desjardins said. ``But it was an option, absolutely.''

Holmes, currently out with a knee injury, landed in Hamilton on April 12 amid much fanfare. The Ticats acquired him, defensive back Scott Gordon and Saskatchewan's first pick in 2007 for the first pick in the 2006 Ottawa Renegades dispersal draft, which the Roughriders used to take quarterback Kerry Joseph.

Holmes, 29, has been limited to 10 games with Hamilton (3-11) due to injuries, but remains the club's rushing leader (359 yards on 64 carries) and also has 33 catches for 263 yards.

``I think the key maybe was the communication that existed between us and Corey's agent and us and him probably wasn't where it should've been,'' Desjardins said. ``Having said that, these discussions began in July before I got here so I sort of picked it up halfway through, so to speak.

``I think what we ended up doing is fair and the agent, and Corey in the end, came to that realization. Obviously we tweaked things in both ways, not just one direction, so we were able to come to that agreement.''

And remove the biggest fish from the trade-deadline pool.

Then again, there has traditionally been little to no movement at the CFL trade deadline. With an eight-team league, many GMs are fearful about dealing a player who could easily come back to hurt them later in the same season.

This year, timing is a real issue, too. This season, the CFL moved its trade deadline up by roughly a month and right now all eight league teams are in playoff contention, with only Hamilton and Edmonton _ who are last in the East and West, respectively _ really being desperate to make a late-season push to make the post-season.

That could change next year when the CFL strictly enforces its salary cap and teams find themselves having to reduce payroll to avoid league fines and-or the loss of draft picks.