Each NHL team's deadline...as a movie
Another trade deadline has come and gone with a flurry of moves. Now it's on to the stretch run and what should be some wildly entertaining Stanley Cup playoffs
It will be months, and in some cases years, before we can accurately assess the teams that did well and poorly in the 2022 trade deadline. As was mentioned a number of times on Monday, the last time anyone checked, only one team can win the Stanley Cup and even the parity-crazed NHL isn’t going to change that rule. Although, don’t put it past the league to give it a shot at some point.
For now, however, there will be only one buyer who will at the end of this season look back at the deadline and truly congratulate itself for a job well-done. The sellers? Well, we’ll have to wait on that one. A little longer than before, in fact, because it seems teams are trading draft picks two and three years down the road more than ever these days.
In any event, here is a summation of each team’s major moves leading up to the trade deadline. And if a movie were to be made about those moves, what the title of each team’s movie would be.
ANAHEIM DUCKS
The Departed
Ducks GM Pat Verbeek determined pretty quickly that there was almost no chance he’d be able to re-sign pending unrestricted free agents Josh Manson, Hampus Lindholm, Rickard Rakell and Nicolas Deslauriers beyond this season, so he moved them all out, despite the fact his team still has (rapidly fading) playoff aspirations. The haul in return was very impressive – roster players Zach Aston-Reese and Dominik Simon, prospects Drew Helleson and Urho Vaakanainen, a first-rounder in 2022, second-rounders in 2022, ’23 (two of them) and 2024 and a third-rounder in 2023. The rebuilding Ducks did a pretty good job of impersonating a playoff team for a while, but they’ve regressed to where we knew they would be. Very wise moves by rookie GM Verbeek.
Winner or Loser?: Winner
ARIZONA COYOTES
When Harri Met Gally (as in Galchenyuk)
I spoke to Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong a couple of weeks ago and he talked openly about his team’s ability to take on other teams’ unfavorable contracts in exchange for futures. And he did exactly that, improving his team’s future fortunes in a big way. In return for taking the contract of the injured Bryan Little from the Winnipeg Jets, they got Nathan Smith of the University of Minnesota-Mankato, who had no intention of signing in Winnipeg. He’s a big scorer who played for the U.S. Olympic team. Speaking of Olympians, Armstrong used one of his five second-rounders to get Canadian Olympian Jack McBain from Minnesota, who will almost certainly sign with Arizona and get some games in this season And in a sneaky-dirty move, Armstrong picked goalie Harri Sateri off waivers, the Finnish gold medalist who signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs on the weekend.
Winner or Loser?: Winner
BOSTON BRUINS
Die Hard
This team is going to be a very tough out in this year’s playoffs and, despite an aging roster, will be hanging around as a contender for a couple more years. GM Don Sweeney’s biggest move, of course, was trading futures for defenseman Hampus Lindholm and signing him to an eight-year extension worth $52 million. Lindholm gives the Bruins exactly what they needed: an elite left-shot defenseman. But they failed to address their needs at forward, specifically a second-line center.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
BUFFALO SABRES
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Sabres have an enormous number of pending UFAs and the only one they managed to trade was defenseman Robert Hagg, getting a sixth-rounder in return. Goalie Craig Anderson and defenseman Mark Pysyk likely would have been the most attractive of them, but the Sabres have some really good vibes going late in the season and must have thought that mid-round picks for those guys wasn’t worth doing. The Sabres probably could have taken on some onerous contracts for futures, but declined to do that.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
CALGARY FLAMES
There Will Be Blood
The Flames are big and nasty and in your face and even though they didn’t do an awful lot in the days leading up to the trade deadline, they did reinforce that the ‘C of Red’ is Canada’s best team, and probably best hope for a Stanley Cup. GM Brad Treliving did his work early and well in acquiring Tyler Toffoli and Calle Jarnkrok, then tweaked his depth by acquiring Ryan Carpenter from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
CAROLINA HURRICANES
Mad Max
Max Domi should be mad. His career hasn’t turned out nearly as well as he and a lot of other people hoped it would. And he’s probably desperate to get things back on track because he’s a UFA after this season. There are worse places to do it than Carolina, where Domi instantly joins one of the league’s premier teams. Coach Rod Brind’Amour will demand accountability and that seems to be something Domi needs. GM Don Waddell also signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an eight-year extension worth $4.8 million a year, a signing that has equal possibilities of looking brilliant or terrible.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
My (Farewell) Dinner with Marc-Andre
Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson was adamant that he wanted a first-round pick in return for goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, and he’ll get that if the Minnesota Wild get to the Western Conference final and Fleury is the goalie of record in at least four games to that point. Otherwise, it’s a second-rounder. They got a ton for Brandon Hagel, a guy who produces and is under a ridiculously team-friendly $1.5 million cap hit for the next two seasons. Who knows? Perhaps the Blackhawks don’t think what he’s doing this season is sustainable. But still, getting two first-rounders and two young players for Hagel was a deal Davidson could not afford to turn down.
Winner or Loser?: Winner
COLORADO AVALANCHE
The Contender
Getting Josh Manson and Artturi Lehkonen made a deep, strong team even deeper and stronger. There is no doubt the Avs are the leading contender to come out of the Western Conference and the way they were playing they didn’t need to kill themselves to get Claude Giroux. In fact, Lehkonen could turn out to be every bit as good an acquisition as Giroux would have been. And they’ll likely be able to retain him beyond this season because he’s a restricted free agent.
Winner or Loser?: Winner
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
An Unfinished Life
The Blue Jackets got a middling prospect for Max Domi and had to retain some of Domi’s salary. There was a ton of hope when the Blue Jackets acquired Domi in exchange for Josh Anderson, then signed him to a two-year contract extension, but even when Domi was healthy, he didn’t produce much of anything. And, all in all, it was a disastrous move.
Winner or Loser?: Neither.
DALLAS STARS
Not the Dallas Buyers Club
The Stars really weren’t in much of a position to do anything and, in reality, their big move was re-signing pending UFA Joe Pavelski to a one-year deal, which took him off the market. And John Klingberg, another pending UFA who asked for a trade, was retained. If the Stars don’t make the playoffs and get nothing for Klingberg, there will be regrets. But they’re not counting on that. Getting goalie Scott Wedgewood from Arizona was a shrewd move.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
DETROIT RED WINGS
Grosse Pointe Blank
Not a whole lot of meat on the bone here, although Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman did get some value in return for pending UFA and playoff warrior Nick Leddy. Troy Stetcher for a seventh? Meh.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
EDMONTON OILERS
Scary Movie 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
Two draft picks and prospect for defenseman Brett Kulak on an expiring contract? Yikes. There will almost certainly be an enormous amount of consternation over the fact that GM Ken Holland did not upgrade his goaltending, but Marc-Andre Fleury was never, ever coming to Edmonton, nor was any other goalie who would have had a choice in the matter. The Oilers just finished a 5-0-0 homestand and they’re hoping they’ve rediscovered their mojo from earlier in the season.
Winner or Loser?: Loser
FLORIDA PANTHERS
Stacked Panthers
GM Bill Zito had the best team in the Eastern Conference going into the trade deadline and, while he didn’t exactly go all Neil Smith from 1994, he made bold moves that have the potential to tip the balance of power. You could certainly argue that in getting both Claude Giroux and Ben Chiarot, the Panthers went out and acquired the top available forward and one of the most sought-after defensemen on the trade market.
Winner or Loser?: Winner
LOS ANGELES KINGS
L.A. Non-Story
The Kings have not made a trade of consequence since they acquired Viktor Arvidsson in July and of the three trades they made in the past two days, the biggest was getting depth defenseman Troy Stetcher for a seventh-round pick. The Kings are a surprising contender in the worst division in hockey, so they’re probably willing to take their chances in the playoffs.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
MINNESOTA WILD
Big
The title fits, both in terms of the magnitude of their deals and the way GM Bill Guerin beefed up his lineup. The Marc-Andre Fleury acquisition shored up a questionable part of the lineup in a big way and gives the Wild a goalie with a Stanley Cup pedigree. Getting Nicolas Deslauriers and Jacob Middleton adds all kinds of bite and pain-in-the-assery to their lineup. Jack McBain, for whatever reason, was never going to sign with the Wild and would have become a UFA, so getting a second-rounder was good return for him.
Winner or Loser?: Winner
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Chiarots of Fire
This trade deadline was all about asset accumulation for new hockey operations president Jeff Gorton and GM Kent Hughes, and they did a remarkable job of that, getting top return for Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak and Artturi Lehkonen. They even dealt Andrew Hammond for a prospect and gave him a landing place for the rest of the season. With 2020 first-rounder Justin Barron and Quinnipiac forward Ty Smilanic, they upgraded their prospect list and they acquired a boat load of draft picks to go with the first-rounder they got in the Tyler Toffoli deal in February. Early indications are that Gorton and Hughes were the right men to come in and clean up this mess.
Winner or Loser?: Winner
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
The French Connection
Predators GM David Poile is usually more of a cowboy, but he didn’t do much of anything at this deadline, with the exception of acquiring two depth defensemen from Quebec in Jeremy Lauzon, and Alex Biega, along with left winger Brayden Burke. The Predators could have moved pending UFA Filip Forsberg after attempts to sign him to an extension went nowhere, but what would that be telling the fan base?
Winner or Loser?: Neither
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Dude, Where’s My Trades?
The Devils could not have possibly done less at the deadline than they did this year. They got a goalie in Andrew Hammond to tide them over for the rest of the season, and that was it. Even though pending UFA P.K. Subban is having a decent year, nobody was going to take that contract, even for a couple of months.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
The Amityville Horror
This more characterizes the Islanders season rather than what they didn’t do at the trade deadline, which was nothing. They did re-sign Cal Clutterbuck and Zach Parise rather than deal them for futures. It was strange there was no movement on either Andy Greene or Zdeno Chara. With a season already blown up by COVID, the Islanders want to put this horror movie behind them and start over again in 2022-23.
Winner or loser?: Loser
NEW YORK RANGERS
Bon Copp, Bon Motte
None of this was supposed to happen when the season began. The Rangers were not supposed to be buyers come the trade deadline, but they were – largely because Igor Shesterkin is making a compelling case for the both the Hart and Vezina Trophies. The biggest deal was for pending UFA Andrew Copp, who will give all kinds of versatility and depth to a forward corps that is already plenty deep. Justin Braun for a third-rounder was brilliant and Tyler Motte was a canny depth move. Chris Drury was the NHL’s rookie of the year in 1998-99 and if the league had an award for rookie GM of the year, he’d probably win that one, too.
Winner or Loser?: Winner
OTTAWA SENATORS
Trainwreck
If anyone can figure out what the Senators were thinking when they picked up a $3 million contract for a guy on the wrong side of 30 in Travis Hamonic for a third-round pick during a rebuild, please let us know. Nobody seems to understand what the end game was here. If anything, the Canucks should have had to give an asset to the Senators in exchange for taking on that contract. The Hamonic deal undid a lot of the good the Senators did when they acquired Mathieu Joseph from Tampa Bay.
Winner or Loser?: Loser
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
Fletch Lives
But we’re not sure how much longer he’ll be the GM of the Flyers after their disastrous season. GM Chuck Fletcher would have received more for Claude Giroux had he been able to negotiate with more teams. A first-rounder in 2024 and two extra third-rounders and a fourth in 2023 will help down the road. Owen Tippett needed a fresh start and the Flyers are counting on that bringing out the best in him.
Winner or Loser?: Loser
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Revenge of the Birds
Not exactly sure when Rickard Rakell became the second coming of Maurice Rickard Richard, but he definitely gives a boost to a team that clearly sees itself as a legitimate contender, which it is. But the fact is Rakell is a declining asset who is nowhere near the scorer he was earlier in his career. The Nathan Beaulieu trade was the result of hockey president Brian Burke’s preoccupation with size and snarl. The Penguins’ day of reckoning is coming, we just don’t know when that will be. We do know, however, that it is not today.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
SAN JOSE SHARKS
The Hertl (Keeps His) Locker
The Sharks basically became a trade deadline non-participant when they signed Tomas Hertl to a long-term deal last week. Had he been on the market, the Sharks could have received a huge haul. They are hoping Kaapo Kahkonen, acquired from Minnesota, can be the long-term answer in goal. That’s why they were willing to give up Jacob Middleton to get him.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
ST. LOUIS BLUES
Neighbours
Man, this seemed like a really good idea when I started it. The Blues improved marginally by getting Nick Leddy, but would not part with top prospect Jake Neighbours in order to get help now. They were in on Ben Chiarot, but found the price too high for their liking. The consensus around St. Louis is that the Blues didn’t do enough to improve their playoff fortunes.
Winner or Loser?: Loser
SEATTLE KRAKEN
Sleepy in Seattle
The asset accumulation everyone expected with the expansion draft has begun for the Kraken, who picked up four second-round picks in the past week. They’ve also given up six roster players in the past week. Their biggest deal got them two second-rounders and a third-rounder in exchange for Mark Giordano and Colin Blackwell. They got lots of picks, but nothing high enough in the draft to get people very excited. The Kraken have 25 picks in the next two drafts, but quantity doesn’t always equal quality.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
Dynasty Warriors
In their bid to become the first three-straight Cup winner of the salary cap era, the Lightning were as aggressive as ever, rebuilding the third line they lost after last season. They paid a huge price for Brandon Hagel – two first-round picks and two young players – and a promising young player in Mathieu Joseph for Nick Paul. Then they went out and got a little more depth in Riley Nash. But it will all be worth it if the Lightning can pull off the three-peat.
Winner or Loser?: Winner
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Good Night, And Good Luck
The Maple Leafs will likely go another year without winning a Stanley Cup, or even making the Stanley Cup final, or even winning a round, because they did not address their most glaring need. They need a goaltender and they failed to get one. The only one they could acquire – a 32-year-old Harri Sateri – was picked up on waivers by the Arizona Coyotes. The acquisition of Mark Giordano will stop a lot of plays before they become scoring chances, but the Leafs came up short. Way short.
Winner or Loser?: Loser
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Get Out
That’s what most people are saying when they learn that the Canucks managed to trade Travis Hamonic for a third-round pick. Picking up Travis Dermott from the Leafs has a lot of potential. Neither J.T. Miller nor Conor Garland was moved, but neither of those was a front-burner issue.
Winner or Loser?: Winner
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Lost in Translation
The Golden Knights, who have been hampered by injuries all season and are in salary cap hell, thought they cleared up some major cap space when they dealt Evgenii Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks for John Moore and the contract of the injured Ryan Kesler. But now it’s all in limbo in a dispute over Dadonov’s no-trade clause. What a mess the Golden Knights have suddenly become. It turns out chasing after every shiny, new thing has a price.
Winner or Loser?: Loser
WASHINGTON CAPITALS
Not Much Ado About Nothing
Ever get the impression the Capitals are more than happy to have won one Stanley Cup and wouldn’t have a huge problem if they didn’t win another one with this group? Two minor deals that repatriated Marcus Johansson and brought in Johan Larsson were not exactly inspiring. The window continues to close, but Alex Ovechkin keeps chasing Wayne Gretzky’s record, which seems to be all that matters in Washington these days.
Winner or Loser?: Neither
WINNIPEG JETS
Sideways (certainly not Up)
There is no disputing the fact that the Winnipeg Jets are a worse team after the trade deadline than they were before. They lost a top prospect in Nathan Smith and a very good player in Andrew Copp, which makes them worse both in the present and the future. Zach Sanford and Mason Appleton were decent additions, but you get the feeling the Jets know they’ll either miss the playoffs or exit them fairly quickly.
Winner or Loser?: Loser