All the dust has settled on the trade deadline so it’s a good time to take a look around and see who got better and who got worse. Today I’ll be focusing on the Eastern Conference making my way down the standings.
Tampa Bay
They didn’t do anything and that is fine. They are an awesome team as it stands. It’s a great situation to be in where your general manager does not feel pressured to make a move to chase other teams. The other teams were chasing them.
Boston
The Bruins focused on getting some flexibility and depth scoring. They accomplished this by getting Charlie Coyle a few days before the deadline. Coyle fell out of favor in Minnesota and the Bruins traded Ryan Donato to improve the now. Coyle can play center or wing which is nice. Marcus Johansson appears healthy and will give them a boost on the left wing. To hang with Tampa and Toronto you need to be able to score. I don’t know if it is enough for Boston, but it’s better than it would have been without these moves. In a deep depth move they found a job for Lee Stempniak. This doesn’t move the needle much other than giving another option for the fourth line.
Toronto
There were rumors they were going to chase some grit. They did not. Toronto made a minor move getting Nicolas Petan from the Winnipeg jets. This is more of a long term play hoping that a change of scenery can do some good to a prospect that showed some promise. The Maple Leafs have done a great job at developing forwards on the Marlies. Petan might be the player that replaces a guy like Kasperi Kapanen who might price himself out of town.
Jake Muzzin was their real deadline move. Great trade for winning now and to absorb the likely blow of losing Jake Gardiner to free agency.
New York Islanders
There were tons of rumors about the Islanders being active on some of the big dogs of this trade deadline. None of Artemi Panarin, Mark Stone, or Matt Duchene landed on Long Island. This is fine. The Islanders are a team riding incredible PDO and aren’t a true contender. It’s been a really fun season for the fans and doing nothing at the deadline doesn’t change anything. Going all in on a PDO year would do damage in the coming years. They need to keep building. They showed good restraint. Washington
Nice depth moves. Carl Hagelin can still cause problems for the opposition on the forecheck. He is a player the Capitals can move around the lineup based on need. Nick Jensen was a great pickup to shore up their defense. The trade was even better when they locked him into a new contract that has both reasonable term and money (4 years 10M). The defending champs will be a tough out if Braden Holtby can give them league average or better.
Columbus
You either love what they did or you hate it. There is no doubt about where the Blue Jackets stand. They are all the way in. Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel provide the team with way better forward depth. Having Artemi Panarin makes a team way better than not having Artemi Panarin. Trading for Adam McQuaid is a step back after taking two steps forward. An unnecessary move which won’t make the team any better. The risk is obvious with this move. The Blue Jackets have a plethora of impact UFA’s that may or may not sign with the team (panarin/Bobrovsky unlikely). The team isn’t guaranteed to make the playoffs at this point let alone win a playoff round. Heads will roll if they flame out. Even if they do win a couple of rounds the future is bleak. They gutted their draft pick reserve to make this run.
Montreal
Not much to report on this front. The Canadiens are having a better season than I think most thought they would, including myself. I don’t think they were in a good spot to be huge buyers at the deadline. Nothing they could have done would have significantly changed their odds against the better teams in their division (TB, TOR, BOS). The offseason is a better time for them to keep tweaking their roster.
Carolina
The Hurricanes have been a pretty good team for most of the year who once again were suffering the PDO blues. At one point they looked to be sellers, but their recent stretch of play convinced them to continue chasing a playoff berth. Michael Ferlund will stick with the club for their playoff push. Given how well they control play it is reasonable for the Hurricanes to think they have a chance at the playoffs. Their rental moves were to not sell.
Pittsburgh
One of the biggest losers of the trade deadline when you think about where they were at the beginning of the year and where they are now. Carl Hagelin was on an expiring contract which would have provided cap flexibility. Jim Rutherford traded that for an equally ineffective player with a similar cost, but more term in Tanner Pearson. Then the Penguins GM traded that player for an even worse player, who cost more, and still has term. Erik Gudbranson turned the Penguins into the butt end of all the deadline jokes. The roster is crumbling because of the roster choices since 2017. The Penguins could have rolled the dice with Chad Ruhwedel, Ethan Prow, or Zach Trotman and it all would have been better than taking on a horrendous player with a significant enough cap that screws their roster flexibility moving forward. All this GM does is make trades to undo his previously crappy moves, except the moves keep getting worse. It’s been a rough two years for the people who thought Jim Rutherford was a hockey savant.
Buffalo
The Sabres traded a first round pick and prospect Brendan Guhle for the Ducks Brandon Montour. I am on board with the risk reward of this trade for the Sabres. Randy Carlyle is one of the worst coaching options in the NHL and everything he touches turns to rubbish. Montour has the ability to transition the puck which is something the Sabres sorely lack. This is one of those change of scenery trades that has a good chance of working because of how bad things were in Anaheim. Kind of like how Justin Schultz escaping Edmonton was a breath of fresh air for the player. This should give Jason Botterill some flexibility with Rasmus Ristolainen who he should be looking to trade this offseason. There will be at least one general manager who will overpay for Ristolainen due to his size, willingness to throw the body around, and the fact he puts up points on the power play. People like Dale Tallon come to mind.
Philadelphia
I don’t really understand what the heck they are doing at the goaltender position. They turned the keys over to Carter Hart yet still found the need to trade for Cam Talbot? I would have understood this if the Flyers flipped Talbot on deadline day to a team like the Sharks who should have been desperate for goaltending help. Wayne Simmonds didn’t land a first round pick that was rumored. Instead they got Ryan Hartman and a conditional 4th (3rd if NSH wins a playoff round). The return is fine. The real victory is that they avoided giving Simmonds a contract extension.
Florida
There were some rumors about Jonathan Huberdeau and Mike Hoffman moving, but that did not materialize. They did flip Derick Brassard for another third round pick. They acquired a second and two fourth round picks from the Penguins for Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann. They are clearing cap space for what is anticipated a serious run at Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky.
New York Rangers Kevin Hayes is an underrated player and deserved the first round compensation he received. Brendan Lemieux is a fringe bottom six NHL player that has attributes and a last name that will probably give him a longer leash than most. I’m not sure the Lemieux addition has positive value. Getting anything for Adam McQuaid is a win. Nobody should have been looking to add him to their roster for the playoffs. The Rangers got a 4th and a 7th for a bad player. Losing Mats Zuccarello stings. He was a great Ranger. It’s even worse to see that he broke his arm in his first game with the Stars. It highlights how these risks don’t always pay out for the team acquiring.
New Jersey
They did good by moving Marcus Johansson to the Bruins for a second and a fourth. They aren’t a contender and there is no use in keeping UFA’s like Johansson around. Injuries ruined his New Jersey tenure, but he overcame them just in time to show other teams he can still play. Getting a second, third, and fifth round pick for Brian Boyle, Ben Lovejoy, and Keith Kincaid was also good.
Detroit
Ken Holland lost his fastball the second there was a salary cap put in place. Why is Jimmy Howard still on this roster? What is the point of signing Thomas Vanek to a one-year contract if you aren’t planning on flipping him at the deadline? Moving Gustav Nyqvist (2nd and 3rd) wasn’t’ quite the Tomas Tatar return, but it never was going to be. Getting Nick Jensen for a second was fine trade value, but they probably should have just re-signed him. He’s a fine depth player and I don’t get the inclination that Detroit is going to go through a full blown tank at the moment.
Ottawa
I sure hope Erik Brannstrom is good because not getting a first round pick for the deadline’s biggest fish was strange. By all accounts Brannstrom is good. Is that necessarily a good thing for the Senators? It just means they’ll have to pay him money at some point and get to hit the reset button yet again. Getting Anthony Duclair and two second round picks for Ryan Dzingel was good value. Getting a first round pick for Duchene was good. It will be even better if Duchene re-signs in Columbus because they’ll get yet another first round pick. Not bad for a team that doesn’t like paying players and is rebuilding. I think the Senators did OK with their fire sale, but not great.
Thanks for reading!