Breaking down the NHL trade deadline day’s big moves
With little star power on the market, bottom feeders made the biggest impact
For what it’s worth, the St. Louis Blues added a defenceman who did not play a single game in the playoffs at last year’s trade deadline — and then won the Stanley Cup.
So deciding which teams won or lost with the moves they did or did not make prior to Monday’s deadline is a futile act. Not that there wasn’t a lot to chew on.
From Tampa Bay spending a first-round pick on a forward who has eight goals this season to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes getting involved in a mini-arms race to Ottawa accumulating more picks than they know what to do with, here is a look at the flurry of activity that was deadline day.
DEADLINE DUDS
What was the biggest move on deadline day?
Was it 40-year-old Patrick Marleau joining the Penguins for one last shot at a championship? Was it Robin Lehner heading to Vegas to be Marc-andre Fleury’s backup? Jean-gabriel Pageau going to the New York Islanders?
If those are your options, then that tells you everything you need to know about a day that had a lot of trades, but was lacking in star talent.
Chris Kreider decided on re-signing with the New York Rangers, Dustin Byfuglien decided he still isn’t healthy enough to return to the NHL this season, and Toronto decided to hang on to Tyson Barrie for the remainder of the season. Even Zamboni driver-turned-emergency goalie David Ayres stayed put.
That left GMS to fight over a bunch of players who probably won’t end up moving the needle much.
There was no Ray Bourque available this year. No Rick Nash or Jarome Iginla. No actual stars. There were still teams that parted ways with first-round picks. But because so many still believe they are in it — we’re looking at you, Buffalo — the lack of rentals affected the market.
SENATORS POSITIONED FOR THE FUTURE
The winners were ultimately the losers.
If you had to sell a player at the deadline, it meant your season was lost. You were not going to win a Stanley Cup. You weren’t even going to get close to a playoff spot. But with the prices that teams were paying for shortterm help (a first-round pick for Barclay Goodrow?) this was a really good time to be a seller.
And the Senators took advantage of the seller’s market better than anyone.
Ottawa, which already owned San Jose’s first-round pick, added another first- and second-rounder, plus a third (in 2022), a fourth (in 2021) and fifth (in 2021) in exchange for Pageau, Vladislav Namestnikov and Tyler Ennis.
Combined, the Senators have eight picks in the first two rounds in this year’s draft.
As long as the team drafts and develops them in the same fashion as Thomas Chabot and Brady Tkachuk, it might not be long before Ottawa is competing with Boston and Tampa Bay for top spot in the Atlantic Division.
VEGAS BETS ON ITSELF
If I were a hockey fan, I would pledge my allegiance to the Vegas Golden Knights.
In Year 1, the team made the Cup final. In Year 2, they traded for Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone. In Year 3, they continued to raise the bar by swapping out coaches when the team hit a speed bump and then — in true Vegas fashion — gambled on themselves by acquiring defenceman Alec Martinez from the L.A. Kings and Chicago’s Lehner at the deadline.
The message sent to fans and to the players is this team intends on winning a championship.
With Lehner now battling Fleury for the net, there is no reason why they can’t do it.
HOLLAND TRADES FOR FAMILIARITY
When former Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland traded for Mike Green and Andreas Athanasiou on Monday, ESPN’S Greg Wyshynski joked it was only a matter of time before Holland dealt a third-round pick for his old office chair. But while familiarity likely played a part in bringing Green and Athanasiou to Edmonton, it was more than that.
Athanasiou is pretty much everything Connor Mcdavid has been looking for in a winger: he’s fast, he can score (he had 30 goals last year) and as a pending RFA, he’s more than motivated to earn a big-time raise by performing in the playoffs.
Green, meanwhile, is not the same defencemen who once scored 31 goals or 76 points for Washington earlier in his career. But the 34-year-old can still move the puck, quarterback the power play and, with Oscar Klefbom out, adds much-needed depth.
Toss in the acquisition of Ottawa’s Tyler Ennis and it’s clear the Oilers are thinking beyond the first round.
BUFFALO GOES ALL IN
It sure sounds like Sabres GM Jason Botterill, who has been on the hot seat ever since he gave up Ryan O’reilly for basically nothing, is trying to save his job.
How else to explain why a team six points out of a playoff spot became buyers on Monday?
This should have been a day when Buffalo traded away Rasmus Ristolainen, Jimmy Vesey and the many UFAS who could be out the door six weeks from now.
Instead, Botterill decided to acquire Wayne Simmonds and his expiring contract from the Devils in exchange for a fifth-round pick, and then flipped Conor Sheary and Evan Rodrigues to Pittsburgh for Dominik Kahun.
Simmonds is everything Buffalo has been missing this season: he’s gritty, he’s competitive and he is high on character.
The only problem is he might be joining the Sabres two months too late to make an actual difference.
THE METRO IS THE NEW DIVISION OF DEATH
The road to the Stanley Cup looks like it will go through the Metropolitan Division.
While Washington added defenceman Brenden Dillon and forward Ilya Kovalchuk before the deadline, Pittsburgh got significantly better by acquiring Jason Zucker, Marleau, Sheary and Rodrigues.
The rest of the division spent Monday trying to keep up with the Joneses.
Though there were rumblings the New York Islanders tried to reunite Wild forward Zach Parise with Lou Lamoriello, the GM still managed to add a scoring touch with the addition of Ottawa’s Pageau, who then signed a sixyear extension. The Hurricanes, meanwhile, upgraded their centre position with Florida’s Vincent Trocheck and added to their depleted defence with the New York Rangers’ Brady Skjei.
Even the Philadelphia Flyers got involved, by picking up Anaheim’s Derek Grant and Montreal’s Nate Thompson.