It was a Bear market
Bruins a big winner in deadline dealings
It is a futile effort to pick the winners and losers from the trade deadline right now as there will be only one winner — and that team will declare itself in mid-June when its captain raises the Stanley Cup.
But it is still fun going through the exercise. There are no fewer than eight teams that believe they have a legitimate shot at winning. And there was a lot of talent changing uniforms in the last week, especially in the East.
Here’s our list of the teams that helped themselves, and those that didn’t.
Winners
• 1. Tampa Bay — No team is unbeatable in this race, but general manager Steve Yzerman went the extra mile to shore up one of the Bolts’ weak spots on defense by acquiring Ryan McDonagh. Yzerman mortgaged a good chunk of the future with a 2018 firstround pick, a 2019 conditional second-rounder and two top prospects in Brett Howden and Libor Hajek, but the Bolts have at least two kicks at the can with McDonagh. Meanwhile, J.T. Miller — the roster body swap for Vladislav Namestnikov — might be able to flourish more in Tampa than he did in Manhattan. Once the injured McDonagh gets into the lineup, the Bolts are most likely the team to beat in the East.
• 2. BRUINS — Only the most pessimistic Bruins fan can rag on what GM Don Sweeney pulled off. For the cost of a 2018 firstrounder, a second-tier prospect (Ryan Lindgren) and a player they probably wouldn’t have signed beyond this season (Ryan Spooner), Sweeney picked up an impact player in Rick Nash and got out from under at least some of Matt Beleskey’s contract money for the next two seasons. Beyond Nash, Sweeney’s depth pickups — Nick Holden, Tommy Wingels and Brian Gionta — have already contributed to wins.
• 3. Columbus — With his club hanging on to a playoff spot by a thread, GM Jarmo Kekalainen made three modest moves that should give his club just enough to get into the postseason. He picked up defenseman Ian Cole, who helped Pittsburgh win two titles but had been in and out of favor with the Penguins all season, to help on the back end. To buck up the bottom six, he grabbed gritty centerman Mark Letestu. And for a minimal cost, he took a flyer on Thomas Vanek to see if the old sniper can score a few when it matters. Nothing earth-shattering, mind you, but Kekalainen gave his team about as much help as it deserved.
• 4. Toronto — The Maple Leafs were somewhat quiet at the deadline, but GM Lou Lamoriello did make one sneaky good move. In picking up Tomas Plekanec from Montreal, the Leafs got a centerman who has been a pebble in David Krejci’s shoe for years. With the B’s lined up to play the Leafs, that’s not the best news for Bruins fans. The 35-year-old center has been trending downward for a couple of years now, but being back in the thick of a Cup hunt could prove a temporary elixir.
• 5. New Jersey — GM Ray Shero added a dash of speed and scoring ability in former Ranger Michael Grabner, then on deadline day he acquired some brawn for the wing in Patrick Maroon from Edmonton. With their speed, a touch of nastiness and maybe this season’s Hart Trophy winner in Taylor Hall, the Devils are a dangerous team. The Bruins are 3-0 against Jersey this season and they could be — perhaps should be — 0-3.
• 6. Pittsburgh — The Pens had a big hole up front after third-line center Nick Bonino left for Nashville, but they filled it well with Derick Brassard, who is an even better player than Bonino. But it came at a cost. (See below.)
• 7. NY Rangers — It all depends on what you want to accomplish at the deadline and, with his Blueshirts barely treading water in the Metropolitan Division, GM Jeff Gorton got the go-ahead to blow it up. That’s exactly what he did. He’s got seven picks in the first three rounds of June’s draft, including three firstrounders, plus two highlevel prospects in Howden and Hajek and a decent one in Lindgren.
• 8. San Jose — As expected, the Buffalo Sabres fell far short of their lofty goals on what they wanted for Evander Kane. It cost the Sharks just a 2019 conditional first-rounder, a 2020 fourth-rounder and forward Danny O’Regan. For a potentially explosive talent such as Kane, regardless of his issues, that’s not much. In a short run, Kane just might be very helpful.
Losers
• 1. Vancouver — One of the reasons the Canucks signed Vanek to a one-year deal in the first place was so that the rebuilding team could get a decent draft pick at the deadline, but all GM Jim Benning could land from Columbus was Tyler Motte, a middling, 22-yearold forward prospect now with his third organization, and journeyman forward Jussi Jokinen. Maybe the league was scared off by Vanek’s stalling out down the stretch the last few years, but not even a thirdrounder?
• 2. Detroit — Nothing at all for unrestricted free agent-to-be Mike Green? OK, so he’s not a perfect defenseman, far from it, but nothing?
• 3. NY Islanders — With John Tavares in his walk year and the Islanders ebbing away from the playoff structure, GM Garth Snow added only journeyman defenseman Brandon Davidson and swapped out Jason Chimera for Chris Wagner. Maybe holding on to his assets — four picks in the first two rounds — was prudent. But if I was an Islanders fan I would have liked to have seen some urgency.
• 4. Carolina — Ditto. The Hurricanes have an impressive group of young defensemen in Jaccob Slavin, Noah Hanifin and Brett Pesce, but they could have used some help up front. Actually, goalie Petr Mrazek, picked up by the Flyers for a conditional 2018 fourth-rounder and a 2019 conditional thirdround pick, wouldn’t have hurt, either.
• 5. Pittsburgh — OK, here’s the downside to the deadline in Pittsburgh. The Penguins, as always, are loaded up front, thanks to the acquisition of Brassard, but they are not good on the back end. Cole may not be Drew Doughty, but he wasn’t a throwaway, not with this group. In the Bruins’ 8-4 beatdown on Thursday, the Pens’ goaltending may have been the biggest issue, but not the only one. The B’s were scoring on back-door plays and tap-ins all night. The currently injured Matt Murray will wipe out a couple of those soft goals that occurred, but the goalies had little chance on most of the tallies.