Trade-deadline players could be key

Late-season acquisitions may figure prominently in playoffs

Vincent Trocheck was part of a wave of NHL players moved at the February trade deadline, jumping right into the lineup a day later for a learn-on-the-fly introduction to his new Hurricanes team.

Hardly an easy task.

“Obviously coming from a different team, you’re going to have a little bit of confusion,” he said. “Different systems, different styles of play.”

Those new additions are in a different position as the NHL returns from its pandemic shutdown. They’ve had months to study film. They’ve had two-plus weeks of camp-style workouts to build chemistry with teammates. And that could provide a big boost for the teams that added them five months ago for a run at the Stanley Cup.

“Anybody who got traded at the deadline for any team in this tournament, I think they’re going to benefit from it,” said Islanders coach Barry Trotz, whose team acquired center Jean-Gabriel Pageau from the Senators.

That wasn’t the plan, of course, when teams made deals ahead of the Feb. 24 deadline, which saw a record 32 trades and a record-tying 55 players dealt that final day. The expectation for playoff-contending teams was for new arrivals to spend the final six weeks of the regular season carving out roles ahead of the postseason.

Instead, the coronavirus halted everything in March.

The league allowed teams to reopen facilities for voluntary workouts in June. Then came two weeks of training camp in July, leading to this weekend’s start of the playoffs featuring 24 teams divided between Toronto and Edmonton, Alberta.

Amid the shutdown, some injured players had time to heal. Coaches who took over during the season got their own fresh start. And trade-deadline acquisitions have had a chance to catch up, too, from Capitals winger Ilya Kovalchuk to Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner.

Fittingly, it was one of those players — Conor Sheary, back with the Penguins — whoscored the first goal of the NHL’s restart in Tuesday’s exhibition loss to the Flyers.

“Players come in, it’s at the end of the season, there’s probably a little bit of pressure to perform,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “You don’t know anybody. You’re unfamiliar with the coaches, with the system, your teammates — and then all of a sudden, you get four months kind of off.

“But that didn’t mean you were four months away from your coaches or your teammates. Now you’re in the group chats, you’re communicating with everybody. You know everybody personally a lot better. And then when you come back, it’s almost like: wow, it’s your second year with the team.”

Cooper’s Lightning — part of the Eastern Conference’s round robin for top seeds — acquired forwards Blake Coleman (from the Devils) and Barclay Goodrow (from the Sharks) in February.

Coleman said they were “kind of thrown the kitchen sink as far as systems and trying to pick things up on the fly.”

“Obviously having a camp here has been great because I’m able to focus on the systems and really not have to worry about it in-game,” Coleman said. “You kind of want that stuff to be just second nature and not have to think about it. It feels like I’m part of the team now and not just the new guy, and it’s exciting that we have this chance.”

AP’s Stephen Whyno contributed.