Taking stock after the trade deadline

NHL teams won’t pay high price at deadline

REMEMBER when Nashville’s David Poile was anointed General Manager of the Year for acquiring rental properties Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli from Toronto for a package including a first-rounder in advance of the 2015 trade deadline?

Well, now it is Tampa Bay’s Steve Yzerman receiving universal love as the hockey world’s most brilliant executive on the planet for clearing some 2017-18 cap space for next season by getting precious little in return for dumping Brian Boyle, Ben Bishop and Valtteri Filppula off one of the NHL’s most disappointing teams in years.

As instant deadline analyses go, it is clear this was the year GMs refused to pay premium prices for items in the leftover bins and those who demanded them were left with an overstock.

Right, but let’s all praise Arizona’s John Chayka for sticking to his principles and keeping Radim Vrbata because, well, who knows why?

Just two teams sacrificed first-rounders for the 2017 draft, which has been categorized as unusually light and bereft of generational players. The two clubs that did so, Washington and Minnesota, are leading Cup contenders who surrendered those picks for carefully targeted assets in Kevin Shattenkirk and Martin Hanzal, respectively, that filled specific needs.

First in the regular season, first at the trade deadline and last winners of the Stanley Cup in, well, never, the Capitals filled their last remaining hole on the right side of the third pair and on the right power-play point in Shattenkirk, who merely needs to fit in and be himself, not to be a savior. Honestly, Shattenkirk, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom on the same manadvantage unit (and with the option of adding Evgeny Kuznetsov)? Deadly.

And in acquiring the pending free agent for a reasonable cost, GM Brian MacLellan also kept Shattenkirk away from the Penguins and Rangers, both of whom apparently were asked to pay a relatively higher price than yielded from the Caps. Win, win, win. All that remains is for Washington to get past the second round for the first time since 1998.

Again, maybe the Rangers will do an about-face in their thinking and be all-in on Shattenkirk on July 1, but I would be shocked if they’re willing to go longer than five years for more than $6 million per (if that) when he hits the open market, which isn’t likely to be close to the defenseman’s most lucrative offer.

Don’t believe the advisory about the rearview mirror, because with every glance at it, the Devils look farther and farther away on their way to a fifth straight playoff miss for the first time since their first five years in New Jersey upon their arrival in 1982.

Taylor Hall: three goals in the past 18 games and nine in 39 games since returning on Dec. 1 from knee surgery.

Not sure exactly where he went the first three-plus months of the season and how the coaching change has affected him, but the planets are again aligned with John Tavares’ re-ascension to consistent brilliance.

And did you happen to catch No. 91 on the ice for 1:58 of the first 2:31 of Friday’s overtime in Chicago that he almost won by himself before the Blackhawks took it in a shootout? Breathtaking. There is still the matter of the six years at $5.5 million per remaining on Andrew Ladd’s contract, but the winger is the Islanders’ fourth-leading goalscorer with 16 (five more, for instance, than Anaheim’s Corey Perry, and what in the world is up with that?) and has recorded 13 in the past 27 games.

So, where was the outrage when Mike Duco wore No. 68 for his 10 games with the 2009-10 Panthers? Or when Larry Mickey wore No. 9 for seven games with the 1965-66 Rangers? (Well, I was outraged.)

Still, I just wonder how many other organizations, if any, would think it is a good idea to give out No. 66 to a rookie, as the Islanders apparently do in putting it (with a bull’s-eye) on Josh Ho- Sang’s back?

When I worked for the Devils through the ’80s, we had a player come out of college to join the team late in a season who requested No. 99. GM Max McNab sagely advised equipment manager Keith Parker to give the young man No. 14.

So, now that Major League Baseball has adopted a 30-second time limit for managers to ask for a video review and a 2minute time limit (with certain, as yet unidentified, exceptions) for the review itself, is it not time for the NHL to adopt similar limits pertaining to the coach’s challenges?

The offside challenge has become a mockery, resulting in routine delays of six minutes or more with linesmen struggling to decipher the undecipherable. If 90 secondsto-2 minutes isn’t enough time to provide indisputable evidence to overturn a call, then it should stand. That applies to goaltender interference, as well.

And no, it is not about “always getting it right,” because if it were, then, a) everything, including delay of game, would be reviewable; and, b) teams wouldn’t lose their right to a second challenge if their initial one was unsuccessful.

The offside challenge is as fatally flawed a concept as the in-the-crease rule. Just wait until Lindy Ruff is leading a “No offside … no offside” chant.

The Panthers are honoring Olli Jokinen before Tuesday night’s match in Florida against the Rangers. Jokinen will warm up for the ceremony by skating circles in the corner.

Finally, if only Warren Beatty had been at the podium for the 2003 Entry Draft:

“With the 12th pick, the Rangers select Hugh Jessiman.” (Pause. Confusion.) “It’s a mistake. Parise. The Rangers pick Zach Parise.”