By: Adamo Marinelli
March 2nd, 2020
On February 24th, general managers across the NHL ended their frantic search to improve their rosters before embarking on a journey to contend for the Stanley Cup or to prepare and improve for the future.
There were 32 trades on deadline day this year, and 86 players, prospects, and picks were traded to different teams.
There were some huge deals that saw big players move and there were some clear winners and losers of the deadline. Let’s take a look at who won and lost.
I have selected three winners for the trade deadline. They are as follows.
The Carolina Hurricanes went all in and improved drastically on both offense and defense. They solidified their forward depth by adding Vincent Trocheck, a 25-30 goal scorer who can move the puck through the neutral zone and set up plays. They also acquired two excellent defensemen to solidify their blue line. Sami Vatanen and Brady Skjei, are both physical defenders who create turnovers, move the puck well and contribute to the offensive attack. It cost them 6 players and two draft picks - one of those is a first-round pick - but they are sending a clear message to the rest of the league. After making it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, they have their sights set on contending for a Stanley Cup this season.
The Ottawa Senators sold, sold and sold some more. Given their situation and their need for more picks in the rebuild, receiving picks by selling players that they wouldn’t get any return on when they moved on in free agency is the perfect situation. They traded Dylan Demelo to the Jets for a 2020 3rd round pick, Vladislav Namestnikov to the Avalanche for a 2021 4th round pick, Jean Gabriel Pageau to the Islanders for a 1st round pick in 2020 (as long as the Islanders are not picking in the top 3), a 2nd round pick in 2020 and a conditional 3rd round pick in 2022. As of right now, the Senators have 13 draft picks in 2020, 3 in the first round and 4 in the second round, which is important in a loaded draft and they have many young prospects in the AHL, playing in Bellville, and also many young talented pieces on both sides of the puck already on the Senators’ roster.
The Edmonton Oilers are sitting at 2nd in the Pacific Division with 76 points and are in a playoff spot, but not by much. They have a lot of talent on their roster, on both offense and defense. Leon Draisatl is already over 100 points through 65 games and Connor McDavid is sitting at 89 points through 59 games. They have been scoring at a consistent pace, they are in the top half of the league in scoring and their defense has been playing well, top half in the league in goals-against too. They gave up a 5th round conditional pick in 2021 for Tyler Ennis, a good top-9 depth forward and gave up a 2nd round pick in 2020 and 2021 and Sam Gagner for an elite offensive playmaker in Andreas Athanasiou and a depth forward in Ryan Kuffner. They also bolstered their already talented blueline with veteran defenseman Mike Green who contributes on both ends of the ice and received goalie prospect Angus Redmond and a 7th round pick for defensemen Joel Persson, set to be a UFA. They can contend for a Stanley Cup.
I also selected three losers for the trade deadline. They are as follows.
The Colorado Avalanche are not considered losers at the trade deadline because of a terrible deal they made, it was because they didn’t make a deal before the trade deadline. The Colorado Avalanche were one of the best teams in the NHL before the deadline. They were 2nd in the Central Division, 13 points above the 2nd wild card team, pretty secured into a playoff spot. They have good depth on forward, on defense and their goalies have been playing well lately too. Their goal differential of +49 is a league-best. The Avalanche had a ton of cap space, almost all of their original draft picks, and a loaded farm team full of elite NHL ready players. They could have used this to bolster up the depth on their team to make them a legitimate Stanley Cup contender this year and in years to come. They didn’t do that. They added a backup goaltender in Michael Hutchinson and a depth forward in Vladislav Namestnikov. If they lose early in the playoffs, we’ll know why.
The Calgary Flames are third place in the Pacific division, barely clinging to a playoff spot, just 3 points above the final wildcard team. They are under immense pressure to make the playoffs and are well known by many to be in the market for a right-winger. They would up with defensemen Eric Gustafsson and Derek Forbort. Both players add depth to the team and will help a struggling and banged up defensive corps until Marc Giordano and Travis Hamonic return from injury. Gustafsson has proven he can get involved in the offensive side of the game as well, which will help a mid-tier Flames’ offense improve even more. The Flames only trail the Las Vegas Golden Knights, the Pacific division leaders by 5 points. If they had gotten an acclaimed right-winger, maybe they would have the potential to win their division.
The Buffalo Sabres have been playing pretty well as of late, winning 6 of their last 10 games. Yet they remain 12 points behind Columbus for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. It was surprising to see the Sabres general manager be so quiet at the trade deadline when they have a decent amount of cap space and draft picks to use in exchange for some talented players on offense and on defense to add to their current depth. Sure, they have talent like Jack Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin but they could always use more, especially when fighting for a playoff spot. They gave up a conditional 5th rounder in 2021 for Wayne Simmonds and they traded away Connor Sheary and Evan Rodrigues for Dominik Kahun, two minor deals, but those trades aren’t going to put you over the top, so why bother?
We will see if these winners and losers correlate to who wins the Stanley Cup this season.
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