Grading Every NHL Team's Trade Deadline Performance
After all of the rumors and speculation for the past few months, the 2023 NHL trade deadline has come and gone. Now that the dust has settled and we have seen what everybody has done (or not done) it is time to hand out some grades.
Every team is in a different situation, with some teams looking to add the final piece to a Stanley Cup puzzle and others simply trying to unload contracts and re-tool for the future.
In handing out grades a few things were kept in mind.
Did the team in question have a plan, or was it just a haphazard approach to the deadline?
Did the team accomplish what it needed or address its needs in a meaningful way?
Did the team get good value?
Did the team meaningfully improve itself in the short term or long term?
Let's get into it and see how everybody did.
Teams are separated by grade. We begin with the A's.
The F Grades
1 of 5
Philadelphia Flyers
This a team that just can not seem to get out of its own way. What is the plan here? The Flyers desperately need to rebuild but still talk like a team that thinks it can compete.
General manager Chuck Fletcher finally acknowledged the team was open for business and was going to sell in advance of the trade deadline, but he ended up only trading Zack MacEwen for Brendan Lemieux and a fifth-round draft pick.
Not being able to move James van Riemsdyk is the peak of the failure mountain.
Vancouver Canucks
Try to make sense of this team. The Canucks have not been a relevant contender for more than a decade, and despite that, they always go out of their way to take on big contracts and sign big contracts that do not really get them closer to contention.
All of those contracts made it impossible for them to re-sign Bo Horvat, their captain and best player, and resulted in them trading him. They had a player in Andrei Kuzmenko who could have been a highly sought-after trade candidate, and they re-signed him despite not really being in a position to win. They were unable to move any of their bad contracts and then traded a first-round pick (acquired in the Horvat trade with the New York Islanders) for Filip Hronek.
The value there is fine, but Hronek does nothing for the Canucks now or next season. There are teams where trading a first-round pick for Hronek would make a lot of sense. The Canucks are not that team.
They get an F for simply not having a plan and not making any sense. That seems to be a recurring theme with this organization.
The D Grades
2 of 5
Arizona Coyotes
After two years of Jakob Chychrun trade drama and rumors of an enormous asking price, they traded one of their best players, who is in the prime of his career and signed for two more full seasons after this one at an extremely team-friendly rate of under $5 million per season, for just three draft picks and only one first-round pick. That could not be more underwhelming.
The Coyotes also continued to be the NHL's dumping ground for unwanted contracts by taking on the deals for Jakub Voráček and Shea Weber. Just a miserable existence here with no end in sight.
Calgary Flames
The Flames only made a couple of inconsequential additions by trading for Troy Stecher, Dryden Hunt and Nick Ritchie. The only intrigue is that they traded Brett Ritchie for his brother (Nick).
One of the league's most disappointing teams this season with a completely disappointing trade deadline.
Florida Panthers
The Panthers are one of the worst defensive teams in the league and did nothing to address it. They have no first-round picks in each of the next three years and did nothing to address that.
They actually did nothing at the deadline to get back closer in the playoff race or help reset with more future assets. Tough spot to be in.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The best thing the Penguins did was find a way to dump some bad contracts in Kasperi Kapanen and Brock McGinn.
That could have given them a real opportunity to address some major weaknesses. But all they did was add a forward in Mikael Granlund with a different bad contract that addresses quite literally zero of their needs. They did not upgrade the third-line center spot, they did not make a meaningful addition to the defense after missing out on Jakob Chychrun, and they still have a major question mark with the same goalie tandem that has failed them in the past two postseasons.
Real missed opportunity here. Nick Bonino should help the penalty kill and the fourth line. Still, it is really difficult to see what general manager Ron Hextall's plan is here.
San Jose Sharks
When you trade a player as good as Timo Meier and do not get any of the other team's best young players, that is a loss. They took a quantity over quality return, and that is not going to improve the team now or in the future.
The only returns on the Mike Grier era as general manager are not yet impressive. Erik Karlsson will be the next big trade challenge, perhaps this offseason.
The C Grades
3 of 5
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks did what was expected and traded off players like John Klingberg and Dmitry Kulikov, but they did not really get anything back that significantly moves the needle in anyway. Taking on the remainder of Brock McGinn's contract from Pittsburgh does not solve much, either.
Not a terrible deadline. Just not a franchise-changing deadline.
Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo had what should have been a big opportunity here to really improve its roster in the short term and long term.
The Sabres are swimming in salary-cap space and have an extremely deep farm system. They could have used all of that to greatly improve their playoff chances this season and could have potentially added a core piece for the future. In theory, they could have been a major player for anyone who was available. All they really did was add Jordan Greenway.
Kind of underwhelming given the room and assets they had to work with. They could have rewarded their players for taking a big step forward and rewarded their fans for watching 12 years of miserable hockey. They missed that chance for now.
Colorado Avalanche
Lars Eller was a nice addition to help address their center depth, but they still have some flaws compared to last year's team. Did they add enough? Bringing back Jack Johnson is also an underwhelming move.
Their best additions will simply be getting healthy.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Did they overplay their hand with Vladislav Gavrikov? They ended up getting a first-round pick for him and Joonas Korpisalo, and then flipped Jonathan Quick (also acquired in that trade) for a warm body in goal (Michael Hutchinson) and a seventh-round pick. They gave away a sixth-round pick to dump Jakub Voráček's contract and recouped a fifth-round pick for Gustav Nyquist.
Better than losing those players for nothing, but also unlikely they get a lot of value in the future.
Montréal Canadiens
The most significant move they made was trading Evgenii Dadonov to Dallas for forward Denis Gurianov. That is actually a pretty intriguing gamble, as Gurianov has flashed signs of being a good top-six scorer but always seemed to quickly fall out of favor with the Stars. Maybe a fresh start will help him out.
New York Rangers
This might be the controversial grade here because the Rangers made all of the biggest headline moves to get Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues and Patrick Kane from the Chicago Blackhawks. But did they overdo it?
The value for Tarasenko was very good, and they gave up almost nothing of significance for Kane, but does it solve their issues? The Rangers needed to improve their five-on-five play, but one of their biggest weaknesses is their defensive play, especially at forward. Neither Tarasenko nor Kane helps fix that, while Kane might actively detract from that. Kane seems like he was a big-name luxury whose name they could put in lights when they could have used that cap space to acquire a better fit.
Let's see how it all plays out. They should have stopped at Tarasenko and looked to upgrade their defensive zone play.
Seattle Kraken
Another team that maybe missed a big opportunity.
The Western Conference is wide-open this season, and the Kraken have a really good team. A little extra help might have pushed them over the top. They still kept all of their assets and did not overpay for anybody, which is fine for a second-year team. But they also did not improve.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning have a very clear plan that they executed once again. Their trade deadline preference is younger, cheap forwards with term or team control remaining on their contract, and they are not afraid to pay a premium for them.
After having so much success with players like Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, Nick Paul, David Savard and Brandon Hagel in recent years, they traded a prospect (Cal Foote) and FIVE future draft picks to the Nashville Predators for Tanner Jeannot. Jeannot only counts $800,000 against the cap this season and will be very affordable next year as a restricted free agent, and if he rediscovers the goal-scoring form he showed as a rookie, he will be a steal. He is also a great fit for the Lightning's style of play.
The plan and process is sound and a proven method of success. But could they have used those picks for a better player?
Vegas Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev and Teddy Blueger definitely improve their center depth, and neither cost them a premium. But if they are expecting Jonathan Quick at this stage of his career to solidify their goalie depth, they might be disappointed. If nothing else, it creates some potentially high drama if they play the Kings in the second round of the playoffs.
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The B Grades
4 of 5
Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes made a couple of solid, low-cost moves to add Jesse Puljujärvi and Shayne Gostisbehere.
Puljujärvi might finally excel in Carolina, and if he does not make it work there, it is probably never going to work for him in the NHL. Gostisbehere is also a nice addition to add some extra scoring punch to their blue line.
But this does seem a little underwhelming given the salary-cap space they had and the need they had for another forward with some finishing, goal-scoring touch. It is a very good deadline, when we were all expecting a great deadline.
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks did what they needed to do and sold off everybody they could, positioned themselves nicely for the stretch run of the Connor Bedard derby, and loaded up on futures and draft picks. Patrick Kane, Max Domi, Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty all went.
Now comes the hard part: Turning those draft picks into useful NHL players. Without that, none of this matters.
Dallas Stars
The Stars' top-line players are among the best in the NHL, and they have a goalie in Jake Oettinger who can take them a long way.
They needed some help around the edges and got that in Domi and Evgenii Dadonov. Domi is intriguing because he can add some extra playmaking and skill to their bottom six and help balance out the lineup.
Detroit Red Wings
After getting blown out in back-to-back games by Ottawa, general manager Steve Yzerman decided to shift away from this season and start looking for the future.
While he did get star forward Dylan Larkin re-signed, he traded Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek and Oskar Sundqvist for draft picks, including a pair of first-round picks for Bertuzzi and Hronek. The Hronek trade was a huge surprise, but how could they turn down that value? The first-round pick they got from Vancouver will be a 2023 or 2024 pick that originally belonged to the New York Islanders, so there is a chance it could be a pretty high pick depending on what the Islanders do the next two years.
Disappointing for Detroit to be selling again, but the team at least chose a direction and executed the plan nicely with good value. The Red Wings now have three first-round picks in the 2023 class, which could give them a lot of flexibility to trade them off this offseason for more established NHL talent.
Edmonton Oilers
General manager Ken Holland finally—FINALLY!—did something meaningful to help out Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and landed a top-pairing defenseman in Mattias Ekholm from the Nashville Predators. It is the type of trade Holland has been hesitant to make in recent years, but you have to give your superstars a fighting chance to win.
The only thing keeping them from an A grade is selling low on Puljujärvi and not doing a better job to address the goaltending concern.
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings had one task for the trade deadline: Find a goalie. They did that by dumping franchise icon Jonathan Quick to Columbus in a trade for Joonas Korpisalo and defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov.
The only question here is whether or not Pheonix Copley and Korpisalo is a Stanley Cup-caliber duo. Gavrikov is a nice upgrade for the defense, so this was some nice work by Kings management.
Minnesota Wild
General manager Bill Guerin has done a magnificent job handling the salary-cap situation that has been crushed by the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts. He not only managed to build a top-three team in the Central Division, but he also had enough salary-cap space at the deadline to add John Klingberg, Oskar Sundqvist and Gustav Nyquist.
Nyquist is the intriguing addition because he might not be ready until closer to the Stanley Cup playoffs, but he should add some much-needed scoring depth to a very top-heavy forward lineup.
New York Islanders
The Islanders got the trading frenzy started a few weeks ago by adding Bo Horvat and then quickly signing him to a long-term contract extension.
Whether it is enough to get them into the playoffs this season or not, getting Horvat and signing him long-term gives them another legit scoring option to complement Mathew Barzal, something that has been needed for years.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues hit the reset button in a big way by dealing pending free agents Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O'Reilly and Ivan Barbashev. They got fine value for all three rentals, but the intriguing move here that boosts their grade up is taking a chance on Jakub Vrána. That is a low-risk, potentially high-reward move.
Do not be surprised if the Blues take some of that newfound draft capital from the other deals to restock the NHL cupboard with trades this offseason and continue to build around Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou.
Washington Capitals
The Capitals recognized this is probably not a playoff team this season and sold off some pieces, but they also made a shrewd move to get Rasmus Sandin from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
That is the type of move that could pay off in a big way down the road, as he should be a younger, cheaper replacement for Dmitry Orlov, who was traded to Boston. Washington used one of the picks acquired from Boston to get Sandin from Toronto.
The A Grades
5 of 5
Boston Bruins
You have to give the Bruins credit because they simply understood the assignment. They not only have the best team in the league, they know they have a limited timeframe to compete for a Stanley Cup with Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí, so they need to be all in on winning this season.
They made two potentially significant additions in defenseman Dmitry Orlov from the Washington Capitals and forward Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings. They did not overpay, giving up a couple of late first-round picks, and dramatically improved what is already the best team in the league.
This is exactly how a serious Stanley Cup contender should operate.
Nashville Predators
The Predators have needed to hit the reset button for a couple of years now and started to do that. David Poile is stepping aside in the general manager office and paving the way for former head coach Barry Trotz to take over, and they started to clear some salary off the books to help him out when he begins with a full cupboard of draft picks.
They dumped some major salary with Mattias Ekholm, Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund coming off the books, and they collected a bounty of draft picks for the future.
They are not better in the short term, but this was a necessary step and they got good value in dumping contracts. Getting a prospect and five draft picks for Tanner Jeannot is also a massive haul for an OK, but not great, player.
New Jersey Devils
Maybe they could have upgraded their goalie depth, but they got one of the best players available at the trade deadline in Timo Meier and did not have to give up their best young roster player in Dawson Mercer or any of their top prospects. That is a huge win. Especially when Meier is still under team control for next season.
Ottawa Senators
The Senators were one of the busiest teams in the offseason, and after starting to play their way back into playoff contention they made another huge addition by winning the Jakob Chychrun sweepstakes.
It not only gives them a bona fide top-pairing defender with outstanding offensive upside, but it also did not cost them a single prospect or player. It was all draft picks. That means over the past eight months they have added Alex DeBrincat and Chychrun to their roster for nothing but six draft picks, with only one of them likely to be in the top 10.
Huge win, especially when you consider how team-friendly Chychrun's deal is for the next two full seasons, counting just $4.6 million against the salary cap.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs are under immense pressure to win in the playoffs, and general manager Kyle Dubas left no stone unturned in trying to give them an edge over Tampa Bay in a likely first-round matchup.
He added Ryan O'Reilly, Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty and did not have to part ways with his team's top prospect, Matthew Knies. That is a win.
As long as O'Reilly is healthy for the playoffs (he was injured on Saturday) the Maple Leafs should have one of the best collections of center depth in the NHL.
Winnipeg Jets
The Jets did not make any blockbuster moves at the deadline, but they did address some of their forward depth issues in a meaningful way by adding Niederreiter and Vladislav Namestnikov for a handful of mid-round draft picks.
That is some nice business for a playoff team that has the top-tier talent to compete but needed some help around the edges.
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