2026 NHL Trade Deadline Week Grades and Analysis
NHL trade season hits a fever pitch this week.
The 2026 trade deadline is just days away, with 3 p.m. EST on Friday being the final time teams can make deals during the 2025-26 season. And while we've seen major moves already for Quinn Hughes and Artemi Panarin, this week will be filled with action.
The B/R NHL staff will be in position throughout the week to break down the biggest trades from now until the end of the week.
Bookmark this page and submit your thoughts on the week's action in the comments section of the app.
Blue Jackets Add Winger Garland from Canucks
1 of 15
The Trade
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets have crept their way into the playoff picture thanks to an 8-1-1 run. They're one point off the Bruins for the final Wild Card spot and three points off the Penguins for the second spot in the Metropolitan Division. They've put themselves in a position to add. Fair enough.
Let's get this much straight: Conor Garland is a fun hockey player. He's undersized, but that does not deter him. He's a nuisance on the ice and makes up for physical disadvantages with creative ways to leverage his size and a high-end motor. He combines that with a lot of skill. Garland is silky with the puck, great at maneuvering around traffic to advance possession and find ways out of trouble. He's a strong playmaker. The 29-year-old routinely hits the 45-50 point mark. And although he won't be typecast as a defensive forward, the complexities to his game — puck possession, strong on-ice awareness, the motor — combine to a package that doesn't lead to many chances against his team. Garland has had a terrible year in Vancouver, but to be fair, the entire organization is a catastrophe.
I understand the nuances of why this trade in particular appeals to the Blue Jackets. As soft buyers at the deadline, they don't want to spend on rentals. Garland has a six-year, $36 million contract extension that kicks in this July. And since the Blue Jackets aren't a destination in the NHL, there's an extra desire to add players with term.
There should be concern about whether he'll live up to that contract in the long term. Approaching the wrong side of 30, his playing style could lead to longetivity but he's already starting to slip below that $6M figure in performance.
I also think Garland, while a good addition, is more of the same. They already have some good middle-six forwards; Mason Marchment, Charlie Coyle, Booner Jenner, and so on. Garland broadens the depth but CBJ really need top-of-the-lineup talent to reach that next level.
Grade: B-
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks seem to finally understand this team needs a full-blown rebuild. The ill-advised contract extension to Connor Garland that will likely look back in a few years serves little purpose, given that they wouldn't have reaped many benefits of his remaining the next few seasons while the team piles losses anyway. I'm sure ownership is glad to be out of the financial commitment, and management is relieved to have the financial wiggle room going forward.
Had Garland been a rental, he would have been worth more than a second- and third-round pick. You can't change the past. Within the circumstances, the Canucks did well enough to get draft capital while also sneaking away from a potentially problematic contract.
Grade: B+
Rangers Send Center Sam Carrick to Sabres
2 of 15
The Trade
Buffalo Sabres
Everyone's waiting to see if the Sabres can pull off a blockbuster move; previously, there were false alarms on Robert Thomas and Colton Parayko.
In the meantime, there are some lesser but still important improvements to be made. For instance, at fourth-line center. Josh Dunne has done a decent job in the role, but he's best suited as an extra on a playoff team.
Enter Sam Carrick. In many ways, he's what a coach wants out of his fourth-line center. He knows his role inside and out. He's a very good defensive center, strong on faceoffs, and unafraid of physical play. He's one of the toughest players in the NHL. Not just in terms of aesthetics like fighting, but his shift-by-shift willingness to compete, battle through pain, and win endurance competitions in puck scrums. He truthfully isn't a skilled player in any real sense, but he collects the occasional goal through sheer will around the crease.
If one were to rank the 32 fourth-line centers in the NHL, Carrick would probably fall in the 10-15 range. It's a notable upgrade, and he will be unfazed by the heightened emotions of playoff hockey.
Grade: B
New York Rangers
Carrick did his job in two seasons in New York. It's a shame the team crumbled around him because he deserved a chance to center the fourth line at Madison Square Garden during the playoffs.
Nonetheless, the Rangers need to rebuild... or is it retool? Whatever it is, a 34-year-old fourth liner is an expendable piece. Pound-for-pound, this was as important a trade for the Rangers to make as any. Carrick's reasonable $1 million cap hit that extends through 2027 made him valuable in a way that wouldn't hold next season as a rental, and that's even assuming his game holds up.
I quite literally pegged Carrick's value at a third- and sixth-round pick before the trade. It's exactly what the Rangers receive. Fans may be tempted to compare this return to far greater ones for Nic Dowd and Michael McCarron. There are limitations to those comparisons because Dowd is a better player, and the McCarron trade was just silly. GM Chris Drury has an endless list of failures to account for, but he got this one right.
Grade: B+
Perron Returns to Red Wings From Senators
3 of 15
The Trade
Detroit Red Wings
David Perron has been one of the more underappreciated players of the Salary Cap era. His consistency and longevity are truly remarkable and it speaks measures that he's sticking in the NHL as a 37-year-old despite a drop in his offensive abilities.
He's averaging the lowest icetime (13:26) of his NHL career since he was a 19-year-old rookie in 2007-2008. Despite that, the former 60-point scorer has adjusted into a strong defensive winger who still pops in the occasional point; Perron has 10 goals and 15 assists through 49 games. Loss of speed has hampered his ability to create off the rush but he's still a capable producer on controlled possessions inside the offensive zone.
Perron spent two years in Detroit, leaving in 2024. He was a welcome presence there, and he definitely has value both on and off the ice for a stretch run. The Red Wings have relied on Emmitt Finnie and Mason Appleton in third-line roles, and Perron is a decisive upgrade. His $4M cap hit is no burden. The Red Wings are swimming in cap space. And a fourth-round pick that becomes a third-rounder only if the Red Wings have some playoff success? For a player of his caliber, it's more than fair.
The caveat is that this isn't enough. The Red Wings locker room publicly reached a boiling point last season after GM Steve Yzerman failed to bring in reinforcements. Perron is a nice addition, but he can't be the pinnacle of Detroit's deadline activity. Especially since he's currently injured.
Grade: B
Ottawa Senators
The Senators are on the outside looking in, yet they are motivated to make the playoffs. The compromise may be the totality of their activity today. They acquired winger Warren Foegele from the LA Kings, and he should be an upgrade on Perron. It's also important that Perron isn't currently available to play, and the Senators are fighting for every point. Finally, Perron is a 37-year-old pending UFA, whereas Foegele has another year on his contract. In sum, they added to swap out Perron for Foegele at the cost of a demotion from the second round to round four, maybe three if the Red Wings have some success.
It's a fairly creative solution to their desire to compete from an outside position.
Grade: B+
Stars Add Scoring Punch With Preds' Bunting
4 of 15
The Trade
Dallas Stars
The Stars are a true contender — sitting only behind the Avalanche in the league standings — but the season-ending injury for Tyler Seguin leaves something missing in the lineup.
Michael Bunting isn't exactly Seguin, but he brings some much-needed offense to Texas. Bunting is sort of a poor-man's Zach Hyman, planting his stick to the ice in scoring positions below the dots and finishing at a pretty high rate. He's also good at moving the puck off the cycle in the offensive zone. Bunting can't be the primary driver on a top-six line, but he is a great weapon to complement a skilled center such as Roope Hintz or Matt Duchene, or he'll be an overqualified third-liner who could feast against weaker competition. Bunting has proven he could be a 50-point-caliber winger in the right situations. He fortifies the Stars' offense, proving to be an upgrade on the second or third line over the current options of Sam Steel and Mavrik Bourque for those minutes.
And at the mere cost of a third-round pick, he's great value even only as a rental. Players of his caliber should cost more.
Grade: A-
Nashville Predators
GM Barry Trotz has been pragmatic, prioritizing accumulating assets over the ephemeral adrenaline of a playoff race that, even if Nashville makes it, will almost certainly result in a quick first-round squashing by the Avalanche or Stars.
A third-round pick for Bunting feels light. Consider that players like Mike McCarron and Kieffer Sherwood returned way more value. A middle-six wing rental who creates offense and is capable, conservatively, of 40 points should get a second-round pick. Or at least an additional pick to supplement a third-rounder. But perhaps the market was soft on Bunting, and this was the best Nashville could do.
Grade: C+
Senators Beef up With Kings' Foegele
5 of 15
The Trade
Ottawa Senators
The NHL loves meat-and-potatoes wingers, which is why the general lukewarm reception to Warren Foegele has always puzzled me. He's 6'2", 205 pounds and plays a fairly heavy game. He's a high-volume shooter who pursues on the forecheck and crashes the net for rebounds. Last season he scored a career-high 24 goals. He completely fell out of favor in LA, which can be a blemish on his record or an indication of poor decision-making all-around on a team that can't score goals and just fired its head coach.
He's also an honest defender who can take shifts on the PK.
The Senators need wing support in the top nine, and while there's organizational impatience about missing the playoffs, they're six points behind the line. A second-round pick and the losing side of a third-round pick swap is maybe an appropriate price to pay for a player of Foegel's caliber, but the Senators are in a precarious spot to be moving futures like this. The truth is that, if their goaltenders are unable to make saves, it won't matter who's on the wings.
The mitigating factor here is that Foegele is signed to a reasonable $3.5M cap hit next season. This could end up being about setting the Senators up for success next season.
Grade: B
Los Angeles Kings
There are different ways to look at this trade. In the aggregate, one can effectively look at this as trading Foegele and a late first-round equivalent in Liam Greentree for a third-round pick and Artemi Panarin. You take that shuffle 11 times out of 10.
Bigger questions loom about the Kings' confused direction. They're selling Foegele at a low value while his numbers seem temporarily suppressed. They've already lost Kevin Fiala for the season, and now lost a winger who is at least theoretically capable of producing like a second-liner. If they have just decided this isn't their year, then that would be one thing, but the rest of their organizational actions indicate otherwise. There doesn't seem to be an appetite to blow it in Anze Kopitar's final NHL season.
All things considered, they got respectable value for a player who became a castaway within the organization, but it's concerning that they were not able to get the most out of Foegele in the first place.
Grade: B-
Avalanche Add Third-Line Center Nic Roy from Maple Leafs
6 of 15
The Trade
Colorado Avalanche
Nic Roy brings something new to the table for the Avalanche. A team of corvettes adds a tractor. The 6'4" center isn't fleet but he's a highly physical player who wins more battles than he loses and is unafraid of blocking shots.
He's a heavy operator below the circles and has a knack for moving into scoring areas at the right moments for low-to-high passes, rebounds or deflections. His hands are good enough as a secondary skillset that he is capable of producing 15 goals and 35-40 points.
Roy loves to be involved in all three zones and he doesn't take shortcuts. He makes lots of little contributions to drive play for his team and he's a committed defensive center. There were moments where it looked like the Avalanche were looking at Nazem Kadri or Vincent Trocheck as an overpowering addition. Roy cannot match those two but he is, in many ways, the prototypical third-line center on a contending team.
The first- and fifth-round pick price is a bit steep for a player of his caliber, but the Avalanche are in pole position for the Stanley Cup and he is a big upgrade in a position of need. The best part for the Avs is that he is signed to a reasonable $3M cap hit through 2027, so they're going to get at least two runs with him.
Gradae: B+
Toronto Maple Leafs
A million mistakes have led to this calamitous season in which the Leafs may outright miss the playoffs, so it's difficult to lend any credit to the front office. The least one can say is that they seem to understand that what they built isn't working and that the entire roster needs to be reconfigured.
Roy is a good player signed for one more season, but this team needs a lot of help, and Matthews and Tavares make the center position a good place to extract from. A first- and a fifth-round pick is great value for a third-line center signed for this season and next. What really matters is how GM Brad Treliving deploys that pick to make the Leafs much stronger on the wings and on defense, where things look bleak.
Grade: A
Panthers Give Defenseman Petry Shot at Cup in Minnesota
7 of 15
The Trade
Minnesota Wild
Jeff Petry was once one of the better puck-moving defensemen in the NHL and a confident bet for a 40-point season. Now 38, he's fallen off dramatically. This season, he had 0 goals and eight assists in 58 games for the Panthers. He does remain a capable passer and various injuries in Florida pushed him into bigger roles than he is suited for at this point is his career.
Cotending teams anticipating deep playoff runs require depth. Petry, a righty will presumably battle Zach Bogosian for final lineup spot in Minnesota. Even as a seventh defenseman, a veteran like Petry is a great option to have. The cost of a seventh-round pick makes this a minor but obvious win for the Wild.
Grade: A
Florida Panthers
Even if Petry has rapidly declined, he's a competent player with a lot of NHL experience. He's probably worth a fifth-round pick.
This reads like the Panthers doing a respected veteran a favor. Petry signed for nearly league minimum in the offseason in order to contend for the Stanley Cup. The Panthers' season fell apart before it ever really began with Barkov's ACL injury and this isn't what Petry signed up for. The Panthers in particular every draft pick possible and conceding a round or two even towards the end of the draft hurts them more than it would most teams. In the long run, earning a reputation as a team that does right by its players may be the biggest value of all.
Grade: B
Vegas Add Center Depth, Acquire Capitals' Nic Dowd
8 of 15
The Trade
Vegas Golden Knights
Nic Dowd is arguably the NHL's best fourth-line center. A really good shutdown center who can go up against legitimate offensive lines, Dowd is strong positionally on the defensive side and is also active in supporting his team on the puck in the defensive zone. Dowd is an excellent penalty killer. The 35-year-old also has some offensive touch and has scored ten-plus goals in each of the previous five seasons. He can serve as a third-line center in a pinch, and Vegas may ask him to do that until Brett Howden returns.
Dowd is signed for another season, and that is why the price is so high. The $3 million cap hit is rough for a team that is always flying close to the cap ceiling, and Dowd's game has taken a step back this season. Vegas has now parted with a good chunk of draft picks for Dowd and Cole Smith, and neither is really an impact player. Offense and goaltending are the two big areas of need in Vegas, so it's a bit curious that they're instead doubling down on reinforcing an already strong defensive roster.
Grade: B-
Washington Capitals
Capitals GM Brian MacLellan previously extended the Caps' competitive window by getting rid of aging players while they still had value and then reinvesting in younger NHL talent. That seems to be the plan here, with the team on the outside of the playoff line at the moment. This couldn't have been an easy trade to make, as Dowd has been a remarkable servant to the organization for eight seasons, and, with another year remaining on his contract, they could have held on.
A second- and third-round pick is quite the haul for an aging depth center. It may not be a super popular move in the locker room at the moment, but it's one that puts the Capitals in a much better position as an organization.
Grade: A
Oilers Move Mangiapane to Blackhawks for Dickinson, Dach
9 of 15
The Trade
Edmonton Oilers
Oh boy...
The Oilers signed winger Andrew Mangiapane to a two-year deal with a $3.6 million annual cap hit, and the fit has been horrible. The offense-only winger had just 14 points in 57 games. The Oilers literally could not give him away via waivers. In the bigger picture, the team is struggling and is much closer to missing the playoffs than true contender status. As has always been the case, the team's forward depth is miserable, and the team bleeds goals. Add it all up, and the result is this type of trade.
Jason Dickinson, to be fair, has proven himself as a shutdown defenseman. He did score 22 goals two seasons ago, but it was mainly a fluke; he has just 29 points in 106 games since 2024-25. He's a passable third-line center and definitely an upgrade over their current options, but the 30-year-old is a rental, and a first-round pick is not his value.
Colton Dach, 23, has shown decent defensive instincts, but he's a black hole offensively. He should be a spare forward for now and maybe could carve out a career as a penalty-killing fourth-line center.
The Oilers don't exactly have a surplus of assets, and the mandate is win-now. They should be using first-round picks for difference-makers that put them on par with the likes of Colorado and Dallas. Here, the Oilers are paying to get out of their own mistake as much as anything else. And there are no guarantees they'll be particularly good next season, either. This could turn into a major blunder.
Grade: D
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks may no longer be fully immersed in nihilism mode, but GM Kyle Davidson understands his team's priorities. They're out of the playoff picture, and Dickinson and Dach are replaceable depth pieces. They'll be swimming in cap space next season and will be able to make all sorts of additions, even if Mangiapane is an anchor for one season. It's also possible that they'll help the 29-year-old return to his 40-point form and benefit from his presence. There's no other world in which they would have gotten a first-round pick for Dickinson and Dach. The Blachawks took advantage of a desperate team. It's a comical victory.
Grade: A+
Utah Makes Mammoth Move for Calgary Defenseman Mackenzie Weegar
10 of 15
The Trade
Utah Mammoth
Utah is in a playoff position, but they only have a few points as a buffer. They need some help in order to secure the first playoff hockey in Utah NHL history, let alone have a fighting chance in a top-heavy Western Conference.
Mackenzie Weegar, 32, is a right-handed defenseman who conceptually fits Utah's strengths. He's very active with the puck on his stick, and for years, he was an analytics darling. Weegar has historically been one of the NHL's best defensemen at retrieving pucks and then dishing them up the ice.
Weegar's underlying numbers have crashed this season, but there are two critical factors to consider. First, the Flames are just generally not a good team, and top-pairing defensemen often get pummeled in this type of situation. Weegar, at 32, is not capable of playing the No. 1 role that Calgary has asked of him.
The Flames are also moving towards a philosophy that doesn't suit Weegar's strengths. The Flames evidently want tall, rangy defensemen who disrupt. Weegar is 6'0" and doesn't defend in an overly physical way.
The Mammoth is a much better fit. Some of the forwards on the roster — Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, JJ Peterka — love to attack with speed and strike off the rush. Signed through 2031, Weegar is built to make the most of that and get them the puck through neutral ice. He had 47 points last season, and he could return to similar form in a better offensive environment, with other competent defensemen on the right side able to share the load.
Utah gives up quantity for quality. Three second-round picks and a solid prospect are a big concession to upgrade to Weegar from Olli Määtta, but the Coyotes spent years accumulating nothing but draft picks, and Utah has plenty to spare. Weegar isn't the massive splash Utah has been hoping for, but he is a definitive upgrade to the team's top-four defensive group, and he makes the Mammoth a more threatening team without conceding any critical assets.
Grade: A-
Calgary Flames
The Flames have been reluctant to embrace the concept of a rebuild despite losing so many important players over the last few seasons. This trade is an admittance that it's time. Weegar was signed for five more years. They could have kept him. But at 32 years old and with a $6.25 million cap hit through 2031, it's possible that Weegar's contract would be a burden rather than an asset by the time Calgary is a playoff team again.
Jonathan Castagna, a third-round pick in 2023, is a fast center who is producing above a point-per-game pace as a junior at Cornell in the NCAA. The 20-year-old is a solid depth prospect and has bottom-six potential.
Three second-round picks for Weegar, all in 2026, is pretty significant value. Based on current projects, those three picks roughly add up to the equivalent of a first-round pick in the early 20s, per Puckpedia. The Flames, who have time to be patient, should be content to take that value piecemeal.
Olli Määtta, 31, is signed for two more seasons, and he's a respectable shutdown defenseman. He'll help steady the ship as a veteran presence for a Flames blue line that is about to become very young. And in a year or two, he may have trade deadline value for himself.
Grade: A-
Avalanche Add Predators' Blankenburg for Defensive Depth
11 of 15
The Trade
Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche are not afraid to break convention, and it's part of why they're so successful as an organization. As other teams pay premium prices for big, beefy veteran defensemen to round out their depth charts, Colorado goes in a different direction.
Nick Blankenburg is 5'9" and has just 164 NHL games to his name. The undrafted defenseman has put up impressive numbers in sheltered minutes the last two seasons in Nashville; this season he has 21 points in 49 games. Granted, some of that production has come on the power play and he's unlikely to get those opportunities in Colorado. But Blankenburg has shown that he can drive offense and distribute the puck at the speed in which a team like Colorado demands without getting killed defensively. The 26-year-old will be the seventh defenseman in Colorado and should be able to step in on the third pairing in case of injury or performance problems.
Grade: A-
Nashville Predators
Credit to GM Barry Trotz. In his last season before retirement, he could lean heavily into going for one last playoff run; one which is within grasp for the Predators. He's doing right by the team where he built his NHL legacy and is trying to hand over a healthy project to his successor.
Blankenburg will be an unrestricted free agent in July and, while he was a nice find, he is ultimately a replaceable piece. As teams usually look for large, physical defensemen this time of year, the market for a 5'9" defenseman was always going to be underserved, strong underlying numbers or not. A fifth-round pick is an adequate return.
Grade: B
Stars Acquire Defenseman Tyler Myers from Canucks
12 of 15
The Trade
Dallas Stars
Tyler Myers is to NHL GMs what the sirens were to Odysseus. He's big, has a long reach, plays physical hockey, and has a powerful shot. Add in veteran savvy, and teams are helplessly drawn to him.
In reality, the aesthetic doesn't match the output. The 36-year-old handles the puck like a grenade in the defensive zone. His footwork isn't great, and he's beaten up ice often, forcing him to take a high share of penalties. He actually has decent offensive zone instincts, but he struggles to help his team advance play up the ice. Statistically, the Canucks have been pummeled when Myers is on the ice at 5v5.
A necessary qualifier is that the Canucks have used Myers like a No. 3 defenseman. Maybe his poor results are a product of over-utilization, and he could be a helpful presence down the lineup.
The issue is that the Dallas Stars aren't positioned to offer him the kind of role he's looking for. They have a gaping hole on the right side of their second pair, and while Miro Heiskanen's presence may take some heat off him, he's still primed for top-four usage.
In fact, the need for a top-four defenseman can be traced to Dallas' failure to address this problem with similar players, such as Cody Ceci and Ilya Lyubushkin. For whatever reason, evaluating the depth of the Dallas defensemen is a problem.
The 50% contract discount to bring his cap hit to $1.5 million is a nice touch, and Myers is signed through next season, but a second- and fourth-round pick for a player who is more bark than bite? I'm not sure the Stars have truly addressed a problem that has possibly been the sole difference between deep playoff runs versus a Stanley Cup the last few seasons.
Grade: D+
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks appear to be finally embracing a rebuild three or four years after it became obvious the team was broken. Myers, in particular, is emblematic of this organizational shift. There were many times in the past when the team should have moved on from him. Better late than never.
The team had been deploying him in minutes that just were not proportional to his abilities. But even that aside, there just isn't room for a 36-year-old when you're conducting a full demolition. Typically, the Canucks have been the type of team to take the bait on a bad trade like this. In this case, Vancouver are benefitting from Myers' extra year and are wisely eating half of his $3M cap hit to generate the best return. A second- and fourth-round pick for an aging defenseman who has struggled in a top-four role is good business.
Grade: A+
Golden Knights Add Depth Forward Cole Smith From Predators
13 of 15
The Trade:
Vegas Golden Knights
Cole Smith is the type of rustic late bloomer who could go from a nobody to a notable vet in one playoff run. The 30-year-old didn't become an NHL regular until he was 26. A winger, Smith has been something of a hidden gem in Nashville. Head Coach Andrew Brunette made an aggressive ask of the depth player, boosting him into bona fide third-line minutes this season. Smith has held his own. He's an adept defensive winger who bursts with speed. He is limited offensively but does successfully plant around the net and find the occasional high-grade scoring opportunity.
A third-round pick is fair, if not slightly strong, compensation, for a depth rental like Smith. A mitigating factor for Vegas? The pick is not until 2028. They're spacing out the damage done to their prospect pool.
So while the value may be within the margin for error, is Vegas shopping in the right department? This is a strong defensive team that needs offense and goaltending. Smith is a good piece for a complete team looking to add depth for an anticipated deep run. The Golden Knights are well behind the top three in the Western Conference, and I'm not sure they should be moving third-round picks for tweaks down the roster.
Grade: B-
Nashville Predators
As with the earlier McCarron trade, the Predators are finding the sweet spot between prioritizing the future while maintaining their pace in the playoff push. Smith was a nice find for the Preds; an undrafted free agent out of whom they reaped four NHL seasons. Now a 30-year-old facing unrestricted free agency, the Predators are rightly choosing the value of a third-round pick towards their rebuild over the minimal impact Smith would make in a playoff push.
After Tuesday, the Predators have added a second- and third-round pick for two bottom-of-the-roster-type forwards.
Grade: A
Minnesota Wild Acquire Michael McCarron from Nashville Predators
14 of 15
The Trade
Minnesota Wild
Michael McCarron has done a valiant job of carving out an NHL career. The 2013 first-round pick looked like a bust and was in the AHL as recently as 2023. He's since reimagined his game as a fourth-line checker. The 6'6" forward plays both center and wing and is pugilistic on the ice. He's a freight train on the forecheck and ranks among the league leaders in hits. He's a strong defensive forward, and over the last two seasons, he's won 58 percent of his 946 defensive-zone faceoffs, per InStat. McCarron has five goals in 59 games. These are all good things, and he can play a role on a contending team. The Minnesota Wild, who have the fifth-best record in the NHL, fit the mold.
But a second-round pick to rent a fourth-liner? There may not be many 6'6" monsters lying around, but other teams will find players capable of playing a similar fourth-line role for the cost of a fourth- or fifth-round pick. The Wild, in particular, are not in a position to punt premium assets. The Quinn Hughes trade sent a crater into the prospect pool, and they reportedly have a significant offer on the table for the New York Rangers' Vincent Trocheck.
Minnesota is now missing its second-round picks in each of the next three seasons; a shame, considering how good its scouting team is at identifying talent.
Grade: C-
Nashville Predators
The Predators are outside the playoff picture, but they're in the race. Veterans Ryan O'Reilly and Steven Stamkos reportedly aren't eager to depart. GM Barry Trotz has a balancing act to do in his final hurrah in Nashville, offloading non-essential assets to build for the future while keeping the team strong enough to compete down the stretch.
This trade quenches that thirst. McCarron is a respectable player who did his job for the Preds, but this team needs an injection of youth. A second-round pick for a 30-year-old fourth-line rental? It doesn't get much better than that. It's a notable asset added to the arsenal without a meaningful sacrifice to the lineup.
Grade: A
Oilers Acquire Connor Murphy From Chicago for a 2nd-Round Pick
15 of 15
The Trade:
Edmonton Oilers
A typical team that is fighting just to hold on to the last playoff spot has no business trading a second-round pick for a depth rental, but this is not a typical team. There's no such thing as a non-contending year with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in their primes.
With Connor Murphy, what you see is what you get. He's a second-pairing shutdown defenseman. The right-handed defenseman had the lowest expected goals against average (2.47) of all Chicago defensemen at 5v5 this season, despite not exactly getting sheltered minutes.
The Oilers, as is tradition, have bled goals this season; they rank 26th of 32 teams by goals against per 60, per Evolving Hockey. A lot of that has to do with team goaltending, but the defense is leaky as well. In particular, the second pairing of Darnell Nurse and Jake Walman has been woeful.
If head coach Kris Knoblauch adjusts as expected, he'll move Walman, an offense-minded defenseman, to his natural left side and pair Murphy with him as a complementary right-shot. That switch, plus a demotion for Nurse, who has really struggled, would go a long way.
Is this enough to transform the Oilers from their usual position as a mediocre team dragged into the mix by their superstars? Probably not. That's not ideal, but it may not matter.
If Murphy and the subsequent depth chart adjustments can make the defense palatable, then it will at least give McDavid et al a chance to win a few playoff series.
A rental isn't the best target for a team already low on assets, but a second-round pick is fair exchange value for a player of Murphy's caliber.
Grade: B
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks are less dreadful to watch than in past seasons, but they still aren't ready to compete for a playoff spot.
Ten points behind the playoff line this late into the season? That means selling at least expiring assets. Murphy, a 32-year-old whose contract expires in July, is a mandatory export.
The second-round pick is not until 2028, and maybe the Blackhawks could have shopped a few more days to find something sooner, but the market has way more sellers than buyers.
General manager Kyle Davidson has a number of pending free agents to shop around, so clearing out some of the inventory now will make the job easier in the next few days.
Grade: A-
- Adam Herman
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