NHL Trade Grades for Jordan Kyrou, Simon Nemec and William Eklund Deals

After years of being promised major trade activity, the NHL's general managers finally seem to be delivering.

All it took was one of the worst free agent classes in recent memory to kickstart the aggressiveness.

The wild start to the offseason continued on Tuesday with a series of trades that included defenseman Simon Nemec going from the New Jersey Devils to the Calgary Flames, forward William Eklund going from the San Jose Sharks to the Ottawa Senators, and forward Jordan Kyrou going from the St. Louis Blues to the Washington Capitals.

Let's look at each of those trades and give out some grades.

Flames Get Simon Nemec from Devils

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Calgary receives: Simon Nemec, Maxim Tsyplakov

New Jersey receives: 2027 first-round pick (from Vegas), 2028 first-round pick (from Colorado), 2026 second-round pick (from New York Rangers), Etienne Morin

The Calgary perspective

The Flames are definitely in some sort of rebuild and have stockpiled a ton of draft picks (including several first-rounders) over the next few years. That collection of picks gave them some flexibility to either keep adding prospects to the prospect pool or package some of them for more immediate help.

They chose to do the latter with this move.

While two first-round picks seem like a steep price to pay for a young defender who still hasn't put everything together and made himself a clear-cut top-pairing defenseman in the NHL, Nemec still has a lot of things working in his favor for the Flames.

The first is that he has at least flashed some offensive upside and is coming off an 11-goal, 26-point season in 68 games for the Devils.

The second is that, even as a restricted free agent, he still has four years of team control and is only 22 years old. There is still some untapped potential here and a chance he could blossom with a bigger role and a fresh start.

But even with that, he has a lot of work to do away from the puck and in the defensive zone, and he needs to do more to drive his own defense pairing and push play.

Those two first-round picks are also likely to be late first-round picks given that they are coming from Vegas and Colorado. There's value in those picks, but it's unlikely to be overwhelming.

The big question is whether or not those picks could have been used to get a better, more proven player.

Grade: C+

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The New Jersey perspective

It just was not working out for Nemec in New Jersey, and his name had been the subject of trade rumors for more than a year.

Now it is done.

The Devils have the defensive depth to make such a move, and they ended up getting pretty good value for a player who hadn't really panned out as hoped.

It gives the Devils five first-round picks over the next three years and three picks within the first 44 selections of the 2026 class.

The question now becomes whether all of those picks actually get made by the Devils or if they look to flip some of them for more immediate NHL help.

It is the first major player move for new general manager Sunny Mehta, and it is a solid start to give him some assets to work with.

Grade: B

Senators Get William Eklund from Sharks

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Ottawa receives: William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen, Brandon Svoboda

San Jose receives: No. 9 overall pick in 2026

The Ottawa perspective

When the Senators received nothing but draft picks, including three first-round picks, for Brady Tkachuk, the question immediately became whether or not they would be looking to move some of those picks for more help right now. Especially as it related to the No. 9 and No. 25 overall picks

That is exactly what they did, moving the No. 9 pick for Eklund and two prospects.

Eklund is obviously the focal point right now and the best player coming to Ottawa, and while he may not have the big-name appeal of Tkachuk or the proven production, he is still an excellent young player who can do a lot of good things. He's a good possession driver and playmaker, and he does an outstanding job of generating chances. He needs to do a better job finishing some of them, but given his age and what he has already done in the NHL, there is still the potential for a breakout here.

This also turns the Tkachuk return into basically being Eklund, Halttunen, Svoboda, No. 25 in 2026, a 2029 first-round pick, and a 2027 second-round pick.

That looks a little more palatable in the short-term. Especially if they can still do something else with some of those picks.

Grade: A

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The San Jose perspective

Does this telegraph the Sharks' draft plans for Friday night with the No. 2 overall pick? With Eklund out the door, that would seem to be a pretty strong indication they are going to stay at No. 2 and likely select Ivar Stenberg, giving them another potential start to go with Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith and Michael Misa.

By getting the No. 9 overall pick, it also puts them in a position to draft one of the elite defensemen in this class and give the Sharks another much-needed defense prospect to go along with Sam Dickinson.

This will be the fourth consecutive year the Sharks will make at least two first-round picks, with five of them coming in the top-10 (with a sixth being No. 11 overall).

Now comes the tricky part: making sure everybody pans out while also providing NHL-level help that can turn them into a more competitive team. Just sitting back and waiting for draft picks to develop turns rebuilds into drawn-out, never-ending processes that yield no results. There still needs to be some urgency to get more NHL help. But that is another commentary for another time.

Grade: B+

Washington Gets Jordan Kyrou from St. Louis

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Washington receives: Jordan Kyrou

St. Louis receives: Connor McMichael, Milton Gastrin, 2026 first-round pick (No. 16 overall)

The Washington perspective

This is a huge move for the Capitals and sends a clear message about their goal for the 2026-27 season -- they intend to compete and win.

And it might help them do exactly that.

Kyrou is coming off a down year with the Blues, but when he is at his best, he is a 30-goal, 70/80-point player who brings speed, rush offense, and playmaking to the lineup.

The Capitals missing the playoffs in 2025-26 might have been a sign they had taken a step back, but there was a lot of bad luck behind that performance. They still won 43 games and finished with 95 points. In most years, that is a playoff team. It's almost unheard of that it wasn't.

They also dealt with several injuries that helped limit them, including top center Pierre-Luc Dubois.

They still have an elite goalie in Logan Thompson; they still have a really good core that has a strong mix of veterans and youth; they have a couple of potential young stars just starting to reach the NHL in Ryan Leonard and Cole Hutson; and they still have a really good defense. Now they have a much-needed top-six forward and a potential impact player that is still signed long-term to a relatively cap-friendly deal, joining that mix.

This has a chance to be a very, very good team this season.

Grade: A

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The St. Louis perspective

The Blues have been rumored to be shopping both Kyrou and Robert Thomas for more than a year now (or at least willing to listen to trade calls), and they finally found a taker for Kyrou.

But was it the right move? And was it the right time?

Anytime you are trading a player coming off one of the worst seasons of their career, you are putting yourself at an immediate disadvantage in trade talks.

McMichael is a solid player, but he is going to be 26 this season, eligible for a raise as a restricted free agent, and still has more hope and potential than results. Going from Kyrou to McMichael feels like a downgrade (and it is).

Then there is the matter of the draft pick.

With the addition of the No. 16 pick, the Blues now have four first-round picks in this year's class at No. 11, 15, 16, and 29.

What are they going to do with those picks?

Try to move up for an impact player at the top?

Kickstart a rebuild and add four prospects into the system?

Do they have a bigger trade brewing where they try to add somebody else to the NHL roster?

The answers to those questions might really help determine the grade of both this trade and the Blues' offseason in general.

Grade: C