1 Word to Describe Every NHL Team After the 2022 Trade Deadline
The NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and it featured a little bit of something for everyone.
If you like Old Guy Without a Stanley Cup (OGWAC, for short) narratives, we have a few of those floating around with Claude Giroux joining the Florida Panthers and Mark Giordano on the Toronto Maple Leafs.
If you like potential revenge stories, consider that Marc-Andre Fleury could end up squaring off against the Vegas Golden Knights in the playoffs. You know, the same Golden Knights who unceremoniously dumped him after he won the Vezina Trophy last year in exchange for 2018 fifth-round pick Mikael Hakkarainen?
You're into some light cap circumvention gymnastics? Vegas has you covered there too, except the attempt didn't work out all that well for them. Evgenii Dadonov is still a Golden Knight after the NHL voided a trade that would have sent him to the Anaheim Ducks—they were on his 10-team no-trade list. Vegas would now need to clear $9.1 million in cap space to activate Mark Stone and another $4.8 million to activate Alec Martinez.
From depth players making immediate impacts to All-Star-caliber forwards slotting in with elite teams, the deadline brought us a lot to discuss.
Brevity is a bit of a lost art form, however. So here we're going to boil each NHL team's current state down into just a single word. Feel free to leave your favorite team and a single-word description for them in the comments down below.
Anaheim Ducks: Jolt
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If you're an Anaheim Ducks fan, you've got to be pleased with the way that new general manager Pat Verbeek handled his first trade deadline. The choices he made were difficult, but it's clear that he's got a vision for this franchise and is going to stick with it.
That's a far cry from how Bob Murray ran the club during his time with Anaheim.
For instance, refusing to give a 28-year-old Hampus Lindholm an extension was gutsy but wise. The Ducks aren't close to contending, so it would have made zero sense to ink a defenseman who only has another year or two left of prime years before age starts to kick in.
It's now abundantly clear that the Ducks belong to Troy Terry and Trevor Zegras, and that Verbeek is looking to build up through the draft. He learned from Steve Yzerman, after all, and he's one of the most patient and tough-to-read general managers in professional sports.
The jolt will come in the form of all the trove of draft picks that Anaheim picked up at the deadline. If one or two of those players pans out half as well as Zegras, the Ducks will be on their way back to relevancy.
Arizona Coyotes: Foundation
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Foundation is the word to describe the Arizona Coyotes for two reasons.
First, that's how far down general manager Bill Armstrong is taking this rebuild. He was getting rave reviews for that process back in September, and he's continued to steadfastly stick to his plan throughout this season.
The deadline itself could have gone a bit better, as both Phil Kessel and Jakob Chychrun are still on the roster. Trading Kessel became impossible when Arizona ran out of salary retention slots, while Armstrong has had a price in his head for his prized blueliner all along.
A price that Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported went even higher once the return on Ben Chiarot became known.
A foundation is also what the Coyotes are trying to build. And they're attempting to do it the old-fashioned way—through drafting and developing. After unloading just about everyone possible, Arizona has three 2022 first-round picks and four second-rounders. If draft selections are scratch cards, Armstrong is doing all he can to secure as many cracks at the jackpot as possible.
Boston Bruins: Present
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A big part of the practice of meditation is to be present. To be in the moment and not look to the future or the past; the only time that matters is the now.
That's how the Boston Bruins approached the trade deadline, knowing that significant changes could be coming for the club over the next six months. David Krejci left the team in July, and it's a hole that the organization has struggled to fill. Goaltender Tuukka Rask saw his comeback bid fall short, and Patrice Bergeron's contract will expire at the end of this season.
There are still high-end players in place, such as Brad Marchand, Taylor Hall and David Pastrnak. The sky isn't falling in Boston, but there is a feeling this could be the core group's last run at a Stanley Cup.
With skaters like Krejci and Rask already out of the picture, that transformation has already begun to take place. And it's become clear that Jeremy Swayman is the real deal in goal. Trading and subsequently signing Hampus Lindholm indicates the B's won't be going away quietly, but this is still a team very much existing in the here and now.
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Buffalo Sabres: Inception
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Remember the 2010 thriller Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe and Marion Cotillard? The movie that bent our minds and stacked realities inside of realities and riddles inside of riddles, to the point where it took convoluted charts to show what was what?
That's how it feels when thinking about the Buffalo Sabres and rebuilding. It's unclear when one attempt started and stopped.
Trading Jack Eichel signaled the start of another teardown in Buffalo, but hey, at least general manager Kevyn Adams has a plan. Though at this stage, the Sabres have tried just about every trick in the book to become relevant, falling flat each time.
Whether or not Adams has the chops to navigate this also-ran back toward the middle of the NHL's pack, let alone playoff contention, remains to be seen. Until then, fans of this organization must feel like they're stuck in Inception's version of limbo.
Calgary Flames: Boiling
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Something special seems to be boiling near the surface for the Calgary Flames. They aren't getting as much attention as teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning or Florida Panthers, but the Western Conference is wide open, and this is arguably the second-best team in that group.
Sure, downing the Colorado Avalanche en route to the Stanley Cup Final would be a tough ask for any team, but the Flames seem like they could be up to it. They're deep enough at forward to hang tough through a seven-game series, and they have a stout defense and a goalie who is capable of stealing a game or two.
This isn't a team with just a puncher's chance either. Calgary has underlying numbers to back up the fact that they are contenders—the Flames are second in the league in Corsi For percentage according to Natural Stat Trick. Head coach Darryl Sutter is in the mix as a possible Jack Adams Award finalist for a reason and has had his squad skating at a playoff level for months now.
The pot on the stove is boiling; keep an eye on the Flames once the postseason is underway. They're primed and ready to do some damage.
Carolina Hurricanes: Absent
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It's not hyperbole to say that every other legitimate Stanley Cup contender made at least one noteworthy move at or around the deadline. The Hurricanes were almost entirely absent from the proceedings, however, watching from the sidelines as the Panthers loaded up and Tampa Bay somehow managed to add.
Max Domi could uncover a new version of himself under head coach Rod Brind'Amour, but that's tough to bank on based on his last few seasons. He is three years removed from his career high in points (72 with the Montreal Canadiens in 2018-19) and saw his ice time reach career lows (13:25 per night) on a reloading Columbus Blue Jackets team.
Meanwhile, the Panthers added Claude Giroux. The Lightning snagged Brandon Hagel. Even the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired a real upgrade at wing by trading for Rickard Rakell. The list goes on.
Carolina has made pundits eat their words in the past, so maybe general manager Don Waddell knows something no one else does. Regardless, it's difficult to see the Hurricanes as anything besides absent following the deadline.
Chicago Blackhawks: Dejected
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Everyone besides the Chicago Blackhawks seemed to know that their attempt to reload last summer was ill-fated. General manager Kyle Davidson now has a real mess on his hands to clean up; one that includes an eight-year contract for Seth Jones that doesn't kick in until 2022-23 and no 2022 first-round picks unless the Wild make the Western Conference Final with Marc-Andre Fleury winning four games.
The situation also includes at least one unhappy superstar.
"It's become pretty clear the direction we're heading in as a franchise and I'm not going to lie, it was disheartening to see a couple of good friends go, regardless of what's to come in the future," Jonathan Toews said on March 23. "I think this group has been through quite a bit this year on and off the ice."
Indeed.
From the devastating story of Kyle Beach, owner Rocky Wirtz's response to the situation and then the nine-game losing streak to open the 2021-22 season, this campaign has been disgraceful for Chicago. Both on and off the ice.
There's nothing left to feel but a sense of dejection as one of the NHL's former model franchises tries to get the poison out of its own soil.
Colorado Avalanche: Exemplar
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The salary cap is supposed to keep things mostly even between clubs in the NHL. A lot of other factors go into success and failure, but that's the general idea. It's not too difficult to argue that the 2021-22 Avalanche boast the strongest roster that has ever been constructed during the salary cap era.
They have the best top line in the NHL by most measures and the best No. 1 defensive unit. When Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Devon Toews and Cale Makar are out on the ice together at even strength, it almost looks like the Avalanche are playing a different game than everyone else.
Colorado has an elite goalie in Darcy Kuemper, which will be important during the postseason, where high-octane offense translates a bit differently. General manager Joe Sakic also added some valuable depth additions that made this team an even tougher out.
Artturi Lehkonen will be a boost to the middle six. Nico Sturm provides some size for the fourth line, while 34-year-old Andrew Cogliano is fired up about pursuing his first Stanley Cup. Josh Manson was costly but might be the perfect addition to the blue line.
A trip to the Stanley Cup Final is very much Colorado's to lose this year.
Columbus Blue Jackets: Reset
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After unloading at the trade deadline last season, the Columbus Blue Jackets didn't have a ton of assets to move this year. Fans were disappointed in the return for Domi—he was the principal piece coming back in the Josh Anderson deal, so trading him to Carolina for Aidan Hreschuk is a tough pill to swallow.
Hreschuk fits the mold of what the Blue Jackets are trying to do with their blue line, though. They have been snatching up offensive-minded puck-movers over the last 12 months, and the 2021 third-round pick brings that element to the ice on a nightly basis.
Whatever you do, though, do not call what is happening in Columbus a rebuild. It's a reset, according to general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, and he stayed true to that by hanging onto players like Patrik Laine and Gustav Nyquist at the trade deadline.
Nyquist, in particular, is the kind of player the Blue Jackets would have seriously considered moving a year or two ago. A veteran with term who could fetch a pick or decent prospect. It seems like he's part of Columbus' plans moving forward, though.
We'll see what this team looks like come October, but for now, we'll buy the reset-instead-of-rebuild chatter.
Dallas Stars: Baffling
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Hanging onto defenseman John Klingberg at the trade deadline will, without question, be a choice that comes back to haunt general manager Jim Nill. The decision is so short-sighted and baffling it's almost indefensible.
Klingberg could have been the No. 1 target for contending teams as March 21 rolled around. Klingberg should have been the No. 1 target for contenders. For whatever reason, though, the Dallas Stars chose to hang onto a player who has been openly disgruntled with the team and almost certainly won't be re-signing with the club this summer.
NHL.com picked up Klingberg's comments in January. When the official site of the league has a headline about how unhappy a player is with his team, you know there's no coming back. It's even more painful because of what other organizations got in return for their rental defensemen.
Defensemen who, it could be argued, are much less effective than Klingberg.
The Ducks got a 2022 first-round pick, 2023 second-round pick, 2024 second-round selection and former 18th overall pick (2017) Urho Vaakanainen for Hampus Lindholm.
For Ben Chiarot, Montreal received 2020 third-round pick Ty Smilanic, a 2022 fourth-round pick and a first-rounder in 2023.
The Stars aren't a shoo-in to make the playoffs, let alone take a run at the Stanley Cup. Nill's inaction at the deadline was baffling and likely added even more time to a lamentable rebuild that is all but assured in Dallas.
Detroit Red Wings: Crossroads
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This is a phrase that could be used for a handful of teams, but it applies most accurately to the Detroit Red Wings. This team could have undergone more extreme changes at the trade deadline but did not. General manager Steve Yzerman chose to hang onto Tyler Bertuzzi, who had seen his name pop up in trade rumors in the weeks leading up to March 21.
By keeping Bertuzzi in the fold, the GM seemed to indicate that he isn't going to reset the roster to line up with the ages of Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, both of whom are rookies. With Bertuzzi, 27, squarely in his prime and due to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season, there was some reasonable speculation that he could be dealt.
An arrangement could still materialize over the summer, but it's clear that Yzerman is at a bit of a crossroads with this roster. After starting the season off strong—at least compared to expectations—the Red Wings have fallen off a cliff, now with a points percentage that is in the bottom third of the league.
Seider and Raymond appear to be real gamers, while Dylan Larkin is on pace for nearly 80 points and has established himself as a legit No. 1 center. Yzerman will have tons of cap space to work with during the offseason, and he could look to add a player or two in an attempt to avoid missing the playoffs for the seventh straight year.
This season will mark the sixth consecutive time the former powerhouse will miss the cutoff.
Edmonton Oilers: Praying
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The Edmonton Oilers have just about everything they need to contend in the Western Conference. Their newfound forward depth allows them to roll out the scariest group of centers this side of the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins.
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Derick Brassard is a quartet that will be impossible to fully contain come playoff time. The Oilers have always been capable of scoring goals, though, and it hasn't been enough to get them to the Stanley Cup Final during the McDavid era.
This is a roster that gets more suspect the further back you go on the ice, and that's not ideal for deep playoff runs. Edmonton's defense is fine, but it doesn't have that high-end answer to the likes of Cale Makar in Colorado or Victor Hedman in Tampa Bay.
Legit contenders typically have at least one standout defenseman and can usually ice a top-line-capable skater on their second unit too. The Oilers simply do not have that, solid as Darnell Nurse is.
It was also a massive gamble by general manager Ken Holland to stick with his goaltending duo of Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith. The whole organization has got to be praying that one of those two has another gear and that the offense somehow finds a way to outscore a defense that can get leaky on some nights.
Florida Panthers: Prodigious
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No other team loaded up at the trade deadline like the Florida Panthers did. They took a page from the Lightning's playbook, recognized that they have a real shot at winning a championship and said "to hell with the future, we want to win now."
The result is a forward group that will be very difficult to match up with, a blue line that will be getting Aaron Ekblad back sometime in the first round and a netminder in Sergei Bobrovsky who isn't going to cost them any games.
The Panthers managed to add Claude Giroux to an attack that is already scoring more than four goals per night on average, already has a top-10 power play and already looked nigh unstoppable on some nights. They won't be any easier to slow down now, that's for certain.
Ben Chiarot also gives them another physical presence on the blue line, ensuring that opposing teams are going to be paying a heavy price for standing anywhere near Bobrovsky. This is a deep and talented group that would be Stanley Cup favorites if not for the awe-inspiring roster Colorado has pieced together this year.
Los Angeles Kings: Quiet
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It was a bit interesting to see Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake stick with minor moves at the deadline. For most of the season, this was a team that had been connected to some of the bigger names on the trade market, including Jakob Chychrun.
They've taken a surprising step forward in their rebuild process and are likely to make the playoffs this season. With one of, if not the, deepest prospect pools in the NHL, Blake had the assets to make a splash or two if he wanted to.
He took the playing with house money route, however, seeming to acknowledge that this club is a bit further along than maybe it should be and resisting the urge to burn futures on a one-and-done playoff run. Just getting an invite to the dance is enough this season. Ask fans of the Red Wings how much simply making the postseason would mean to their process.
The Kings were surprisingly quiet at the deadline, but with more than $20 million in cap space to work with this summer and some roster space opening up, Blake can get involved if he sees the right moves to make.
Minnesota Wild: Flower
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Usually, when we talk about the best moves at the trade deadline, the additions are for depth purposes. High-end contenders don't need to land a No. 1 center or defenseman because they already have those pieces in place. That's why we've been talking about the Lightning beefing up their third line over the last two years and probably can't remember where the biggest names ended up at the 2019 trade deadline.
Marc-Andre Fleury is a bit of a different case, and he makes the Minnesota Wild a threat to come out of the Western Conference. Goaltending had become a real issue for the club, to the point where a change almost needed to be made for them to do any damage in the playoffs.
The tandem of Cam Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen wasn't getting it done, and with a cap crunch looming due to buying out Ryan Suter and Zach Parise this past offseason, general manager Bill Guerin decided to make some changes.
In adding Flower, they pick up a goalie with Stanley Cup-winning pedigree. It can be argued that he hasn't been better than Talbot this season, but that was with the lackluster Blackhawks. The Wild are a better hockey team, and Fleury could be the missing piece in Minnesota as they gear up for a deep playoff run.
Montreal Canadiens: Brightening
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You'd be hard-pressed to figure out ways that Kent Hughes could have had a better first trade deadline. He extracted a tremendous amount of value from the assets that he had to work with, and the Montreal Canadiens will be better for it in the coming seasons.
It'll be a while before these draft picks turn into real NHL contributors, but Hughes has set the Habs up for success further down the line. Following the trades of Ben Chiarot, Tyler Toffoli and Artturi Lehkonen, Montreal is swimming in selections.
In 2022, Hughes now has two first-round picks, two second-round selections (one of which could turn into a 2023 second-rounder if the Oilers make the Stanley Cup Final), three third-round picks and three in the fourth round.
Tack on two more first-rounders in a 2023 draft that appears to be stacked, and Montreal seems to be heading in the right direction after a disastrous 2021-22 campaign. There's still more work to be done, but the days are getting brighter for the Canadiens thanks to the work of Hughes and his staff.
Nashville Predators: Cornered
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Any leverage that the Nashville Predators had with superstar forward Filip Forsberg vanished at the trade deadline. Instead of moving the 27-year-old for a bundle of assets that would have likely included a young, NHL-ready player and picks, general manager David Poile decided to hang onto the player in hopes of re-signing him during the offseason.
Forsberg was already negotiating from a position of strength, as he is on pace to score more than 40 goals and 80 points, both of which would be career highs. Now Nashville has to hand him the bag he's looking for or risk losing him for nothing on the open market.
A few weeks ago, Poile at least had the option to trade Forsberg if a deal seemed imminent. Now he's been backed into a corner, willingly, and will have no other option than to pay the player whatever he asks for.
That's not a great negotiating position for the veteran general manager, and it'll be interesting to see how this all unfolds following the postseason, where Forsberg will have even more opportunity to prove his value to the Predators—and every other team in the NHL, should he make it to free agency.
New Jersey Devils: Standstill
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One of the quietest teams at the NHL trade deadline was the New Jersey Devils. This was somewhat surprising because, while they didn't have a Giroux-level player to trade, they did have a couple of skaters who seemed likely to garner interest.
Keeping Damon Severson seemed strange considering the returns teams like Anaheim and Montreal were getting for defensemen. He's not on the same level as a Hampus Lindholm, but he's more than serviceable and could have helped a contender shore up their top-four blue-line group.
Severson would have been especially valuable because he has one more season left on his contract as well.
It was always going to be difficult to trade P.K. Subban given the gap between his $9 million cap hit and current level of play, so seeing general manager Tom Fitzgerald not move the defender made more sense. There was also talk about Pavel Zacha perhaps getting shipped out of town for a change of scenery, but that never materialized either.
All told, it was a very muted deadline in New Jersey, and after trading for Andrew Hammond, it appears that the Devils will try to finish the campaign as strongly as possible.
New York Islanders: Primordial
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A handful of other strange moves made headlines at and around the trade deadline; so much so that the New York Islanders re-signing Zach Parise and Cal Clutterbuck to extensions kind of flew under the radar. That doesn't make the new deals any less puzzling, however.
Parise will be in his age-38 season in 2022-23, and it's unclear exactly what general manager Lou Lamoriello is so enamored with here. During a conference call following the March 21 cutoff, the GM simultaneously explained why he decided to keep Parise and Clutterbuck and lambasted his forward group for not producing more.
It didn't make much sense, really.
The Islanders didn't have the cap space to catch one of free agency's bigger fish, but the idea that they couldn't do better than Parise is concerning. There should be an internal option capable of stepping up to fill that void, but New York's prospect cupboard is one of the worst in the sport. That issue falls on management.
Clutterbuck has been a big part of the Islanders' identity, but maybe it isn't such a good thing that a fourth line is what is providing that for New York.
This is a team that really didn't have a chance to get off the ground in 2021-22, so maybe they'll come out strong next year. These old-school moves don't seem to add up to much more than a middling squad, though.
New York Rangers: Bountiful
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It seemed like the New York Rangers were tied to just about every big name available in the weeks and months leading up to the trade deadline. From Tomas Hertl to Giroux to J.T. Miller, general manager Chris Drury was seemingly in on all of the game-breakers and ended up coming away with none of them.
Hertl ended up re-signing with the San Jose Sharks, Giroux insisted on going to the Panthers and Miller ended up sticking around in Vancouver. So the Blueshirts went another route, beefing up their roster in a flurry of bountiful moves that plugged a lot of holes that have existed throughout the season.
In adding Andrew Copp, the Rangers finally got the top-six help they'd been looking for all year long. He's a marvelous fit and one of the more slept-on acquisitions of the deadline. He's the headline addition, but Tyler Motte also helps improve a penalty kill that was already top-10-caliber.
No one will confuse Frank Vatrano for some of the other right wingers that New York had been tied to, but he's still an improvement to its bottom-six group and will add some scoring depth for the stretch run.
This is still, by and large, a team that will need heroic efforts from Igor Shesterkin to do much damage in an absolutely stacked Eastern Conference, but Drury still made a number of moves that helped boost his team's odds.
Ottawa Senators: Imprudent
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If there's one consistent in the NHL, it's the Ottawa Senators making imprudent moves that never seem to pan out on the ice. This will be the fifth straight season that the organization has missed the postseason, and unless young skaters like Jake Sanderson can step in and make monster impacts, 2022-23 isn't looking much better either.
So naturally, general manager Pierre Dorion went out and traded for 31-year-old defenseman Travis Hamonic in one of the most hamfisted trades in recent memory. No other deal on deadline day was met with more confusion than this one.
Hamonic had fallen out of favor with the rebuilding Vancouver Canucks, who did what the Senators should be doing in offloading expensive players at the deadline. Instead, Ottawa acquired the declining asset for a 2022 third-round pick.
Why? Just...why?
No other team in the NHL wanted Hamonic, according to Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic, and he could have been had for free when he was placed on waivers back in October. If Dorion liked this player from the start, why wouldn't he get him for nothing six months ago? It's not like Hamonic was playing particularly well in Vancouver, thus increasing his trade value.
It's just another move that doesn't add up for one of the league's perennial punching bags.
Philadelphia Flyers: Vulnerable
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This was always going to be a tough and emotional trade deadline for the Philadelphia Flyers. As they fell out of the playoff race in the early stages of the 2021-22 campaign, it became clear that trading longtime captain and franchise icon Claude Giroux was the right thing to do.
However, his extensive trade protection meant he had full control over where he ended up. And that market, as general manager Chuck Fletcher put it, was "very limited." Ultimately, the Flyers were vulnerable here, even though Giroux had certainly earned the right to dictate where he wanted to chase the Stanley Cup.
For fans in Philadelphia, this process was even more heartbreaking because there were reports that some issues arose between player and team during trade negotiations—reports that the organization eventually denied.
Giroux will almost certainly have his number raised to the rafters eventually, and there was virtually no chance that Fletcher was going to be able to come out ahead in any trade involving his star forward. When you consider some other returns at the deadline, though, it's impossible to think that this would have been the best the Flyers could have done had more options been available to them.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Sleeper
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It's tough to say that Sidney Crosby is underrated, but there's an argument to be made that he isn't getting the recognition he deserves for the campaign he's having. The captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins didn't make his season debut until October 30, and it took him some time to get rolling following offseason wrist surgery.
He only notched three points in his first eight games back but broke out against Montreal with a three-point effort on Nov. 27. Since then, he's posted 66 points (22 goals, 44 assists) which is good for third in the NHL over that timespan.
That's more than Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and on pace with Hart Trophy front-runner Auston Matthews.
All the Penguins really needed at the deadline was someone to ride shotgun with Evgeni Malkin, and they knocked the trade for Rickard Rakell out of the park. He's an outstanding off-the-rush shooter and will slot in marvelously with Geno.
The Lightning and Panthers are receiving all of the attention in the East, but odds are good that one of those two squads will need to dispose of the Penguins at some point. If Pittsburgh makes it out of the first round, they won't be an easy out the rest of the way, and this is a proud, veteran team that seems to be a bit of a playoff sleeper at this stage of the season.
San Jose Sharks: Pressurized
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Sometimes an NHL team tips their hand entirely by making one move. That's what the San Jose Sharks did when they decided to re-sign Tomas Hertl to a massive eight-year extension worth $65.1 million with trade protections all the way through.
If general manager Doug Wilson had traded Hertl, it would have signified that the Sharks didn't believe that the roster, as constructed, could compete for a playoff spot. It would have alleviated any pressure, at least externally, to make aggressive pushes for the postseason, as a rebuild would have been underway.
In keeping Hertl, Wilson has pressurized his situation in San Jose, as he's committed to building around the 28-year-old wing. He's not kicking the can down the road and waiting for reinforcements to come in the form of draft picks.
Now the Sharks have to be buyers, lest this deal look like a wasted opportunity.
Kudos for snagging Kaapo Kahkonen from the Wild, too. He's a younger goalie with a good deal of upside and is more or less a can't-lose proposition for Wilson. He's an RFA this summer, so it'll be intriguing to see how San Jose handles those talks with both James Reimer and Adin Hill under contract for 2022-23.
Seattle Kraken: Perspective
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Leading up to and following their expansion draft, the Seattle Kraken caught some flack for not better leveraging their open cap sheet to help facilitate trades. It was always a long shot for this first-year club to make the playoffs, so hanging onto that cap space seemed like a bad choice at the time.
It seems like general manager Ron Francis might have been positioning his club to leverage its ledger at the trade deadline as opposed to during the offseason, when hockey trades are a bit easier to make.
After unloading six players, including captain Mark Giordano and Calle Jarnkrok, the Kraken now have a whopping 25 draft picks over the next two drafts. That's certainly one way to beef up a prospect pipeline; something that Francis appears to be focusing on.
We've seen the Vegas Golden Knights try to buy a Stanley Cup after making it to the final in their inaugural season, and that process has left them with a middling prospect group that doesn't offer a whole lot in the way of reinforcements.
The Kraken are playing more of a long game, it seems, and it's important to consider things from that perspective when analyzing just where this team is at in terms of development. They could have been better in 2021-22, sure. Yet it looks like it was never really about that for Francis and Co.
St. Louis Blues: Cognizant
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There was some external pressure on the St. Louis Blues to make more noise than they did at the trade deadline. General manager Doug Armstrong has been around long enough to know that you can't build a contender at the cutoff, though. You can only supplement an already strong roster.
And while the Blues are sporting the fifth-best points percentage in the Western Conference, they've been badly outchanced and outshot in a majority of their victories. According to MoneyPuck.com, St. Louis ranks 21st in terms of expected goals for percentage.
That's worse than Detroit and Ottawa, and this is a team that was largely propped up by a white-hot run from goalie Ville Husso. From Dec. 7 through Feb. 25, the netminder went 10-1-1 while posting a .938 save percentage in all situations.
That allowed him to steal the starting job from Jordan Binnington, and it's also allowed St. Louis to secure a playoff spot that it might not actually deserve. Armstrong seemed to know that his team has been punching up a class or two and didn't make any win-now moves.
For which he deserves some praise. Nick Leddy isn't going to move the needle, but the Blues also aren't out multiple draft picks and prospects in the name of a playoff run that'll likely stall out in the first round or two.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Three-Peat
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There was no reason for the Tampa Bay Lightning to approach the trade deadline with anything besides aggression. That's been general manager Julien BriseBois' modus operandi during his time at the helm, and we saw more of that attack mentality on March 21.
It didn't look like the Lightning had much cap space to do anything. The GM even cautioned that Tampa would be quiet at the deadline, especially when compared to the last two years. That didn't turn out to be the case. As the Panthers loaded up, BriseBois did what he could to match those moves.
He didn't acquire a Giroux-level player, but don't overlook the value Brandon Hagel will bring to the middle six. Upgrades to the third line have propelled the Lightning to their last two Stanley Cup victories, and the trade to pry Hagel away from Chicago was made in a similar vein.
Nick Paul is also a nice depth addition, giving the Lightning more size and bite in their bottom six. These weren't headline-grabbing moves, but they are the kinds of trades that will allow Tampa Bay to remain in the mix in the Eastern Conference.
The Stanley Cup is theirs until someone takes it away from them, and this looks like a team that is ready to go down fighting should it come to that.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Hope
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Some good news for the Toronto Maple Leafs: No. 1 goalie Jack Campbell will likely be able to return by the end of the regular season. Whether or not he has the goods to carry this team deep into the playoffs is another question entirely, but that's obviously what general manager Kyle Dubas is banking on.
And what fans of the Maple Leafs are hoping for.
Adding Mark Giordano while hanging onto first-round picks and high-end prospects was a big win for Toronto; Dubas has been steadfast in his desire to not trade those kinds of futures for rental pieces. And in the most highly pressurized market in professional hockey, he did well to stand by that wish.
Still, banking on Campbell to come back healthy and effective seems like a gamble for a Maple Leafs team that really can't afford another postseason flop. Giordano was a good add, but it's really all Toronto has done to improve its chances this season.
With the likes of the Panthers, Lightning and Avalanche loading up, it remains to be seen whether this roster can make it to the Eastern Conference Final, let alone compete for the Stanley Cup. If they're praying in Edmonton, they're hoping in Toronto.
Vancouver Canucks: Canny
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In what must have been a breath of fresh air for the Vancouver Canucks, new general manager Patrik Allvin was the one making smart, canny moves at the trade deadline. Turning former waiver wire fodder Hamonic into a third-round pick was nothing short of magical, and bringing in the cheaper and more effective Travis Dermott to replace him was just icing on the cake.
This has been a different team since Bruce Boudreau took over for Travis Green in early December. The Canucks were 8-15-2 before Boudreau was hired on Dec. 5. Since then, they are 24-11-7 and managed to sneak back into the playoff race on the back of that strong play.
Allvin clearly believes that the latter record more accurately reflects the quality of Vancouver's roster, which is why keeping Miller—who could have been the biggest name available at the deadline—and Brock Boeser were the right moves. The players were widely speculated to be available, but seemingly no one was willing to pony up what it would've taken to seal a deal.
The Canucks had a relatively quiet deadline, but Allvin's moves (and lack thereof) spoke volumes. This might not be a playoff team in 2021-22, but watch out if they manage to beef up their roster a bit over the summer. Re-signing Boeser will be expensive, but they should have some money left over to flesh things out a bit.
Vegas Golden Knights: Wounded
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Of course Evgenii Dadonov has been bailing out the Vegas Golden Knights since the NHL nixed a deal that would have sent him to Anaheim. He scored the team's most important goal of the season in overtime against Chicago on March 26, and the team needs to win darn near every remaining game on its docket to reach the postseason.
That will prove to be difficult because of just how wounded this roster is and has been all season. They are currently without Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone, Reilly Smith and both of their starting goalies. You know how EA's NHL video game series just so happens to injure all of your best players during the push for the playoffs? That's pretty much what Vegas is dealing with right now but in real life.
Like most hells, the Golden Knights' cap situation is of their own making. Even if Stone was healthy, Vegas wouldn't be able to roster him without running with fewer players than normal. Moving Dadonov was supposed to ease that pressure, but with that trade botched, the squad's hands are largely tied.
If Vegas makes the playoffs, no one will want to see them in the first round. Right now, that's a pretty big if, though.
Washington Capitals: Dimming
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Compared to the rest of the Eastern Conference, the Washington Capitals simply don't pack enough firepower to prove much of a threat. Good as Alex Ovechkin is, he can't outscore high-octane offenses like Florida's by himself.
Washington is deepish at forward, but not to the point where it'd be able to contend with even the likes of the Penguins, let alone the Panthers or Lightning. There just isn't enough here to make believers out of anyone who doesn't reside in D.C.
The biggest question mark for this squad is the same as it has been all season long: in net. Vitek Vanecek has been better since the calendar flipped to 2022, but his all-situations save percentage is still just barely inside of the league's top 10 during that time frame.
Hanging around .920 is where you want your starter to be as a baseline, but Vanecek hasn't been playing at a level that would allow the Capitals to steal a playoff series. Especially not against the superpowers that they'd be running into after the first round.
If the playoffs started today, they'd face off against the Panthers; a team that would almost certainly trounce them. Sadly, Washington appears to be a team on the decline, fading down the stretch as they try to milk all they can while Ovechkin is still capable of shooting out the lights.
Winnipeg Jets: Futile
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Through his inaction at the trade deadline, it was clear that general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff wanted the Winnipeg Jets to push for a playoff spot. MoneyPuck.com gives them a 4.8 percent chance of making the dance, and their odds haven't looked particularly promising for a while now.
To be fair, they've gone 7-3-0 in their last 10, but that little bump still hasn't been enough to help them make up ground in the Central Division. So hanging onto Paul Stastny—and not even shopping him—was a pretty large gamble.
The way Cheveldayoff was talking post-deadline, he still seemed to believe that the Jets had a chance of making the postseason. The numbers aren't in their favor, however, and based on returns for other top-six forwards, Winnipeg missed a bit of an opportunity to reload here.
The Jets' playoff push is all but futile, and banking on the stars aligning in their favor just seems like poor asset management from here. Miracles can happen, sure. Betting on one occurring, though, isn't a particularly wise way to run a sports franchise.
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