NHL Draft 2011 Trade Analysis: Who Won and Who Lost Every Trade?

At the NHL Draft, there are almost always a number of trades to go along with the young prospects about to realize their dreams of becoming a professional athlete.

General managers are trying to tweak, rebuild or reshape their rosters for the future, and the draft is a great place to do that. All 30 GM’s are in the same place at the same time, so consummating trades becomes that much easier.

There were a number of trades that took place during the two-day draft period this year and one other trade involving a first-round lottery pick that was made official the day before the draft.

Some of the trades on draft day involved strictly pick-swapping, while others didn’t include any draft picks. Nevertheless, I’ll break down the majority of those deals and tell you who I think the winning teams were.

Note: Trades that did not include at least one player drafted before 2011 or at least one first-round pick in the 2011 draft are not listed.

Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers

to Columbus: Jeff Carter

to Philadelphia: Jacub Voracek and the 2011 eighth overall pick (Sean Couturier)

This is the trade I was referring to that was finalized the day before the draft. However, since it includes the eight overall pick of the 2011 draft, I thought it would be appropriate to include it on this list.

The Flyers wanted to make this trade mostly to make room under the salary cap to sign goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to the big contract he was looking for. However, they may have actually stolen this deal from the Blue Jackets. Of course, this all depends on how Sean Couturier pans out as a top prospect.

Winner: While the Blue Jackets may have the best player in the deal for now, I believe a cheaper but still talented Voracek combined with Sean Couturier in three or four years will prove the Flyers won this deal.

San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild

to San Jose: Brent Burns and a 2012 second round pick

to Minnesota: Devin Setoguchi along with Charlie Coyle and the 2011 28th pick (Zach Phillips)

Brent Burns has just one year left on his contract, and rumour has it Minnesota’s GM Todd Fletcher wasn’t getting anywhere in talks with his agent. So the deal made sense from a Wild perspective, and they got plenty in return with a sniper like Devin Setoguchi, a first-round pick from last year's draft in Charlie Coyle and another first-round pick this year.

The Sharks, on the other hand, get an all-star calibre defenseman who they can hopefully sign long-term.

Winner: The Wild. Setoguchi is under contract for three years while Burns is not. They also get two first-round prospects compared to just one second-round pick for the Sharks.

Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks

to Washington: Troy Brouwer

to Chicago: 2011 26th overall pick (Philip Danault)

Brouwer is a free agent whose rights now belong to the Capitals, and they shouldn’t have much trouble signing him. He’s a potential second line winger, but that’s as good as he’ll ever become.

Danault, on the other hand, is a mystery. Chicago will have to wait and see what he brings them in a few years, but for now, they have to be happy with getting a first-round pick in return for Troy Brouwer.

Winner: I’m leaning towards the Blackhawks, but it all depends on how well Philip Danault does at the NHL level.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks

to Toronto: 2011 22nd overall pick (Tyler Biggs)

to Anaheim: 2011 30th and 39th picks (Rickard Rackell and John Gibson)

Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke wanted the opportunity to draft an American-born player with physicality and truculence combined with skill, and he got it. Tyler Biggs is that guy according to all the scouts, but Burke had to give up a late (the last) pick of the first round and an early second-round pick to get him.

As for the Ducks picks, Rickard Rackell is a skilled Swedish winger, and John Gibson is an American born goaltender who played great for Team U.S.A at the Under-18 World Championships this year.

Winner: It’s too difficult and not a good idea to pick a winner in trades that involves only draft picks. To Be Determined (T.B.D)........

Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche

to Toronto: John-Michael Liles

to Colorado: 2012 second round pick

The move by the Avalanche to trade away one of their better defenseman seemed like a sure sign that they were going to draft Adam Larsson with the second overall pick. It didn’t happen, though, which left many wondering why they made this deal.

When Liles is at the top of his game, he’s worth more than a second-round pick. Of course, we don’t know where in the second round that pick will be, because it’s in 2012, and we also don't know what kind of player the Avalanche will get with the pick.

The Leafs' biggest challenge is to sign Liles to a contract extension because he only has one year left on his current deal.

Winner: The Maple Leafs, but only if they can extend Liles’ contract so he actually sticks around Toronto for more than one year.

Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings

to Ottawa: 2011 24th pick (Matt Puempel),

to Detroit: 2011 35th and 48th picks (Tomas Jurco and Xavier Ouellet)

This is an interesting trade because I feel that both Matt Puempel and Tomas Jurco are potential steals for where they were taken in the 2011 NHL Draft.

Of course, only time will tell if I’m right, just like only time will tell who wins this deal. Maybe Xavier Ouellet will be the deciding factor or maybe he won’t be.

Winner: It takes time to wait on draft picks, just like it takes time to determine some trade winners. T.B.D........

Florida Panthers and Chicago Blackhawks

to Florida: Brian Campbell

to Chicago: Rotislav Olesz

The Chicago Blackhawks have wanted to unload Brian Campbell’s massive $7.14 million salary cap hit for a little while now. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that the GM who was willing to take him is Dale Tallon, the same GM who originally signed Campbell to that big contract back when was managing the Blackhawks.

What people forget about Campbell is that he’s still a very good defenseman. He’s just being paid way too much money. Fortunately for Florida, they have plenty of room under the salary cap for his big contract.

Rotislav Olesv makes just over $3 million annually and has a career high of just 30 points, so the Blackhawks are hoping he can finally realize his potential in Chicago.

Winner: If the Blackhawks can use the extra room available on their salary cap to sign an elite player, then they’ll consider this trade to be a success. However, based strictly on the two players involved in this deal, it’s obvious. Florida wins the deal because Campbell is a far better player than Olesz right now.

Buffalo Sabres and Calgary Flames

to Buffalo: Robyn Regehr, Ales Kotalik, and a 2012 second round pick

to Calgary: Chris Butler and Paul Byron

The Calgary Flames were able to dump some salary and get younger when they made this trade. Robyn Regehr will make $8 million over the next two years and is well past his prime. Ales Kotalik will make $3 million next year and wasn’t even playing for the Flames at the end of last season.

In return, the Flames get a solid depth defenseman in Chris Butler and a young forward prospect in Paul Byron. If Butler can continue to contribute regularly to the Flames line-up and if Byron can turn into a full-time NHL player, then the Flames will be extremely happy with this deal.

Buffalo, on the other hand, will count on Regehr to provide solid leadership and defence. They also hope that Kotalik can re-discover some of the magic he had earlier in his career when he played for the Sabres.

Winner: This is very tough trade to pick a winner on because it all depends on how much the players contribute on their respective teams. Regehr is the only player who can be counted on to provide regular minutes next season. All the other players are a gamble. T.B.D.......

Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets

to Ottawa: Nikita Filatov

to Columbus: 2011 66th overall pick (Tomas Tynan)

The Columbus Blue Jackets gave up the sixth overall pick from just three years ago for a third-round pick this year. It seems a little strange, but they clearly had no faith in Nikita Filatov to mature into a quality NHL player.

Even Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson admitted it wasn’t what he wanted to do in a recent interview. “It’s not a great move. It’s not something you want to do. But I’m a believer that we all make mistakes in this business.”

The Senators are hoping the window isn’t closed on Filatov’s NHL career. Since he’s only 21 years old, it doesn’t appear to be just yet.

Winner: When the Blue Jackets GM admits it’s not a great move for his team, it’s pretty obvious who wins this trade. The odds that Filatov will become a productive NHL player are still greater than the odds that third-round pick Tomas Tynan will pan out in Columbus. Therefore, Ottawa will likely be the winner of this deal.

Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders

to Tampa Bay: Bruno Gervais

to N.Y. Islanders: future considerations

Clearly the Islanders were not interested in renewing the contract of Bruno Gervais, so they shipped his rights to Tampa Bay. The Lightning are hoping he will give them depth on the blue line, just like he gave the Islanders during his time on Long Island.

Winner: We don’t know what the future considerations going to the Islanders will be, but when has the future considerations part of any trade been something of any value? The Lightning are the winners of this trade based on the fact that they basically got Bruno Gervais for nothing.

St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers

to St. Louis: Evgeny Grachev

to N.Y. Rangers: 2011 72nd overall pick (Steven Fogarty)

This trade has a 2008 third-round pick (Grachev) being swapped for a 2011 third-round pick (Fogarty). There’s not much more to say than that.

Both players were scouted as talented forwards with NHL potential. Crachev is more of a finesse player, while Fogarty is a better two-way player with more physicality in his game. Who knows what they will bring to their respective organizations.

Winner: You guessed it. T.B.D......

Phoenix Coyotes and Tampa Bay Lightning

to Phoenix: Marc-Antoine Pouliot

to Tampa Bay: 2011 201st overall pick (Matthew Peca)

Marc-Antoine Pouliot was originally drafted back in 2003 by the Edmonton Oilers with the 22nd pick in the first round. The fact that he's now being dealt for a seventh-round pick should tell you all you need to know about how his NHL career has turned out. He's been a bust.

Matthew Peca (no relation to Mike Peca) seems like a half-decent prospect for someone taken in the seventh round. However, the odds of him being a full-time NHL player one day are still extremely slim.

Winner: Unless you're fan of the AHL affiliates of these two organizations, no one really wins in this deal. It basically depends on whether Peca can amount to anything in the NHL, so the best way to really describe this deal is a T.B.D......