NHL Trade Deadline Aftermath

The NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and some teams were definitely more active than others.  We saw some who clearly have their sights set on a Stanley Cup run and acted like it.  There are other contenders who made some moves that are questionable at best.  Some teams that became surprise sellers.  And some who limited their action, preferring to stand pat with the team they've got, clearly feeling that it's already good enough.

As with any trade deadline, there were teams that emerged as definite winners and some who would have to be considered losers.  Two teams in particular--the Panthers and Stars--immediately became Stanley Cup favorites after their trade deadline activity.  They aren't the only ones who greatly improved their chances, though.  Let's take a look at the trade deadline winners and losers, starting with the winners.

Florida Panthers: Brad Marchand leaving Boston after 16 seasons was the headliner, but that was far from the only move the defending champions made.  Marchand is hurt and might not be available until the playoffs.  That was the whole point of getting him, though.  They want to defend their title and think Marchand can help them with that.  As for who can help them in the regular season, they also added Seth Jones and Nico Sturm and upgraded their backup goalie by bringing in Vitek Vanecek.

Dallas Stars: Mikko Rantanen has had a crazy few weeks!  If you count Finland, the Stars are his fourth team in a little over a month.  They wouldn't do the deal unless he signed an extension, and he ended up agreeing for eight years.  The Central Division is loaded at the top, but Dallas may have just become the favorite to come out of not just the Central, but the entire West.  Especially when you consider they'd already added Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci before the 4 Nations break.

Colorado Avalanche: Rantanen's odyssey began in Colorado, where he'd played his entire career until a late January trade to Carolina.  The Avalanche got Martin Necas in return, which was a pretty even swap.  They weren't done, though.  Colorado added Jimmy Vesey and Ryan Lindgren from the Rangers, Charlie Coyle from Boston and Erik Johnson from Philadelphia.  Overall, it was a solid haul.

Toronto Maple Leafs: While it seems somewhat silly to declare the Maple Leafs "winners" at the deadline ahead of their inevitable seven-game first-round loss, they did address their depth, which is usually the thing that catches up with them in the playoffs.  Toronto's top line (Matthew, Marner, Nylander) is among the absolute best in the business.  At the deadline, they improved their third forward line (Scott Laughton) and their third defense pair (Brandon Carlo).

Winnipeg Jets: A third team in the same division?!  Yes!  I told you the Central was hyper-competitive.  The Jets are in the mix for the President's Trophy and have arguably the best goalie in the NHL in Connor Hellebuyck, but this is a franchise that has never made the Conference Final and would desperately like to change that.  They didn't need to do much, so they didn't go crazy.  But they did get deeper in better, bringing in Luke Schenn from Pittsburgh and Brandon Tanev from Seattle.

There were plenty of losers at the deadline too, of course.  And I'm not just talking about the teams like Pittsburgh, Nashville and San Jose who entered the deadline as obvious sellers and did just that, sending most of their top veteran names to contenders.  Or teams like the Rangers, who were in both buy and sell mode.  No, I'm referring to the teams who saw their chances at winning the Cup go down because they saw other teams around them get better.

Boston Bruins: OK, I'll start with one team that was a seller.  The Bruins' season has been going downhill, and they currently find themselves on the outside looking in at the Eastern Conference playoff race.  So, somewhere along the line, they decided to give up on making the playoffs and become sellers.  It wasn't just Brad Marchand, their captain.  It was also Charlie Coyle and Justin Brazeau.

Carolina Hurricanes: They seemingly had made the first big move with the Rantanen trade.  That lasted all of a month.  Now, the Hurricanes don't have Martin Necas or Mikko Rantanen.  And they failed to make any other big moves, as well.  Maybe Carolina didn't feel that was necessary.  Regardless, by trading Rantanen a month after getting him (with the 4 Nations taking up half that time), they essentially lost Necas for nothing.

New Jersey Devils: Granted, the Jack Hughes injury was unforeseen, so it's a little unfair to put them on this list as a result.  But, the timing of it sure put the Devils in a bind.  Because they lost their best offensive player for the season and didn't really replace him.  They're already without their goalie, too.  While it was once a crazy thought, I can see the Devils slipping out of playoff position entirely after firmly residing in the Metropolitan Division's top three for months.

Minnesota Wild: It's not that the Wild had a bad deadline per se.  It's just that the Stars, Jets and Avalanche all got better.  And those three teams are all in Minnesota's division!  To get to the Conference Final, the Wild will need to go through two of them.  That's the only reason I consider Minnesota to be deadline "losers."  It's unfair, especially because the Wild are still really good.  They're just not as good as Dallas, Winnipeg or Colorado.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Let's start with the most exciting part of the entire trade deadline.  Yanni Gourde is back in Tampa!  That's the extent of what the Lightning did, though, getting Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand from Seattle.  Which puts them in a similar situation as Minnesota.  The Lightning got marginally better.  Florida and Toronto got much better.  Now, Tampa Bay has more than enough talent where it might not matter.  But, then again, it might.

Of course, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are always a crapshoot and trade deadline moves are only one piece of the puzzle.  Some teams definitely improved their chances of lifting the Cup at the deadline, though.  And others didn't.  Ultimately, though, only one team will get the opportunity to do that.  Whatever team that is will be the real winners, whether they "won" the deadline or not.