This past NHL trade deadline day was the busiest in the last
five years. A busy trade deadline day always means added entertainment for
fans, coaches and players alike, as the hyper nature of transactions provides
all interested parties with good reason to stay glued to the TV all the way up
until the 3 PM Eastern Standard Time deadline.
Those who watched all the wall-to-wall
coverage on TV, listened to it on the radio or followed it on Twitter had the
opportunity to witness some teams get ready for a run to the Stanley Cup Finals
while others got set to take a run at Erie Otters sensation Connor McDavid, who
will no doubt be drafted with the first overall pick this summer.
While nobody knows just how good McDavid will
turn out to be at the NHL level, it’s obvious that most GMs around the league
believe he’s going to be pretty darn good… maybe even as good as Sidney Crosby.
In light of that, judging the winner of any
particular trade from this season’s deadline can’t just be decided based on
which teams got the best players. Instead, the long-term impact of the deals
that were made must be given consideration as well.
The Buffalo Sabres probably did the most to
help themselves in the McDavid sweepstakes and that’s why we’ve crowned them
the unofficial winner of trade deadline day. The team traded forward Chris
Stewart to the Minnesota Wild for very little,, and they also traded goaltender
Michael Neuvirth to the New York Islanders, who was the backbone of a team that
gave up a ton of shots this season, in exchange for a career backup. They were
already the favorite to land McDavid and the team’s front office did whatever
it had to do to improve those chances on Monday. Throw in a February deal that
saw the team acquire Evander Kane from the Winnipeg Jets, who is out for the
season with an injury, and its obvious the Sabres are poised to finish the
season on a losing note.
Only Buffalo did better than the Toronto
Maple Leafs when it comes to strategically getting worse, but Leafs GM Dave
Nonis deserves honourable mention for his efforts. Nonis managed to get rid of
David Clarkson via the Columbus Blue Jackets, taking in exchange the contract
of Nathan Horton, who will likely never play in the NHL again due to a
degenerative back disorder, but whose salary also doesn’t count against the
salary cap unless he should miraculously return. The Leafs also dumped forward
Olli Jokinen on the St. Louis Blues, dealt Korbinian Holzer to the Anaheim
Ducks and also traded Daniel Winnik (Pittsburgh) and Mike Santorelli & Cody
Franson (Nashville) in a flurry of deals leading up to deadline day.
At the end of the day however, dumping
salaries and rebuilding for the years to come is not what gets fans truly
excited and tuning in to all the trade talk. It’s the deals that help
contenders solidify their position as heavyweights going into the playoffs. No
team did that better than the Montréal Canadiens, who took Torrey Mitchell off
of the Sabres’ hands to add some depth up front and also traded for defenseman
Jeff Petry, who will bring a much-needed stay-at-home feel to the team’s blue
line.
Only time will tell which teams truly came out
on top on deadline day, but the general managers of these three clubs sure did
do a good job… at least that’s what it looks like at the present moment. Feel
free to judge for yourself, but if you live in Buffalo or Toronto, you’ve got
to feel pretty good about your team’s chances of landing the NHL’s next golden
boy.
Labels: Jack Choros