NHL trade deadline winners and losers: Analyzing best, worst moves
NHL trade deadline day in 2021 didn't feature the same fireworks as years past, but there were plenty of intriguing deals that will have an impact on the balance of power across the four divisions.The contenders in the East Division, in particular, were very aggressive over the last week. The top four teams -- Capitals, Islanders, Penguins, Bruins -- all made impactful trades to bolster their roster for what should be a hard-fought first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.Let's take a look at the biggest winners and losers from the 2021 NHL trade deadline.
The Lightning had less than $1 million in salary cap space entering the trade deadline and still found a way to get a quality top-four defenseman in David Savard as part of a trade with the Blue Jackets.
It actually took three separate trades between the Bolts, Blue Jackets and Red Wings to finally send Savard to Tampa Bay. The Red Wings and Blue Jackets each retained a significant amount of Savard's salary to help the Lightning comply with the salary cap.
The Lightning blue line consists of Victor Hedman (the Norris Trophy favorite), Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak, Mikhail Sergachev and now Savard. This is an amazing group.
The price to acquire Savard was steep -- first- and third-round picks. Tampa Bay has now traded three first-round picks since the beginning of last season. It worked out in 2020 when deadline additions Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow helped the Lightning win the Stanley Cup, and there's a strong chance it could result in another title in 2021. The Lightning are the best team in the league and just strengthened their blue line with a defenseman who's well-suited for playoff hockey.
The Sabres are having an absolutely abysmal season with the league's worst record and a historic 18-game losing streak that was snapped in late March.
They had several players rumored to be available and traded several of them -- including center Eric Staal to Montreal, left wing Taylor Hall and center Curtis Lazar to Boston and defenseman Brandon Montour to Florida. Staal, Hall and Montour are set to become UFAs this summer.
The total return for Buffalo from those deals? A second-round pick, two third-round picks, a fifth-round pick and Anders Bjork. This is a pretty underwhelming collection of assets.
Now, it should be noted that Hall is having a bad season and his value around the league probably wasn't sky high. He also had a no-movement clause, which allowed him to veto any trade.
Still, the Sabres got a second-rounder and an average-at-best NHLer for a top-six forward who won an MVP in 2018. They also gave up a capable fourth-line center with term on his contract in Lazar. You have to get a little more in return for that kind of trade, especially with a Bruins team desperate for scoring depth.
The Sabres have been poorly run for a decade and this trade deadline did very little to change that narrative. Buffalo fans are in store for more pain in the coming years.
The Leafs have won six games in a row and nine of their last 10. They're red-hot and have a legit chance to win their first Stanley Cup since 1967, so the front office wisely added quality players at two positions of need.
Toronto acquired Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno for a 2021 first-rounder and a 2022 fourth-rounder. It was a steep price, but Foligno provides scoring depth, leadership, playoff experience and versatility as someone who can play either wing spot and center. He can fill a top-six role or upgrade the third line.
The Leafs also bolstered their goaltending depth by acquiring David Rittich from the Flames in exchange for a 2022 third-round pick. Given the uncertainty surrounding Frederik Andersen's status for the rest of the season, adding another capable netminder was essential for Toronto ahead of the deadline. Rittich, at 5-on-5, has posted a .917 save percentage overall and an impressive .831 save percentage on high-danger shot attempts
He's an upgrade over Michael Hutchinson behind current starter Jack Campbell.
Toronto has made a first-round pick in four of the last five drafts and owns each of its first-rounders past 2021. So, giving up a first this year to make a potential Cup winner better is a risk worth taking.
Losing an elite defenseman of Aaron Ekblad's caliber for 12 weeks due to injury was a huge blow to the Panthers' blue line.
The Panthers needed to acquire another veteran defenseman who can contribute at both ends of the ice.
The only acquisition the Panthers made to address this need was getting veteran Brandon Montour from the Sabres. The cost was fairly low -- a 2021 third-round pick -- but Montour is not much more than a third-pairing defenseman on a good team.
Montour is not an offensive dynamo and the Sabres were a bad 5-on-5 team with him on the ice this season. He tallied a career-high 32 points in 2017-18 but has failed to reach the 25-point mark in each of the last three years. Montour is not going to excel in a shutdown role versus quality opposition, either.
The Panthers did make a solid upgrade up front by acquiring center Sam Bennett from the Flames, but they paid a premium -- a 2021 second-round pick and prospect Emil Heineman (a 2020 second-round pick).
Florida is going to have a tough time winning a first-round playoff series against the Hurricanes or defending champion Lightning.
The Blue Jackets are nine points out of a playoff spot, and even if they snuck into the postseason, the chances of them winning a round would be very slim.
Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen did the best thing for the franchise and dealt two of his best assets -- left winger Nick Foligno and defenseman David Savard. The total haul for Columbus between the two trades was two first-round picks, a third-round pick and a fourth-round pick.
Getting first-round picks for rentals is often a challenge, but the Blue Jackets were able to negotiate well enough to get two. They now have three 2021 first-rounders.
It's also not easy to trade highly respected and quality players. Foligno is a fan favorite and was an impact player as a top-six forward and captain on some of the best teams in Blue Jackets history. Savard filled an important role on the blue line, especially in the playoffs. These guys were essential to Columbus on and off the ice, but you have to keep the future in mind, and Kekäläinen did a great job stocking the cupboard with quality assets to draft and develop young talent or trade for an established star.
The Jets have a legitimate chance to reach the Stanley Cup Final. A potential playoff path featuring the Oilers in the first round and Leafs in the second round is a favorable one for Winnipeg.
Their group of top nine forwards is as good as any in the league, and reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Helleybuck is having another fantastic season with a .921 save percentage.
The one area on the Jets roster that needed an upgrade was the blue line, and they didn't do enough to address it. Acquiring Jordie Benn from the Canucks for a sixth-round draft pick is a decent low-cost move, but not a game-changer by any means.
Veterans such as Mattias Ekholm, David Savard, Josh Manson, Alex Goligoski, Erik Gudbranson, Jamie Oleksiak and others would have been excellent additions to Winnipeg's blue line.
This is the best Jets team since the franchise relocated to Winnipeg in 2011-12. There was no excuse not to add a premium defenseman before the trade deadline.
The Islanders have a legit chance to reach the Stanley Cup Final, and they were aggressive in adding depth to their roster before the trade deadline.
New York gave up a first-round pick, a conditional fourth-rounder and two AHLers to get right winger Kyle Palmieri and center Travis Zajac from the Devils. Palmieri -- who entered 2021 having scored 20-plus goals in five consecutive seasons -- bolsters an Islanders top-six that lost captain Anders Lee to a torn ACL last month. Zajac provides depth down the middle, as well as 57 games of postseason experience and someone capable of taking on tough defensive assignments.
The Islanders also acquired veteran defenseman Braydon Coburn from the Senators for a seventh-round pick. Coburn will bring a defensive presence and championship experience (2020 with Tampa Bay) to New York's blue line.
Overall, the Islanders made a couple nice moves to address weaknesses and set themselves up for another deep postseason run.
For most of the season, much of the focus on potential trade deadline targets was centered on the Predators.
Nashville was slumping, and the rumor mill was full of names such as forwards Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson and Mikael Granlund, as well as defenseman Mattias Ekholm.
All four players would've been excellent additions to contending teams. The problem for those teams is the Predators have surged up the standings in recent weeks and now lead the Blackhawks by four points for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division. Nashville has won eight of its last 10 games.
There was no reason for the Preds to be sellers as a likely playoff team. Maybe you could make a case to trade a pending UFA such as Granlund, but him walking in free agency wouldn't be a disaster for Nashville. Forsberg, Arvidsson and Ekholm are all signed through at least next season.
The Predators' resurgence took a potential seller away from other contenders in need of veteran help for the playoffs.
Goaltending has been an Achilles heel for the Avalanche in recent playoff runs, so adding depth at the position by acquiring veteran Devan Dubnyk from the Sharks for defenseman Greg Pateryn and a 2021 fifth-round pick was pretty good business.
Colorado also acquired goalie Jonas Johansson from the Sabres a few weeks ago.
The Avs are the league's hottest team and just became the first to reach the 60-point mark in the standings. They've won 15 of their last 18 games.
The Ducks sit at the bottom of the West Division with the third-worst record in the league and the third-worst goal differential.
Anaheim needs to rebuild, and cashing in on some veterans -- such as forwards Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell, as well as defenseman Josh Manson -- would've been a smart move.
Rakell and Manson wouldn't have been rentals because they both have one more year left on their contracts. Players often have more value with term remaining on their deals. and any team that acquired them would've gotten two playoff runs-worth of games.
In fairness to the Ducks, acquiring defenseman Haydn Fleury from the Hurricanes was a good move. Fleury should benefit from more playing time and a larger role in Anaheim compared to Carolina, but he's not a significant addition for the Ducks.
Anaheim has drafted fairly well of late, and The Athletic recently ranked the Ducks' prospect pool as the seventh-best in the league. Trading some of these veterans for draft picks and/or prospects could have accelerated Anaheim's roster retool.
The Capitals are a legit title contender and will face a tough road emerging from the East Division as one of the four playoff semifinalists.
They swung for the fences Monday by acquiring top-six goal scorer Anthony Mantha from the Red Wings in exchange for forwards Jakub Vrana and Richard Panik, and a 2021 first-round pick and a 2022 second-round pick.
Mantha, when healthy, is a quality goal scorer who brings excellent size (6-foot-5 and 234 pounds) and physicality to the ice. He also has three more years left on his contract with a manageable $5.7 million cap hit. Vrana is in the final year of his deal and eligible for restricted free agency this summer, so Washington gets a little more cost certainty on the wing.
The price to get Mantha was large, but it was a worthy gamble for a Capitals team in win-now mode during what's left of Alex Ovechkin's best years.
The Bruins had two primary needs entering the deadline: Add scoring depth and a left-shot defenseman.
Boston did both in separate deals that acquired forwards Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar from Buffalo and defenseman Mike Reilly from Ottawa. The cost for the B's between these trades was a second-round pick, a third-round pick and Anders Bjork.
Hall has struggled offensively with two goals and 19 points through 37 games this season, but he adds much-needed skill, speed and puck-carrying skill to Boston's middle-six forward group. The veteran left winger is a UFA at the end of the season but on Monday expressed a desire to remain with the B's beyond that point.
Reilly drives scoring and puck possession at 5-on-5, which is a nice upgrade for a Bruins team that ranks 30th in 5-on-5 goals. He also will bolster Boston's transition game and give the blue line valuable experience for the playoffs.
Lazar has produced more goals (five) than two of the Bruins' regular fourth-line forwards Sean Kuraly (two) and Chris Wagner (two) combined this season. He's signed through 2021-22 at a team-friendly $800K salary cap hit.
The Bruins addressed these two roster needs without giving up a first-round draft pick or any of their top prospects. Boston is a more talented and deeper team than it was 48 hours ago, and general manager Don Sweeney deserves credit for that.
