Written by Todd Cordell, who can be found on twitter @ToddCordell.
With the 2016 NHL trade deadline having gone and past, it’s time to take a look at some of the winners and losers.
Since “deadline day” was a little slow, we decided to include trades made in the past few weeks in our look at the deadline winners and losers.
Winners
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks, who have been one of the best teams in hockey over the last few months, made a pair of real nice additions at the deadline.
First, the Ducks acquired 24-year-old forward Brandon Pirri for a 6th round draft pick. Pirri seemed to have fallen out of favor in Florida but he’s a legitimate NHL talent. Since the beginning of 2014-15 Pirri has scored 33 goals and tallied 48 points in 101 games. Adding a player – especially a young one – with that kind of production for a 6th round pick is incredible.
The Ducks also added Jamie McGinn for a conditional 3rd round pick. McGinn is a stocky winger who can play a physical game and also chip in offensively. He can play a lot of different roles and is a very nice depth piece to add for the stretch run.
Florida Panthers
I thought the Panthers sold real low on Brandon Pirri, but other than that, I really liked what they did in the few days leading up to the deadline.
They acquired a legitimate top-6 forward in Jiri Hudler for a 2016 2nd and a 2018 4th round pick. Hudler should help generate shots, suppress them and will be a big help offensively for a team that hasn’t gotten a lot of scoring beyond the Huberdeau – Barkov – Jagr line.
They also acquired another solid top-9 forward in Teddy Purcell for a 3rd round pick. Like Hudler, Purcell is a solid offensive contributor who will really help add some secondary scoring.
Lastly, they picked up a solid depth defenseman in Jakub Kindl who can help drive possession for them. All it cost was a 6th round pick and the Red Wings ate some salary to rid themselves if Kindl.
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks paid a big price to get Andrew Ladd, but I fully understand why they made the move. The Blackhawks are gunning for another Stanley Cup and they acquired a top-6 forward – one they’re familiar with at that – without losing a single roster play.
The ‘Hawks also moved Phillip Danault and a draft pick to Montreal for a couple solid depth players in Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann that will go a long ways towards solidifying their bottom-6.
Oh, and they acquired Christian Ehrhoff for Rob Scuderi.
The latter deal aside Chicago moved a lot of youth and draft picks to stock up, but they were already a Stanley Cup favorite and improved their team a fair bit. Any time you have a chance to win the Cup you have to go for it; especially when you have a chance to pull off something as insane as four Cups in seven seasons.
Honorable mention to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes for acquiring a plethora of draft picks while, for the most part, only trading rentals and overpaid players.
Losers
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks entered deadline day eight points out of a playoff spot and as one of the few projected sellers.
With the likes of Chris Higgins, Radim Vrbata and Dan Hamhuis available for trade it seemed like a good bet to say Jim Benning and co. would be quite active.
That was clearly not the case, though, as the Canucks did not make a deal and stood pat. They’re not going to make the playoffs, and they failed to move any veterans for assets that can help moving forward, even if they had to accept less to do so.
San Jose Sharks
I know getting Raffi Torres’ contract of the books was important for the Sharks but I think they paid way too much for Roman Polak and Nick Spaling.
In my estimation Polak is a 3rd pairing blue liner while Spaling is, at best, an average 4th line player. Packaging a couple 2nd round picks for complete non-impact players when the likes of Jiri Hudler and Lee Stempniak could be had for a 2nd and a 4th is a tough sell for me.
I liked the James Reimer addition but as a whole I think the Sharks gave up more value than they received.
Dallas Stars
If the Dallas Stars were to play Kris Russell in a depth role, I think he might be a nice addition, but I doubt that will be the case.
He’s been caved in as a top-4 guy for years in Calgary and it sounds like he’ll continue to play big minutes with the Stars.
Factor in they had to give up a conditional 2nd round pick (turns to a 1st if the Stars make the conference finals) as well as a pretty good prospect in Brett Pollock and 24-year-old blue liner Jyrki Jokipakka, I think the Stars would have been better off standing pat or turning their attention elsewhere.
Honorable mention goes to the Colorado Avalanche. I think the Eric Gelinas gamble has potential to be a good one but trading the first two prospects they drafted in 2014 as well as Alex Tanguay for a pending UFA in Mikkel Boedker – who has worse underlying numbers than Tanguay – seems like a step in the wrong direction.
