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With the NHL trade deadline closed, who came out looking worse for wear?
Edmonton
The Oilers did little on deadline day, except send Jeff Petry across to Montreal for a few draft picks.
Sitting on your butt and not looking to do something that’ll elevate a team saddled with undeniable talent and also a management team, on and off the ice, who seem perpetually unable to work out how best to turn raw talent into superstars, isn’t the way forward.
Being an Oilers fan must be incredibly frustrating.
Columbus
By far the most controversial team this deadline day. The Blue Jackets sent their best defenceman, James Wisniewski, to Anaheim for a second-rounder, and picked up David Clarkson and all of his huge and stupid contract ($36.5 million over seven years).
It’s rare that a deadline move is universally panned, but this one was, and I can’t disagree with the rest of the world’s hockey bloggers. No matter how you boil this down, it’s a bad move. Blue Jackets fans have every right to be unhappy, especially with Clarkson out for up to six weeks with a torn oblique.
Boston
Deep in the hunt for a playoff berth, yet could only manage a trade for ageing veteran Max Talbot and Tampa player Brett Connolly. The arms race in the East is heating up, and while a lot of teams made big moves, the Bruins didn’t. It hasn’t been a good year up in Boston.
Anaheim
Speaking of teams failing in the arms race, while teams like Chicago went out and bought good players, the Ducks settled for a brace of players with above-average talent: Jiri Sekac, Tomas Fleischmann, Simon Despres and James Wisniewski.
They didn’t make a huge splash like some teams did, but the Ducks may well be confident that the core of players they have is enough to propel them deep into the playoffs.
Pittsburgh
Shipped Simon Despres out for Ben Lovejoy, bringing him in for his second stint at the club. What on earth is that? Despres is younger and has far more upside. Besides, generally, if a guy doesn’t work in your locker room the first time, he isn’t likely to do much better the second.
Also picked up fringe St Louis defenceman Ian Cole, but it was a mostly quiet deadline for the Penguins.
St Louis
Made some reasonable acquisitions in Robert Bortuzzo and Zbynek Michalek, but failed to shore up their goaltending. A two-goalie system can work when there are two good guys sharing time, but Jake Allen and Brian Elliott haven’t exactly set the world on fire this year, and there isn’t a huge amount of confidence that either can do the job in the cauldron of playoff hockey.
The Blues missed out where they really needed to make a move. Buffalo’s Michal Neuvirth went to the Islanders, and it’s surprising that the Blues didn’t pursue him for at least a modicum of veteran presence. If St Louis flames out in the playoffs – and especially if they bleed goals in the process – watch the scrutiny of their deadline moves ramp up.
Philadelphia
Traded away fan favourite Kimo Timmonen to Chicago, and although they received some nice compensation by way of draft picks, no fan-base is ever happy when one of their favourites is traded away.
New York Rangers
Yes, they were winners getting Yandle and opening up a nice window in which to win Lord Stanley, but I can’t help but worry about the future. Anthony Duclair, a good-looking player, has been traded. The Rangers have given up draft picks, too, and parting with 2016 first-rounder will mean the team will go four straight years without the ability to draft a player in the opening round.
Short-term gain has been pushed ahead of long-term development by Glen Sather, and the controversial general manager will be under great pressure to win a Stanley Cup in the next few seasons to justify his deadline moves.
Rangers fans are a little unhappy at the thought of losing Duclair, but a Cup will help them get over that.
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