The NHL Trading Deadline was on Monday and saw a few big names move to new teams along with a local team going all in.  

The New York Rangers added Winnipeg Jets forward Andrew Copp, Florida Panthers forward Frank Vatrano, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Justin Braun, Vancouver Canucks forward Tyler Motte and a sixth rounder from the Copp trade. They have completely reworked their bottom six, which was necessary after losing Sammy Blais for the entire season. This will also give older players like Ryan Reeves a little bit of a rest down the stretch. The Rangers will possess their 2022 first rounder as well if they don’t make the Eastern Conference Finals. If they do make it to the semifinals, their first-round pick will go to Winnipeg for Copp as long as he plays in 50% of the playoff games. 

The total payout for their acquisitions are 2022 fourth for Vatrano, 2023 third for Braun, 2023 fourth for Motte, 2022 second with the conference final condition, a choice between St. Louis’ 2022 second or the Rangers’ 2022 second, a 2023 fifth and Morgan Barron for Copp and a 2023 sixth. Rangers President and General Manager Chris Drury believes that his goaltending situation is set, especially after Alexander Georgiev’s 44 save shutout over Carolina on Sunday. The Rangers have set themselves up nicely for a deep playoff run. 

The New York Islanders were the only team in the entire NHL to not make a trade in the final week of the trading period. They signed Cal Clutterbuck to a two-year extension worth $1.75 million per season and Zach Parise to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million. They bring back two key players to their bottom six for next season, but these contracts could have been signed during free agency after both players went on cup runs with other teams. Lou Lamoriello said this indicates that the front office has faith in the core that has brought them to the past two Conference Finals. 

The New Jersey Devils only made one trade, acquiring goalie Andrew Hammond from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Nathan Schnarr, a 22-year-old prospect who has 26 points in 43 AHL games this season. Nothing much brewing for the two non-playoff teams in the New York area.

Elsewhere, the Anaheim Ducks and their new general manager Pat Verbeek traded all three of their premier unrestricted free agents to different contending teams. They made the first trade of the week, sending Josh Manson to Colorado Avalanche for a second-round pick and prospect Drew Helleson. On Saturday, it was Hampus Lindholm who went to the Boston Bruins for a haul. Anaheim received John Moore, prospect Urho Vaakanainen, two seconds and their 2022 first rounder. Lindholm signed an eight year contract with Boston worth $6.5 million per season. Nick Deslauriers went to Minnesota Wild for a third rounder, and Rickard Rakell went to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a second rounder, a prospect, Dominik Simon and Zach Aston-Reese. Anaheim needed to make these moves as they are out of the playoffs and are now re-tooled for a quick rebuild. 

The Chicago Blackhawks were another team in the midst of a rebuild that attacked the deadline well. They traded 23-year-old Brandon Hagel to Tampa Bay Lightning for two first-round picks, Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk. Hagel has had a fantastic season, but he is not going to fit into Chicago’s future plans as he is due for a new contract after next season. Chicago now gets four attempts at re-creating Hagel and Tampa gets a young, cheap player to re-tool their third line. This was the biggest win-win trade of the deadline. 

The Panthers are going all in this year, trading for Ben Chiarot, Claude Giroux and Robert Hagg. They parted with 2017 first-rounder Owen Tippet, two first-rounders and more. General Manager Bill Zito has made it clear since last summer that this year is the time for the Panthers to make a deep run.

One last seller to highlight is the Seattle Kraken. The expansion draft was catastrophic, and their season is living proof. At the deadline they traded six players in exchange for 10 picks and one player. Mark Giordano and Colin Blackwell went to Toronto, Jeremy Lauzon is off to the Nashville Predators, Calle Jarnkrok is headed to Calgary to play with his cousin Elias Lindholm, Mason Appleton is in Winnipeg and Marcus Johansson is going back to Washington. None of the picks are first rounders, but Seattle loaded up on second rounders. 

All in all, this was a loaded deadline. The winners were the Rangers, Seattle and Anaheim while the losers were the Islanders, Ottawa, who inexplicably traded for Travis Hamonic, and San Jose, who lost out on a big return by adding Tomas Hertl back to their rotting core.