The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone. Big names were traded and many teams are going all in this year. Today I’m going to recap what all happened on March 1st and how the trades affected teams. The Flyers made a few moves that day but I will get to them last. Let’s first talk about what the Trade Deadline is. CapFriendly.com and NHL.com will be helping me out today.
The NHL Trade Deadline is the last day teams can trade players before the Entry Draft in June. That’s a bold way to put it. Technically teams can still trade players after the deadline but those players wouldn’t be eligible in the playoffs. That’s why when players are traded at the deadline, they are called “rental players”. Teams are renting them (and their cap hit) for the playoffs.
If you read my post before the deadline, I talked about names like Kevin Shattenkirk, Ben Bishop, Jarome Iginla, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog and many more. Only a few of those guys got traded, and surprisingly the return for those players were terrible. First off was Ben Bishop. Bishop was the Tampa Bay Lighting’s starting goalie who was phenomenal in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He led the team to the final that year and was playing with a torn groin.
Bishop was traded due to cap restraints and because of Andrei Vasilevskiy. Vasilevskiy is the future of Tampa’s goaltending and they didn’t think still having Bishop was worth it. Also, they need to pay of Victor Hedman and Steven Stamko’s contract plus re-sign Jonathan Drouin, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat. Now, they traded Bishop and a 5th round pick in 2017 to the Los Angeles Kings for Peter Budaj, Erik Cernak, a 7th round and conditional pick in 2017. I thought the return was bad but maybe it will work out for both teams.
The next trade was the Arizona Coyotes trading Martin Hanzal, Ryan Whiteand a 4th round pick in 2017 to the Minnesota Wild for Grayson Downing, a 1st round pick in 2017, a 2nd round pick in 2018 and a conditional pick in 2019. Trading the 1st round pick is always risky. The Wild are defiantly going all in this year, because this is the first time in a while they have traded away a first rounder.
Hanzal is a great centremen and is a perfect fit for the Wild. With centers Mikko Koviu, Mikael Granlund, Eric Staal and now Martin Hanzal, the Wild are set for the playoffs. I remember Ryan White playing with the Flyers for two years and I can say the Wild are getting the grit they need from him. I still wish Philly re-signed him instead of Dale Weise. As for Arizona, they will be stockpiling on prospects for years to come now. They will soon be back in the playoffs and a legitimate contender.
There were a few small name trades before Shattenkirk like Brian Boyle, Jordie Benn, Alexander Burrows but none to write home about. Shattenkirk was the biggest name on the market this deadline, but nobody expected the team he went to though. Here it is: The St. Louis Blues trade Kevin Shattenkirkand Pheonix Copley to the Washington Capitals for a 2017 1st round pick, conditional draft picks and forwards Zach Sanfordand Brad Malone. That’s it? That’s what St. Louis got for Shattenkirk? Really? Yes, it’s a ton of draft picks but I think the Blues just got robbed. The Flyers could have gotten him if it was that easy!
I’m shocked that the Capitals go him that easily. They are another team gearing up for the playoffs, thinking they will make it past the second round. We will see how that goes for them and if this trade was a waste of effort. Next was Jarome Iginla being traded to the Kings for a conditional fourth round pick in the 2018 draft. This isn’t a blockbuster deal but Iginla is probably going to retire after this season and this was a trade to give him one last chance for the Cup. Sadly, he was traded to the Kings who might not even make the playoffs.
Onto the Flyers and the three moves that they made! It isn’t much but it’s a lot if that makes any sense. Before they made the first and only trade that day, they re-signed Michal Neuvirth and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to contract extensions. That means Steve Mason is not getting re-signed which irritates me. If you want to know why that frustrates me, go read my goalie controversy article.
After that the Flyers traded Mark Streit to the Tampa Bay Lighting for Valtteri Filppula, a fourth round pick and a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2017 Draft. I was extremely happy when I read this but 40 minutes later Streit was traded from the Lighting to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now reading that made my eyes bleed. The Flyers got offense which they needed badly and got rid of an expiring contract, so I would say it was a win-win for both teams.
There were a ton of trades I didn’t get to but they were all small trades. This wasn’t the best Trade Deadline but it was more exciting than last years. I can already tell that the Entry Draft in June along with the Expansion Draft will be very interesting.
