[ad_1]
the Deadline for NHL exchanges is officially in the back view and it was a busy day to move and shake through the league. A number of important contracts have been canceled. Let's see who was declared winner or loser on the day of the deadline.
Winner: Mark Stone and the Golden Knights
Vegas made the biggest move of the day with the acquisition of Mark Stone, an outstanding 200-footer player. Not only will he be able to provide an additional attack on Vegas' top six, which is now one of the league's most impressive, but he will also be a key player in the closing against the top forwards of the opposing teams. He is a legitimate Selke candidate and this will help Vegas in his playoff clashes with talented teams like the Predators, Jets, Sharks and Flames.
In addition to the acquisition of Stone, who is in the final year of his current contract, they have also agreed to an extension of the winger's term of 26 years. The eight-year deal should bring a $ 9 million North AAV, although the deal can not be signed until Friday.
Although it is a heavy tribute for Stone, who is about to reach 30 goals for the first time in his career, it's a price that the Golden Knights can afford to pay considering their financial flexibility. Locking it in the long run is a big result for the organization. This is also a big result for Stone, who escapes Ottawa by becoming very wealthy.
In return, this has cost Vegas one of their best hopes, Erik Brannstrom, a talented 19-year-old defenseman who has the tools to become a major asset to the franchise. Brannstrom will be an important part of rebuilding the Senators and he will likely join the team next season.
It's hard to give up a prospect with as much potential as Brannstrom, but Vegas is now able to win and Stone is a factor of difference that can help the franchise to do it. And given that the Knights just had to give up a second and Oscar Lindberg, in addition to Brannstrom, it's a price that is worth getting paid – especially since Stone will not be a location.
Loser: Calgary Flames
It was a pretty boring and disappointing deadline for the Flames, who did not make any significant moves other than adding defenseman Oscar Fantenberg in an exchange with the Los Angeles Kings. The Flames could have taken advantage of deepening their depth or adding goalkeeper insurance to avoid a catastrophic scenario in which they would have to rely on Mike Smith, but they did not do it. no more. It was surprising considering the number of big names to which the Flames were linked, notably Stone. They would have balked at the high prices demanded.
Worse still, many of the team's opponents in the Western conference, including the Jets, Predators, Sharks and Golden Knights, have taken decisive action that should be a threat. The same can not be said of the Flames despite a number of options available on the market that would have made sense.
Loser: Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins wanted to approach their blue line by the deadline, because it is a defensive body that has gaps and is quite upset at the moment. They decided to do it by exchanging for … Chris Wideman and Erik Gudbranson? Okay, then.
Of course, the additions give the Penguins more depth on the defense, but it's not really a good depth.
Pittsburgh will be Wideman's fourth team this season alone, since he has already played for Ottawa, Edmonton and Florida this year. He has not always been able to stay in the list in any of these places.
Gudbranson, meanwhile, is statistically one of the league's worst defensemen this season. He's really ugly in his own zone and, uh, he's signed a $ 4 million contract for two more seasons beyond that. The Penguins could associate him with Jack Johnson, another rather terrible defender.
So, uh, yes. General Manager Jim Rutherford may have some kind of big plan that will make it all ridiculous to make fun of these deals, but for now, they look like some of the worst moves on Monday. All this looks much worse when you know that the Penguins indirectly transformed Carl Hagelin, who had 4 million US dollars on an expiring contract, Gudbranson – a player performing less at the same price for two years. Yuck.
Winner: Nashville Predators
One of Nashville's biggest weaknesses in its last two playoffs is the lack of secondary score and depth ahead, which they clearly wanted to address by the deadline of this year. Not only did they come out and added Brian Boyle early, but they also added Mikael Granlund and Wayne Simmonds on Monday.
Granlund, 26, has scored 20 goals and scored 60 points in each of the past two seasons. He will serve as a dynamic secondary playmaker for the Preds. This is a very good pickup and a non-renter because he signed for another year beyond this season at a good value for money ($ 5.75 AAV).
Simmonds is not exactly what it has been, but it has a solid mix of skills and physical qualities that should make it a valuable depth for the Predators, especially during the most challenging months. of the post-season. Simmonds can impose his will on his opponents and be productive in the most dilapidated areas. It could be the spark that missed Nashville.
Another important factor for the Predators' deadline changes is that they have not been forced to return significant future assets to make improvements. Eeli Tolvanen and Dante Fabbro were able to retain their best hopes, as well as their first-round pick in this year's repechage. A masterly work of the Director General David Poile Monday.
Loser: Dallas Stars
Dallas falls into the category of losers of bad luck this year. They came out and made a major move when they acquired Rangers' Mats Zuccarello, but Zuccarello broke his arm during his debut in the Stars and could miss the rest of the season. This unfortunate development brought Dallas back to square one and they made no further moves on Monday.
The Stars could have really benefited from additional offensive help – they rank third in the NHL for the number of goals scored per game – while they were trying to push the playoffs further. Maybe Zuccarello is recovering quickly and can go back in time to make a positive impact in the playoffs (if Dallas does), but, all things considered, it's hard to feel good about the Dallas delay.
Winner: Winnipeg Jets
For the second year in a row, Winnipeg was in the market for help in the middle of the trading deadline. After picking up Paul Stastny for a first-round pick-up last year, the Jets picked up Kevin Hayes of the New York Rangers for a package that included Winnipeg's first-round pick this year.
Hayes is a very good two-way player and a ball possession pilot who will play well in the center of Winnipeg's second line alongside Patrik Laine. Hayes, 26, is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. So he has a good chance to walk (as Stastny did last summer), but it's worth the risk for a Winnipeg team that ranks among the best in the West. The Jets participated in the conference final last year largely thanks to the contributions of Stastny. So we hope that Hayes will be able to provide similar contributions this time around.
The Jets also made in-depth additions to Matt Hendricks and Bogdan Kiselevich on Monday.
Loser: pool prospect Columbus Blue Jackets
There will be a lot of uncertainty regarding the Columbus Blue Jackets after this season, but here's what we now know: Columbus decided to be extremely aggressive and try to get paid on the date Limit rather than being the sellers that many thought were, and it cost them almost all their benchmark choices this year.
Instead of landing key pieces like Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky – two players likely to go freelance this summer – they decided to keep them in order to stay at full speed this year. As part of this strategy, the Blue Jackets earned Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, Adam McQuaid and Keith Kinkaid in the days leading up to the deadline.
There is no doubt that the Duchene and Dzingel add that the Blue Jackets are a better club in the far right, but are they ahead of teams like Tampa (good, good), Toronto, Boston or even the Islanders? This remains to be debated, but they certainly hope better.
Columbus bet enormously by adding additional expiring assets (including Duchene, which will be a UFA at the end of the year) over Panarin and Bobrovsky, and if things do not go well they could find yourself in a very difficult situation. The only selections of the Blue Jackets in this year's project will be presented in the third and seventh rounds.
This is essentially a team that is approaching the deadline, as in "NHL 19," and she knows she will not play the "Become a GM" mode beyond a season. It's a bold strategy.
Winner: San Jose Sharks
The Sharks were one of the best and most dangerous offensive teams in the league to date, but they were looking to improve their depth – especially the third-line slot on the left – and they have made by negotiation for Gustav Nyquist.
Nyquist is a veteran striker who gives some more firepower to San Jose. He finished second in Detroit in scoring with 49 points (16 goals, 33 assists) in 62 games this season and will have the opportunity to play with a very good group for the rest of the year. He arrived at a decent price, as it cost the Sharks only a second-round pick in 2019 and a conditional third-round pick in 2020. (The latter becomes a second-round player if the Sharks make their way to the 2019 Stanley Cup finals or they sign up again with Nyquist beyond this season.)
They may have benefited from the addition of goalkeeper insurance as they have had the worst goaltenders in the league so far this year. It was reported that they were exploring an exchange with veteran goaltender Ryan Miller, but Miller wanted to stay with the Ducks, no deal was reached and the Sharks never tackled the situation elsewhere. Obviously, they feel comfortable enough to stick to what they have.
Loser: Boston Bruins
Charlie Coyle of Minnesota and Marcus Johansson of New Jersey have added some positives to the Bruins, but this is a disappointing time given Boston's active activity in many discussions. They were linked to names such as Stone, Eric Staal, Hayes, Tyler Toffoli and more options that would have helped move the needle more than the contracts actually entered into. The addition of Coyle and Johansson does not really place Boston above, especially if we consider that they probably have Toronto and potentially Tampa in their playoff future.
In the end, the additions make the Bruins a deeper and better team than before the deadline, so it's hard to call them "losers" here. It's a bit fair, since they did not have the guy or guys that they really wanted.
[ad_2]
Source link