The 2021 NHL trade deadline has passed with a number of players changing teams and a handful of teams upgrading their future draft selections.
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As the regular season heads into its home stretch, several teams looked for help as they make plans for the postseason. Which teams made out the best?
Caps Get Mantha
In what was likely the best trade of the cycle, Washington added LW Anthony Mantha to a Capitals team that currently sits atop the NHL East Division. The addition of Mantha will help them in their quest to fend off the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Boston Bruins in the division.
On the other end, the Detroit Red Wings get a solid young prospect in F Jakub Vrana, a veteran in Richard Panik, and add to their cadre of draft picks with another 2021 first-rounder and a 2022 second- rounder.
Using Cap Space for the Future
In addition to Vrana and Panik, Detroit also used some of its extra salary cap space to get involved in trades to gain some “free” assets. The Red Wings, San Jose Sharks, and Chicago Blackhawks all got involved as a third team in at least one trade. All three teams got involved to retain a portion of a contract (or contracts) in exchange for future NHL draft picks.
The Blackhawks, for example, picked up a handful of new prospects, but the team’s real gain was felt in draft picks. At the trade deadline, Chicago picked up new second-, fourth-, and seventh-round picks in 2021 and a third-round selection in 2022.
Get the Hall Out of Buffalo
Former NHL MVP Taylor Hall gets a shot at redemption. After winning the Hart Trophy in his second season with New Jersey, Hall ended up being traded to Arizona. Then, he signed as a free agent with Buffalo last year.
The Sabres are simply awful and Hall struggled in Buffalo. Hall was actually the Sabres’ third-leading scorer with just 2 goals and 17 assists for 19 points.
Now, Hall gets to move on to Boston where will be an integral part of the Bruins postseason run. Boston is fourth in East and holds a four-point advantage over the fifth-place Rangers. This would be only the third time in Hall’s career that he would play in a postseason.
In addition to Hall, Boston also gets Curtis Lazar. Buffalo got F Anders Bjork and a 2021 second-round draft pick.
Avs Add Goalie Depth
Colorado has made one of the more impressive runs this season winning eight of their last ten games to move into first place in the West Division and first in the President’s Cup race. One of the biggest reasons for their success has been the play of goaltender Philipp Grubauer.
Grubauer leads the NHL in wins (25) and holds a 2.00 goals against average and a .920 save percentage. What Grubauer has never done though is play more than 37 games in a regular season.
As a result, Colorado went out and acquired former San Jose goalie Devan Dubnyk. The Avs sent D Greg Pateryn and a 2021 fifth-round draft pick to the Sharks for Dubnyk, who is 34 and has 26 games of Stanley Cup playoff experience on his resume. He will add depth behind Grubauer as the Avalanche look to go deep in the NHL postseason.
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