Grading The Deals: Deadline Trades

Grading the big and small trades that took place on and leading up to Trade Deadline Day in the NHL, from Jeff Carter all the way down. The Philadelphia Flyers got the actual trade market rolling on the 16th, becoming the first contender to fortify its’ blueline by acquiring Nicklas Grossman from the Dallas Stars for a second-round pick and a third-round pick. Two days later they acquired Pavel Kubina from Tampa Bay for a second-round pick , a fourth-round pick and a low level prospect. Both defensemen are rentals for the rest of the season that can slot into the second or third pairing. Grossman doesn’t offer any offense, but Kubina can play on a second power play unit. Kudos to the Flyers for striking early before the pool of defensemen thinned out. Grades: A+ for Philadelphia, A for Dallas and Tampa Another contender striking early was San Jose, as the Sharks nabbed defensive center Dominic Moore, another victim of Tampa’s fire sale. Despite the high prices the Flyers paid for the above defensemen, the Sharks were able to get Moore and a seventh-round pick for only a second rounder. Moore will arguably have a bigger impact come playoff time. Grades: A+ for San Jose, B+ for Tampa Nashville, not typically a buyer, showed their star free-agents-to-be (Shea Weber and Ryan Suter) that they are serious about trying to win, as they obtained veteran shot blocker extraordinaire Hal Gill from Montreal. While Gill is a good depth guy in a defensive system like Nashville’s, and has Stanley Cup experience (won a Cup with the Pens in 2009), I still think they paid a bit too much (a second-round pick and prospect Blake Geoffrion); kudos to likely-departing-GM Pierre Gauthier. Grades: A for Montreal, B for Nashville A rare relevant three-team deal was consummated on Tuesday between the very busy Lightning, the Red Wings, and the Avalanche. Tampa sent rugged winger Steve Downie to Colorado for defenseman Kyle Quincey, but then GM Steve Yzerman turned around and sent Quincey to his old team in Detroit for a first-round pick and a low level prospect. Turning Downie into a first and a prospect was a good coup for Stevie Y, as Detroit seems to do what they rarely do, and that is overpay. They are clearly looking toward the future, as Quincey is young in Detroit terms (26-years-old). The Wings will have his RFA rights, which is important to them since they could lose two defensemen in the offseason, and Quincey can be a decent second-pair two-way defenseman. Colorado dealt from a position of depth to attain a rugged winger with playoff experience for the stretch run in Downie, but I think they ended up dealing the best player in the trade and overpaid. Grades: A+ for Tampa, B for Detroit, C+ for Colorado Despite their impossible financial situation, Phoenix was surprisingly able to add salary in a trade, in the form of Antoine Vermette from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Vermette is a solid two-way center that seems to be a perfect fit for a Dave Tippett-coached hockey team that thrives defensively, but he does carry a $3.75M cap hit for three more years. Vermette hasn’t been the same player he was in 2009-10 when he piled up a career-best 65 points, but perhaps a change of scenery will help him find his offensive game. He is a very good penalty killer and is one of the top faceoff men in the league (currently at 56.6% success rate). Phoenix was mindful that they didn’t have any depth at center beyond this season, and they didn’t want to draw blanks in the free agent market. Columbus seemed to just want out of the contract, getting back a second-round pick, fifth-round pick and backup/AHL goalie Curtis McElhinney. Surprised that this is the best they could fetch for a 29-year-old center. Grades: B+ for Phoenix, B- for Columbus Columbus finally dealt one of their high priced forwards on Thursday night, sending Jeff Carter to the L.A. Kings for defenseman Jack Johnson and a first-round pick. Hats off to much maligned Columbus GM Scott Howson for being able to complete an actual straight-up hockey trade here, instead of just selling off Carter for overrated assets. Columbus has had a subpar defensive group since the franchise was created, and Johnson, a former third overall draft pick, will now be able to be “The Man” on the blueline and a leader. Johnson is signed for six more years at almost $4.4M, which is very fair for what he brings to the table as an offensive defenseman that will play on the Jackets’ top pairing. Columbus also frees up ice-time for their top youngster Ryan Johansen and gets another first round pick for their rebuilding efforts, trying to replace the one that they dealt for Carter last offseason that turned into stellar Sean Couturier. The Kings have had a big need for offense for a couple of seasons now. They tried to address it last offseason by acquiring Mike Richards and signing Simon Gagne, but the goals were still hard to come by. Now, on the bubble of the playoff picture, they pulled the trigger to reunite Carter and Richards, who shared great offensive seasons in Philadelphia together. Carter should be able to slide back to the wing, a position more suited for his shoot-first game, and give the Kings a big boost. With his contract (10 more years at almost $5.3M per year), Richards’ contract (eight more years at $5.75M per year), Drew Doughty’s (seven more years, $7M cap hit) and Anze Kopitar’s (four more years at $6.8M per year), this is the team that will either pass or fail for the Kings, as they are pretty well set in their cornerstone positions. The bet here is that Carter returns to his 35-goal form playing on the wing beside either Kopitar or Richards. Grades: A for both Columbus and Los Angeles One of the long anticipated trade matches was finally consummated on Saturday, when the Devils (finally) acquired defenseman Marek Zidlicky. It seemed like so much time had passed since it was reported that he would waive his no-trade clause to go to New Jersey. Zidlicky will definitely help the Devils as a power play specialist and puck-moving defenseman, and can eat major minutes. That said, the 35-year-old who had struggled greatly this season (14 points, -6 in 41 games) and fell out of favor with the coaching staff, yet still cost more than a pretty penny to acquire (a second-round pick, a conditional second- or third-round pick, defenseman Kurtis Foster, a 30-year-old AHLer and youngster Nick Palmieri) , so kudos to Minnesota GM Chuck Fletcher. Grades: A for Minnesota, B for New Jersey The New York Rangers cleared out some much needed cap space by dealing winger Wojtek Wolski and his $3.8M cap hit to the Florida Panthers for 25-year-old AHL defenseman Mike Vernace and a third-round draft pick. Once upon a time Wolski notched 22 goals as a rookie, but hasn’t reached the 20-goal mark since. Florida is very much in the mix for not only a playoff spot, but the Southeast Division title, and acquiring some offensive depth that isn’t signed beyond this year is a good fit for them. Can New York peddle this cap room into acquiring a piece that will help them make a deep playoff run? Wolski certainly wasn’t going to help. Grades: A for Florida, A+ for NYR Ottawa filled its’ backup goalie position before any other team thought to be looking for one (Toronto, Pittsburgh). Their backup Alex Auld was underwhelming (in a nice way to put it), and over-used starter Craig Anderson hurt himself in a kitchen incident, so to ensure their playoff position, the Sens picked up AHL goalie Ben Bishop from the Blues. Bishop is/was one of the top goalie prospects in the game and was headed for unrestricted free agency. Great job by Ottawa to ink him to a one-year $650K extension. Bishop, a 6’7” 25-year-old, was enjoying the best season of his career so far, with a 2.26 GAA and .928 SV% in the AHL. Him succeeding in the NHL this season is no guarantee, but it is a better bet than Auld succeeding. St. Louis received a second-round pick, which is a pretty big haul for an AHL player. Grades: A+ for St. Louis, A- for Ottawa Finally on to Deadline Day, and the first deal is another between Montreal and Nashville, as the Preds add a forward that could provide some offense for a playoff run in Andrei Kostitsyn. The 27-year-old winger will be reunited with his 24-year-old brother Sergei, who were infamously a distraction when paired together in Montreal. But let’s remember that was years ago, and both players surely have matured. On a day that has seen the availability of rental forwards dwindle, good on Nashville for picking up someone to help them this year, and help convince Shea Weber and Ryan Suter that the management are indeed dedicated to putting a winner on the ice. Montreal is selling, as they should be, and perhaps they could have gotten more closer to 3:00, but at least they get some assets (a second-round pick and the conditional pick back from the Hal Gill trade). Grades: A for Nashville, B+ for Montreal So uh, Mike Commodore to Tampa from Detroit for a conditional seventh-round pick. Grades: Zzzzzz An interesting swap of defensemen between Edmonton and Minnesota, seeing Tom Gilbert and Nick Schultz swapped straight up. Both are 29-years-old and signed for two more years, Gilbert at a $4M cap hit, Schultz for $3.5M. Schultz was the Wild’s longest tenured player, and played more games for the franchise than anyone else ever. He doesn’t give you any offensive support, but is more than reliable as a shut-down defender and brings a wealth of leadership abilities to a young Oilers organization. Gilbert will provide more offense from the back than Schultz, and perhaps that is exactly what the Wild were looking for after trading Zidlicky. Grades: B for both teams What they call “a straight up hockey trade” took place between Tampa Bay and Toronto, and neither players involved were playing in the NHL. The Leafs dealt promising young defenseman Keith Aulie to the Lightning for promising young forward Carter Ashton. Toronto has a wealth of defensive prospects in the AHL, and a full stable in the NHL, so they chose to peddle Aulie for a big-bodied forward that projects to be a definite contributor as a top-six forward; Ashton was selected at the end of the first round in 2009. Tampa has/had a very old defensive group that is largely to blame for their poor season, and Aulie gives them a good building block. Grades: A for both teams As far as deadline deals go, the one between San Jose and Colorado could be deemed a significant one. Colorado sent forwards Daniel Winnik and T.J. Galiardi and a seventh-round pick to the Sharks for Jamie McGinn and prospects Mike Connolly and Mike Sgarbossa. Winnik and Galiardi will no doubt provide quality depth for the Sharks, boosting their third line. Winnik is 26-years-old and set to be a UFA, he won’t put up many points but he has a lot of grit and is a good penalty killer. Galiardi has a bit more upside; the 23-year-old scored 15 goals as a rookie two years ago, and is set to be a RFA. McGinn has some upside left as a big winger who could provide grit and 20 goals, and is only 23-years-old. Impressive is the prospects the Avs landed here, as Connolly is 22-years-old and has 30 points in 40 games in his first season in the AHL, while Sgarbossa is 19-years-old and has dominated the OHL this season (84 points in 57 games). Grades: A for Colorado, B+ for San Jose Tampa continued their busy day of dealing defensemen by acquiring Brian Lee from Ottawa for defenseman Matt Gilroy. Lee is only 24-years-old and was the 9th overall pick in 2005, but hasn’t played more than 53 games in any of the five seasons he has shown up on Ottawa’s roster, and has greatly underperformed. Gilroy is 27-years-old, and can move the puck up better than Lee, who is defense-only. Grades: B- for both teams Vancouver was able to add a veteran defensive depth forward in Sami Pahlsson from Columbus for two fourth-round draft picks. Pahlsson was a big reason Anaheim won the Stanley Cup in 2007, but he doesn’t provide as much now as he did then. Still, a decent get for the Canucks for depth purposes, getting a guy with playoff experience. Grades: B+ for Vancouver and Columbus Chicago was able add a solid defenseman in Johnny Oduya from Winnipeg. The Jets are still very much in the mix for a playoff spot, but it was wise to collect very good assets for the UFA-to-be (they receive a second-round and third-round pick next year). Chicago has been allowing way too many goals lately and they needed to add something today. Grades: A for Winnipeg, B+ for Chicago The defending champs in Boston ended up adding depth at the last minute, picking up Brian Rolston and Mike Mottau from the Islanders. Rolston is a UFA-to-be and brings a tonne of playoff grit and experience from his days with Devils, and Mottau is also a UFA-to-be who will provide some injury insurance and depth. Going to Long Island is defenseman Marc Cantin, who doesn’t look like he will be an NHL player, and forward Yannick Reindeau, who may or may not make an NHL roster. Grades: A for Boston, B- for New York Islanders The Preds made another splash, acquiring third-line center Paul Gaustad from Buffalo with a fourth-round pick for a first-round pick. On paper, Gaustad really is not worth a first, which holds a lot of value, but Gaustad will no doubt help the Predators in the playoffs as a strong, gritty, defensive forward. The way this becomes worthy of a first-round pick is if Nashville makes it past the second round of the playoffs and entices Weber and Suter to re-sign. Grades: A+ for Buffalo, B+ for Nashville Boston then struck again by acquiring defenseman Greg Zanon from Minnesota for defenseman Steve Kampfter. Zanon will no doubt provide better defense and depth for this year’s playoff run, and is a UFA-to-be, while Kampfer is 23-years-old and signed through next season, and has limited upside. Grades: A- for Boston, B for Minnesota The Rangers sent a fifth-round pick to Chicago for John Scott, a bruiser who probably won’t play in the playoffs. Grades: Zzzz One of the last minute deals was actually a pretty big one, as two top prospects changed teams. Buffalo Sabres acquired center Cody Hodgson and defenseman Alexander Sulzer from Vancouver for power forward Zack Kassian and defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani. Hodgson should be a second-line center, but he was stuck behind Ryan Kesler and Henrik Sedin; he still managed to insert himself into the Calder Trophy discussion this year (33 points, +8). He looks to be a good fit in Buffalo where he can establish himself as a very good two-way center. Vancouver does well in return, getting a big, 6’3” winger in Kassian who was drafted 13th overall in 2009; he won’t put up the points Hodgson does, but may turn out to be a Lucic-type player, a style of play that the Canucks were clearly lacking. Gragnani can be a big contributor as well; he had 7 points in 7 playoff games last year and has 12 points and a +10 rating this year in 44 games. This is the type of trade that won’t properly grade itself out until five years out. Grades: B+ for both teams Nick is RealGM’s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan