By Tyler Sonderholzer
The National Hockey League (NHL) trade deadline, which was on March 21, marks the point where NHL teams cannot make any more trades in the final push to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Teams can be classified as buyers, sellers or those who do not plan on doing anything at the deadline.
Buyers are typically teams that are on the cusp of making the playoffs and are willing to trade younger players and draft picks for good players to bolster their roster. Meanwhile, sellers are teams that are not doing well and are looking to build the team for the future by trading their good players to gain draft picks or younger players. Lastly, there are teams who either make minimal moves or do not make any moves.
Some teams also trade players who are in the last year of their contract and will be unrestricted free agents (UFA) following the season, as they either cannot re-sign the player, due to salary cap issues or contract disputes or do not want to re-sign the player. These players are called rentals as playoff-contending teams trade for these players in order to make a run for the Stanley Cup but could leave the team during free agency.
Trades before the deadline
The first trade of the NHL trade deadline season was when the Anaheim Ducks traded defenseman Josh Manson, a pending UFA, to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a 2023 second-round pick and defensive prospect Drew Helleson, who the Ducks subsequently signed to an entry-level contract. The Ducks also retain 50% of Manson’s salary, meaning half of his salary will count toward the Ducks cap space. In this trade, the Ducks are examples of sellers, as they are near the bottom of their division, while the Colorado Avalanche, one of the best teams in the league, are considered buyers
In the second trade, The Avalanche traded forward Tyson Jost to the Minnesota Wild for forward Nico Strum. Strum is two years older than Jost and a pending UFA while Jost has a contract that costs more and lasts longer than Strum.
The next trade was between the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers where the Panthers traded forward Frank Vatrano for a 2022 fourth-round pick. This trade allowed the Panthers to have more cap space in order to trade for a top player on the market.
Shortly after the trade with the Rangers, the Panthers traded a 2023 first-round pick, the 2022 fourth-round pick they got in the Rangers trade, and forward prospect Ty Smilanic to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for defenseman Ben Chiarot with the Canadiens retaining 50% of his salary.
Not long after the Chiarot trade was announced, the Seattle Kraken traded forward Calle Jarnkrok, 50% retained salary, to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a 2022 second-round pick, 2023 third-round pick and a 2024 seventh-round pick.
The Chicago Blackhawks then traded Bradon Hagel and a fourth-round pick in 2022 and 2024 to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a first-round pick in 2023 and 2024 and forwards Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk.
The next day, the Ducks made two major moves with their first trade sending forward Nicolas Deslauriers, a pending UFA, to the Wild in exchange for a 2023 fourth-round pick. In their second trade, they sent defensemen Hampus Lindholm, a pending UFA and seen as the top defenseman on the market, and Kodie Curran to the Boston Bruins for a 2022 first-round pick, a second-round pick in 2023 and 2024, defensive prospect Urho Vaakanainen and defenseman John Moore.
In one of the biggest trades of the deadline, the Philadelphia Flyers sent forward and team captain Claude Giroux, retaining 50% of his salary, forwards Connor Bunnaman and German Rubtsov and a 2024 fourth-round pick to the Panthers for a 2024 first-round pick, 2023 third-round pick and forward prospect Owen Tippett
In the next major trade, the Kraken traded defenseman and team captain Mark Giordano, retaining 50% of his salary and is a pending UFA, and forward Colin Blackwell to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a second-round pick in 2022 and 2023 and a 2024 fourth-round pick.
On the same day, the Leafs also traded defenseman Travis Dermott to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2022 third-round pick.
In the last major move before the trade deadline, the Ottawa Senators traded forward and pending UFA Nick Paul, retaining 44.5% of his salary, to the Lightning in exchange for forward Mathieu Joseph and a 2024 fourth-round pick.
Trade on the day of the trade deadline
The first major trade on the day of the deadline was between the Kraken and Washington Capitals with the Kraken trading forward and pending UFA Marcus Johansson, 50% salary retained to the Capitals in exchange for forward Daniel Sprong, a 2022 fourth-round pick and a 2024 sixth-round pick.
Next up, the Blackhawks traded goalie and pending UFA Marc-Andre Fleury, at 50% retained salary, to the Wild for a 2022 second-round pick.
The Bruins then traded defenseman Zach Senyshyn and a 2022 fifth-round pick to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for defenseman Josh Brown and a 2022 seventh-round pick.
In one of two of the moves the Canadiens made during the deadline, they traded forward Artturi Lehkonen to the Avalanche in exchange for defensive prospect Justin Barron and a 2024 second-round pick. In their second move, the Canadiens traded defenseman Brett Kulak, at 50% retained salary, to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for defenseman William Lagesson, a 2022 second-round pick, and a 2024 seventh-round pick.
In both of their first moves of the deadline, the Detroit Red Wings traded defenseman and pending UFA Nick Leddy and forward Luke Witkowski to the St. Louis Blues for forward Oskar Sundqvist, defenseman Jake Walman and a 2023 second-round pick.
The next trade had the Winnipeg Jets trade forward and pending UFA Andrew Copp and a 2023 sixth-round pick to the New York Rangers for a second-round pick in 2022 and 2023, a 2023 fifth-round pick and forward prospect Morgan Barron.
There was only one three-way trade during the deadline between the Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, and the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets traded forward and pending UFA Max Domi, retaining 50% of his salary, to the Florida Panthers for defensive prospect Tyler Inamoto. The Panthers then traded Domi, retaining 25% of his salary, to the Hurricanes for the contract rights for Egor Korshkov, who currently plays in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia. Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets traded Inamoto to the Hurricanes for defensive prospect Aiden Hreschuk.
The Ducks were involved in the two final trades of the NHL deadline as they traded forward and pending UFA Rickard Rakell, retaining 35% of his salary, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for forwards and pending UFAs Dominik Simon and Zach Aston-Reese, goalie prospect Calle Clang and a 2022 second-round pick.
The biggest sellers of this deadline were the Ducks, Kraken and Canadiens while the biggest buyers of this deadline were the Avalanche and the Panthers. 33 trades were made during the trade deadline, which is the most in NHL history, as teams are either preparing to build the future or preparing to make a deep playoff run in an attempt to win the Stanley Cup
