zillymeier to jersey - great move since they can extend him, I think he's still an rfa
Love this move. I'm a little surprised to see him play down with Haula and Boqvist instead of with Hughes/Bratt or Hischier/Mercer though.
zillychychrun to ottawa is huge for the sens even if they don't make the playoffs this year, huge need. arizona really dropped the ball by asking for too much for so long, teams that had the assets to actually bid for him all just lost interest.
Definitely a phenomenal add for Ottawa. They're a sneaky good team, and one I'm really excited to see continue to grow and develop.
zillynyr getting kane and tarasenko for cheap is good for them, added to an already good lineup. honestly the rangers are great throughout their whole lineup but for some reason I feel like both adds were unnecessary, although kane was the best playoff performer of the last decade so who knows
Tarasenko and Kane are they sexy moves they made, but the Tyler Motte trade is the under the radar one that I think will pay off. A 4th line of the revitalized Jimmy Vesey, Barclay Goodrow and Tyler Motte is one that will provide offense, physicality and defensive ability. Reminds me of that Coleman-Gourde-Goodrow line Tampa had that was vital for their cup run. I'd expect that 4th line to have a similar impact. Hard to argue against the Rangers D and Shesterkin.
zillyedit: forgot about edmonton getting ekholm, huge need, didn't cost too much and he's a great player. They really miss klefbom/larsson and i'd say ekholm is better than both those guys were.
Massive nab for Edmonton. About time they tried to improve their defense!
zillydon't really remember anything else other than vancouver buying for some reason
Common sense says they should never make the Hronek trade based on the teams current construction if they want to win a cup. Problem is, they don't want to win a cup. The way they operate it's 100% clear that Aquilini wants playoff revenue, and when you realize their goal is to just make the playoffs and not win a cup, the Hronek trade makes a lot of sense, sadly.
Being a Canucks fan sucks right now.
zillyand Jonathan Quick getting shafted when he should have retired a king
I'll take trades that after half a month already look way better than I expected. I thought Quick was washed and done, instead he's been great for Vegas. Korpisalo has also been great in LA. Guess they're both working out.
Other deadline deals I'll rattle through that I was a big fan of:
Greenway to Buffalo: Not an exorbitant cost, and I like what he brings to a fun team.
Lazar to New Jersey: Cheap, solid defensive 4th line center who can kill penalties. 4th is good value for that.
Nyquist to Minnesota: He's hurt, and the league warned teams off of trying to cap circumvent by LTIRing him until the playoffs. Nyquist is good, Minnesota needs offense, and if he's bad he's a UFA. 5th is great value. Wild also getting Johansson (3rd) and Klingberg (A bag of pucks) were both good low risk moves before they get cap fucked next year.
Niederreiter to Winnipeg: Good player, good fit, good value.
And a couple I hate:
Bonino, Granlund, Kulikov to Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh spent a lot of assets and I don't think they got better. Granlund was a massive headscratcher, especially taking that entire contract. I guess the saving grace is that the rumored deal of multiple high draft picks for JT Miller didn't happen? Just a poor deadline for them.
Puljujarvi to Carolina: I get they love fins, I get he has pedigree, but similar to Kotkeniemi, I don't see him discovering that potential in Carolina.
Tanner Jeannot WTF to Tampa: I can't question Tampa, as evidenced by them sending 1sts for Hagel, Coleman, Goodrow and now Jeannot over the years, but jesus that trade felt way higher priced than it should have. Welcome to the flat salary cap world where cheap is the biggest booster of value.
zillyalright so the other 5 guys in this thread can reply their playoff predictions
I really hate to say it, as a Canucks fan, but this is my pick:
zillyboston picks up orlov and bertuzzi - the best team in the league just gets better, both seem to be a good fit with both rentals being able to fit in anywhere on the lineup
Best team in the league got better. This team may be getting old, but they're deep at forward, deep at D and have 2 great goalies, and only got better at the deadline. They kind of remind me of the 2011 Canucks. Only way this team gets derailed is injuries. Obviously a lot of tough outs in the east, Tampa, Toronto, Carolina, the Rangers, so they'll have to go through hell to get there, would love to see Carolina make the finals, they've been good enough for ages but live in Tampa's timeline. Do'nt sleep on the Devils either. East is death. I don't think Buffalo makes it, but if they get solid goaltending, they could upset someone if they get in, that D is strong and their offense is electric, goaltending is their major red flag.
West is going to come down to goaltending solely, can Oettinger match last playoffs and get Dallas to the finals? Can Georgiev keep Colorado alive until they're healthy? Vegas, I don't think make it deep, they feel like a first round upset to me. Would be fun if we got Kraken/Knights round 1, battle of the expansion. Minnesota I don't see getting the job done, Edmonton's D isn't good enough and their goaltending is too inconsistent, but you can't rule out a healthy McDavid/Draisaitl offense. LA and Winnipeg are intriguing, LA has such a young deep core, but I don't trust Korpisalo/Copley to get them past round 2. Winnipeg, can never write off Hellebuyck and they've played a really strong system, Bowness made the finals his first year coaching Dallas, can he repeat the feat in his first year in Winnipeg? My gut says no, but I could see it.
Final picks: Boston over Colorado in the finals.