There was only so many moves the teams could have made today after days of craziness. The NHL Trade Deadline Day was very boring as all the teams made their crazy, hysterical moves over the last few days, leaving today to be filled with minor additions and cap maneuvering.
As a fan of the NHL, this has been one of the greatest trade deadline weeks of all-time. Though, if I was in charge of one of the super active teams, I’d be questioning if my head was screwed on correctly.
I’ll never be one to complain about a lot of movement and excitement in the NHL as the regular season is usually so dull and uninteresting (aside from the actual hockey being played), but I also won’t be quiet in my criticisms over the trade deadline. Well, more specifically, how silly and ridiculous nearly every single GM becomes during this time of year.
It’s truly unfathomable how a GM can be as conservative, stingy, and niggardly as Ebenezer Scrooge from October 1st (usually the start of the NHL season) with his draft picks, prospects, and players to then be as frivolous and flippant with these assets as a charity would be giving out to the poor and needy with them acquiring has-beens and overpriced veteran players once the final weeks of February (the usual start of the trade deadline week) rolls around.
Sure, they want to cement a playoff spot or Stanley Cup run with some last-minute additions, but don’t they realize the team that they assembled got them into the playoff/contending position without said veteran? I guess not.
Anyways, perhaps all of these GMs finally woke up to that fact as the biggest moves of the day were probably Jakub Vrana getting shipped out of Detroit to St. Louis for an AHL forward and a 7th round pick, the Penguins bringing back Nick Bonino from the San Jose Sharks in a three-team trade that saw them ship out a prospect, a 2024 5th round pick, a 2023 7th round pick to the Sharks, and the Sharks sending out an AHL defender and a 2024 5th round pick to the Canadiens for cap retention, and the Wild picking up John Klingberg from the Ducks in exchange for some AHL guys and a 2025 4th round pick.
Oh, and the Richie brothers (Nick Richie and Brett Richie) made NHL history as they were traded by the Calgary Flames (Brett Richie: from Arizona to Calgary) and the Arizona Coyotes (Nick Richie: from Calgary to Arizona), making them the first pair of brothers to be directly traded for one another.
There were some other pieces involved, such as some late round picks, unknown prospects, and career AHL players, but that isn’t important for his discussion.
Yeah, this was the kind of moves that headlined the day.
Still, with all of the teams now finished with their trading madness, it’s high time we see who can use their new additions to secure a playoff spot and who will fizzle out and miss the Top-8 seeds of their, respective, conferences.
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