The 2019 NHL Trade Deadline saw both winners and losers. Teams got better and worse. Let’s take a look at the five most obvious winners and the biggest losers.
Every NHL trade needs a winner and a loser. Anyone who tells you “both teams won the trade” is merely trying to convince themselves that they didn’t lose the trade. The 2019 NHL trade deadline saw a number of winners and losers.
Teams got better, both in the future and the present. There are also teams who stood by and did very little. Other teams went and made themselves worse or didn’t properly value their assets as much as they should have.
Now that the trade deadline is over, let’s take a look at the biggest winners and losers.
Winner: New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils, in hindsight, did a really bad job at last year’s trade deadline. They gave up multiple draft picks to acquire Michael Grabner and Patrick Maroon. Their reward? Losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It appears general manager Ray Shero learned his lessons well from last year. This year, he did a darn good job. Shero picked up two second-round picks, a third-round pick, a fourth-round pick in 2020, and a fifth-round pick (though that one’s in 2022). He turned Brian Boyle, Ben Lovejoy, Keith Kinkaid, and Marcus Johansson into future assets. Hats off to Shero.
Loser: New York Islanders
The New York Islanders did as much before the trade deadline as you did. To be fair, it’s easy to see why they believe in their team. The Islanders are a darn good team who are in first place in the Metropolitan Division. They’ve finally got some young players worth getting excited about and they didn’t want to part with them. I get it.
But this doesn’t excuse adding zero pieces to your contending team at the trade deadline. Especially not when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals all got better. The prices were pretty darn reasonable and the Islanders could have really used a scoring forward.