Puck Prose Staff Roundtable: Who Won The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline?
The NHL Trade Deadline has passed, and there definitely were some big trades made around the entire NHL. We will be talking about these deals for a long time, but today let’s focus on who the winners were from the deadline.
Some of our staff got together to answer the question of who won the 2022 NHL trade deadline, and the results might surprise you.
Brendan Semon – Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche were already the best team in the NHL who are knocking on the door of the ’95 Red Wings and the late ‘70s Canadiens for the best record in league history.
Currently 45-13-5, the Avs are by all means a wagon and are gently cruising to the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs supported by a +69 goal differential. This is all without three monster transactions completed by Colorado ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline.The best offense in the NHL is adding forwards Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Cogliano from the Montréal Canadiens and San Jose Sharks, respectively.
While Cogliano will serve as a depth player in the bottom-six rotation, Lehkonen adds another hot weapon to an abundant arsenal of firepower in the top-six. Both guys will have immediate impacts in the lineup as they are absolute workhorses.
While it was of misfortune to lose defenseman Samuel Girard for the remainder of the 2021-22 NHL regular season, the Colorado Avalanche made sure to reinforce their top-four group by making a push for Josh Manson of the Anaheim Ducks. Manson is a big-bodied defender who makes life miserable for opposing forwards.
There isn’t a team in the NHL that has solidified their chances in the postseason quite like Colorado. There’s no reason to doubt that they will absolutely dominate the Western Conference and represent it in the Stanley Cup Final. Simply put, anything short of a ring this year is an absolute failure, but they’re not planning on slipping up and the trade deadline showed that.
Andrew Stille – Minnesota Wild
I think the winner of the trade deadline this year was the Minnesota Wild. The main issue they needed to address before the playoffs was their goaltending. Talbot and Kahkonen were a good tandem, but they did not always play like they were the answer to winning the Stanley Cup.
Acquiring Marc-Andre Fleury is an obvious bump in goaltending. The Blackhawks have been one of the worst defensive teams this season, yet Fleury’s numbers have still managed to hold up. In front of a better defense in Minnesota, he could do wonders for them in the playoffs.
They sent Kahkonen to San Jose for Jake Middleton, who will make their defense much tougher. He has been awesome for the Sharks in a gritty, hard-working defensive role. Overall, they made some great moves to make their team a lot scarier.
Matt McGinnis – Minnesota Wild
No team elevated its standing more at the deadline than the Minnesota Wild.
Conference leaders like the Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, and others solidified their status as contenders, but the key is that they were already deemed to be in that category.
The Wild, on the other hand, go from a team on the fringe of contender status to one of the favorites in the West. Adding Marc-Andre Fleury to support a below-average defense will improve this team immensely.
The offense is already there, now Minnesota has a three-time Cup champion in goal. This could be the year they finally make a deep playoff run.
Richard Jelinek – New York Rangers
The Rangers ended up acquiring six pieces, including four forwards, one draft pick, and a defenseman, with hopes of making a deep playoff run to make another appearance in the Stanley Cup finals.
The timing was right to make those deals aside from the moves other teams made in the division. The Rangers had picks to move and make their team better. The Rangers got better at forward and the price for those forwards was just a few draft picks.
Forwards acquired were Frank Vatrano, Andrew Copp, Nick Merkley, and Tyler Motte. Also acquired were a 2023 sixth-round draft pick and defenseman Justin Braun. Dealt in all of those moves from the Rangers were defenseman Anthony Bitetto, forward Morgan Barron, and a total of six draft picks.
Rangers fans have to be pleased with what the front office did in acquiring the players they did. The moves give the Rangers the freedom to switch the lines as they please due to the fact the players they acquired at forward are all versatile and can play anywhere coach requests.
In Copp and Vatrano they added two players who can immediately play in their top six. Merkely and Motte can play in the bottom six based on their play in all three zones, and Braun, who is an older acquisition, is a reliable, dependable bottom-pairing blueliner.
Given what Florida did to bolster their roster this race will be exciting coming down the stretch. However, the Rangers set themselves up well with a playoff-type roster. Offense, defense, board battles, and grit. This is how Stanley Cups are won.
Jimmy Lynch – Seattle Kraken
I am going outside the box on my winner. Rather than talk about a team that really bought at the deadline, I am talking about a team that sold. The Seattle Kraken did not have the best introduction into the league, to say the least, but their moves around the deadline were definitely a good start.
The Kraken brought in a few players like Victor Rask and Daniel Sprong, but their big addition had to be the four second-round picks and two third-rounders they added. A lot of the moves ahead on this list will be decided in the postseason, but for the Kraken, their decision will be later on in the draft next year and a few years later.
Seattle gave themselves more opportunities to draft and bring in talent further down the line, and while they had to give up a lot to do it, a lot of those pieces were gone at the end of the season anyway.
There were a few other rebuilding teams that did a really strong job at the deadline, but considering up to this point the Kraken hadn’t had a lot to be confident about, this was a good day.