3 playoff contenders that will lament standing idle at the NHL trade deadline
It’s been almost a full week after the NHL trade deadline, and a few playoff contenders are already lamenting about doing nothing on March 8th.
Almost a week following the NHL trade deadline, there are a few front offices of playoff contenders who should lament not making a move to give their respective teams one final boost. Sure, it’s always tough to find ways to fit players into lineups if there is already an influx of talent or if the team is cash-strapped, but with the playoff races taking shape, you can never add enough talent.
Some front offices, however, may have counted themselves out but could be closer to contention than they initially thought. The Buffalo Sabres are a good example of this, having ‘sold’ a pair of older players elsewhere and a top scorer, only to find themselves just five points out of a wild card following a big win over the Detroit Red Wings.
However, you can also argue the Sabres bolstered their blue line, given newcomer Bowen Byram’s production. Others, like the Minnesota Wild, were massive sellers at the deadline despite sitting just six points out as of Wednesday with just over a month to go in the regular season.
One potential contender could regret ‘selling’ at the NHL trade deadline
Looking at the moves Minnesota made, it implies general manager Bill Guerin may not see his team sticking around the wild card race for the 2024 postseason. While you may look at the Pat Maroon, Brandon Duhaime, and Connor Dewar trades and shrug, it’s the glue players like them, especially Maroon, who become luxuries during playoff hockey season, which, by the way, unofficially begins in March.
This is the time of the year when teams on the outside looking in are vying for those wild card spots, and two of them are listed in the following slides. But first, let’s talk about a team that could have addressed their goaltending situation at the deadline.
Vancouver Canucks
Even before Thatcher Demko went down with an injury, goaltender insurance was one area Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin should have considered more before the deadline passed. Behind Demko is a goaltender named Casey DeSmith, who is best suited for a backup or, at most, a part-time starting role.
Through 19 games and 17 starts this season, DeSmith has a meager 0.898 save percentage, a 2.85 GAA, one shutout, and five ‘really bad starts,’ which averages to 29.4 percent, or nearly one in three. For a prime playoff contender with 91 points this season that is coming off of a bad month despite their latest winning streak, DeSmith is not the player you want in the net during a playoff race.
Yes, Vancouver is a solid 10 points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers and 14 points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights as of Wednesday. But when you’re down your star goaltender, a lot can change in the next month.
The Canucks must make life easy for DeSmith in the crease since he won’t put up Vezina-like performances the way Demko has. Luckily for Vancouver, they are one of the top-scoring teams in the league, but they may need to score four or more goals per game just to keep pressure off of DeSmith.
Detroit Red Wings
Like the Canucks, the Detroit Red Wings lost a star player right when they needed to keep their best assets healthy. Dylan Larkin may still miss extended time following the latest update, but unlike the Demko situation, Larkin went on injured reserve before the deadline and early enough to where general manager Steve Yzerman had time to make a move.
Yzerman didn’t need to make a huge move at the deadline to help what has now become a dire situation in Detroit. The Red Wings were struggling before Larkin played his last game on March 2nd, having dropped two straight in that span. They have since lost another four games, with opponents outscoring them 23 to eight between March 6th and March 12th.
Larkin is the team’s best scorer, but Yzerman didn’t necessarily need to trade for another high-scoring forward here. No, scoring eight goals in four games isn’t ideal, but allowing 23 goals, 12 of which occurred after the deadline, should have Yzerman rethinking his strategy.
Why not add a defensive forward to the mix? This would have allowed Larkin to reignite what has become a pedestrian team in the offensive zone, and it would have given the team much-needed help in what has been a weakness all season.
New York Islanders
Since 2024 began, the New York Islanders have gone from being a team sitting just outside the wild card race to snagging the second wild card spot thanks to their recent winning streak and the Red Wings losing streak. It began on February 26th, over a week before the trade deadline, but general manager Lou Lamoriello did nothing to improve his team.
The Islanders were in a desperate cap situation, but Lamoriello should have done more to address team needs while they were hot to help them maximize their efforts to snag a wild card or even a top-three spot for the postseason.
Sure, New York could get cold again, but when you’re on a seven-game streak that not only helped put your team reach a playoff spot if the season ended today but a few points behind the Philadelphia Flyers, you can’t sit idle as other contenders make moves.
Overall, it was an ill-fated effort from Lamoriello. And for a team that hasn’t been consistent in all three zones this season, it was clear they needed some help. The lack of moves didn’t hurt the Islanders, but it’s still curious why Lamoriello did nothing when his team could realistically finish inside the top-three of the Metro Division.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)