Pencils down, everyone. The 2023 NHL trade deadline is officially over.
This year’s NHL trade deadline has certainly been one for the history books. After years of middling trade deadlines, NHL teams really stepped it up a notch and went all-out with the deals in the weeks leading up to Friday. While the day itself may have been light on the action, over 60 trades were made since the New York Islanders kicked things off with the Bo Horvat deal in late January.
And now, the dust is beginning to settle on an active deadline period that saw many high-end players change hands as the Stanley Cup Playoffs draw near. With the deadline rush over, now is the time to take look at the big picture and draw some early conclusions based on what teams did — or didn’t — do.
Here are our winners and losers from the 2023 NHL trade deadline.
Winner: Patrick Kane and the New York Rangers
Patrick Kane all but demanded to be traded to an Eastern Conference contender at the deadline and he certainly got his wish. Kane will finish out his current contract with the Rangers as the team looks to make a Stanley Cup push later this spring.
Not only did Kane get what he wanted, the Rangers also added Vladimir Tarasenko before the deadline as well. New York was already one of the top teams in the NHL before the deadline, but now they’ve added some real lethal depth to their top-six that can go toe-to-toe with the best of them. Now that we’ve already gotten to see what these two players can add to New York’s lineup, the Rangers’ big swings already feel like major wins.
Winner: The entire Eastern Conference
The East is an absolute beast this year. Every major player in the Eastern Conference — outside of the ones fighting for a wild card spot — made a big addition at the trade deadline. Seriously, look at this list of all the high-quality names that were traded to contenders in the East.
- Patrick Kane (Rangers)
- Vladimir Tarasenko (Rangers)
- Ryan O’Reilly (Maple Leafs)
- Jake McCabe (Maple Leafs)
- Sam Lafferty (Maple Leafs)
- Luke Schenn (Maple Leafs)
- Dmitry Orlov (Bruins)
- Garnet Hathaway (Bruins)
- Tyler Bertuzzi (Bruins)
- Timo Meier (Devils)
- Tanner Jeannot (Lightning)
- Jesse Puljujarvi (Hurricanes)
- Shayne Gostisbehere (Hurricanes)
That’s quite the list! The playoffs in the Eastern Conference are going to be an absolute dogfight and I’m here for every second of it.
Winner: St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks
Doug Armstrong did some tidy business at the trade deadline. Moving on from O’Reilly, Tarasenko, and Ivan Barbashev is tough to swallow, but the Blues now have three first round picks — including their own — in this year’s draft. Plus, the Blues also got a really good player in Jakub Vrana in a deal with the Red Wings on deadline day as well.
The Blackhawks also did well for themselves by Friday afternoon. Chicago sold basically every piece imaginable — from Kane to McCabe and Lafferty to Max Domi and more — and got back quite a haul in return to really kickstart their rebuild in earnest.
Happy trade deadline day. The deadline is at 2 p.m. CT. There could be some minor moves today, but Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson is likely done with the heavy lifting.
And he's been busy. A recap of the past week and a half: pic.twitter.com/pYzMxCg5oa
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) March 3, 2023
It’s a strange sight to see the Blues and Blackhawks — who both won Stanley Cups in the 2010s — sell hard and begin a new era after a long stretch of dominance. Rough years are sure to be ahead for both of these Central Division teams, but this first step looks to be a good one.
Winner: Fans of chaos
Over 40 trades (!!) were made in the two weeks prior to deadline day itself. As such, this trade deadline period was by far the busiest one NHL fans experienced in over a decade. And there were a lot of stunners too. Jonathan Quick being dealt from the Kings to the Blue Jackets then to the Golden Knights was quite a saga. Jakob Chychrun getting traded to the surging Senators was not a deal many predicted either. Plus, who can forget the Maple Leafs shuffling the deck completely and going all-in ahead of their most important playoff appearance to date?
After so many years of NHL teams playing it safe at the trade deadline, these last few weeks were a wonderful surprise. Here’s hoping that madness continues into the offseason and into next year’s trade deadline as the salary cap climbs higher again.
Loser: Erik Karlsson
Erik Karlsson is on pace to absolutely demolish the best year of his career by season’s end. With 19 goals and 77 points in 61 games, Karlsson is a near lock for the Norris Trophy after being the most fun story on this Sharks team by far. And yet, despite all the talk, the market never materialized for Karlsson at the trade deadline, likely due to his hefty $11.5 million per year contract with four years remaining.
It’s a shame the Sharks couldn’t deal Karlsson when he is likely at the height of his value. While the Sharks very well could move Karlsson this summer — as long as he stays healthy — NHL teams often overspend greatly at the trade deadline. This feels like a missed opportunity for the Sharks at getting good value back and for Karlsson, who deserves a chance at a Stanley Cup.
Loser: Pittsburgh Penguins
Ron Hextall certainly made moves at the trade deadline, but not the ones fans wanted him to make. At the deadline, the Penguins acquired Dmitry Kulikov, Nick Bonino, and Mikael Granlund, all fringe players over 30 who expect to bring very little to the table compared to what the team needs. Kulikov seems to be the only player with upside, helped by the fact that Pittsburgh also got out from under Brock McGinn’s bad contract with the deal.
The Penguins have been playing better as of late, but for awhile they were looking incredibly tragic. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are having absolutely stellar seasons and there are only so many years left of this Penguins core before they’re set to ride off into the sunset. Instead of swinging for the fences on a deal — the Penguins were in on J.T. Miller but talks cooled off — Hextall didn’t add much of value as his team sits in a precarious wild card spot.
If you’re a Penguins fan, it’s hard to be happy with what management cooked up at the deadline compared to the deals other teams made.
Loser: Philadelphia Flyers
It’s hard to see how Chuck Fletcher survives this one in Philadelphia. The Flyers’ trade deadline was disastrous, to put it nicely. Fletcher failed to trade James van Riemsdyk, the Flyers biggest asset coming into the deadline, after a deal with the Red Wings fell through hard in the final moments of the afternoon. All that after the Flyers insisted they would be selling at the deadline.
The Flyers did make two moves, shipping out fringe players Patrick Brown and Zack MacEwen for a 2023 sixth-round pick, a 2024 fifth-round pick, and Brendan Lemieux in total. Flyers fans are already feeling apathetic about the team as is — given the franchise’s lack of direction and scarcity of stars on the roster — and this is what management puts together at the busiest deadline in years?
The sooner the Flyers get rid of Fletcher and the rest of the management group in Philadelphia, the better.
Loser: Deadline day deals
While the week leading up to the trade deadline was filled with fantastic drama, deadline day itself was quite a dud. The day was slow — so much so that Bruce Boudreau had to give the TSN trade deadline crew a pep talk — with trades only picking up in the last few hours.
It makes sense, given that all of the high-profile names that were set to move before the deadline did so earlier in the week. And yet, it’s still disappointing to end the trade deadline period on a sour note considering how awesome the last week was. Here’s hoping next trade deadline spaces out the deals so there’s more action on the day of!
