Welcome to the Thursday Prospect Ramblings, with the trade deadline “snoozily” passing by I thought I would grade the trades based on the prospect / pick returns. It will be a different way to look at these trades. It will be different than the Tuesday’s “New Homes and Terrific Debuts” ramblings by Mark Hall (@hall1289). I will grade the trades based on the prospect or “prospect available” (aka pick) returned.

 

Also, for real, why do people think Calgary got a better return for Sam Bennett (a 2^nd and a player chosen in the second-round last year) than Buffalo got for Hall (a 2^nd and Anders Bjork, you know, an actual NHL player). I’ll actually go over them in here

 

 

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Lets start with………….

 

April 7

NYI gets: Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac

NJD gets: AJ Green, Mason Jost, a 2021 1^st round pick, and a 2022 4^th round pick that can become a 3^rd

A late first in 2021 has the same value as a late 2^nd in 2021 to me. Selections between about 12 and 64 are all over the place. Good players will slide and average players will climb, especially in 2021. I do not hold that much value on a late 1^st this year, but at least the Devils got one. Additionally, for me, Travis Zajac is gone and the Devils can finally play players in that ice time they always give him that he just uses to kill all the offense he can. I will miss Palmieri though.

No, I did not list anything about the “prospects” sent to New Jersey as they are just contracts being moved. There is nothing there with either player

Grade: B+

 

April 8

CHI gets: Brett “I score 20 goals with 10 mins of average ice time only” Connolly, Riley Stillman, Henrik Borgstrom, and a 2021 7^th round pick

FLA gets: Lucas Carlsson and Lucas Wallmark

Florida wanted a monopoly on Lucas’ I assume, and in return Chicago got another Tallon mistake contract and two promising young players. Borgstrom now goes to a team that has a top nine with a lot of nice young skilled players, but they are all such a jumble it is unknown where he will fir in. There is still skill there but let us see if Borgstrom can get back to becoming a top six player rather than a bottom six guy. Stillman is a good multicat defenseman too, and this should give him a shot at a regular top six role too.

Grade: B+

 

April 9

TOR gets: Riley Nash

CBJ gets: 2022 7^th round pick

Nice cap play from Toronto and salary dump by CBJ, but the 2022 7^th round pick will likely not amount to anything for CBJ

Grade: D-

 

COL gets: Patrik Nemeth

DET gets: 2022 4^th round pick

Colorado probably should have just signed Nemeth instead of trading for him after they let him go. A player in round 4 of 2022 will likely be better than a player available in 2021, but with how often fourth round picks turn out I would not wager money on that statement.

Grade: C

 

April 10

FLA gets: Brandon Montour

BUF gets: 2021 3^rd round pick

Better return than a 4^th and good to get out of the salary

Grade: C+

 

SJ gets: 2021 5^th round pick and Greg Pateryn

Col gets: Devan Dubnyk

Depth for Colorado and a pick for SJ

Grade: D+

 

TB gets: David Savard

CBJ gets: 2021 1^st round pick, 2022 3^rd round pick and Brian Lashoff

DET gets: 2021 4^th round pick

Great return for Savard for Columbus! A 4^th is all a team gets to accommodate the deal cap-wise? NHL GMs need to be tougher on each other. Nice picks for Columbus, even though the 3^rd and 4^th will likely not work out for either Detroit of Columbus. CBJ can also resign Savard in 2021, but I doubt they will

Grade: B+

 

April 11

NJ gets: Jonas Siegenthaler

WSH gets: 2021 conditional 3^rd round pick

Devils get a great young defenseman, with no fantasy upside. I guess the Capitals prefer older vets than the young players they draft on the back end. Who knows the future for Martin Fehervary (who should already be in the NHL) and Alexander Alexeyev. Siegenthaler was selected in the 2^nd round and it is unlikely the Capitals will get the same value in 2021

Grade: B-

 

MTL gets: Jon Merrill

DET gets: 2021 5^th rounder and Hayden Verbeek

Well, apparently Pat Verbeek is the assistant GM, so why not get his kid. The 5^th will probably not result in anything. Also, do the Habs really need more defensemen who are not transitional defensemen and choose to chip it out over skate or pass it out frequently?

Grade: C

 

TOR get: Nick Foligno and Stefan Noesen

CBJ gets: 2021 1^st round pick, 2022 4^th round pick

SJ gets: 2021 4^th round pick

Speaking of overpayment. Leafs fans who like Dubas: He can make a bad deal and you can criticize it, and this is one of those deals. Leafs fans who hate Dubas: This is exactly the deal you would praise for any other GM. Alright, now that I have upset both sides of the Toronto fandom, CBJ got another late first, which brings them up to three, last time Columbus had three first round picks they selected Alex Wenneberg, Marko Dano and Kerby Rychel… yikes. Let’s hope for a better return as the 2022 fourth and 2021 fourth for SJ will not amount to much

Grade: B

 

BOS gets: Mike Reilly

OTT gets: 2022 3^rd round pick

Boston gets some depth while Ottawa gets a third in 2022. Not bad

Grade: C+

 

TOR gets: David Rittich

CGY gets: 2022 3^rd round pick

Boston Toronto gets some depth while Calgary Ottawa gets a third in 2022. Not bad

Grade: C+

 

NYI gets: Braydon Coburn

OTT gets: 2022 7^th round pick

Ottawa saves money and the Islanders obviously thought nine NHL defensemen were not enough

Grade: D-

 

BOS gets: Taylor Hall and Curtis “Calgary traded a 2^nd and protected me in the expansion draft” Lazar

BUF gets: 2021 2^nd round pick and Anders Bjork

Bjork is still a promising middle six scorer but injuries derailed his development, and the 2021 second has the same value as a late first to me and many others. Boston kind of got the best player, too bad he is not David Savard or Nick Foligno good.

Grade: B+

 

April 12 – ACTUAL Trade deadline day

PIT gets: Jeff Carter

LA gets: Conditional 2022 3^rd and 2023 4^th round picks

Pittsburgh gets depth while LA gets some late picks and salary relief

Grade: B-

 

CHI gets: Adam Gaudette

VAN gets: Matthew Highmore

Gaudette has the higher upside and Highmore just seems like another bottom six energy winger, does Vancouver not already have enough of those?

Grade: C

 

EDM gets: Dmitry Kulikov

NJ gets: conditional 2022 3^rd or 4^th round pick

Boston Toronto Edmonton gets some depth while New Jersey Calgary Ottawa gets a third (or a fourth) in 2022. Not bad

Grade: C

 

VGK gets: Mattias Janmark, Nick DeSimone and 2022 5^th round pick

CHI gets: 2021 2^nd round pick and 2022 3^rd round pick

SJ gets: 2022 5^th round pick

Vegas gets a player they do not really need as they cannot even get Cody Glass in the lineup. Nice picks for Chicago and a late pick for San Jose

Grade: B

 

TB gets: Fredrik Clasesson

SJ gets: Magnus Chrona

Ok

Grade: F

 

COL gets: Carl Soderberg

CHI gets: Ryder Rolston and Josh Dickinson

I doubt either player ever makes the Chicago roster but stranger things have happened

Grade: F+

 

FLA gets: Sam Bennett and a 2022 6^th round pick

CGJ gets: Emil Heineman (2^nd round pick in 2020) and a 2022 2^nd round pick

Wow this is way better than the return for Taylor Hall in two possible NHL players

Grade: B

 

MTL gets: Erik Gustafsson

PHI gets: 2022 7^th round pick

Montreal should use Gustafsson as the 1PP quarterback, and Philadelphia gets the lowest pick possible for a player they were not keeping anyway

Grade: D-

 

TOR gets: Ben Hutton

ANA gets: 2022 5^th round pick

Watch Anaheim draft some top prospect in round five because they got the pick from Toronto in 2022 (Rakell, Gibson, Manson, Pettersson, Kase, Steel and Comtois). Wow, so I orginally was making this a joke just remembering the 2013 trade, but I dug in to these Toronto and Anaheim deals where Anaheim receives picks and:

• Rakell and Gibson were the picks traded in the Tyler Biggs trade we all know and love
• Toronto swapped picks with Anaheim to take Ryan Rupert and the Ducks selected Josh Manson (Credit to Editor in Leaf for this nugget)
• When Toronto traded for Peter Holland the Ducks selected Marcus Pettersson and Ondrej Kase with the picks
• The Andersen trade saw Anaheim select Steel and Comtois

Grade (based on the above information): A+

 

NSH gets: Erik Gudbranson

OTT gets: Brandon Fortunato and a 2023 7^th round pick

Poile continues to get back players at the deadline, and Ottawa get away from more salary with a player that likely will not make the NHL

Grade: D-

 

SJ gets: Alex Barbanov

TOR gets: Antti Suomela

Barbanov goes to a team much better suited for him to get a chance to make the lineup. Suomela goes to a team where his chances of making the lineup are worse, but at least here the coach may give him a chance, he just needs six injuries to NHL players to be given a chance

Grade: C-

 

ANA gets: Haydn Fleury

CAR gets: Jani Hakanpaa and a 2022 6^th round pick

Fleury gets an expanded role which is nice for him and Carolina adds a late pick and a player they are not worried about leaving unprotected for the expansion draft

Grade: D+

 

WHS gets: Michael Raffl

PHI gets: 2021 5^th round pick

The pick is worse than a third but better than a seventh

Grade: C-

 

WPG gets: Jordi Benn

VAN gets: 2021 6^th round pick

The pick is better than a seventh

Grade: D

 

VAN gets: Madison Bowey and a 2021 5^th round pick

CHI gets: 2021 4^th round pick

This screams fantasy trade I always do as I am a GM notorious for always throwing a small ick upgrade in to every deal. I also am sad Bowey is just an AHL defenseman, I really thought he could become a #4-#6 NHL defenseman. Weird trade for Vancouver though, unless they need AHL depth

Grade: C

 

WSH gets: Anthony Mantha

DET gets: Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik and his contract, 2021 1^st round pick and a 2022 2^nd round pick

As the Capitals writer I am very sad to see a player I have watched forever traded to Detroit, but hopefully they give him ice time. Everyone is saying GM Yzerman fleeced GM McLellan and that is not the case. It is however, also an overpayment by Washington. Vrana and Mantha are close for value to NHL teams. Mantha has the #Size but Vrana has the speed and is more elusive. Now where did ridding the Capitals of the Panik contract come in, was it a first to take that on or was it the second? It is more likely that it was the second based off the trades for all of 2020-2021, so if it was a Vrana PLUS a first for Mantha then that is really poor asset management by the Caps. Mantha has a chance to be the best player in the deal but equally Vrana does as well. Vrana should also get more ice time out of the two. Really interesting deal, not a fleecing but an overpayment for sure

Grade: A-

 

 

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