Four winners and losers of the NHL trade deadline

The Sens landed the biggest trade bait of the last two years in the buzziest blue liner in the league. In acquiring Jakob Chychrun, the club did not have to give up young talent in the likes of Shane Pinto and company, lost no veterans or key roster pieces and gave up a relatively light selection of picks.

The 24-year-old Chychrun still has time left on his contract and is a player who can make an impact immediately. Surrounded by a better lineup, the defenseman can certainly be a piece that accelerates a rebound and a cornerstone player to build a team around, making them winners of this year’s NHL trade deadline.

Losers: Los Angeles Kings

Clearly losing the Chychrun sweepstakes, the Kings opted for another defenseman in Vladislav Gavrikov, giving up a selection of picks and Jonathan Quick in exchange for the defenseman as well as goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.

While it happened just a day before the official NHL trade deadline (and before Chychrun moved), jaws dropped almost immediately across the league, as the conditional first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and a third-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft seems oddly greater than what the Senators gave up to acquire Chychrun, who is more of an impact player.

The Kings also sent Brendan Lemieux to Philadelphia in exchange for Zack MacEwen, which is essentially a fourth-liner swap and a kind of small, trivial deal. It doesn’t do much except offer them an extra $425,000 in cap space, which isn’t really enough to make a significant impact.

Winners: Boston Bruins

The Bruins are, by far and away, the best team in the league this year, and only made themselves stronger at the NHL trade deadline. The additions of Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov, and Garnet Hathaway provide depth and grit to an already scary team.

Every single deal was made thanks to cap space as a result of injuries to Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno, who could very well return to be difference-makers in the playoffs. All they did is pad their roster with people who can provide sandpaper in the playoffs and make them even more threatening.

Losers: Seattle Kraken

Embroiled in a playoff battle in the Pacific Division, the Kraken—who have slumped lately and do not have a single point-per-game player on their roster—were oddly quiet at the NHL trade deadline.

Sure, they only have just under $900,000 in cap space available, but they also have two UFAs in Ryan Donato and Carson Soucy who could have been moved for picks to clear up cap space, and then signed an offensive UFA that would pad their goal-scoring capabilities.

While the Pacific Division is weak, their opposition all made moves to put themselves all-in on a playoff ru, but for some reason, the Kraken stayed quiet.