Well, after a flurry of trade activity  over the past week or two, the NHL trade deadline came and went Friday afternoon, and I have to admit that it was an underwhelming day. There were a lot of depth moves and cap-balancing transactions, but very few impactful transactions. The days leading up to the deadline though were super intriguing. It feels like most of the teams vying for playoff spots this season made some sort of addition. It became a full-on arms race to try and keep up with the competition. The question is where does this leave us fantasy players when the trading finished and the dust had settled? Well, today I'd like to bring up some players who could see an uptick in production thanks to trades made over the past week!

Joonas Korpisalo

Usually I don't get too into goalie speculation, but on Wednesday the Columbus Blue Jackets shipped off their long-time tender Korpisalo, along with a solid defensive piece in Vladislav Gavrikov. Last season the Kings had a deep playoff run and received surprisingly solid goaltending from the tandem of Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen. Personally, I expected these two to be respectable again this season, but things deteriorated quickly. 

Quick finally has started to show his age, and Petersen played so bad that he was demoted to the AHL. Some of the blame should be put on the Kings' skaters though, as they weren't exactly playing great team defense earlier in the season. Nonetheless, Pheonix Copley emerged as a somewhat solid option, and the Kings got their season back on track. However, despite the Kings' resurgence, many still felt they could use an upgrade in goal, and sure enough they pulled the trigger this week and brought in Korpisalo.

If you look through Korpisalo's career numbers, they can be a bit of a tough read, but I feel like there's still some untapped potential in the Finnish netminder. This season he has a record of 12-11-3 with GAA of 3.09 and a .913 save percentage. Those numbers are pretty middling, yes, but when you keep in mind this was playing for the Blue Jackets who are actively trying to be terrible, it's actually a somewhat impressive statline. To put it into perspective, the Blue Jackets are 20-37-6 which is dead last in the entire NHL, with the second-worst plus-minus in the league to boot.  To come away with respectable numbers from that dumpster fire is a feat in its own right (sorry Columbus fans).

Korpisalo is 28 and scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency at the end of this season. This is a golden opportunity for him to try and showcase what he can do and maybe go on a solid playoff run with the Kings.  If he wants to secure the bag, he will have to stay sharp. For now, him and Copley will probably be in a platoon situation, but I definitely could see Korpisalo getting an opportunity to take over the starting gig if he can play well. He is still just 34% rostered in all Yahoo leagues, while Fantrax shows he has an ownership of 45%.

Ivan Barbashev

Barbashev was traded to the Golden Knights exactly one week ago today. The Blues opted to start tearing down what was left of the Stanley Cup-winning roster from a couple seasons ago. Barbashev has always been an intriguing player to me in fantasy, and seeing him go to Vegas makes him even more of an attractive pick as a potential waiver-wire addition. 

This is the seventh season for Barbashev, who spent his entire career with the Blues up until the aforementioned trade. He had a real breakout season last year, posting 60 points for the first time in his career. But like a lot of his teammates, the offense just wasn't clicking in St. Louis this season. But he has been given new life for the home stretch of this season. Not only is he now on a Cup contender, but he is also getting some prime playing opportunities since arriving.

Friday night, the Golden Knights rolled out Barbashev on the top line alongside Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault. And on top of that he also was featured heavily on the team's top power-play unit as well. He logged over 20 minutes that game and stuffed the stat sheet with two assists, three shots, three blocks, and four hits. Barbashev showed last year he can produce offensively, and if he is going to be playing with elite players, I think he could be a real asset down the stretch.

And the beauty of picking up Barbashev is, even if he is average offensively, you can still rely on him to lay the body. He's already racked up 138 hits this season, which is well over two per game. His shot rate could be better (just 1.5 per game on average), but overall I think Barbashev could be a terrific addition to your squad. I myself actually opted to take him over Matt Boldy in one of my leagues. He's still sparsely owned in most leagues. On Yahoo he is just 27% rostered, while on Fantrax he is owned in 42%.

Rasmus Sandin

Nobody was wheelin' and dealin' more than Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs during the past week and a half. After acquiring Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari, the Leafs brass kept tinkering and focused more on improving their depth. After bringing in Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty from the Blackhawks, something had to give. I'll be honest though, I wasn't expecting Rasmus Sandin to be on his way out of Toronto.

Maybe it's my Leafs' fan optimism, but I always felt Sandin would be a solid defenseman once he was allotted the proper minutes on a consistent basis. Nonetheless, Sandin joins a Washington team that may finally start to be on the decline after over a decade of dominance in the Eastern conference. And it seems as though he will definitely be getting all the opportunities he can handle, at least for the remainder of this season. Sandin led all Capitals’ skaters in his debut last night with 21:40 TOI. He made the best of his ice time too, as he managed to net three helpers, three hits, and a block.

With fellow blueliner John Carlson on the shelf with an injury, Sandin should continue to log big-time minutes down the stretch. Sandin still has another year remaining after the end of this season so it will be interesting to see how he gets used by Washington in the future. He could provide some really nice value in fantasy for the rest of the season though. If he can even just chip in occasionally with some offense, he does pretty well in peripherals to provide a good balance across the board. In 53 games this year he has 116 hits and 60 blocked shots. His one major downfall is that he doesn't shoot the puck a ton, so if you are in a league that tracks shots, that could hurt you a bit. 

I expect Sandin to continue to get top-notch deployment, so he could be worth a look if you need to bolster your blueline. In Yahoo leagues he is just 14% rostered; meanwhile over on Fantrax, Sandin is owned in just over half of all leagues at 52%.

Well it was certainly a riveting couple of weeks in the hockey world. I find it's always interesting to see how teams who make deals choose to balance making deals and preserving team chemistry. It's certainly a delicate balance, but luckily as fantasy hockey owners, that's a non-issue for us! Hopefully you are able to pick up a player or two for the last big push before we get to playoffs. Have a great week and I'll talk to you all next Sunday!