Minnesota Wild – Slight Seller

In:

Will Butcher – D

Luke Toporowski – F

Dmitri Ovchinnikov – F

Turner Elson – F

2026 – 3rd round pick – Colorado

2026 – 4th round pick – Toronto

2026 – 6th round pick – Boston (only moved if Maroon plays one game these playoffs)

Out:

Connor Dewar – F

Brandon Duhaime – F

Pat Maroon – F

Nic Petan – F

As of writing this, the Wild are six points back of the final spot in the Wild Card race in the West. They pulled their goalie in OT and managed to score at four on three, so they haven't given up.

All of these deals were minor and the players involved were depth pieces for the Wild or the new teams.

The Wild didn't have any other players who were impending UFAs so there won't be regret not making a move that they could have.

I think that Guerin did well in getting a 3rd, 4th and a possible 6th-round pick in return for not that much.

Overall Grade: B

Nashville Predators – Buyers/Sellers

In:

Wade Allison – F

Jason Zucker – F

Anthony Beauvillier – F

Jeremy Hanzel – D

2025 – 3rd round pick – Colorado

Out:

Denis Gurianov – F

Yakov Trenin – F

Graham Sward – D

2024 – 5th round pick

2024 – 6th round pick – (Dallas pick)

Nashville sits nine points ahead in the Wild Card race with 16 games remaining and understandably added a few pieces at the deadline.

Wade Allison is now 26 years old but he's only played 84 AHL games where he has 24 goals and 19 assists. In 2022-23, he played the whole year in Philadelphia where he played 60 games and had nine goals, six assists and 190 hits. He could see some games in Nashville as a cheaper replacement for Trenin.

The Predators have added Zucker and Beauvillier and subtracted Trenin from their roster going forward, which potentially bolsters their top nine. To get Zucker and Beauvillier they gave up pennies in a 5th and 6th round pick. It is a low-risk, possibly high-reward move.

This was Barry Trotz's first trade deadline as a GM and it was much calmer than David Poile's last deadline as a GM last March.

Overall Grade: B

San Jose Sharks – Seller

In:

Klim Kostin – F

Vitek Vanecek – G

David Edstrom – F

Jack Thompson – D

Devin Cooley – G

2025 – 1st round pick – Vegas

2024 – 3rd round pick – Tampa Bay

2024 – 5th round pick – Chicago

2025 – 7th round pick – New Jersey

Out:

Tomas Hertl – F (17.1% retained; $1.387M retained each of the next five seasons)

Anthony Duclair – F

Radim Simek – D

Nikita Okhotiuk – D

Kaapo Kähkönen – G

2025 – 3rd round pick

2027 – 3rd round pick

2024 – 7th round pick

2025 – 7th round pick

2025 – 7th round pick

The focus is understandably on the Tomas Hertl trade to Vegas which included the Sharks retaining over $1.3 million in salary for the next five years AND throwing in TWO third-round picks to Vegas for a 1st round pick in 2025 and David Edstrom who was the 32nd overall pick in 2023. Not only are the Sharks giving Hertl away, but they are paying for it. Edstrom doesn't profile to become a point-getter in the NHL, but more of a bottom-six forward who provides size and defense.

I thought they received fair value back for Duclair from Tampa Bay with the pick and Jack Thompson who should see some time with the Sharks this year or next.

Mike Grier looks bad, but he was painted into this corner by previous GM Doug Wilson with a lot of the contracts given to the Shark players which took away a lot of flexibility for Grier to then trade them when they inevitably wanted out. 

Overall Grade: C-

St. Lous Blues – Stood Pat

In:

Future Considerations

Out:

Malcolm Subban – G

The Blues are eight points back of the last playoff spot with 18 games remaining and their lack of participation at the trade deadline spoke volumes. The only impending UFAs were Kasperi Kapanen, Sammy Blais and Marco Scandella and at most the Blues might have got back a 5th round pick for one of them.

There was rumbling about trading Pavel Buchnevich who has one more year before he becomes unrestricted but it came to nothing.

Overall Grade: C

Seattle Kraken – Slightly Sellers

In:

2024 – 2nd round pick – NY Rangers

2025 – 4th round pick – from Dallas (could upgrade to a 3rd pick based on Nils Lundkvist getting 24 points over his last 16 games).

Out:

Alex Wennberg – F (retained 50%; $2.25 million)

The Kraken are eight points back of a playoff spot with 19 games remaining.

Ron Francis decided to re-sign Jordan Eberle but still had Tomas Tatar, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Chris Driedger and Justin Schultz as impending UFAs who they held onto or were unable to trade.

I thought they received fairly good value for Wennberg with the retention adding the additional 4th rounder.

Overall Grade: C+

Vancouver Canucks – Buyers

In:

Elias Lindholm – F

Out:

Andrei Kuzmenko – F

Joni Jurmo – D

Hunter Brzustewicz – D

2024 – 1st round pick

2024 – 4th round pick (could become a 3rd round pick if Vancouver makes it to Conference Finals)

The Canucks made several trades which bolstered their roster earlier in the season and just the one big trade for Lindholm.

In 17 games as a Canuck, Lindholm has struggled to produce with just four goals and three assists. He has been good in the faceoff circle and killing penalties.

One aspect of this deal that benefitted the Canucks was moving the $5.5 million salary and cap hit for Kuzmenko in 2024-2025. It gave them a little more flexibility to re-sign Elias Pettersson and perhaps Filip Hronek.

The Canucks will add to their current roster with returning Dakota Joshua.

This grade will go to a C minus if the Canucks are knocked out in the first round and up to a B if they make the Conference Finals. That is no different than most rental trades.

Overall Grade: C+

Vegas Golden Knights – Heavy Buyer

In:

Anthony Mantha – F (50% retained; $2.85 million cap hit to Vegas)

Noah Hanifin – D (75% retained; $1.237 million cap hit to Vegas)

Tomas Hertl – F (17.1% retained; $6.75 million cap hit to Vegas)

Mikhail Vorobyev – F

2025 – 3rd round pick – San Jose

2027 – 3rd round pick – San Jose

Out:

David Edstrom – F

2025 – 1st round pick

2026 – 1st round pick

2024 – 2nd round pick

2024 – 3rd round pick

2026 – 4th round pick

2024 – 5th round pick

There is no better team to manage their LTIR than Vegas. They were able to add two top-six forwards and a top-four defender for two 1st round picks, a 2nd round pick and David Edstrom who is hardly a blue-chip prospect.

To add to the value of the players themselves, they were able to get San Jose to pay for all the salary retention and more with the 3rd round picks San Jose gave up.

Hertl isn't a rental either, he is signed for five more years at $6.75 million AAV to Vegas with San Jose paying the balance. Hertl is expected to miss two to three weeks still.

Overall Grade: A

Winnipeg Jets – Buyer

In:

Sean Monahan – F

Tyler Toffoli – F (50% retained; $2.125 million cap hit to Winnipeg)

Colin Miller – D

Out:

2024 – 1st round pick

2025 – 2nd round pick

2024 – 3rd round pick

2027 – 3rd round pick (this pick only moves if Winnipeg wins the Cup this year)

2026 -4th round pick

Since Monahan has been with the Jets, he has had eight goals and two assists in 15 games. He has fit in well on the second line as center.

Toffoli should be a good addition to the top six and help either unit of the power play.

Colin Miller is a depth addition on defense and should be a sixth or seventh defender.

With Monahan and Toffoli added to the lineup, the Jets have 11 forwards who have scored 10 goals or more this year.

Overall Grade: B+

The winners in my eyes were Vegas, Colorado and Winnipeg with Dallas, Minnesota and Nashville doing sneaky good jobs.

A lot of true grades rely on how well some of these teams end up doing in the playoffs. There are going to be eight teams from the West who could realistically make a run for the Stanley Cup this year.

The remaining teams have been covered in Part 1.

Thank you very much for reading and if you have any comments, please leave them below or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15