Welcome back my CapFriendlies! We were given a trade deadline gift this season as there was plenty of player movement up until the last minute before the deadline. Literally. I think a week removed, the Flames still may have a trade pending out there somewhere, and there are rumors still floating around about Jeremy Swayman not wanting to accept a trade because of, "geography" …i.e. anywhere away from Linus Ullmark is not where you want to be. Location, location, location, I guess? Let's get into some players that find themselves in a new sweater and what it means for fantasy and of course what cap implications go along with it.

Tomas Hertl to Vegas

We were in sight of the finish line of the deadline wrapping up and then we got a bombshell dropped on us as the San Jose Sharks looked to have a deal in place to send Tomas Hertl to everyone's favorite, Vegas Golden Knights. I've said on here in the past that no contract is un-tradeable but hesitated with that statement a little and it was because of contracts like Hertl's in particular. It was a funny contract when it was signed on a club that should have probably been in rebuild mode and it's a good amount of salary to take on for a player that is in his age 30 season.    

So, let's look at the deal from a cap perspective here first, as off the bat Vegas has agreed to take on 17% of Hertl's contract until it expires in 2028-29, along with sending a 2025 3^rd round (SJS) and 2027 3^rd round (SJS) pick back Vegas' way. Look, I know people were upset of the amount that the Sharks retained along with sending picks back but you're not going to be able to have a club take on as much salary as Vegas will be without giving something back in return. For the Sharks coming back they get salary relief, Vegas 2023 first round pick David Edstrom, and a 2025 1^st rounder (VGK). Interesting to note here is that now San Jose will be at three retained salaries with Brent Burns until 2024-25, Erik Karlsson until 2026-27, and now Hertl. This essentially eliminates them from becoming a broker club as a third party at next season's trade deadline and also means that any player that they look to move would have to have the receiving club take full salary, or the Sharks would have to find someone to retain cost. My guess here is someone was willing to listen to talks on talking on this contract and San Jose clearly listened, as I'm not sure how many clubs called about Hertl to begin with.

For Vegas the trade makes their top six very good, and that's assuming that Hertl is ready to step into the lineup come playoffs and that Mark Stone is healthy enough to join back up with the club. If those things were to happen, they now find themselves with a very good top six and for fantasy this benefits Hertl and any other top six wing you may be rostering from the Knights. I get the joke that Vegas has seemingly traded away every first-round pick that they've drafted since their inception, and it almost reminds me of the mid-2010's in baseball where being a Yankees prospect meant you were getting moved. I see people's frustration with Vegas signing a player, throwing him on IR, yada yada, but other clubs do this same thing. Vegas just seems to do it better and are younger than any of the clubs out there that do it…along with being successful on the ice. Maybe this works out great, or maybe the number of games played on these players begins to show itself and this club looks like an ICU come next season. They'll look to have around $8 in cap space come this summer and it will be interesting how they designate that with Chandler Stephenson and newly acquired Anthony Mantha due up, along with another newly acquired blueliner that we'll touch on momentarily.

Noah Hanifin to Vegas…and kind of Philadelphia

Okay so I'm not going to lay out all the details of who went where and what conditions are on what pick, because honestly it makes my head spin. The highlights here (outside of Noah Hanifin now in a Knights sweater), is that Calgary receives a 2026 1^st rounder that if traded by March 10, 2024 (it wasn't) OR if the pick is a top ten pick, then Calgary will instead receive a 2026 first from the Knights. There is also a 2024 3^rd rounder that upgrades to a second if Vegas wins one round of playoffs this season. So, Flames fans, you guys are all Knights fans come April. I know it feels weird but if I can offer help here, I became a lifelong Wild fan for a week when Marc-Andre Fleury was traded to Minnesota from Chicago and their second-round pick that the Hawks got in return could have become a first. Go Wild?

Philadelphia in this deal retains 50% of Hanifin's salary giving them a +$1.2M change, but it's just for this season so Philly fans no need to worry about this lingering on the books. Plus, they got a late round pick out of all this so Philly stands by and gains an asset.

For the Knights it's Noah Hanifin on the blue line. I like Hanifin as a player but there's times where I sort of think we overate him just a tad? Still, this is an excellent player to get at the deadline and can really help this club this season, and into the future if they look to sign past July 1^st or extend him before such a time. For fantasy if you're rostering Hanifin ride the wave now as we head on into fantasy playoffs. You had to have known this day was coming where in all likelihood he was dealt at the trade deadline and there's worse places to end up than on a club with a reasonable shot at making a deep playoff run.

Tyler Toffoli to another Canadian team

Can he hit all seven before it's all said and done? Honestly at this point if I'm him I look to make it happen as I'm going to guess nobody has played for all seven in a career? So far, he's got Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, and now Winnipeg…only Ottawa, Toronto, and Edmonton left on the infinity gauntlet. Let's talk about where he was traded from though, oh New Jersey.

So, for the Devils this deal was pretty straight away as they received a 2024 3^rd (WPG) and a 2025 2^nd (WPG) while retaining 50% of Toffoli's contract for the remainder of this season. I know that I've said on here that it's always easier to consider a tear down, rather than a re-tool or rebuild, but just watching this team I just feel like cleaning house had to have been on the table, right? I'm not talking about running out and trading Jack Hughes but there had to have been some conversation about getting some assets in picks back to sort of rebuild on the fly here. Maybe the worst thing to happen here was the run this club went on last November as weird as that sounds. Devils' fans, I watch this club and 100% get the frustration here.

I loved this deal for the Jets. This is a club that sometimes late in games I just feel like often needs that one line to spark something for them outside of the top line and now they have that. I don't think it's been mentioned either here, but this is a player in Toffoli that has won a Cup who is now on a team where just scanning the roster, don't believe there's another player that has done so and that's valuable to have if this Jets team can find themselves in a deep playoff run. For fantasy I'd expect the output to remain similar to where he was prior to the trade, Toffoli will still get top six minutes and top power play time so we shouldn't see much of a degression here.

Jake Guentzel off to Carolina

Okay this one shocked me a little bit. The destination, the return, the debate on if Pittsburgh has cooler sweaters than Carolina, all of the above.

So, let's talk Carolina here to start this off. They get Jake Guentzel who was rumored to be in deals all along and I think this boosts their club right up there in the Eastern Conference. There might be some growing pains here to start if you're rostering him in fantasy and that's only because of the way Carolina mixes and matches their lines up, to where I could see them trying new things before, we get into a playoff series, and they'll need to know who their top six is when it gets to be five minutes to go in a close game. Guentzel was set to become a free agent in July, but I have read rumors that Carolina is trying to get an extension in place now. Again, just rumors but it makes sense. Guentzel was a player set to have a larger pay-day come July so if Carolina can get something in place now it means they don't lose out on the player if they can't match another offer, and it helps having that extension in place in the event that Guentzel really ups his value come playoffs. The Canes are going to be one of the clubs with over $25M in cap space come July 1^st, putting them in a good spot financially regardless of the outcome of a Guentzel extension or signing. Worth mentioning here too that they got defenseman Ty Smith back in the deal here…I have some stock. Bounced around a bit but has been good so far this season in the AHL.

For Pittsburgh…the players they got back. Michael Bunting…sure, you have to make the money work somehow. They also received three prospects from the Hurricanes that I did my homework on (of course on DobberProspects followed by falling down the YouTube rabbit hole). I mean, I could see all three of them making it to the NHL level, that much I can say. Once they get to that point though I think things become more of an uncertainty. I'm also curious here as the names that went Pitt's way aren't the higher rated prospects from Carolina. That leads me to think was this really the best offer out there for Guentzel? Knowing what we do now, I sort of find it harder to believe that another club couldn't have matched this offer or outright outbid Carolina. The picks that they received back have conditions on them, which seemed to be the trend this year, so yay Pens fans you guys are soon-to-be Caniacs. Unless of course Pittsburgh somehow sneaks into playoffs and gets matched up against Carolina. It's not impossible, just unlikely.

*Salary Cap data from CapFriendly.com

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