Dave Poulin: Lightning. Jets. Rangers. Why so many of the NHL’s trade deadline winners have been losing

Wait a second, we still have 20 games left to play?

There are unofficial markers in every NHL season. At American Thanksgiving, about 20 games in, teams take a breath and evaluate. It often brings the first flurry of player movement, sometimes a coaching change or two. Softer targets follow over Christmas and during the all-star break in late January, now combined with a bye week.

The biggest marker, 40 days before the end of the regular season, is the trade deadline. It brings change to almost every franchise. You are either a buyer or a seller; few teams are caught in the middle. At 3 p.m. on March 3, the line was drawn. The framework was in place for the rest of the season.

But what looks good on paper doesn’t always play out on the ice. As one new player walks into the locker room, another walks out — changing the dynamic of a close-knit group. It’s hard to quantify, but on-ice performance is only a portion of a trade. Off-ice impact must also be taken into consideration.

There’s also increased pressure on the deadline buyers. Expectations immediately increase, a measure of confidence has been gained, and players often seem to forget that positive change doesn’t create positive results by itself.

On the opposite side of the equation, sellers feel even less pressure than before and often emerge as spoilers, producing surprising results. There are few easy outs after the trade deadline, despite the roster imbalance.

In the first post-deadline week, several teams viewed as big winners struggled, while those at the bottom of the standings scored impressive wins. San Jose, Chicago, Vancouver and Arizona beat much higher ranked teams, reminders that points are not handed out freely at this time of year.

The pressure has ramped up on three teams in particular with playoff aspirations: the New York Rangers (who added Vladimir Tarasenko, Patrick Kane and Niko Mikkola) were 4-5-1 in their last 10 through Friday; the Winnipeg Jets (with Nino Niederreiter) struggled to 2-6-2 of late; and perhaps the biggest surprise of all, the Tampa Bay Lightning (who acquired Tanner Jeannot) were in a 3-4-3 slide.

Trade additions contributed heavily to Tampa Bay’s three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup final, where they won in 2020 and 2021. They’ve seemed to know exactly what they need, and are comfortable paying high prices. While it remains to be seen if Jeannot pans out, coach Jon Cooper has already resorted to desperate measures: benching stars Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point in the same game, an unusual move that raised eyebrows leaguewide.

There have been more contenders on the upswing in the West, which was relatively quiet on the trade front. The Minnesota Wild (who spirited John Klingberg out of Anaheim) have been on a 9-0-2 run. The Los Angeles Kings (with the additions of Joonas Korpisalo and Vladislav Gavrikov) put up five straight Ws. And after the surprising move of veteran goalie Jonathan Quick from L.A. to Vegas (via Columbus) the Golden Knights were on a 4-1-0 roll, mirroring the Dallas Stars near the top of the conference standings.

Always lurking, though, is risk of injury, as the Maple Leafs were reminded when prized acquisition Ryan O’Reilly was lost for the rest of the regular season with a broken finger. The veteran centre had made an immediate impact on a team that was the busiest before the deadline, with six newcomers.

The best-laid plans of deadline wheelers and dealers always come with a qualifier: We still have 20 games left to play.

Dave Poulin is a former NHL player, executive and TSN hockey analyst based in Toronto. He is a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @djpoulin20

SHARE: