Santini, who is a former second-round pick (2013), is a big (6-foot-2, 205 lbs) defensive-defenseman. The 24-year-old has just 21 points (5G / 16A) in 114 career NHL games but should be more than capable of eating up 15 minutes per night on the Predators third pairing.
Quenneville split his 2019 season between the NHL and AHL, picking up one goal and zero assists for the Devils. However, during his time in Binghamton, Quenneville was a prolific point producer. He had 39 points (18G / 21A) in 37 games. The Blackhawks have a weak bottom-6, so Quenneville should be a full-time NHLer in 2020.
Hayden spent the entire 2019 season with the Blackhawks but only played in 54 NHL games. The 24-year-old had three goals and two assists (five points) to give him just 22 points (8G / 14A) in 113 career games. He will likely skate on the Devils’ third or fourth line in 2020.
Subban has three years, $27.0 million ($9.0M AAV) left on his contract and the Predators wanted to move it to clear some room to potentially sign a big free-agent. Subban will replace Santini on the Devils’ blueline and immediately becomes New Jersey’s best defenseman and will quarterback their top power-play unit. Subban missed 19 games due to injury last season and finished with nine goals and 22 assists (31 points).
Marleau has one-year left on his contract that carries a $6.25M cap-hit that the Maple Leafs wanted to move in order to clear space to sign restricted free agents Mitch Marner, Andreas Johansson and Kasperi Kapanen. Marleau has not missed a game since the 2009 season but had just 16 goals and 21 assists (37 points) in 2018-19. Carolina might buy the 39-year-old winger out.
Braun is entering the final year of his five year deal that carries a $3.8M cap-hit and is a cap casualty after the Sharks signed Erik Karlsson on Monday. San Jose still needs to sign RFA’s Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc and could extend offers to veteran UFA’s Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Gustav Nyquist. As for the Flyers, they continue to beef up the right-side of their blueline. They parted ways with Andrew MacDonald, swapped Radko Gudas for Matt Niskanan and now add Braun, who had 16 points (2G / 14A) in 78 games a season ago.
Trouba is a restricted free agent on July 1st but gives the Rangers a bonafide first-pairing defenseman, something they played the entire 2018-19 season without. After missing a combined 49 games in 2017 and 2018, Trouba appeared in all 82 games last year and set a new career-high with 50 points (8G / 42A). Trouba will log massive minutes for the Rangers next season and helps accelerate their rebuild, which was also aided by landing the No.2 overall pick in this year’s draft.
Pionk had six goals and 20 assists (26 points) in 73 games with the Rangers in his first full NHL season in 2018-19. Like Trouba, Pionk is also a restricted free agent on July 1st, but will command a lot less money and will allow the Jets to get Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor this offseason. Winnipeg loses a top-pairing defenseman and get a player who looks like nothing more than a third-pairing player with modest offensive-upside.
Maatta was a first-round pick in 2012 but fell out of favour in Pittsburgh this past season. The Penguins brought in Jack Johnson and acquired Erik Gudbranson at the trade deadline and continued to push Maatta down the depth chart. The 24-year-old has had some injury issues throughout his career and is coming off of a season where he had 14 points (1G / 13A) in 60 games. Maatta, who has three years left at $4.083M AAV, will likely play on the Blackhawks third pairing.
Kahun was an undrafted free-agent who came to North America this year after spending four years in Germany. The 23-year-old winger had 13 goals and 24 assists (37 points) in 82 games with the Blackhawks and will likely be a replacement for Matt Cullen and Garrett Wilson as a bottom-6 forward for the Penguins.
Ingram, who was selected in the third-round (No.88 overall) in 2016, split his 2018-19 season between the AHL and ECHL. The 22-year-old was 14-7-0 with a 2.26 GAA and .922 SV% with Syracuse (AHL) and 8-2-0 with a 2.81 GAA and .914 SV% with Orlando (ECHL). With Pekka Rinne entering his age-37 season, Ingram could serve as the Predators’ future No.2 behind Juuse Saros.
Niskanen, who has a modified no-trade clause, has two years left on his seven-year deal that carries a $5.75M cap-hit. While with Washington, Niskanen never turned out the offensive production that he did in his final year in Pittsburgh, earning himself that huge deal. Since signing with the Capitals, Niskanen is tied for 38th among defensemen with 156 points (29G / 127A) in 390 games. He had eight goals and 17 assists (25 points) in 80 games a season ago.
Gudas is heading into the final year of his four-year deal that carries a $3.35 million cap-hit, versus Niskanen’s two remaining years at $5.75 million. Gudas is coming off of one of his best offensive seasons, scoring four goals with 16 assists (20 points) in 77 games. Gudas was second on the Flyers in hits (255) and tied for third in blocked shots (133). He will help bolster the Capitals penalty-kill, where he played 2:37 per game last year—second among Flyers skaters.
Hayes, 27, is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, so the Flyers will need to sign him before July 1st. Hayes spent the first four and a half seasons of his career with the Rangers before being dealt to the Jets at least year’s trade deadline. Hayes finished the 2018-19 campaign with a career-high 55 points (19G / 36A) in 71 games. Hayes helps bolster the Flyers’ centre depth, which has taken a hit since Claude Giroux moved to the wing.
The Hurricanes could end up receiving two second-round picks if Fox plays 30 NHL games for the Rangers next season. Fox was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, scoring nine gaols and 39 assists (48 points) in 33 games as a Junior at Harvard University. The Hurricanes were unable to sign Fox, who had made it known he wanted to play for the Rangers.
Bergman is on the move again. The Senators originally acquired Bergman from the Sharks in the Mike Hoffman trade but sent him to Columbus in the Matt Duchene deal last week. Now the 23-year-old, former second-round pick heads to the Rangers, where he is expected to join Hartford (AHL).
Wideman heads to his fourth organization of the season. Wideman started the year with the Senators before going to the Oilers, then Panthers and now to the Penguins, where he will likely report to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL). Wideman has 13 points (3G / 10A) in 16 AHL games this season.
Dea, 25, has bounced around a bit this season, going from the Devils to the Penguins and now the Panthers. Overall, he has four goals and two assists in 23 NHL games and 22 points (6G / 16A) in 26 AHL games this year. Dea will likely head to the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL.
Karlsson, 19, was a third-round pick (No.87 overall) in last summer’s draft. Karlsson has four goals and 13 assists (17 points) with Karlskrona HK in Sweden.
Dahlen was acquired in 2017 as a part of the Alex Burrows trade and has scored 14 goals with 15 assists (29 points) in 50 games with Utica (AHL) this season. He will report to San Jose (AHL).
NHL trades are decided between two or more team general managers. The front office’s job is building a winning team. Building a winning team means discussing trades with other general managers across the league.
During the NHL regular season, players can be traded up until the trade deadline. The deadline is the official cutoff point for when teams can no longer make moves between each other. Players can also be traded throughout the offseason.
Teams trade players in hockey for a variety of reasons, but generally, it is done to find success, whether that is in the short term or long term. Teams may trade their top players in search of draft picks if they are undergoing a rebuild, whereas contending teams may look to acquire talent to boost their playoff chances.
Trades are a common occurrence throughout the NHL and happen often. Some years feature less trades than others, it all depends on each teams needs and the availability of attractive talent.
