Larkin: The 10 best trade-deadline deals of the cap era
What constitutes the perfect trade-deadline deal?
It’s not as simple as parsing through every swap made in the 11th hour of every NHL season and finding which ones yielded the most impactful players. In my mind, choosing the best deadline deals requires factoring in the spirit of the deadline. When we mention “trade deadline deal,” we think Butch Goring or Ron Francis or Stephane Matteau. We think about players who put contending teams over the top. We don’t immediately associate the deadline with, say, Filip Forsberg, a player who went the seller team’s way in one of the most lopsided deals of all-time. The trade deadline is more about the buyer team, the Stanley Cup contender trying to complete its puzzle.
In ranking my top 10 deadline trades of the salary-cap era, then, I’ve crafted a list with a buyer-team slant. That means we won’t see the Forsberg fleecing crack the list, as great as it was. My unofficial criteria:
(a) The deal must involve an upgrade for a contending team, keeping with the spirit of the trade deadline. The push for a Stanley Cup is the reason hockey fans go bananas over trade coverage leading up to the big day.
(b) The trade must have occurred within give or take a week of that season’s deadline.
(c) The piece(es) acquired must have made a relatively immediate impact on their new teams that season and/or in subsequent seasons. Justin Williams, for instance, was technically a “trade-deadline” acquisition for the Los Angeles Kings, but that was in 2009, three years before he helped them win their first Stanley Cup. The Kings didn’t even make the playoffs in 2009. He thus doesn’t qualify.
With those rules in mind, here are my picks for the 10 most important deadline-day deals since 2005-06, the advent of the salary-cap era.
10. Washington Capitals acquire Michal Kempny from the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2018 conditional third-round pick (Linus Karlsson – SJ) : Feb. 19, 2018
It felt like a throwaway depth trade in the moment, right? Czech import Kempny was mostly a flop after the Blackhawks brought him over from the KHL in 2016. He was barely eclipsing 15 minutes a game by his second season with the club and requested a trade after then-coach Joel Quenneville made him a healthy scratch. The Capitals came calling.
By the 2018 post-season, Kempny’s mobile but simple game landed him on a pair with Capitals No. 1 defenseman John Carlson. Kempny averaged 17:42 per night for the playoffs and chipped in a couple goals to boot. He and Carlson held 5-on-5 advantages over their opponents in goals, shots, scoring chances and high danger chances in 355 minutes deployed together, helping Washington win its first Stanley Cup. Sometimes the seemingly marginal trades end up helping teams the most.
9. Chicago Blackhawks acquire Michal Handzus from the San Jose Sharks for a 2013 fourth-round pick (Fredrik Bergvik): April 2, 2013
The 2012-13 Hawks were arguably the most dominant NHL team of the century to date, having opened their season 21-0-3. They finished with an .802 points percentage in the lockout-shortened season. But they felt they were thin up the middle and made a cheap deadline move to add veteran two-way pivot Handzus, who had just turned 36.
Handzus ended up elevating to Chicago’s second line and becoming a vital component of their championship run, whether he was playing with Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane or Bryan Bickell and Marian Hossa. He had a five-game point streak at one point and delivered a shorthanded goal during the Stanley Cup final.
8. Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Justin Schultz from the Edmonton Oilers for a 2016 third-round pick (Filip Berglund): Feb. 27, 2016
Schultz was supposed to become one of the game’s great offensive defensemen. Remember the 2012-13 lockout year, when he lit up the AHL for 48 points in 34 games before compiling 27 in 48 games as an Edmonton Oilers rookie? He made the all-rookie team that season but, like the franchise in general in those days, couldn’t evolve into a winner. The fact he returned only a third-round pick at the 2016 deadline said a lot. His defensive shortcomings overshadowed his puck-moving skill, and the Oilers simply punted him as a pending UFA.
The Penguins and GM Jim Rutherford saw something in Schultz. Under coach Mike Sullivan, the Pens were using their speed to play an up-tempo system fuelled by quick puck movement and stretch passes. Schultz was a fit. He was a support player on the 2015-16 team that won the Stanley Cup. He re-signed that summer, however, and was a crucial contributor on the 2016-17 Pens, who repeated as champs despite having No. 1 blueliner Kris Letang out for the entire playoffs. Schultz compiled a career-high 51 points that regular season, finished 10th in Norris-Trophy voting and filled Letang’s shoes admirably in the playoffs as the resident right-shooting offensive threat. Two Cup runs for a third-round pick? Great bang for Pittsburgh’s buck on that deadline deal.
7. Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis from the Atlanta Thrashers for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito and a 2018 first-round pick (Daultan Leveille): Feb. 26, 2008
Wow. We all remember this one. The return Atlanta got on this massive deadline-day deal was famously awful, as Esposito and Leveille played a combined 0.0 NHL games. But why rank a trade that didn’t result in a Cup that season?
Well, Hossa did play a major part in helping Pittsburgh reach the 2008 final before departing as a free agent that summer. He wasn’t the only component to make this trade important for the Pens, of course. Dupuis, who seemed like a mere throw-in at the time, played a bit part on Pittsburgh’s 2009 championship team and ended up blooming into an excellent two-way forward and longtime linemate for Sidney Crosby.
6. Tampa Bay Lighting acquire Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller from the New York Rangers for Vladislav Namestnikov, Libor Hajek, Brett Howden, a 2018 first-round pick (Nils Lundkvist) and a 2019 conditional second-round pick (Karl Henriksson): Feb 26, 2018
Sure, Tampa didn’t go all the way in 2018, and Miller wound up being a salary-cap casualty after one playoff run, but the Lightning but came close that spring, reaching Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final. More importantly, the deal yielded a foundational piece of Tampa’s back-to-back Cup teams from 2020 and 2021 in shutdown defenseman McDonagh, who averaged 23:32 of ice time in 45 games across the two post-seasons.
Better yet for Tampa, the pieces it surrendered in a then-blockbuster deal haven’t amounted to anything, albeit rookie Lundkvist has potential to become an impactful puck-mover in the NHL.
5. Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Bill Guerin from the New York Islanders for a 2009 third-round pick (Michael Lee): March 4, 2009
The Penguins, breaking through as contenders as Crosby and Evgeni Malkin became generational superstars, knocked on the door of a Stanley Cup in 2007-08, losing to the Detroit Red Wings in the final. The following spring, Guerin, who had a ring from his New Jersey Days, became the proverbial “show ’em how to win” addition in the penultimate season of his career.
Strengthening the Pens’ depth on the second line, Guerin delivered seven goals, including two game-winners and an overtime winner, and 15 points in 24 playoff games. And that was just his on-ice statistical impact. His teammates raved about the leadership and humor he brought to the dressing room, keeping the young Pens loose when the stakes were high.
4. Los Angeles Kings acquire Marian Gaborik from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2014 second-round pick (Dominic Turgeon, DET), a 2015 second-round pick (Travis Dermott, TOR) and Matt Frattin: March 5, 2014
Some deadline-day acquisitions mix intangibles with the occasional lift on the scoresheet. Some roll into town with their hair on fire and light it up. That was Gaborik, who instantly struck up chemistry with Kings No. 1 center Anze Kopitar. After tallying a respectable 16 points in 19 regular-season games post-trade, Gaborik ripped off a league-best 14 goals in 25 playoff games, including 11 even-strength goals, to help L.A. lift its second Stanley Cup in three seasons.
Sure, the seven-year extension he signed shortly after the season ended aged poorly, but that doesn’t mean Gaborik wasn’t a dynamite acquisition as a UFA rental in 2014. His impact was enormous.
3. Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi from the Anaheim Ducks for Ryan Whitney: Feb. 26, 2009
The Pens made a major sacrifice in their championship pursuit, shipping off Whitney, their promising cornerstone defenseman, who was fresh off a breakout sophomore season in which he piled up 59 points and earned Norris Trophy votes. Kunitz justified the cost for GM Ray Shero, though. Kunitz was a proven winner, having played on the Cup-winning 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks’ top line. He ended up playing on three championship Penguins teams in 2009, 2016 and 2017 and spent the bulk of his career piling up points on Crosby’s line.
Kunitz sits ninth on the franchise’s all-time goals list and seventh on its playoff points list. Only Crosby, Malkin and Jaromir Jagr have logged more post-season games than Kunitz in a Penguins uniform.
2. Lightning acquire Blake Coleman from the New Jersey Devils for Nolan Foote and a 2020 first-round pick (Shakir Mukhamadullin): Feb. 16, 2020
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2. Lightning acquire Barclay Goodrow and a 2020 third-round pick (Maxim Groshev) from the San Jose Sharks for Anthony Greco and a 2020 first-round pick (Ozzy Wiesblatt): Feb. 24, 2020
I’m cheating, I know! But how can we not mention Coleman and Goodrow in the same breath, as the same entry?
The Lightning had suffered one of hockey’s all-time worst humiliations in 2018-19 when, after tying the NHL record for wins in a season with 62, they were promptly swept by the eighth-seeded Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the playoffs. The Bolts oozed talent but couldn’t adapt to Columbus’ heavy, lunchpail game.
Lightning GM Julien BriseBois was determined to ice a team that knew how to win not just the pretty way but also the ugly way in the playoffs when teams give no quarter. Bringing in the versatile heart-and-soul grinders Coleman and Goodrow came at a great cost, as BriseBois sacrificed a first-rounder to get each, but they were the exact pieces Tampa was missing. Coleman and Goodrow brought timely scoring and, just as importantly, major penalty killing acumen to a Tampa team consistently ranking among the most penalized in the NHL. They helped the Bolts win consecutive Cups and formed a third line with Yanni Gourde that performed more like a second line. Both players left as UFAs to chase big pay days last summer, but their exemplary work for Tampa was done.
1. Kings acquire Jeff Carter from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jack Johnson and a 2013 first-round pick (Marko Dano): Feb. 23, 2012
Some deadline deals yield a marquee player who keys a championship run that season. Others bring in a player who becomes an important part of the franchise’s fabric for many seasons. The Carter trade did both. Sure, he punched up 2011-12 Kings scoring, led the post-season with eight goals and three game-winners and helped them become the first No. 8 seed to win a Stanley Cup. But Carter was also a pillar on the 2013-14 Cup team and ended up playing 10 seasons with the Kings. He ranks 10th in franchise history in goals. It’s amazing to think that, given Jack Johnson’s struggles, the Kings and GM Dean Lombardi got the disgruntled Carter from Columbus for almost nothing.