Compared to deadlines past, the 2016 trade deadline felt quiet. The Commissioner would never admit it, but the league has to be concerned that the two teams at the top of the standings are run by more risk-averse, quieter GMs. If last year's Commssioner-vs-Deputy showdown felt like a Bruins-Blackhawks rivalry, this year's apparent Moilers-Micahleks matchup is more like a Flames-Senators Stanley Cup Final. Regardless, it seems likely we'll see a new name engraved on the cup, which is exciting.
1. One of those new names could be the Fylanders, a team that was uncharacteristically quiet at the deadline. The Fylanders' GM said he wasn't willing to part with an injured Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for immediate help because his team's chances of winning are slim - "three percent." He also said he believes his team can triumph this year without any reinforcements. It takes a brilliant mind to simultaneously entertain two ideas so apparently contradictory.
2. A lot of speculation the Los Amjawors Kings would move Jonathan Drouin for immediate help (for the record, they deny it was ever considered and insist they are bound by Yzerman law). Instead, they went after the Teeyote's add/drop, offering an 8th-round pick. The Teeyotes held out for something more, didn't get it, and the add/drop went to waste. The Kings' scoring roster, meanwhile, features Bryan Little, shut-down for the season, and Mike Cammalleri, also out long-term. A number of executives polled felt the Kings blew a good chance at finishing in the money this year by not being more active.
3. On the topic of add/drops, or as I efficiently call them, "swaps," the Teeyotes were one of three teams that let a swap perish unused. The Patrik Stefans set a new record by using five, so there's the counter-argument to the GM who says we need more swaps. (Though if our records are accurate, last year all 32 available swaps were used.)
4. One team that many execs thought would be a great trading partner for the Los Amjawors Kings is the Valeri Nickrooshkins. While I don't know if they engaged in serious discussions, I do know the Nickrooshkins were actively trying to move Kyle Palmieri and Frans Nielsen for draft picks, but couldn't get a buyer. If the Nickrooshkins were attempting the equivalent of what the Maple Leafs did by stocking up with moderately useful veterans and trading them for draft picks at the deadline, it doesn't appear that such a strategy translates to the KL. The one exception to this (and to everything) is, of course, Jaromir Jagr.
5. A number of GMs expressed surprise that the Powder Rangers, currently in 7th place and never shy about trading, didn't make a big splash. The GM told me he didn't get a lot of offers and he felt his team was correctly perceived as "neither good enough to make a push nor bad enough to help someone else make a push." Team favourite Sergei Plotnikov asked for a trade but was deemed too valuable looking after teammates' children in the press box during games.
6. The GM of the Schizzarks spent the weekend ripping up hardwood floors and complaining about his old man back. The Schizzarks swapped out Jason "too productive" Spezza in the interest of tanking, but the GM tells me he's not convinced a rebuild is the right direction to take the team. Another GM who spoke on condition of anonymity (not quoted elsewhere in this blog) told me he thinks that had the Schizzarks been honest with themselves, they would have started looking to the future not long after Carey Price was injured and moved some depreciating assets for younger players and picks. When asked for examples of GMs doing a one-year rebuild right, this GM gave three names: The Patrik Stefans of 2013-14, the Moilers of 2014-15, and the Mackhawks of this year.
7. The GM of the Mackhawks picked up the phone to verbally negotiate with the Milan Micahleks, leading another executive to label him the Lou Lamoriello of the Keeper League. Say what you will about the GM's old-school tactics - he made the biggest deal of the deadline. And he used a rotary phone to do it.
8. The Micahleks, for their part, were enthralled with Dylan Larkin, but his ice time had been declining over the last two weeks. Having traded away a first to obtain Claude Giroux, the opportunity to get back into the first round while adding a reliable, if less flashy, teammate in Wayne Simmonds was too good to pass up.
9. Word is the Moilers and Micahleks wanted defensive help. Both GMs kicked the tires on Brent Burns and Kris Letang, but felt the prices were too high. The Moilers got their second choice in Muzzin, but the Micahleks, who arguably needed help more, failed to improve on a bottom two of Jason Demers (update: out for possibly the season) and Andrei Markov. By the way, Burns' shot total this season is second only to Alex Ovechkin, and he's taken 36% more shots than the next best defenceman, Erik Karlsson.
10. The Patrik Stefans ended up making just the one deal - selling Muzzin, and a number of intra-roster tank swaps. Asked about failed negotiations, the team's GM was steadfast in adopting the Brian Burke approach: "For the future of the Patrik Tefans, I can't have other GMs thinking this organization is going to accept garbage offers." One anonymous GM observed that the Patrik Stefans’ reluctance to recognize a failed season until too late had burned him in the past. Would teams have paid higher prices earlier in the season?
11. If anyone asked about Patrick Kane, I wonder what the answer would have been. There was much speculation on Twitter that the Dicklas Lidstroms' GM is bored, having won twice and being in contention again with little effort. After the deadline he told me he considered making a move but felt a middle-of-the-pack finish was a fait accompli, and also the Sens suck this year so why even bother.
12. Assuming the Claassics had done nothing to address their injuries this season on the trade market, they would sit exactly 100 points back of where they are now. They were reluctant, however, to do anything on deadline day, and that was perhaps because of the net minus-8 points they've earned from some other tinkering - namely, a Spooner/Stempniak swap. Fittingly, Stempniak joined the Boston Bruins at the deadline, and Claude Julien threw the Claassics a bone by bumping him ahead of Spooner in the lineup.
13. The Rordiques were silent from all accounts over the weekend. What seemed like a tremendous bid for a playoff berth looks more likely to come up dry, with a fate sealed by a backfiring final swapping out of the face of the franchise, ROR-Y (Ryan O'Reilly, why?!).
14. The GM of G-Phil's Flyers confided that he came up short in a bidding war over Jake Muzzin (this is what it's come to?). The team that once boasted the best defence corp in the league has fallen a long way. One executive, asked about Greg standing pat at the deadline, remarked "it is pure paralysis by analysis hidden behind feigned hubris."
15. At the outset of the season the Joshfrey Krupuls announced they anticipated a step back. They've stockpiled 2016 picks, having two firsts and two thirds (note the Patrik Stefans have nine picks in the first four rounds). The Radulov acquisition was interesting and makes me wonder what they know that we don't. He seems to be slowing, but he's still putting up very good numbers in the KHL.
16. The GM of the Wilkes-Benham/Scranton Parkers are in trial prep. One GM reached out at the deadline only to hear back hours after the siren sounded with a text that read, "my terrible team remains terrible." The frankness of that text sums up the sorry state of this franchise that has to catch a lottery break one of these years. It's the tried and true rebuild formula no team knows better than the Parkers' expansion cousin.
