That last question is going to really, truly be answered in time. But now that we've had time for the trades to really set in over the past few days and weeks, lets look at what's happened and who did the best of what.
Winner: Boston Bruins
They're already the best team in Hockey, and they man aged to get better. Taylor Hall out with injury, Tyler Bertuzzi brought in to fill his void for the rest of the regular season. They exte4nd David Pastrnak for another eight years. And to help them get better, they bolster the defense with Dimitri Orlov and Garnett Hathaway. At the pace the Bruins are going right now, with how good this team is, they may shatter a few regular season records for points and wins. But my biggest question is, for as great of a regular season as they are having, can they finish the job come springtime?
Winner: New Jersey Devils
For a team that's surprised a few people with a fantastic season that they're already having, the Devils managed to add offensive punch to an already good team. Bringing in Curtis Lazar and most notably Timo Meir was a huge pickup for the Devils. There is a small downside to this trade. Not only did the Devils give up a few draft picks for this trade with Meir, but Meir is on a one year deal, so right now he's sitting here as a rental player it looks like in Jersey. But still, the fact that Jersey was able to go out and pull the trigger on a couple of big moves says they going for it.
Winner: New York Rangers
A team that came within an eyelash of reaching the cup finals last year took some huge steps to try and get over that hump. They added two big names in Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane. Sure, both guys are on the back half of their careers, but they can still provide some offensive punch for their games. And Kane is back to playing with former teammate Artemi Panarin. With how good this team was a season ago, and how good they were at the start of this year, they may have taken another step in getting over that hill.
Loser: Pittsburgh Penguins
Its tough to try and compete for a playoff spot it what has become a young man's game. And as good as the Penguins are, they aren't getting any younger at this point. Mikael Granlund, Dmitry Kulikov, and Nick Bonino we're all brought into the mix and all three are over the age of thirty. Sure its a great thing for having former playoff hero Bonino back into the mix, but at the same time how much more magic does he have left?
Loser: New York Islanders
A small part of me feels weird putting this out there considering what the team has done. Giving up three young players and picks was a cost, but one that had to be made, in order to get a guy like Bo Horvat. It was also smart to be able to lock him up to a long term extension with the team. Then they go out and add Piere Engvall at the deadline, which was good. But why are they on the loser list here? When you look at what it cost to get some of the other players that were acquired heading into and coming out of the deadline, it feels like the team missed the boat on taking the next step to getting back into playoff contention. They sitting in a playoff spot as of this writing, but I just got a feeling that while what they did was good, they left stuff sitting out there on the table.
Oh and lets not forget about the Tampa Bay Lightning, who made a couple moves as well. They got rid of Cal Foot and a ton of picks for Tanner Jeannot. They also made moves to get rid of Vlad Nemesnakov in another tread. So they made some moves, but at the same time they didn't really do enough in my mind to really keep pace with the likes of Toronto and Boston did in their own division and even the likes of Carolina and Jersey in the conference. Let's not get it twisted the Bolts are still a good team and are going to make the playoffs. But they seem to be a bit out of sync at times and look like they might not be ready come playoff time. We will find out in the coming weeks.
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