2026 Trade Deadline Winners and losers

 We have many losers, and winners. Some thought players like Elias Pettersson, Jordan Binnington, Robert Thomas, Vincent Trochek and Colton Parayko would be traded. 

Now, Parayko was reportedly almost a Buffalo Sabre but as per Pat Maroon he claims Parayko loves the Blues too much and wanted to stay there. I felt that this trade deadline was one of the more boring ones in recent memory. 

My top five winners and losers.

1. Calgary Flames - In a rebuild mode sure, but after trading Mackenzie Weegar for Olli Maatta, Jonathan Castanga, two seconds, and trading Ryan Strome for a 7th round pick and acquiring another prospect in Brennan Othmann 

2. St. Louis Blues - Missing the playoffs, but trading away Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk to teams looking at contending and stocking up draft picks in what looks to be a rebuild. Also getting solid pieces with the draft picks, I think the Blues have got some good things coming towards them. I mean, I think Robert Thomas and Colton Parayko should remain with the Blues because they are career Blues and whatever the future holds they can guide the way, but as for Kyrou he should be traded as I think he'll do well elsewhere. 

3. Minnesota Wild - Aside from previous big moves, Bill Guerin continues to entertain as he manages to get Bobby Brink who is not just a talented player but a native to the state of Minnesota, and acquires not just a brother of a fan favourite, but a veteran and leader for many seasons in the NHL that's been apart of three original six teams which some might think is not that big of a deal. Well, Nick Foligno will help the Minnesota Wild in a lot of ways some don't get to see as he was a very valuable part of the Blue Jackets in his time there. 

4. Colorado Avalanche - Gearing up for a big run they get someone the room more than knows and adding another piece of depth in Nicolas Roy. I think these two pieces make Colorado a much more solid team going into the post-season. 

5. Winnipeg Jets - They didn't make big splashes, but I do love to see Schenn chase Mike Sillinger's record of most teams played for. I question trading Stanley given he's shown lots of improvement, but the Jets getting Isak Rosen who is a great young forward who was ripping it up with the Rochester Americans of the AHL and I believe he'll get his career back on track with the Jets, along with the three draft picks they got from Buffalo. 

HM: Los Angeles Kings - They got did a lot of moves in every aspect, both long-term and short-term. Acquiring Laughton, Panarin, and sending a pending free agent for a 2nd. This isn't bad. 

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HM: Dallas Stars - Not bad, but underwhelming and only traded away picks for two veterans. 

5. Ottawa Senators - Trading Perron away to make room for Foegele makes no sense to me as Perron is not just the better player but helps Ottawa, even in a stat of rebuild this is bad given they gave so much away for him at that value. 

4. Washington Capitals - I dislike the idea of the Capitals trading away arguably the best defenseman in their franchises history away to the Ducks. I think this kind of trade is screaming that Washington will be in rebuild mode. I mean the return isn't bad, but they also got a good return from Vegas for Nic Dowd. But losing Carlson is the biggest L for the CapitaLs. 

3. Edmonton Oilers - So, I have a theory Stan Bowman showed his loyalty to the Chicago Blackhawks in this trade in more ways than one. Traded away a signing that failed and a first round pick for Jason Dickinson, who joined the Hawks after Bowman left the organization, but traded for Colton Dach who was drafted by Bowman who is a native of Edmonton. But I personally not trading away a first for either one, maybe a second at most. But I say almost the same thing in the Oilers acquiring Connor Murphy who was in Chicago when Bowman was there. 

2. Vancouver Canucks - I'll try not to go too hard on the Canucks, the Myers trade was good but they could've gotten a lot more for Garland; Sherwood got more, and didn't trade what they needed which was Pettersson. I think they could've done better, and the fact they traded for Kane and couldn't trade him basically is the icing on the cake for how bad of a season it was. But they also traded a fourth for Reichel only to later be traded for a sixth! That is bad management right there!

1. New York Rangers - Drury doesn't deserve to be general manager of the New York Rangers. I said it before, the Rangers are one of the hardest teams to play for in the NHL! I could talk about the drafting because I thought Othmann could've flourished elsewhere as he's such a good hockey player, but my point here is they are not a team to draft CHL players in the first three rounds as it has failed miserably so many times! They are better when it comes to NCAA or played in a top-tier professional hockey league such as the SHL. They ended up not trading Trocheck. But when they traded away Panarin, that basically is telling us all the Rangers suck. Also, the trades they made were not just but or underwhelming, but they disappointed in ways that is bigger than the fanbase. 


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