Chris Patrick woke up Friday morning to see what trades around the NHL he missed. Quickly, the Washington Capitals' first-year general manager figured out that his colleagues around the league weren't bluffing about what they wanted in return.
“Prices have gone up significantly,” he said to himself, then sending a second-round pick to archrival Pittsburgh for depth forward Anthony Beauvillier before the deadline Friday. "You had to decide, if you wanted to participate, you had to be good paying higher prices. ... Back to Econ 101, supply and demand. It was in full force.”
High prices were paid, big-name stars were among the 47 who changed places on deadline day alone. That doesn't even count the dozens traded over the previous week as the league's landscape was transformed.
“At the end of the day, one team’s going to be happy: the team that wins the Stanley Cup,” Columbus Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell said.
The Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers are now the co-betting favorites to do that in June, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. Only one team will win it, but there were plenty of winners and losers at the trade deadline.
He had to be traded twice in six weeks, but the pot of gold at the end of his Colorado to Carolina to Dallas voyage is a prominent role on a team with four players from Finland and the long-term security of an eight-year extension worth $96 million that matches his jersey number.
Instead of dealing with the uncertainty of unrestricted free agency, Rantanen will make $12 million a season through 2033. He also joins a top contender that already added Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci in early February, should get No. 1 defenseman Miro Heiskanen back for the playoffs and could even get Tyler Seguin back around the same time.
Dallas is that much better with Rantanen, who at 28 has scored at the seventh-highest playoff point-a-game rate in hockey history and owns a Cup ring from winning with the Avalanche in 2022.
“He’s in the prime of his career,” general manager Jim Nill said at his news conference in Frisco, Texas. “He’s one of the top forwards in the game. We think he’s a great fit for us, the connection with the Finns on our team and that.”
GM Eric Tulsky tried to spin it positively, and if his team wins it all under his watch either this year or in the near future, he will be validated. But giving up Martin Necas and Jack Drury in a three-team blockbuster in late Januar y for 13 games of Rantanen and then flipping him for Logan Stankoven and two first- and two third-round draft picks does little to help Carolina's chances this spring.
“We knew it was a risk," Tulsky said at his news conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. “It helps that, even in the downside where he decided not to sign, we were able to pivot and trade him and bring in a player in Logan who I think is going to be great for us, and bring in a lot of draft capital. Honestly, when you look back at the whole thing, we recovered a lot there and I’m pretty happy with where we ended up in the end.”
The Hurricanes, for this stretch run, ended up with Stankoven, Taylor Hall and journeyman forward Mark Jankowski, for whom they traded a fifth-round pick to Nashville. They're 11-1 to win the Cup on BetMGM.
It's not even about Beauvillier, who should slot in on the third line for the top team in the Eastern Conference. Carolina not having Rantanen and New Jersey losing leading scorer Jack Hughes for the remainder of the season because of shoulder surgery has parted the Capitals' path to the Eastern Conference final like the “Rock the Red” Sea.
Add in that the New York Rangers trading Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey to Colorado, and Reilly Smith to Vegas, and the Metropolitan Division is weaker than it was before.
“I'm not lying," Patrick said. “It was nice to see some big names go West.”
Still, Washington has to get the job done, having hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2018 more recently than the team has won a playoff series. Another thing to keep in mind is top prospect Ryan Leonard is almost certainly joining in time for the playoffs once completing his sophomore season at Boston College.
The Vancouver Canucks held on to Brock Boeser, a 28-year-old in his prime and just a year removed from a 40-goal season after GM Patrik Allvin said the offers for the pending unrestricted free agent were not good enough.
“If I told you what I was offered for Brock Boeser, I think I would have to run out of here because you would not believe me,” Allvin said at his news conference in Vancouver, during which he talked about not making any deadline day deals after trading Carson Soucy to the Rangers on Thursday. “There was not a whole lot of market return on our players unfortunately.”
Boeser could sign an extension to remain with the Canucks or hit the open market July 1. Maybe they get a motivated player down the stretch and get one of the West's two wild-card spots, but Boeser having no value around the league is not a good indicator of how other executives and coaches view him right now.
Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo — coupled with good enough goaltending — might help the Maple Leafs get over the hump to end the longest title drought in the league. But the defending champion Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning are also in the way.
For that reason, the best part of GM Brad Treliving's two additions at the deadline is each player being signed through next season — and Carlo through 2027. With the salary cap going up, Treliving can fill holes on his roster this summer and load up Toronto go for it all in 2026.
Part of that challenge is signing pending UFA Mitch Marner, but if he can keep his scoring touch going into the playoffs, he should be part of the organization's long-term future.
The free agent frenzy got a lot less frenzied with Rantanen off the market. It will be even less busy if Marner re-signs in Toronto and Brad Marchand fits in so well with the Panthers that he sticks around with Florida.
Patrick didn't hesitate in saying definitively, “It was a sellers' market.” Chicago got a first-round pick and possible goalie of the future for Seth Jones, Philadelphia held out for a first-rounder and got it for Laughton, and Buffalo was able to turn Dylan Cozens into Josh Norris and Jacob Bernard-Docker.
Last-in-the-league San Jose is having a rough go on the ice, but GM Mike Grier has the makings of a young core built around No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini and fellow rookie Will Smith. And he added a handful more high draft picks plus young forwards Zack Ostapchuk, Noah Gregor in a series of moves to stack up assets.
“We feel good about it,” Grier said. “It’s not easy, but we feel like we’re going in the right direction and we’re going to be a better team for it. Maybe not today, but down the road, for sure.”
AP freelance writer Denis Gorman contributed to this report.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Philadelphia Flyers' Scott Laughton plays during an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
FILE- San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini celebrates after scoring a goal against the Nashville Predators during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
Carolina Hurricanes' Mikko Rantanen (96) concentrates on the puck as Boston Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo (70) looks on during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
