Logan Stanley

February 21st: Toronto trades Shawn Matthias to Colorado for Colin Smith and a 2016 4th-round pick.

Toronto continued to shed veterans as they dealt Matthias to the Avalanche less than two weeks later. The team had no need for his expiring contract or veteran presence, and did well to get a fourth-round pick out of it. Smith was a huge addition for the AHL team down the stretch but hasn’t been as effective in his second go-round with the club.

Colorado struggled down the stretch and missed the playoffs, and watched Matthias walk out the door as a free agent. The veteran forward signed with the Winnipeg Jets for two years at $2.125MM per season. The 20 games and 11 points that Matthias gave them likely isn’t worth the 4th rounder.

February 22nd: Toronto trades Roman Polak and Nick Spaling to San Jose for Raffi Torres, a 2017 2nd-round pick and a 2018 2nd-round pick.

Again, Toronto traded expiring contracts for draft picks well before the deadline, this time sending bruising defenseman Polak and underachieving forward Spaling out west. The two would be part of the Sharks Stanley Cup run, coming up just shy against Pittsburgh in the final.

Spaling would head to Switzerland after the season was over, while Polak signed back with Toronto for $2.25MM. The Sharks used Polak in some tough minutes in the playoffs, and though he was exposed at times by the speed of other teams, he did provide depth on the right side. Torres was simply a salary equalizer, as Toronto would immediately loan him back to the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL to finish out the season.

Calgary trades Markus Granlund to Vancouver for Hunter Shinkaruk

In a swap of young forwards two Western Canadian teams would deal with each other a week before the deadline. Shinkaruk was the younger player with a higher pedigree, having been selected in the first-round in 2013, but had played just one game in the NHL at that point. He’s been bounced up and down this year, but is showing he can score at the AHL level with 17 points in 21 games.

Granlund was the more experienced player who also had some ability in the middle of the ice. Though he hasn’t been used much as a center this season, he has already set his career high in points with 20 through the first half of the season. Though Shinkaruk might still develop into an excellent NHL player, Granlund is showing that capability already.

February 23rd: Washington trades a 2017 3rd-round pick to Buffalo for Mike Weber.

With Washington headed to the playoffs as the league’s best team, and looking to make a deep run they decided to add some depth on the blueline with a veteran defender in Weber. Pointing to the New York Islanders from the year prior, coach Barry Trotz was unwilling to go into the playoffs without some depth.

Weber played just ten games down the stretch for the Caps, and got into two playoff matches. While he wasn’t needed to step in and log big minutes, adding depth for a playoff run is never a bad idea. The Sabres will take the draft pick this summer as their fifth selection in the first three rounds.

February 24th: Edmonton trades rights to Philip Larsen to Vancouver for a conditional 2017 5th-round pick.

An odd deal when it happened, Larsen was playing in the KHL at the time and had been since 2014. The former fifth-round pick of the Dallas Stars put up a great year in Russia last season and decided to come back to North America this year. He signed a one-year deal worth $1.025MM on July 1st and played 18 games for the Canucks this season.

Fans will remember the hit that possibly ended Larsen’s season from earlier this year, when Taylor Hall clobbered him behind the net. It’s unclear when Larsen will be back, if it is at all this year. That’s bad for Edmonton, who could have moved up to the fourth round had he hit certain undisclosed milestones.

February 25th: Winnipeg trades Andrew Ladd, Matt Fraser and Jay Harrison to Chicago for Marko Dano, a 2016 1st-round pick, and a 2018 conditional pick.

In the last big deal before the craziness of the last few days started, the Winnipeg Jets traded away captain Ladd to the team he helped win a Stanley Cup. Ladd would jump right back into the swing of things with the Hawks, scoring 12 points in 19 games down the stretch but would fall silent in the playoffs as the team would be eliminated in the first round.

The Hawks went for another Stanley Cup, bringing Ladd back and a handful of other players in the next few days. While they looked like a juggernaut, they met an equally talented St. Louis Blues team in the first round due to a seeding quirk and lost in seven games. They paid dearly to add at the deadline and will be feeling the impact down the road.

Ladd would walk in free agency, as Chicago didn’t have the cap space to match the massive deal he received from the New York Islanders. Perhaps it’s good they didn’t, as he’s had a terrible season and at times been demoted to the fourth line.

Dano on the other hand has struggled in Winnipeg to find his footing, sent down to the AHL at times to find his game. The former first-round pick of Columbus hasn’t been able to find consistency at the NHL level, but is still only 22 years old. Winnipeg used the pick to move up in the draft and select Logan Stanley from the Windsor Spitfires in the draft. The monstrous defenseman (6’7″ at last measurement) is having another solid year in the OHL and has a chance at a Memorial Cup. His future lies in the top-4 of the Jets blueline, though where exactly and how far from now is still up in the air.