Pacific Division check-in: Grading the trade deadline teams

Doing something a little different in this Pacific Division check-in. We’re not looking at the teams in terms of where they stand in the Pacific Division as of this morning. Instead, we’re looking at the teams and ranking them in terms of how well they did, or did not do at the trade deadline. Whether they were buyers or sellers, did they get the job done or come up short?

Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights continued to prepare itself for a potential Stanley Cup repeat by snagging one of the biggest fish on the market and adding a top center that no one knew was available. The Golden Knights added Noah Hanifin, Tomas Hertl, Anthony Mantha and the signing rights to prospect Mikhail Vorobyov at the trade deadline. Sticking with the plan, the team did not give up any significant roster players to make these deals happen and sold future picks and prospects instead.

In terms of deals that made the teams better before the trade deadline, Vegas may been the biggest winners in the NHL. The real question is if it will be enough. With 18 games left in the season, the Golden Knights are in the second wild card spot in the Pacific Division, just six points ahead of the Minnesota Wild and eight points up on the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues and Seattle Kraken. The Golden Knights are tied with the Los Angeles Kings, which hold the third spot in the Pacific Division and three points behind the Nashville Predators, which hold the first wild card spot.

If Vegas makes the playoffs, it will be dangerous. The trouble is, it’s got to figure out how to get there first without Mark Stone or Tomas Hertl in the mix.

Analysis: Vegas tops the list because, well, Vegas tops just about everyone’s list of trade deadline winners. Cap implications are tomorrow Vegas’ problem.

Calgary Flames

The Flames decided to become sellers a few weeks before the trade deadline and had some of the best assets to deal.

The Elias Lindholm trade to the Vancouver Canucks in January helped add some prospects in Joni Jurmo and Hunter Brzutewicz, as well as picks — a 2024 first-round pick and a 2024 fourth-round that becomes a third-round pick if Vancouver makes it to the Western Conference Finals. Calgary also received Andrei Kuzmenko.

In late February, Calgary dealt its next piece, Chris Tanev, to the Dallas Stars. The Stars also received the signing rights to prospect Cole Brady. In return, Calgary received prospect Artem Grushnikov and a 2024 second-round pick. If Dallas makes it to the Stanley Cup Finals this season, the Flames will also get a 2026 third-round pick.

Then Calgary traded Noah Hanifin to the Vegas Golden Knights and received Daniil Miromanov, a 2024 third-round pick that becomes a 2025 second-round pick if Vegas wins one round in this year’s playoffs and a 2026 first-round pick.

Calgary also made some smaller moves. It swapped prospects with the Dallas Stars, sending Mathias Emilio Pettersen to the Stars for Riley Damiani. Then it traded a 2024 fifth-round pick to the Sharks for Nikita Okhotiuk.

While not mathematically out of the playoff race — Calgary is eight points behind Vegas for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference — trading away your two best defensemen won’t make you better. Pencil Calgary in for the draft lottery.

Analysis: Adding two first-round picks helps put Calgary in the second place spot in terms of trade deadline moves. However, you have to wonder how much of this was self-inflicted. Taking too long to re-sign Tanev and Hanifin seemed to sour both players and sort of forced Calgary’s hands. Really, Calgary lands second on the list only because everyone else in the Pacific Division was boring.

Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks made some small moves at the deadline and compiled more picks, including a first-rounder. The big deal was trading Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick to the Edmonton Oilers. The Ducks received Edmonton’s 2024 first-round pick and a conditional 2025 fifth-round pick that turns into a 2025 fourth-round pick if Edmonton wins the Stanley Cup.

There were also some smaller moves. Anaheim sent Ilya Lybushkin to the Toronto Maple Leafs by way of the Carolina Hurricanes and received a 2025 third-round pick in return. It swapped prospects with Montreal, gaining Jan Mysak in exchange for Jacob Perreault. And the Ducks acquired prospect Ben Meyers from the Avalanche for a 2024 fifth-round pick.

Anaheim added a few picks and prospects while shipping out assets. Now, all that’s left is a race to the bottom for the Ducks.

Analysis: There were a lot of rumored moves surrounding the Ducks that never really came to be. There’s a time where a team needs to decide that it’s switching gears from tanking to trying to make the playoffs and deciding not to trade some of the team’s younger players with term (i.e., Frank Vatrano) probably indicates that Anaheim is starting to change directions. The first-round pick in the Carrick/Henrique deal is what earns Anaheim third place in the Pacific Division trade deadline rankings.

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks did the heavy lifting in late January, well before the trade deadline, adding Lindholm. While there were rumors that the Canucks were looking to trade up and send Lindholm to the Penguins for Jake Guentzel, that never came to be. The Canucks stood pat at the deadline.

Vancouver is first in the Western Conference with 91 points. It leads the Dallas Stars by two points in the standings and is ahead of the Edmonton Oilers by 10 points.

Analysis: Credit to the Canucks for making its moves well before the deadline. While time will tell if this team is enough to make it all the way to the Finals, management definitely went with a win now at any cost attitude.

Los Angeles Kings

While the Kings probably aren’t thrilled about everything that’s happened this season, the team is very clear that it’s all about the team that it has now. LA did not make any moves at the trade deadline and that includes keeping Pierre-Luc Dubois, who was rumored to be on the move. It was also rumored that Los Angeles tried to acquire Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins, but that never came to fruition, possibly because of Ullmark’s no-trade clause.

LA is clinging to the third spot in the Pacific Division and could squeak into the playoffs barring any losing stretches in the final games of the season.

Analysis: The Kings are in a playoff spot, yes, but the team also doesn’t see this as the year to win. Management should get some accolades for not wasting assets to try and give the team an extra piece. The patience is what ranks LA higher than other teams in the Pacific Division on this list.

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers made some small adds upfront at the deadline but did nothing to upgrade its blueline, which could come back to haunt the team in the near future. Edmonton acquired Troy Stecher from the Arizona Coyotes for a 2027 fourth-round pick.

It also received Carrick at 50% retained salary and Henrique at 50% retained salary from the Ducks. In addition to the picks it sent Anaheim to make the deal, Edmonton also had to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick to help make the money work. If the Oilers win the Stanley Cup this season, the Lightning’s pick becomes a 2026 fourth-rounder.

Edmonton is second in the Pacific Division, six points ahead of the Kings.

Analysis: While Edmonton is now better positioned to roll lines that don’t have Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl on them, its blueline is woefully lacking. As Sharks fans will remember from 2016, that’s all well and good until you meet another team with depth in the playoffs and your weaknesses get exposed. Edmonton gets one of the lowest scores simply because management didn’t address the team’s biggest weakness.

Seattle Kraken

Many people wondered if the Kraken were buyers or sellers at the deadline. It turns out the team wasn’t sure itself. The Kraken signed Jordan Eberle to a new contract and then traded Alex Wennberg to the New York Rangers for a 2024 second-round pick and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick that the Rangers acquired initially from the Stars.

While Seattle still has an outside chance of making the playoffs, it’s clear this isn’t a go for it year and rather let’s see how the boys in the locker room do.

Analysis: The Kraken feels like it’s rudderless and that’s probably the biggest problem. By standing pat and not taking advantage of one of its biggest assets at the trade deadline in Eberle, it chose to do nothing. Seattle gets last place for it’s noncommittal to a strategy.