What we should takeaway from the NHL Trade Deadline

Never believe the hype on prices and some teams missed on some big opportunities.

Looking at some of the big storylines from the NHL Trade Deadline this past week.

1. Never believe the hype on what it will take to acquire a player

This has always been, and still is, a huge thing with me anytime potential trades or trade rumors are discussed.

When a player reportedly hits the market, or a team is rumored to be trading a player, we get beaten over the head with reports of how outrageous the asking prices are and how it is going to cost a team multiple first-round picks, a top prospect, a good young NHL player, and probably something else to get a deal done.

This sends both fan bases into a frenzy, where the fans of the trading team expect an outrageous return and fans of the teams rumored to be interested are hesitant to get involved because they do not want to give up too much.

Then the actual trade happens and everybody sits around asking, “That’s it?”

With the exception of Tampa Bay’s trade for Tanner Jeannot, which also wasn’t even THAT costly when you consider the success rate of draft picks, pretty much every trade resulted in a pretty reasonable return, if not a full-blown buyer’s market.

Who really gave up too much for somebody at the deadline? What was the one trade where you said to yourself, “man, I would not have paid that price.”

I think there were some bad trades in the sense that they did not fit a team’s needs, or fit their situation. But even then the actual “value” given up was extremely reasonable. If not a potential steal for the buying team.

Over the past eight months the Ottawa Senators added a legit top-line winger (Alex DeBrincat) and a top-pairing defenseman (Jakob Chychrun), both of whom were under team control for multiple seasons at the time of the trade, and did not have to give up a single player or prospect from their organization. They did it all with draft picks, with only one of them being (most likely) in the top-10 of the draft.

The New Jersey Devils acquired Timo Meier, who will probably score 40-45 goals this season and be under team control for next season, without giving up Dawson Mercer or any of their best prospects.

Most of the rentals went for mid-round picks.

Do not let anybody ever tell you your team does not have the assets to make a trade to improve itself. The prices are never as high as you think. Do not buy into the hype of pre-trade rumors.

2. There are a lot of teams that do not have a plan

The team that stands out the most: Vancouver.

What the hell is this team even doing?

I have said before that the Canucks might be one of the most hopeless situations in the league, simply because they do not seem to have any sense of reality as an organization.