Grading the 2016 trade market: the Eastern Conference

On Thursday, we went through the Western Conference and graded each team on the trades they made in 2016. Today, it’s the Eastern Conference’s turn.

Once again, we’ll use the database at nhltradetracker.com, and we’ll be focused on trades that involved at least one actual player. Each team gets a grade based on their trading only—if the GM did other things right, that’s fine, but it doesn’t show up here.

And yes, technically, a team could render all of this moot by pulling off a monster blockbuster when the holiday trade freeze is lifted a few days before New Year’s Eve. Let’s just say I’m guessing that won’t happen. Prove me wrong, NHL GMs!

Boston Bruins

Best deal: Anthony Camara and two picks to Carolina for Jean-Michael Liles. Liles is still on the team, so this one wins by default.

Worst deal: A second and fourth to New Jersey for Lee Stempniak. Normally when you make a deadline rental deal, you'd like to at least make the playoffs.

To be determined: What Don Sweeney has been doing since the trade deadline.

Total trades: Two

Overall grade: D+. Despite being linked in several high-profile rumors, deadline day was it for Boston. They've been better than expected this year, so we can't dump on them too much. Still, teams that have missed the playoffs two straight years don't typically take the conservative approach.

Buffalo Sabres

Best deal: A fourth to St. Louis for Anders Nilsson. It flew under the radar at the time, but Nilsson's been very good so far this year.

Worst deal: A third rounder to Nashville for Jimmy Vesey. You can see what Tim Murray was doing here, and it was a gamble worth making. But in hindsight, the Sabres gave up a decent pick for nothing at all.

To be determined: Jason Akeson, Philip Varone and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc to Ottawa for Michael Sdao, Alexander Guptill, Cole Schneider and Eric O`Dell. I have no recollection of this seven-player deal happening, none of the players are young enough to be prospects, and only Schneider is in the NHL. When you get together with your uncle, you swap funny stories. When Tim Murray does it, he swaps seven career minor-leaguers.

Total trades: Six

Overall grade: C+. After a busy last few years, Murray eased off in 2016. That's understandable, but he may need to get busy again in 2017.

Carolina Hurricanes

Best deal: A second and a third to Chicago for Bryan Bickell and Teuvo Teravainen. The Hurricanes found a big market team straining against the cap and took advantage.

Worst deal: Eric Staal to the Rangers for two seconds and Aleksi Saarela. Not a bad deal, and almost certainly the best they could reasonably do. But when you trade The Franchise, you'd like to think you're going to get a major haul in return. They didn't quite.

To be determined: Future considerations to Vancouver for Dane Fox. Fox is minor league depth, so there's not much to see here. I just wanted to point out that this happened in March, making it one of those rare "after the trade deadline" moves.

Total trades: Seven

Overall grade: A-. The Teravainen move was a steal, and even the Staal deal was decent.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Best deal: Ryan Johansen for Seth Jones, if only for the sheer "holy cow" moment when it was announced. Midseason blockbusters are so rare these days, it was fun to see one actually pulled off.

Worst deal: Kerby Rychel to the Leafs for Scott Harrington and a conditional pick. Rychel is still a quasi-prospect, although he hasn't done anything in Toronto yet. Look, it's slim pickings in Columbus.

To be determined: I guess it's that Ryan Stanton/Cody Goloubef deal, since it's the only other one they made.

Total trades: Three

Overall grade: B. The Blue Jackets only made three deals all year? What do they think they are, Cup contenders? [Double-checks.] Oh. OK then, carry on I guess.

>> Read the full post at Sportsnet

Grading the 2016 trade market: the Western Conference

We’re now into the NHL’s holiday trade freeze, which began on Monday night and runs through next Wednesday. That’s the time of year when GMs don’t trade because they’re not allowed to, which is not to be confused with the rest of the year, when GMs don’t trade because they don’t want to.

OK, that’s a little harsh. The art of the deal has been disappearing from NHL front offices for years now, for a variety of reasons. But trades do still happen, even if they’re less frequent and have less impact. So with New Year’s approaching, now seems like a good time to look back at all the deals made in 2016 and hand out grades to all 30 NHL teams.

We’ll use the database at nhltradetracker.com, and we’ll only worry about deals that involved an actual player—no picks-for-picks shuffling. We’ll look at the best and worst deals that each team made, and we’ll assign everyone a final grade. (Would it be more accurate to wait a few years to see how each deal turns out in the long-term before evaluating it? Sure, but that’s not as much fun, so we’re doing it now.)

To be clear, we’re giving out grades for trades only, not overall front-office performance—if a team knocked it out of the park with drafting and free agency but didn’t do much wheeling and dealing, they won’t score well here. We’ll do the Western Conference today, and be back with the Eastern Conference on Saturday.

And remember, NHL GMs... if you're not happy with your mark, you still have a few days after the trade freeze to change it.

Anaheim Ducks

Best deal: Frederik Anderson to Toronto for a first and a second (plus Jonathan Bernier in a technically separate but related deal). Andersen has been good for the Leafs after a rocky start, but if the Ducks had decided to move on from a guy who needed a new contract, they did well to get two high picks back.

Worst deal: Carl Hagelin for David Perron and Adam Clendening. At the time, it seemed like a reasonable "change of scenery"-type deal, and the Ducks won plenty after it was made. But Hagelin became a key part of a Cup winner, while neither Perron or Clendening are still in the Ducks organization.

To be determined: Michael Sgarbossa to Florida for Logan Shaw in a one-for-one swap of guys who are too old to be prospects but too young to be NHL washouts. As a side note, this apparently minor deal reportedly reflected some of the behind-the-scenes problems in Florida.

Total trades: Ten, if we count Bernier separately

Overall grade: C+. The Andersen deal was solid, and you certainly can't accuse Bob Murray of standing pat. But the rental deals didn't help the Ducks get out of the first round, and most of the players they acquired are already out of the organization.

Arizona Coyotes

Best deal: Two draft picks for Lawson Crouse and Dave Bolland. This is the kind of deal the Coyotes should be making—they're eating a terrible contract, but got something of value in return. How much value? Crouse hasn’t shown much at the NHL level yet, but there are flashes, and there's plenty of time.

Worst deal: A first and second plus Joe Vitale to Detroit for Pavel Datsyuk and a slightly better first. Remember when we all thought the Red Wings would have to pay through the nose to dump Datsyuk's contract? Unlike the Bolland deal, this time the Coyotes somehow gave up more than they got.

To be determined: A second rounder to Tampa for Anthony DeAngelo. It's early, but first impressions of DeAngelo have been solid.

Total trades: Twelve

Overall grade: B+. You can't say the Coyotes weren't creative. It hasn't paid off much in the present, but then again, that's not the point quite yet in Arizona.

Calgary Flames

Best deal: Kris Russell to Dallas for two prospects and a second. At the risk of setting off yet another round of the Great Kris Russell Debate, let's just say that this was a solid deadline-day haul for a player the Flames weren't bringing back.

Worst deal: A second and a conditional third to St. Louis for Brian Elliott. It looked like a steal at the time, but Elliott had a rough start in Calgary. He's been better recently, so maybe there's still time to salvage this, but sometimes smart gambles just don't pay off.

To be determined: Hunter Shinkaruk to Vancouver for Markus Granlund. The rare prospect-for-prospect deal has favoured the Canucks so far, which you'd expect given Granlund is a little bit older.

Total trades: Six

Overall grade: B-. Solid work, but the Elliott deal brings the grade down, at least for now.

>> Read the full post at Sportsnet

Grab bag: Why the NHL's marketing fails

In the Friday Grab Bag:
- Why the NHL's marketing sucks and always will
- My favorite part of every new arena proposal
- An obscure player who shows up on a surprising list
- The week's three comedy stars
- And we travel back to 1992 to learn a new language with a teenaged Eric Lindros

>> Read the full post at Vice Sports