The trade deadline has passed and the Toronto Maple Leafs have made their moves to load up for the playoffs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are sitting in a very difficult division with both of the Florida teams looking stronger after their deadline moves. The Leafs made very expensive and very minor upgrades.
There were tons of moves around the league with one of the craziest deadlines we have seen recently. From depth moves to stars changing teams, we saw it all.
There are many more teams that I could discuss but here are my winners and losers of the trade deadline.
3 Winners of the Trade Deadline
The Big Winner: The Dallas Stars
This pick is pretty obvious.
Dallas has been having a great year, sitting second in the Central Division and second in the Western Conference with a 41-9-2 record.
Their deadline acquisition was the best player available this year, Mikko Rantanen. In the deal, they locked Rantanen up on an eight-year deal with an average annual value of 12 million dollars. In the deal, they gave up two first-round picks, two third-round picks and promising young forward, Logan Stankoven (salary statistics from PuckPedia.com).
This Stars team had an already stacked forward core and just added a top 15 player in the NHL. He brings playoff pedigree and will be a vital part of their playoff run this year and for the next few years.
They also got another important piece of work completed extending a young cornerstone of their lineup, Wyatt Johnston. The Stars and Johnston agreed to a five-year deal with an AAV of 8.4 million dollars. This deal is great for Dallas with the cap expected to go up substantially in the next couple of seasons. The 21-year-old has played 62 games this season scoring 23 goals and 36 assists for 59 total points. (stats from NHL.com).
The only weakness on this team is the right side of our defence. They're also currently missing Miro Heiskanen as he comes back from injury. Hopefully, they can get him back at his best and go on a deep run. They're one of the favourites out of the west.