NHL Trade Deadline Winners and Losers - (The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Losers)
Winnipeg Jets (Winner)
The Winnipeg Jets pulled the trigger early on Sean Monahan from the Montreal Canadiens back in early February. Since then the Jets are 9-4 in games with Monahan in the lineup.
Coming into the deadline, the Jets had a few holes to address, they needed to address their powerplay which ranks in the bottom 10 teams in the NHL and their penalty kill which also ranks in the bottom 10 in the league. The Jets also desperately needed defensemen who could handle the puck and contribute offensively.
Sean Monahan was the first step in addressing the powerplay and the second was bringing in Tyler Toffoli from the New Jersey Devils. Both of these guys rank among the top 20 percent in powerplay WAR and the addition of Toffoli gives the Jets the freedom to experiment with different combinations on the top line while still having a fairly deep second unit.
Toffoli is also an elite goal scorer at five-on-five, he ranks among the top five percent of forwards in shot contributions, scoring chances and shots off of high-danger passes. Once he returns from injury, he should fit right in alongside Sean Monahan and Nikolaj Ehlers who are both excellent passers.
Tyler Toffoli, acquired by WPG, is a veteran top six winger who loves to shoot the puck and uses his high hockey IQ to get to dangerous areas and score. Not a fast skater but nonetheless effective off the rush. Other aspects of his game seem a bit context-dependent. #GoJetsGo pic.twitter.com/jxZL4jZWvm
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) March 8, 2024
This combination on the second line should give the Jets a consistent secondary scoring punch and allow the Jets to keep their first line of Kyle Connor, Marc Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi together which has been dominant most of the year.
We will have to see if the Jets want to utilize Collin Miller the puck-moving defenseman that they brought in from the New Jersey Devils, or stick with Brendon Dillon or Dylan Samberg the more physical options, but either way, Miller is a great piece to have if one of these guys goes down with an injury.
The Jets failed to address their penalty-kill issues, but is that the biggest of deals when they have Connor Hellebuyck in the net?
Hellebuyck is likely going to win the Vezina Trophy this season, it is hard to blame the Jets for not going after goal-scoring to take some of the pressure off of their goalies. I thought the Jets had a very deep forward group before the deadline, but I think the addition of Tyler Toffoli will give them the consistent secondary scoring they need to make a deep playoff run.