The 2023 NHL season is over, and now is the time to make judgements on how useful (or useless) everyone’s deadline deals were. Of course, one notable omission is the Florida Panthers: while the main narrative here is an 8 seed making an underdog run, one fact that may have slipped under the radar is that the Panthers have done it all without making any notable trades in-season. Perhaps this is an argument against deadline rentals? Here’s how the more active teams fared.

Vegas Golden Knights (Ivan Barbashev): A+

Even with the loaded roster of long-term pieces who powered Vegas to victory, it’s safe to say that Barbashev has been one of the most impactful adds that any team made at the deadline this year. Mostly playing on the top line with Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault, Barbashev has put up 18 points in 22 games. Barbashev is obviously not Vegas’ best or most impactful player, but it is notable how well he has meshed on Eichel’s wing. Usually a poor defensive player, Eichel has become a true 200-foot top line center in these playoffs, and Barbashev’s physical play is a helpful part in unlocking that. This is probably a situation where renting the player is better than buying him outright; I imagine Barbashev is about to get a hefty contract this summer, and I figure that anyone paying him in the $5M+ range will be disappointed with the results.

Carolina Hurricanes (Shayne Gostisbehere, Jesse Puljujärvi): C-

The Canes are a really good team, who didn’t need to add a whole lot. That’s helpful for them going forward, because GM Don Waddell did not add a whole lot. Gostisbehere was always a weird acquisition (why bring in someone who’s best skill is being a power play quarterback to a team that already had Brent Burns??), and indeed he didn’t help Carolina much in the long run, with just 3 points in 15 games, albeit on surprisingly good defensive analytics. Jesse Puljujärvi did what Jesse Puljujärvi does: post the best xGA/60 on the team in the playoffs, but create absolutely nothing on offense (his xGF/60 was just 11th out of 14 Carolina forwards, and most importantly, he had 0 goals and just 1 assist in 7 games). The only saving grace for Carolina on these trades is that they gave up very little for both players. Waddell still own a draft pick in every round this year if he want to try for a summer trade.

Toronto Maple Leafs (Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn, Noel Acciari, Jake McCabe, Erik Gustafsson): C

The Leafs made so many moves, it’s hard to say whether the overall result was good or bad. Ryan O’Reilly scored a bunch in a Leafs jersey. Luke Schenn played some of the best hockey of his life in spring of 2023. I have no problem calling those trades good ones. The problems arise in other areas. Why trade Rasmus Sandin for Erik Gustafsson? Sandin was phenomenal for Washington. Gustafsson was mostly a healthy scratch in Toronto. Toronto media praised McCabe’s physicality, but he ultimately didn’t add much to the squad’s overcrowded blue line (a -7 rating in 11 playoff games). Acciari did little. In order to make the salary cap work, Kyle Dubas had to trade away Pierre Engvall. Engvall produced for the Islanders, finishing the year as the team’s #3 goal scorer on a per-minute basis. The “C” grade feels fair for a team that simultaneously went further than ever in the Core 4 era, and had an underwhelming exit from the playoffs. McCabe is the only member of this group under contract for the Leafs going forward; bringing back O’Reilly on a decent contract would boost this grade.

Dallas Stars (Max Domi, Evgeni Dadonov): A-

Far too many fans judge teams purely based on the end result: either you win, and every move the GM made was great, or you lose, and the GM did a bad job. Dallas fell short of the big prize, but Jim Nill got 2 forwards for cheap, and both had very good playoff runs. Max Domi struggled to crack the Vegas defense in the western conference finals (just 2 points in 6 games), but he led the team in even strength points in the seven game series against the Seattle Kraken, and ended the playoffs tied with Roope Hintz as the team co-leader in that stat. Dadonov, after an awkward exit from Vegas last season and a dreadful half year in Montreal, put up 25 points in 39 games for Dallas between the regular season and playoffs. Dallas got the pair for the low price of one 2nd round pick, the dead cap of Anton Khudobin, and the negative value that Denis Gurianov’s contract gave them. While Max Domi is almost definitely out the door, Jim Nill showed savvy getting some secondary scoring.

Minnesota Wild (John Klingberg): B

The Wild got nowhere in the playoffs, losing in the first round to Dallas in 6 games, but don’t let that distract you from John Klingberg’s surprisingly solid second season. His 1 year, 7 mil contract with Anaheim last summer was a baffling move, and his production with the Ducks was disastrous. But in Minnesota, Klingberg scored 9 points in 17 games in the regular season, 4 in 4 playoff games, and his 56% xG rating led all Wild defensemen in the playoffs. His connection with Brock Faber wasn’t enough to carry the team to a series win, and with the Wild’s cap situation it seems impossible for him to return, but Klingberg did his part to help the team.

New York Rangers (Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Tyler Motte): D

No forward came out of the Rangers’ first round defeat to the Devils looking good, exactly, but Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko are near the top of the blame list. The Rangers, as a team, gave up 3.15 xG/60 in the playoffs. That’s pretty bad. Kane gave up 3.5 xG/60, and Tarasenko 3.7. Even worse. Kane and Tarasenko were elite offensive talents in their primes, but even back then both players were lazy defensively. Now, they are both lazy and slow defensively, and the offense has dried up. I don’t think the Rangers will keep either player, but I think that letting some other team pay them for the next few years is a blessing in disguise. Again, the only thing keeping the Rangers out of the F tier is the fact that they didn’t give up all that much: the first round pick traded for Tarasenko ended up being 29th overall, and none of Kane’s trade conditions were met so the highest draft pick given to Chicago was #55. Still, Chris Drury’s bet on two veteran all-stars was a colossal bust.

Boston Bruins (Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov, Garnett Hathaway): C-

It would be easy to say that since the Bruins flopped out of the playoffs worse than any team in the history of the NHL, they deserve the worst grade. I don’t think that’s fair. Todd Bertuzzi was their leading scorer in the playoffs, and Orlov their top scoring defenseman. In a vacuum, both of those trades were decent, and I think that every team would have done the same thing if they were in Boston’s situation. But the end result here is that the Bruins won 0 playoff rounds, have 0 chance to keep Bertuzzi and Orlov in the future, and have 0 first or second round picks until 2025. I’m not sure how many years the current Boston core has left as a serious contender. If they find themselves in first place again next season, they will have no good draft picks to trade at the 2024 deadline. Every move that Don Sweeney made was logical, and the players he got were not flops, but his squad was unable to capitalize on it in any way and look to be in a bad spot going forward.