The days leading up to the 2024 NHL trade deadline included some massive swaps, with contending teams hoping to bolster their Stanley Cup Playoff chances, and rebuilding teams looking to add to their draft capital and prospect pools.

Friday’s final flurry included 23 completed trades featuring 33 players, none more of a shock than the Vegas Golden Knights acquiring All-Star center Tomas Hertl from the San Jose Sharks.

Which teams and players won the day? Who might not feel as well about the situation after trade season? Reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski identify the biggest winners and losers of the 2024 NHL trade deadline:

WINNERS

A top-six forward, a top-nine forward and a top-pairing defenseman. Getting one of those three would be a victory at the deadline. Landing two of them would be even better. Yet the Golden Knights got all three by landing Anthony Mantha, Noah Hanifin and unexpectedly getting Tomas Hertl in a series of moves that sets them up well to win a consecutive title.

Moving Mark Stone to long-term injured reserve was polarizing. For skeptics, it was viewed as a bit convenient that the Golden Knights’ captain was hurt around the trade deadline for a second consecutive season. For proponents, they saw it as the Golden Knights being proactive at a time in which the team had lost four straight and eight of their last 10, while also dealing with injuries beyond Stone.

Placing Stone on LTIR along with getting the Calgary Flames and Washington Capitals to retain salaries for Hanifin and Mantha, respectively, is what allowed them to be in a position to make the move to get Hertl. It sets the Golden Knights up to have Hertl for the next six seasons, with the idea they could get an extension done for Hanifin before the playoffs.

Even if the Golden Knights don’t win the Cup this year, having Hertl and possibly Hanifin sets them up for the long term considering what is facing them this offseason. The Golden Knights have a number of financial decisions to make with players like William Carrier, Jonathan Marchessault, Alec Martinez and Chandler Stephenson. But the big message here is that the Knights are most definitely all in to win again. — Clark

It was less than a year ago that the Jets were supposed to be the team that was going to have to trade its top center and franchise goalie before free agency, fading into rebuilding status. Of course, then they re-signed Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck, surged in the standings as one of the league’s best defensive teams and became one of the deadline’s most aggressive buyers.

They acquired Montreal’s Sean Monahan, the second-best UFA center on the market, ahead of the All-Star Game. They acquired New Jersey’s Tyler Toffoli, the second-best UFA scoring winger on the market, and Devils defenseman Colin Miller on deadline day to keep pace with the Western Conference arms race.

GM Kevin Cheveldayoff addressed needs, rewarded his players for a great season and positioned the Jets for a long playoff run. Which, considering their recent revenue laments, they certainly could use. — Wyshynski

Kuznetsov was so thrilled to be joining the Hurricanes he was at practice on Friday — the day Carolina acquired him in a trade with Washington — in order to hit the ground running. And why wouldn’t Kuznetsov be stoked? The center was in dire need of a fresh start and he’s getting one on a team that’s loaded up for a long playoff run.

Kuznetsov was Conn Smythe-worthy leading the Capitals in playoff scoring when they won the Cup in 2018. The seasons since haven’t been so fruitful, and this season in particular has been rough, on and off the ice for him. The Hurricanes aren’t looking for a star turn from Kuznetsov though; they just need him to complement the top-tier talents (including freshly acquired Jake Guentzel) in the lineup. That’s a perfect position for Kuznetsov to be in after spending much of this season trying to live up to out-matched expectations in Washington.

True, Kuznetsov is not (and may never be) the player he once was, but that doesn’t mean he can’t find a role in Carolina that showcases some of the skill set that previously made him such a potent player. — Shilton

The Avalanche used this deadline to answer two major questions. How could they get a second-line center? And what was the ultimate plan with Bowen Byram?

Two deals that were separated by less than 10 minutes answered both. Moving Ryan Johansen to the Philadelphia Flyers allowed them to free up a top-nine space in order to get a top-four defenseman in Sean Walker. That, in turn, allowed the Avalanche to trade Byram to the Buffalo Sabres to get their second-line center in Casey Mittelstadt, who will be a pending restricted free agent at the end of the season.

Everything that made Byram a first-round pick in 2019 is also what made him expendable, in a manner of speaking. He was drafted with the potential that he could be a top-pairing puck mover who could run a first-team power-play unit and eat minutes with ease. The problem: The Avs have Cale Makar and Devon Toews, which made a top-pairing role difficult to claim. Adding Walker allowed them to have a top-four defenseman in hand before sending Byram to Buffalo; of note, he scored his first goal as a Sabre in his first game.

Even after those additions, the Avs still continued to build around the edges by getting Brandon Duhaime and Yakov Trenin. Adding those four players before the deadline puts the Avs in shape to chase another Cup, their second in three years. — Clark

Okposo gave everything he had to the Buffalo Sabres. He wanted to be part of the solution for that franchise. However, it’s been clear for months that the Sabres won’t be making the turn this season. And given Okposo’s age (35) and contract status (pending UFA), it was right by Buffalo to send Okposo to the NHL’s top team — that would be the Florida Panthers — in exchange for a seventh-round draft choice.

The decision was as emotional for GM Kevyn Adams as it was Okposo — who has captained the Sabres since 2022-23 — but the veteran hasn’t seen a playoff game during his entire tenure in Buffalo (his last appearance was in 2015-16 with the New York Islanders) and the Panthers have a real chance to make another deep run.

Okposo brings the Panthers a wealth of experience and solid bottom-six depth. With no guarantees about where he’ll wind up next season, this is an ideal opportunity for Okposo to chase an elusive championship. — Shilton

Salary retention

One reason why the 2024 deadline ended up being as bonkers as it was? Creative accounting.

From Feb. 28 through Friday’s deadline, there were 19 cases of salary retention in order for trades to be facilitated, from Jake Guentzel (50% by the Penguins) to Tomas Hertl (17.05% by the Sharks).

Noah Hanifin, Adam Henrique, Chris Tanev and Ilya Lyubushkin all had double retention on their salaries, with a third team getting involved in their trades.

This is what life looks like under the salary cap now in the NHL: From Jan. 30, 2023 through last season’s trade deadline, there were 22 cases of salary retention. — Wyshynski

LOSERS

It’s entirely possible that holding firm and not bringing any outside help will be fine for the Red Wings. But every Eastern Conference team that was in a playoff spot Friday made at least one move at the deadline — and some of the others were considerably larger.

Yes, the Red Wings made one move, sending Klim Kostin to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Radim Simek and a seventh-round draft pick. Cap Friendly projected the Red Wings to have more than $14 million in deadline cap space; this raises the question on what they could have potentially done to help reach the postseason for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

Counter to that line of thought is the notion that the Wings can always turn to their farm system in Grand Rapids. Trading Kostin does hypothetically create an opening for someone like forward Jonatan Berggren. He’s already made an impression with two goals and five points in nine games with the Red Wings, after scoring 19 goals and 46 points in 43 games with the Griffins.

The Red Wings did quite a bit of business in the offseason, and added Patrick Kane during the season. Again, those previous decisions could be enough and none of this may matter come April. But there’s also the reality of what lies ahead with the wild-card race. The Islanders are only two points behind while the New Jersey Devils, with a new coach and revamped goalie tandem, is within six points with 19 games left. — Clark

The Devils finally addressed their goaltending, ranked 31st in the NHL in save percentage, by acquiring Kaapo Kahkonen from the Sharks and Jake Allen from the Canadiens. Kähkönen has an expiring contract. Allen is signed through next season, but the Canadiens’ salary retention means the Devils get him for $1.9 million AAV.

Those moves happened with 19 games remaining in the regular season, after firing coach Lindy Ruff with 21 games left in the season and having a percentage chance of making the playoffs of under 10%, per Stathletes.

GM Tom Fitzgerald said they tried to get Allen earlier, but he wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause earlier in the season. They traded leading goal-scorer Tyler Toffoli to Winnipeg after being unable to convince him to take a short-term contract extension. That trade came after trades involving other scoring wingers set the market.

It’s too little, too late for this season, but it does set them up for the summer by getting Vitek Vanecek off their cap in the Sharks trade. They’re going to take another run at Jacob Markstrom this summer, and a Markstrom/Allen goalie tandem would be a very solid foundation for a bounce-back season in 2024-25. — Wyshynski

San Jose was active around the deadline, we’ll give them that. It’s just that some of their activity was … strange. And frankly, they looked to have gotten fleeced.

First of all, let’s unpack that Tomas Hertl bombshell. The Sharks get a 2025 first-round draft pick and the player Vegas selected in the first round last year (forward David Edstrom) for Hertl and a pair of third-round draft choices … and they retain 17% of his salary for next six seasons. That effectively uses the bulk of San Jose’s open slots for salary retention from now until 2026-27, which effectively handcuffs a rebuilding team in future transactions. Weird.

Then there’s the trade with New Jersey for Vitek Vanecek in exchange for Kaapo Kahkonen (oh, and San Jose gets a 2025 seventh-round pick). Vanecek has one year remaining at $3.4 million. Kahkonen is a UFA at the end of this season. So the Devils delivered a major salary cap dump into the Sharks’ lap for … what? San Jose could potentially turn Vanecek back into the productive goaltender he was last season in New Jersey, but from a pure business perspective that deal just doesn’t make much sense. At 3 p.m. ET on Friday, the Sharks only seemed worse off than they were starting the day. And that’s a tough place to be when you’re — checks standings — already 31st overall. — Shilton

Games on trade deadline day

People have strong feelings about, well, everything when it comes to the sports world. But bringing up the fact the NHL has games on trade deadline day is one of those subjects that’s going to lead to a lot of discussion.

The common thread for people against having games on deadline day is that it’s too many moving parts at once. Especially when you start to factor when the actual trades themselves happen. For example, a player on the East Coast could have already gone through morning skate and meetings (unless they were told to stay home). A player on the West Coast could be on their way into morning skate and meetings when they find out that they’ve been moved. At least with no games, a player would either be at their team’s respective facility or at home before having to move on to join their new team.

There’s also the challenge deadline day presents to teams. While there might be franchises that have the staffing, others might have one part of the organization in their home city while another is hundreds, if not, thousands of miles away. At least by having everyone in the same city on a dark night on the schedule, it makes handling the countless demands of deadline day more manageable than having people scattered in different cities. — Clark

GM Craig Conroy is guilty of the law of diminishing returns. He nailed the Tyler Toffoli trade last summer. I gave him an ‘A’ on the Elias Lindholm trade with the Canucks.

Then came the Chris Tanev trade with Dallas. Not a big fan of that one. He had the best defensive defenseman on the market, retained 50% of his salary and only pulled a low second-round pick, another pick that only manifests if Dallas makes the Stanley Cup Final and Artem Grushnikov, who wasn’t among the Stars’ top defensive prospects.

Then came the Noah Hanifin trade. For the best defenseman available and retaining 50%, the Flames pulled a 2026 first-rounder, a potential 2025 second and minor league defenseman Daniil Miromanov, who is one year younger than Hanifin.

The Flames have been praised in some circles for their haul of draft picks. It’s quantity over quality. The Flames had the two best defensemen and the best center at the deadline and pulled some low firsts, a bunch of thirds and no blue-chip prospects. — Wyshynski

Los Angeles simply failed to enter the trade deadline chat. And that’s a problem.

The Kings have had an up-and-down season to date that’s included inconsistent play and a coaching change. Now they’re mired in a heated battle for Western Conference playoff positioning and the teams around them did not follow their lead standing pat. Both Vegas — right on L.A.’s heels in the Pacific Division — and Nashville — holding the top wild-card spot in the West — made additions. They project to be better now than before.

Meanwhile, the Kings did not get in the mix on anyone. Even worse, they were essentially rejected by Boston goaltender Linus Ullmark; the Kings reportedly almost had a deal done with the Bruins for the goalie, but Ullmark nixed it with the power of his no-trade clause. Therefore, the Kings came away empty-handed and will have to hope the roster it has now is strong enough to hold up into the playoffs. — Shilton

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