NHL fans love to see big name players traded, unless it is your team’s player. Players like Erik Karlsson, Artemi Panarin, Ryan McDonagh, and even the great one Wayne Gretzky have all been traded. NHL trades are very intricate when they occur, it is often more than just you take my player and I take yours type of thing. With the NHL Trade Deadline just under 3 months away let's take a look at what it takes to get an NHL trade through in today's game.
For starters trades are managed by the GM of the hockey team, so in order to make a trade you must have another GM that you are in good relations with, this is why a lot of today's NHL teams trade with only a few teams. When a GM ruins the relationship with another team by going after one of their free agents, or maybe just being large rivals with the team will avoid trading with one another.
Here is a few teams in recent years that have traded with just a handful of teams. The Chicago Blackhawks have traded with 2 teams primarily in recent years. Arizona and Carolina. Over the last few season the Blackhawks have sent Nick Shmaltz Richard Panik, Vinnie Hinostroza, and the contract of Marion Hossa for Brendan Perlini, Dylan Strome, Anothony Duclair, and Marcus Kruger from the Arizona Coyotes. These are just a few of the players included in the trades between the Arizona coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks have also traded a lot with the Carolina Hurricanes, trading Scott Darling, Bryan Bickell, and Teuvo Terravainen all for draft picks from the team. This proves that Chicago’s GM Stan Bowman has a good relationship with the Arizona GM, John Chaka, and the Carolina GM, Don Waddell. It is not just the Chicago GM that has traded with just a few teams over the years.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are one of the hottest teams in the NHL, they are favored to win the Stanley Cup. The team features multiple New York Rangers that were on the President Trophy winning team in 2014. Steve Yzerman, the Tampa Bay GM who stepped down earlier this year, set up the Lightning roster in a very interesting way. The Lightning traded for Ryan McDonagh and JT Miller from the New York Rangers last year, and gave the Rangers draft picks for the players. That was after they acquired Anton Stralman, Dan Girardi, and Ryan Callahan through trading and free agent signings. The New York Rangers GM Jeff Gorton’s team is rebuilding, he knew that Tampa Bay would pay high for his players and now has a surplus of draft picks and prospects to help build his team.
The Ottawa Senators have been filled with drama on and off the ice, Pierre Dorion, the GM of the Ottawa Senators, traded Mike Hoffman to the San Jose Sharks hoping to keep Hoffman out of the Eastern Conference. San Jose then flipped Hoffman back to the East for draft picks from the Florida Panthers something that enraged Dorion. All of this occured in June of 2018. Come September San Jose wanted to acquire Erik Karlsson from the Senators. Doug Wilson, the Gm of San Jose, had to pay high to get Karlsson. Multiple draft picks went to Ottawa, including the picks San Jose grabbed for Hoffman, and a clause was added to the trade that if Erik Karlsson was traded back to the Eastern Conference San Jose would give Ottawa another first round draft pick before 2022. Because Doug Wilson ruined his relationship with Pierre Dorrion when he traded Mike Hoffman he had to pay extra high for Erik Karlsson.
It is not just Ottawa and San Jose who do not like to trade with each other. Often teams in the same division will avoid trades because they play each other so often. When a trade does occur it needs to be really good for the receiving side, like when Nashville traded a high prospect and a first round draft pick for Ryan Hartman during last years trade deadline. David Poile’s Predators were about to go on a President Trophy leading run to the Playoffs. He wanted to improve his teams depth and was interested in Ryan Hartman from the Hawks. The Blackhawks, who were about ruled out of the playoffs at that time would make a trade but it needed to be very good for them to trade with Nashville. So the Hawks traded a depth player for a high end prospect and a first round pick in the draft.
To recap, it takes a lot to make a trade in the
NHL. Teams won't trade with teams in their own division, and often only trade with a few teams. Despite that teams need to be willing to trade a player they deem not needed, and must want to take on the contract of the player being brought in. This is why Brent Seabrook will be a Chicago Blackhawk for the rest of his career, and why Milan Lucic will never leave Edmonton.
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