SIMMONS: Maple Leafs not the only ones who loaded up big for Stanley Cup playoffs
GM Brad Treliving got the third-line centre, top-four defenceman he needed, but Florida, Tampa Bay loaded up as well
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Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving had a terrific day — picking up Scott Laughton from Philadelphia and Brandon Carlo from Boston.
They needed a third-line centre and a top-four defenceman and now they have both of them.
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Panthers general manager Bill Zito had a terrific few days — picking up Seth Jones from Chicago for his Stanley Cup championship team and shocking the hockey world by adding what’s left of Brad Marchand from Boston.
They needed a top-four defenceman and now they have better than that in Jones and they have the Bruins’ captain, Marchand, for however long this season continues and whatever he can still contribute.
Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois had a terrific trade deadline — adding Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde from Seattle.
Coach Jon Cooper didn’t like the depth on his roster midway through the season. Now they have more scoring in Bjorkstrand and more compete with a winning resume in Gourde.
The competitive Atlantic Division of the NHL, where a team from Florida has played in the Stanley Cup final five years in a row, was top heavy prior to Friday’s deadline. Now, it’s crazy strong with just a quarter of the regular season to go.
And if finishing first in any division mattered most yesterday, it matters more than that today.
The team that finishes first gets the opportunity to play a wild card team in the playoffs. The teams that finish second or third in the Atlantic will see one of them eliminated two weeks into the Stanley Cup season.
One of them being a great team — a legitimate contender.
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That’s the beauty and the challenge of this playoff format. You see it in the Eastern Conference right now. And after all that’s happened in the past 48 hours, you see it in the Western Conference as well.
First place means everything. Except when it doesn’t. “We won the Presidents’ Trophy a number of years ago and lost in the first round of the playoffs (to Columbus),” said Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper. “Finishing first matters, but it doesn’t always work out that way for you.”
What was obvious Friday was the difference between the great operators around the NHL and those still trying to figure how it all works.
The two-time defending general manager of the year, Jim Nill, might be in line for a third straight GM award. Part of that is because he was dealing with first-year general manager Eric Tulsky in Carolina, who somehow started the season with Martin Necas on his roster, dealt him to Colorado for Mikko Rantanen in the trade of the season and then wound up with a bunch of draft picks and Logan Stankoven instead of the former Avalanche star.
Necas is a great player. Rantanan is even better than that. Young Stankoven is small and nowhere close to the other two. Welcome to the NHL, Mr. Tulsky. All of your credentials outside of hockey hasn’t seemed to be much help in this diminishing season.
Nill did some remarkable work in agreeing to the trade for Rantanen, then being steadfast in how much he was willing to pay the giant winger on a contract extension and made sure both sides of the deal were in place before he signed off on anything.
The Western Conference is as messy as the east in terms of competition.
Chris MacFarland doesn’t get a lot of publicity as general manager of the Colorado Avalanche. A lot of people still consider this to be Joe Sakic’s team. Sakic is clearly in charge, but the combination of him and MacFarland has put the Avalanche back as clear contenders for the Cup.
MacFarland got the best centre available at the deadline, big Brock Nelson, from the New York Islanders. It was one thing to add Nelson to play behind the sensational Nathan MacKinnon. Then he went one step further and added Charlie Coyle from Boston, who has played as high as second-line centre with the Bruins.
No team will enter the playoffs with a deeper top three at centre than the Avs with MacKinnon, Nelson and Coyle.
And here’s the thing. It’s almost certain that Dallas will play Colorado in the first round of the playoffs with the Winnipeg Jets looking like the first-place team in the Central Division.
Winnipeg could have done more in the past few days, same for the Edmonton Oilers. Both teams had some needs that weren’t filled.
But the pressing attitude of the day was giving your team a chance to win the Stanley Cup.
Cup winners Zito and BriseBois did that in the east along with Treliving. Washington has been the best team in the east all season long, so they didn’t figure a need to do anything big trade-wise.
The west has Vegas and Edmonton, already strong in the Pacific Division, and now Dallas, Winnipeg and Colorado all have the look of champions.
And six weeks to go until playoffs begin. Can’t wait.
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