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Alex Gallardo/Associated Press
The NHL’s annual trade deadline is Monday at 3 p.m. ET. It’s the first one in a full 82-game schedule since February 2019 after COVID-19 shortened the past two seasons.
With the salary cap flattened at $81.5 million for the second straight campaign, there’s been limited activity. Only 18 trades took place since the start of the regular season on Oct. 12 through March 2.
Business, however, has picked up over the past week, with 18 trades between March 14 and March 20. Notable deals include the Philadelphia Flyers shipping Claude Giroux to the Florida Panthers and the Boston Bruins acquiring Hampus Lindholm from the Anaheim Ducks.
Despite those moves, there remain several quality players who could be on the move on deadline day. They include Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, Anaheim Ducks winger Rickard Rakell and Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun.
Here are our grades for the most noteworthy deals during the 2022 NHL trade deadline day.
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Matt Slocum/Associated Press
Claude Giroux’s 15 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers ended Saturday. Two days after the 34-year-old forward played his 1,000th career NHL game, the Flyers shipped their captain to the Florida Panthers.
Heading to the Panthers with Giroux were prospect forwards Connor Bunnaman and German Rubtsov and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL draft. Philadelphia received forward Owen Tippett, a conditional first-rounder in 2024 or 2025 and a third-round pick in 2023.
This move should pay immediate dividends for the Panthers, who are loading up for a Stanley Cup run after acquiring defenseman Ben Chiarot from the Montreal Canadiens. Giroux remains a productive two-way player who’s strong in the faceoff circle and can play all three forward positions. He should slot in well as a rental player anywhere among the Panthers’ top nine forward positions.
Bunnaman and Rubtsov have seen mostly minor league duty thus far. They’ll provide depth to the Panthers’ AHL affiliate in Charlotte but face long odds of earning a spot with Florida.
The return is a little light for a star of Giroux’s stature, but his no-movement clause left Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher with little choice but to get the best return he could. Giroux will also be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Tippett, 23, is a 2017 first-round pick (10th overall) who had difficulty cracking the Panthers’ deep forward lines. He’ll have plenty of opportunities to establish himself as a top-six winger on the retooling Flyers.
Philadelphia will have to wait for that first-rounder from the Panthers. However, it could prove useful if the 2024 or 2025 drafts is more talent-rich than this year’s or next year’s draft.
Grades
Panthers: A
Flyers: B
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Mark Humphrey/Associated Press
The Boston Bruins have lacked talented depth on the left side of their defense corps since Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug departed via free agency two years ago. They took a big step toward addressing that issue Saturday by acquiring Hampus Lindholm from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for young blueliners Urho Vaakanainen and John Moore, a first-round pick in 2022 and a second-rounder in 2023 and in 2024.
Lindholm, 28, was slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. On Sunday, however, the Bruins announced the defenseman inked an eight-year, $52 million extension. Given his age and the length of this contract, it could become a salary-cap headache if his skills decline. In the short-term, however, it should prove to be worthwhile.
The 6’4″, 216-pounder is a solid all-around defenseman. He averaged 22 minutes and 32 seconds of ice time this season with the Ducks, especially at even strength and the penalty kill.
Lindholm will fill the left-side spot on either the first or second defensive pairings for the Bruins. His skills and experience should ease the workload of top blueliner Charlie McAvoy.
Having also traded defenseman Josh Manson earlier in the week, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek has shown his willingness to ship out pending UFAs if he can’t get them under contract before the deadline. Those moves also indicate he’s unafraid to commence a much-needed roster rebuild.
Verbeek got a pretty good haul from the Bruins. The three draft picks could prove crucial to the Ducks’ rebuilding process.
Vaakanainen, 23, had some difficulty breaking in with Boston. He’ll get more chances to establish himself as a top-four defenseman in Anaheim. Moore, 31, is in the fourth year of a five-year deal and spent much of this season with the Bruins’ taxi squad and in the minors.
Grades
Bruins: A
Ducks: A-
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Nick Wass/Associated Press
Selected by the Seattle Kraken last summer and named the franchise’s first team captain, Mark Giordano didn’t get to finish the 2021-22 season with the NHL’s latest expansion club. The day before the deadline, he was shipped to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Heading to Toronto with Giordano is forward Colin Blackwell. In return, the Kraken received a second-round pick in the 2022 draft, a 2023 second-rounder and a 2024 third-rounder. The Kraken agreed to retain 50 percent of Giordano’s $6.8 million cap hit, according to Cap Friendly.
In Giordano, the Leafs are getting a skilled puck-moving defenseman with leadership abilities. Winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy in 2018-19 with the Calgary Flames, the 38-year-old has reached or exceeded 40 points five times in his 16-season NHL career. He has a respectable 23 points in 55 games with the low-scoring Kraken.
Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas did well to acquire a skilled rental defenseman without parting with a first-rounder or a top prospect. Giordano should be a welcome addition on the left side of the Leafs’ blue line, especially with Jake Muzzin still sidelined indefinitely by a head injury. He could be reunited with former Flames linemate T.J. Brodie on the first or second pairing.
On March 9, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported Kraken general manager Ron Francis was believed to be seeking a first-rounder for Giordano. A shrinking trade market likely left Francis with little choice but to accept the Leafs’ offer. The addition of two second-rounders and a third to Seattle’s already considerable stockpile of draft picks for 2022, 2023 and 2024 will enable Francis to build up his prospect pipeline.
Grades
Leafs: A
Kraken: C+
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