NHL Notebook: Evaluating winners, losers a month removed from trade deadline, Sweeney talks Chara extension & more

With Monday standing as a month since the NHL Trade Deadline passed, there are a number of teams across the league that are both benefiting and feeling the burn from some last-minute moves ahead of the postseason. Let’s take a look at a few of the winners and losers from the deadline.

WINNERS

Vegas Golden Knights: The Golden Knights pulled the trigger on a deal to snag the top player out on the market — dealing for Senators winger Mark Stone and immediately signing the star forward to an eight-year, $76-million contract extension.  

The cost was steep, as Vegas dealt one of the top defensive prospects in the league in Erik Brannstrom to go along with Oscar Lindberg and a 2020 second-round pick. But based on the results so far, it doesn’t seem like George McPhee and the Knights are having any buyer’s remorse.

Since trading for Stone, the Golden Knights are 10-1-0 while outscoring the competition, 47-22, during that stretch. While Stone has tallied eight points over 11 games, the winger has also been a key cog on a line with Paul Stastny and Max Pacioretty — with the trio generating a 60.08 Corsi For Percentage and a plus-29 shot differential during 129:55 of 5v5 TOI together. With Stone complimenting a potent top-six, Vegas is going to be a major problem come this postseason.

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild are currently on the outside looking in at a playoff spot, but they’ve made things awfully close during the last couple of weeks, hanging around the Central Division postseason picture due in large part to some added offensive pop from Ryan Donato.



After tallying six goals and nine points over 34 games with Boston this season, the winger has broken through with added minutes and reps on the power play with Minnesota — scoring four goals and generating 15 points over 15 games played. When Boston parted ways with Donato, the expectation was that the Harvard product would be more of a project, while the additions of Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson would put Boston over the top and solve the club’s secondary-scoring woes. Well, Donato is already looking to like a more-than-capable offensive contributor this season in Minnesota, and should only get better from here.

Boston Bruins

Alright, the optics don’t look too great on first viewing. In total, Boston traded away Donato, a 2019 second and fifth-round pick and a 2020 fourth rounder in exchange for Coyle and Johansson.

So far, Johansson has only been limited to one point over four games with Boston before getting sidelined for close to three weeks due to a lung contusion. Coyle, Boston’s solution to its vacancy at third-line center, has tallied a goal and two assists in 14 games played, while averaging 15:36 of TOI.

Those stats may not look too great, but both players have made sizable contributions in terms of giving Boston four potent lines to roll out on a regular basis — a luxury that wasn’t afforded to Bruce Cassidy and his staff for most of the year.

So far, Johansson has fit in well on a line with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk — generating a 61.76 Corsi For Percentage and a plus-15 shot differential in just 36:57 of 5v5 TOI — and will likely return to a top-six line in short order. While Coyle’s production has not translated to points on the board, his puck-possession skills and size have helped Boston extend shifts in the O zone while limiting chances down the other end — as Boston has held a commanding 207-135 edge in shot attempts (60.53 CF%) during the 184:37 of 5v5 TOI in which Coyle has been out on the ice.

“I do believe he’s getting chances every night, they’re going to go in eventually, he’s going to get more comfortable with everybody he’s playing with,” Cassidy said of Coyle. “How much? It’s anybody's guess. I don't want to speculate on how many goals he could score. I just know, with that many opportunities, sooner or later, you’re going to bury some. He can shoot the puck, he’s smart, gets to the net.”

The flashy stats haven’t shown up quite yet for both Coyle and Johansson, but once Johansson is slotted back with Krejci and Coyle starts burying some of those chances during extended zone shifts — Boston has the chance to roll out a loaded forward corps in time for the postseason.

LOSERS

Blue Jackets: Oh, oh no. Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen went all in at the deadline, opting to not trade pending UFAs in Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky while dealing most of his assets in the 2019 NHL Draft to acquire more rentals in Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, Adam McQuaid and Keith Kinkaid to put the team over the top.

Whoops. Since the deadline, the Blue Jackets have fallen out of the playoff picture — sitting three points behind second-place Montreal with eight games left on the docket. Stuck in a 5-7-1 rut since putting all of their chips on the table, Columbus also can’t be feeling too great about Duchene only tallying six points over 14 games — while Anthony Duclair is up to eight points with Ottawa since getting dealt in the Dzingel deal. What a brutal turnaround.

Predators: The Predators are still sitting steadily in second place in the Central Division, but the addition of Wayne Simmonds has been largely underwhelming so far. While Nashville didn’t give up too much (Ryan Hartman and a 2020 fourth-round pick) for Simmonds, the power forward has struggled to gain much traction with his new team — posting a rough 46.81 Corsi For Percentage over 20 games while only posting a plus-1 shot differential during that stretch.

Even with 66.67 percent of his face-offs coming in the offensive zone, Simmonds has only generated a single goal and assist during 5v5 play. Nashville’s winning identity is still centered on a stingy defense and Pekka Rinne, but the Predators could use more from Simmonds for the playoff run.

Sweeney talks Chara extension

Bruins GM Don Sweeney spoke ahead of Saturday’s game on Zdeno Chara’s new one-year extension — discussing the changing mindset for Chara in what will be his 14th season in Boston, the state of the team’s blue-line corps going forward and much more:

Did the new deal benefit both parties?

"Absolutely. First and foremost — Zdeno has earned the opportunity to continue to play. It's always been our understanding that we would continue to talk to him and let him decide ultimately where his well being is, both mentally, physically, the whole bit. We spent a lot of time last year, a very unique situation where Zdeno wanted to understand a little more about the landscape and moving forward and going year by year and how imperative it was for us as an organization. Good for him to have an understanding of it. It all works out great."

On Chara accepting a year-by-year mentality with his contract status:

“It had to go year by year for us. You get into a situation where you're over 35. It becomes pretty important to do that. I think he just has a wider angle view and then he was able to look at his own feelings as to where he was going to be year by year. It worked out that way."

On evaluating a 42-year-old skater:

“Well, you do go in segments of games. You see where his ice time is, defensively, he still impacts our hockey club every night — hard matchups, situational minutes, PK time. Really go-to minutes in a course of a hockey game. Other teams don't enjoy it when he's on the ice.

We've given him some mobility, him alongside Charlie (McAvoy) and certainly the puck play as well. Brandon (Carlo) as well has covered ice for Zee, but Zee has adapted his own game. He's worked at it an awful lot. I just think the situational minutes that we've been able to manage a little more effectively and he's bought into that, to have an understanding that when we started Game 1 last year and he was at 28 minutes (TOI). And if we don't do those things, I don’t know if he can necessarily play those minutes, it catches up to you. In regard to how you train, I just think it's been a philosophical shift from Zee and us to have a plan laid out to what's most effective for our club if we want to be successful."

On how Chara’s return impacts the B’s crowded group of defensemen:

“We've played 12 defensemen up to this point. The minutes will be there and nobody will be held back. If they're able to play and perform, they'll step in front of a guy and that's pretty much how we've done things and will continue to do things. Zee's a big part of that. He understands it. … We're a better hockey organization, and a deeper organization to look at it this way and continue to encourage our younger players to realize that when they're ready, that they'll get their opportunity."

Gunning for 100?

There’s already three players in the NHL who have already surpassed the 100-point plateau this season in Nikita Kucherov (120 points), Connor McDavid (108 points) and Patrick Kane (103 points), but there are another six forwards already hovering in the 90-point range that are poised to push for triple digits.

One player in that mix? Brad Marchand — who is now up to 92 points through 74 games and has become the first Bruins player to surpass the 90-point plateau since Marc Savard hit 96 points in 2006.

After coaching Marchand back when he was a tenacious, pesky winger down in Providence back in 2008, did Cassidy ever think that one day he’d evolve into a 100-point scorer?

“No. I didn’t,” Cassidy said. “I didn’t see him as a big point getter. I saw him as an NHL player that would help. … But he’s managed to grow his game in terms of making plays. He’s playing with players now that finish plays, probably better than when he first started.

“So now the plays that he’s making are going in the back of the net. I’m proud of the guy. He works hard at every aspect of the game. He’s grown his game, his power-play skills have really grown, that’s where he distributes pucks. Good for him. I’m sure in the back of his mind, people are going to start talking about 100 (points) and why not? Who knows, maybe he’ll get there.”

No love for Potvin

While Cassidy grew up as a major Bruins fan and idolized Bobby Orr, were there any other top defensemen in the ‘70s and early ‘80s that he was a big fan of — like Islanders legend Denis Potvin?

Ehhhhhh.

"Denis Potvin was an Ottawa 67 (OHL), that's what I was. My problem with Denis Potvin, I don’t know if you remember the Team Canada series against the Russians and Czechs in ‘78, I think it was. There were some games in Ottawa. Bobby Orr came back and played. He had a knee injury and that year, Darryl Sittler scored the winning goal … I don't think the Americans were at that level yet. Obviously they caught up, so the bigger rivalry was Canada-Russia.

“So that series, Denis Potvin came out after and said, "Bobby Orr got player of the game a couple times? I kind of outplayed him.' And I'm like, ‘How can you say that about my guy?’ Obviously it was more of a sentimental vote as much as any. You miss some time playing and he came back for this tournament, so that always rubbed me the wrong way. But I always loved the way he played, he was tough, he could fight, he could hit, he could score. My brother was a huge Islander fan, so I heard Denis Potvin a lot from him. Great defenseman, I was just a Bobby Orr guy first."