Community Picks: Edmonton Oilers 0% vs Buffalo Sabres 0%

The Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers spent the trade deadline tweaking their rosters amidst largely disappointing seasons, but the future of each franchise will meet on the ice this week. The teams already played this season with Edmonton (23-34-7) earning a 4-2 home win on Dec. 6 despite an Eichel goal for Buffalo (25-31-7), but that was about a month into the top pick McDavid's three-month recovery from a fractured left clavicle. McDavid, though, has played all of February and will finally meet his highly-touted 19-year-old rookie counterpart at First Niagara Center. Continue to Article

February 29, 2016 10:26:pm EST

The biggest loser on NHL Trade Deadline Day was, of course, the NHL. It was an exercise in tedium, a boring slog that produced nothing of significant impact. It was a day when the biggest names didn’t move, but many small ones did. It was … rough. That said, some teams did quite well and some teams did not. Here is Puck Daddy’s 2016 NHL Trade Deadline Report Card. Please keep in mind the grades are based on expectations, possibilities and what other teams did. The “deadline” stretches out about a week before Feb. 29. If a team did nothing, that’ll usually be a ‘B’ grade, unless there are specific circumstances to consider. And here … we … go. Anaheim Ducks : The Ducks snagged Jamie McGinn from the Buffalo Sabres, which is a smart little move, considering his familiarity with the West. Then they did something even smarter: Trading the guy he ostensibly replaces, Patrick Maroon, to the Edmonton Oilers for prospect Martin Gernat and a fourth-round pick in 2016. McGinn comes off the books this summer; Maroon makes $2 million against the cap through 2018. Brandon Pirri for a sixth-rounder is a steal, even if he’s injured and a pending RFA. One of the more puzzling returns of the day. They also picked up Corey Tropp from the Blackhawks for Tim Jackman and a seventh-rounder. Solid deadline for the Ducks, even if some of the bigger fish were never on the hook. GRADE: A-minus Arizona Coyotes : Mikkel Boedker wanted a contract that GM Don Maloney didn’t want to give him, but Maloney wanted a price for Boedker on the trade market that he wasn’t going to budge on. He got it from the Colorado Avalanche: a roster player (Alex Tanguay, with an expiring contract), a prospect (defenseman Kyle Wood) and in Conner Bleackley, an unsigned first-rounder that could be converted into a supplemental second-round pick. Very nice haul. Maloney also made two trades with the Penguins: a minor league deal whose principles including Dustin Jeffrey going back to the Pens and Matia Marcantuoni going to Arizona, and the acquisition of Sergei Plotnikov for Matthias Plachta and a conditional seventh. If Plotnikov doesn’t flee from Russia and can find his game, it’s a nice gamble. GRADE: B-plus Boston Bruins : The Bruins held the line on dealing Loui Eriksson, keeping the price high (a first-rounder for sure, and a roster player) and deciding to hold onto him, contract status be damned. The moves they did make were solid. John-Michael Liles has 15 points in 64 games, and is a perfectly fine puck-moving depth defenseman for Anthony Camara, a third and a fifth. A second-rounder and a fourth-rounder for Lee Stempniak is a bit of overpayment, but he’s having a career year. It just sucks when you have to deal two picks for a guy you had on a PTO. GRADE: B-plus Buffalo Sabres : Tim Murray traded Mike Weber to the Capitals and Jamie McGinn to the Ducks. In the latter deal, if Anaheim wins two rounds and he plays half the games, McGinn’s conditional pick becomes a 2nd in 2017 instead of 3rd in 2016. Which would be a steal. GRADE: B-plus Calgary Flames : Can someone please check on Brad Treliving to make sure he hasn’t broken a rib from laughing so hard? The Flames GM began the deadline by flipping Markus Granlund for Hunter Shinkaruk. He snagged a second-round pick in 2016 and a fourth in 2018 from the Florida Panthers for center Jiri Hudler. Then came the home-run: defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka, forward Brett Pollock and a conditional second-round pick that becomes a first if the Dallas Stars make the conference final, for Kris Russell. Do the Flames have incriminating photos of Jim Nill or something? They capped the day by getting a sixth-rounder and Niklas Backstrom’s contract for David Jones. GRADE: A Carolina Hurricanes: The Eric Staal deal yielded a high-end prospect in Aleksi Saarela and two second-round picks, for a player that was only going to waive his no-move for one team, the New York Rangers. Then they turned Kris Versteeg into a fifth-rounder and forward Valentin Zykov, who has a ton of upside.  Very strong deadline for GM Ron Francis, made stronger if Staal boomerangs back to the Hurricanes in the offseason. GRADE: A Chicago Blackhawks: No rest for the champs. They aggressively reacquired Andrew Ladd in a package that saw Marko Dano, a first-round pick in 2016 and a conditional third in 2018 go to the Winnipeg Jets. They swapped Rob Scuderi for Christian Ehrhoff. They sent a second-round pick on 2018 and Phillip Danault to the Montreal Canadiens for Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise, as well as defenseman Tim Jackman from the Ducks. They mortgaged a bit of the future, but we all know the time is now for the Blackhawks. GRADE: A-minus Colorado Avalanche : How you feel about the Avs’ deadline probably comes down to how you feel about Mikkel Boedker. He’s an asset on the power play and is going to be slotted on a line with MacKinnon and Landeskog, but his production wasn’t all that better than that of Alex Tanguay. Eric Gelinas arrives from New Jersey as a project defenseman with a booming shot and a propensity for ending up in the doghouse. Extend this to the Shawn Matthias deal on Feb. 21, and it’s a GRADE: B-minus for the Avalanche. Columbus Blue Jackets : Nada. No-trade clauses gummed up the works and GM Jarmo Kekalainen said , "Quietest trade deadline day I've ever seen. Nothing else is close." GRADE: C Dallas Stars : Sigh. Defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka, forward Brett Pollock and a conditional second-round pick that becomes a first if the Stars make the conference final is overpayment for Kris Russell. He’ll help on the blueline, but not exactly a game-changer. And a potential first-rounder for him is a rare misstep from GM Jim Nill. GRADE: C Detroit Red Wings : No reason to make any trades , so they didn’t make any. GRADE: B Edmonton Oilers : The chatter that Nail Yakupov might move turned out to just be more smoke. Pulling third-rounders for Teddy Purcell and Justin Schultz, picking up some salary on the latter, was shrewd. Patrick Maroon was a nice depth move, as he’s locked into a $2 million AAV deal for two more seasons. Now we just wait for the big dominoes to start falling. GRADE: B Continue to Article

February 29, 2016 8:18:pm EST

NHL teams were busy on the waiver wire on deadline day and no one more so than the Edmonton Oilers. The team announced it claimed forward Adam Cracknell from the Vancouver Canucks and defenseman Adam Pardy from the Winnipeg Jets. The Montreal Canadiens announced they claimed tough guy Mike Brown off waivers from the San Jose Sharks. Continue to Article

February 29, 2016 12:40:pm EST

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Buffalo Sabres have traded minor league forwards Jason Akeson and Phil Varone and defenseman Jerome Leduc to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for minor leaguers Alex Guptill, Eric O'Dell, Cole Schneider and Michael Sdao. Continue to Article

February 27, 2016 10:41:pm EST