NHL trade deadline winners and losers: Leafs, Bruins, Red Wings among biggest winners

Winners: Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals

Usually, trade deadline deals revolve around prospects. You rarely see hockey trades. The Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings shocked everyone by making a hockey trade just before the buzzer sounded on deadline day.

Heading to Detroit are Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik, a 2021 first-round pick, and a 2022 second-round pick. Vrana is the cornerstone of this trade for the Red Wings. He’s extremely gifted, but three coaches in Washington had issues with his play without the puck. Vrana’s contract expires after this season, which likely played a role in the Capitals’ willingness to part with such an outstanding player. Panik is a solid forward and getting two draft picks is huge.

For Washington, Anthony Mantha makes them better now. He’s a better fit in head coach Peter Laviolette’s system than Vrana was. Also, it’s worth pointing out Mantha gives the Caps some cost certainty at a time when they could really use some.

Losers: The poor analysts on trade deadline day

It’s hard to feel bad for people who get to talk about hockey for a living, but I honestly felt awful for them on deadline day. Most of the best players had already been moved. TSN had to resort to combining people to make funny faces.

There was virtually nothing to talk about, especially after they spent most of the morning talking about the moves made on Sunday night. Let’s hope there is never a deadline day as boring as the 2021 version.