The NHL trade deadline passed with many Western Conference teams loading up their roster within the last week.

The trade deadline is like Christmas. If your favorite team is going to be buyers, then you are anxious to see what new shiny toy your general manager will gift you. If your team is a seller, then be prepared for sadness and reminisce memories of your favorite player being traded away. If a team is stuck in the middle come deadline time, that’s never a good thing.

With that in mind, let’s look at how all the Western Conference playoff teams did within the last week!

(SPOILER ALERT: We will save the LA Kings for last)

Central Division

Nashville Predators

Nashville occupies one of the wild card spots in the playoff picture. They made small moves during the week. They traded Yakov Trenin and a prospect to Colorado for a 2025 third-round pick and a prospect in return. They acquired Jason Zucker (Arizona) and Anthony Beauviller (Chicago) for back-end draft picks. However, General Manager Barry Trotz’s most notable moves during the week were handing out contract extensions to forwards Cole Smith (two years), Michael McCarron (two years), Tommy Novak (three years), Mark Jankowski (two years), and defenseman Dante Fabbro (one year).

Trotz made moves for the team to be competitive in the playoffs this year while also thinking about the future. Not a bad first trade deadline on the job.

Winnipeg Jets

Winnipeg wanted to add more scoring and they did by acquiring former King Tyler Toffoli for a second-round pick in 2025 and a third-round pick in 2024 as well as New Jersey retaining 50 percent of Toffoli’s salary. And, just for good measure, General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff added defenseman Colin Miller, an ex-King prospect, for a 2026 fourth-round pick. These moves come a month after they acquired Sean Monahan from the Montreal Canadiens. With the top teams also making moves, Winnipeg will have a steep hill to climb coming out of the West.

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado is loading up to take back what was once theirs. The Avalanche were one of the busy Western Conference teams during the week. For starters, they needed a second-line center and got just that with Casey Mittlestadt for defenseman Bowen Byram, who is not having a good season. In acquiring Mittlestadt, they offloaded Ryan Johansen and a 2025 first-round pick to Philadelphia for defenseman Sean Walker.

Walker, who likes to join the rush, will fit in Coloarado’s up-tempo attack just fine. All of their defensemen can skate well which makes them a threat on the backend. Colorado rounded out their bottom six nicely with the additions of Brandon Duhaime and Yakov Trenin for a third-round pick. These moves make Colorado’s lineup deeper, which is led by Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar. If you believe Colorado is one of the teams that will make it out of the West, you should like your chances.

Dallas Stars

I’m all in on the Dallas Stars. They have the best forward group in the West, in my opinion, and are my pick to not only win the West but win it all. While Dallas didn’t make any significant moves this week, their biggest deadline prize came last week when they acquired Chris Tanev from the Calgary Flames.

Dallas walked away as a big winner here. No first-round pick is included and Calgary retains 50 percent of Tanev’s money. While there are three picks involved, those don’t mean much for Dallas whose window for cup contention will still be open by then. Tanev rounds out their defensive core and gives Dallas’ chance of coming out of the West a huge boost as if they already didn’t have a good shot. General Manager Jim Nill didn’t add anyone else, which can mean he has faith in this team to bring Lord Stanley to the Lone Star state.

Pacific Division

Vancouver Canucks

Let’s start with the leaders in the division. It was a quiet deadline day for Vancouver when it came to transactions. Their captain, Elias Pettersen, signed an extension last week, and there were rumors they could flip Elias Lindholm to the Bruins to make room to acquire Jake Guentzel from Pittsburgh. Ultimately, Guentzel went to the Hurricanes on Thursday.

Edmonton Oilers

If Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are on your team, you’re always going to go for it. Edmonton went out and acquired Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick from the Anaheim Ducks to balance their forward group. However, I’m shocked Ken Holland didn’t go out and shop for a top-four defenseman, or make an effort yesterday. Edmonton will still be labeled a cup contender, but not improving that defensive core was a missed opportunity from management.

Vegas Golden Knights

The overall winners of the deadline. Ownership and management continue to go all-in (must be a Vegas thing, right?) to make their team better. It’s a good time to be a Golden Knights. Now, I know the long-term injured reserve (LTIR) will be a huge topic of discussion. But, let’s not be mad at Vegas here. They are playing within the rules and using it to their advantage. Let’s applaud them for being creative and having an owner who wants to win year in and year out.

With Mark Stone on LTIR with a lacerated spleen, it opened the door for Vegas to acquire defenseman Noah Hanifin, and forwards Anthony Mantha and Tomas Hertl. It also helps they were creative with teams retaining salaries in trades.

Below are the trades for each player:

Mantha adds depth scoring and size. Hanifin is a solid puck mover and skater on the left side of the blue line. But, the most shocking trade came within the last ten minutes when Vegas swung for the fences and snagged Hertl for San Jose while also getting two third-round picks in return. An A+ deadline for general manager Kelly McCrimmon. Oh, and get this, Vegas still has its first-round pick in this draft.

Complain about Vegas abusing the LTIR all you want. They should be applauded for being aggressive and creative and making their team better. Wouldn’t you want your team to do that?

 

Los Angeles Kings

We have finally reached the end of the article. The LA Kings were in a tough spot entering this deadline and Rob Blake backed himself into a tough position. They had to be compliant with the cap and weren’t in a position to be buyers like the other Western Conference teams. Maybe he could’ve traded a player like Matt Roy and gotten assets in return. Well, that idea seemed to be a divide amongst Kings fans. Hey, everyone is entitled to what they think; nothing wrong with that. In the end, Rob Blake stood pat, saw the other teams improve, and now has his eggs all in one basket on this team he made with his job possibly being on the line.

Who do you think comes out of the West?

Featured image credit: Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group

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