4 BIG Winners and Losers From The NHL TRADE DEADLINE

The Trade Deadline has come and gone in the NHL, and it's now time for teams to make the final sprint to clinch playoff spots. Before we talk about that, let's first recap the biggest winners and losers from deadline day.

BIGGEST WINNERS

1-  Washington Capitals

Photo courtesy of nhl.com

The Capitals made 3 trades during the month of February. They opened it up by acquiring Tom Gilbert from the LA Kings in exchange for a conditional 5th round pick. Almost 2 weeks later they made a big move by acquiring Kevin Shattenkirk and Pheonix Copley from the Blues, in exchange for Zach Sanford, Brad Malone, 2017 1st and a 2019 conditional 2nd. On Deadline day they got Cody Corbett from Colorado for Joe Cannata.

No surprise here but Kevin Shatttenkirk was their biggest acquisition, as he solidifies their roster as the best in the East. The Capitals powerplay is currently top 5 in the NHL and with Shattenkirk as their newest addition, it's only going to get better. I have no problem with what they gave up, the Capitals are in a win now position, Ovi isn't getting any younger and he still hasn't won a Stanley Cup. Brian MacLellan acknowledges the time to win is now and he's all in.

2- Tampa Bay Lighting

The Lighting were sellers on Deadline day and Steve Yzerman made some fantastic moves to prepare this team for the offseason. Ben Bishop was sent packing first along with a 2017 conditional 5th.

In return the Lighting got Peter Budaj, Erik Cernak, 2017 7th and a 2017 conditional pick. This move frees up cap space and makes Andrei Vasilevskiy the full time starter from now on. Erik Cernak currently plays for the Erie Otters of the OHL. He is a former 2nd round pick in 2015. He's a big and strong defensemen with good defensive awareness, and he should make his way to the NHL at some point. A day later Brian Boyle was sent north of the border to the Leafs in exchange for Byron Froese and a 2017 2nd. On Deadline day Yzerman traded Valterri Filppula, 2017 4th and a 2017 conditional 7th for Mark Streit of the Philadelphia Flyers. A few hours later, Mark Streit was traded to the Penguins for a 2018 4th.

Steve Yzerman managed to clear up around 12 million dollars in cap space in preparation for this offseason where the Lightning have to re-sign Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Jonathan Drouin and Andrej Sustr. Unlike the Capitals, the Lighting aren't contending right now, but with these moves they've freed up enough cap room to potentially go after Kevin Shattenkirk.

BIGGEST LOSERS

1-  Colorado Avalanche

Colorado are sitting dead last in the NHL and might not even crack 50 points! 50 POINTS! So obviously they were sellers heading into deadline day but somehow they managed to leave deadline day with nothing.  Iginla went packing first to LA for a conditional 4th. Andreas Martinsen was traded to Montreal for Sven Andrighetto. Their last 2 trades aren't even worth mentioning.

Joe Sakic really dropped the ball here. He kept his asking price way too high throughout the week and should have acquired more than just Sven Andrighetto and a conditional 4th. Here's who else they should have traded:

Joe Colborne

Blake Comeau

Rene Bourque

Fedor Tyutin

Patrick Wiercioch

These players DO NOT fit in a rebuilding plan and could be traded for something instead of just losing them to free agency for nothing. The Avs have 5 million dollars wrapped up in Joe Colborne and Blake Comeau for this year and NEXT year. Despite not trading away those players due to high asking prices, I'm not against Joe Sakic keeping his stars around such as Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog and Erik Johnson. These guys have great value and it's risky trading them on deadline day unless a team is going above and beyond to acquire them. However, at least 2 of these players need to be dealt with this offseason.

2- Buffalo Sabres & New York Islanders

Both teams are in different situations but both teams didn't do ANYTHING on deadline day. Buffalo are clearly a rebuilding team who should have made some moves to acquire some youth or some picks for some aging players. New York currently holds a wildcard spot but opted to get no help for Tavares. The Islanders likely won't be holding that playoff spot for long, due to the fact that most teams competing for that spot acquired some players to bolster their teams.