Revisiting Some of the Most Lopsided Trades in BRHL History – 2020:
The year of the Golden Knights
*Note: Unfortunately, I can not track 2022 prospect selections.
To CGY: Robert Thomas, VGK 2021 1st (Kaiden Guhle)
To VGK: Ilya Samsonov
Analysis: Robert Thomas has turned into an elite playmaking center, while Guhle has established himself as one of the better young defensive defencemen in the game. Ilya Samsonov is a mediocre at best goaltender at this point in his career.
To PHI: Jordan Kyrou
To VGK: Jesse Puljujarvi
Analysis: This deal has aged poorly for the Golden Knights; Kyrou has established himself as a young top-6 talent while Puljujarvi is barely making an NHL roster at this point.
To CGY: LAK 2020 1st (Matthew Boldy)
To LAK: Jack Studnicka
Analysis: Arguably the worst deal in 2020, Matthew Boldy is one of the premiere young talents in the league while Studnicka is…. Let me search this up…. Is playing for the Barracuda in the AHL.
To OTT: Victor Hedman (2yrs retained 50%)
To NYR: Calvin Petersen, Dominik Kubalik, Marc Staal, John Leonard, $5,000,000
Analysis: Maybe the only thing Steph did right, Victor Hedman is still one of the best D-man in the game, while Petersen is an AHL goalie, Kubalik fell off the face of the earth and is barely an NHLer anymore, Marc Staal is Marc Staal and John Leonard is a guy who plays hockey (I think?).
To DET: Jason Robertson, Timothy Liljegren, PHI 2021 3rd (Jack Finley)
To PHI: Morgan Frost, NSH 2021 6th (Philippe Daoust)
Analysis: Robertson has proved to be one of the elite young talents in the league, and the Red Wings also scooped up a serviceable top 6 D in Liljegren and the better pick here. Although Frost hasn’t been terrible, he’s no Robertson.
To WSH: Pavel Buchnevich, NYR 2021 6th (Sam Strange)
To NYR: Jeremy Gregoire, Benoit-Olivier Groulx, ANA 2021 2nd (Roni Hirvonen)
Analysis: The caps managed to pick up Buchnevich for free here. Buchnevich is a staple top-6 forward while Gregoire, Groulx and Hirvonen have a combine 65 NHL games of service since this deal was done in 2020. The Rangers must’ve been sniffing some good stuff when this deal was done.
To STL: Pheonix Copley, LAK 2021 1st (Braden Schneider), 2022 LAK 2nd
To LAK: Elvis Merzlikins
Analysis: Copley and Merzlikins are both now serviceable backups nowadays. Looking back on this deal, the Blues we’re able to run away with Braden Schneider, a young up and coming D-man as well as a 2nd here for free.
To FLA: Artturi Lehkonen, MTL 2021 1st (Thomas Bordeleau)
To MTL: Luke Kunin
Analysis: Lehkonen has turned into an extremely solid two-way top 6 forward, and Bordeleau has NHL top 9 upside while Kunin is a 4th line forward nowadays. The fact that the Panthers we’re able to fetch a 1st for Kunin back in 2020 is incredible.
To ARI: Filip Gustavsson
To VGK: ARI 2021 4th (Elliot Desnoyers), ARI 2021 6th (Alexander Gordin)
Analysis: The Golden Knights had a tough year of trading in 2020, essentially giving up Filip Gustavsson here for free. This’ll look really bad if Gustavsson returns to 2022-2023 form.
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