To Blue Jackets: Jonathan Drouin, 2019 LAK 3rd

To Kings: Brandon Carlo, Colin White

Winner: Blue Jackets

This is another one of those trades where it's really hard to pick a winner. It sucks for Jesse that he had to pay 6.8 mil for Drouin this year, but he did get the best player in the trade (for now at least) and a pick to go with him. While I love Brandon Carlo, I'm not sure if he'll ever have great rates. Colin White is taking a little longer than I expected to develop, but he's not a bust (yet) by any means. Jackets win this by a slight margin due to Drouin being a proven playmaker and getting a 3rd with him doesn't hurt.

To Senators: Sidney Crosby (3 mil retained in 2019)

To Sabres: Matt Duchene, D'Artagnan Joly, Jonathan Dahlen, 2020 OTT 1st, 2019 OTT 4th, 2020 OTT 6th

Winner: Both

I can't possibly pick a winner here. This deal is awesome.

On Jared's side, his team has been going downhill for a little while now, largely due to his players aging and becoming UFAs. He made a really smart decision here, trading a three year asset (with a huge contract) for a large package consisting of mostly futures. Duchene is no slouch, though it's nearly impossible to predict what kind of production he's going to put out in the coming years. He should be a solid 2nd liner for Jared, though. Dahlen is a really nice prospect, I had been after him for over a year while Kirk managed the Sens. The picks are obviously all good for restocking the cupboards. Overall, this is a really nice package for a three year asset, especially considering Jared only had to retain 3 mil for just one year.

On Steph's side, he got one of the very best players in the sim. Crosby is going to be really expensive moving forward (even this year), but is a player that can really push a team over the top come playoff time. This is a very ballsy move by Steph. I'm not sure about what kind of sim hockey experience he has, but it would take a lot for anyone to make this big of a deal having just stepped in as manager. With that said, he did give up some nice pieces, but didn't give up anything 'elite'. As I said, I really like Dahlen, but a 2020 1st (potentially a late one at that) is very easy to part with in his situation, as is Duchene to get the big upgrade in Crosby. I also think getting out of Duchene's 5 year, 7.9+ mil contract is good for a team that will be tight against the cap, especially factoring in the risk of his production dropping off further in Ottawa.

Another tip of the cap to both GMs here. Jared got a really nice package for Crosby, and Steph got one of the best players in the sim.

To Senators: Brian Elliott, John Klingberg

To Flames: Roberto Luongo, Darnell Nurse, Alexander Volkov

Winner: Senators

This is a move that I absolutely love on Steph's part, but I get it from Kevin's perspective, too.

Steph gets one of the very best offensive defensemen in the game in Klingberg, who comes with a great contract to boot. This will leave him with a little bit of work to do before playoff time, though, as he'll likely need a better goalie than Elliott. Nurse is a nice defenseman to have, and Volkov is a nice prospect as well. Luongo is rated nicely this year and carries a reasonable salary. To me, though, those are guys I would happily part with in a deal to get a top end guy in Klingberg. Elliott will tie Steph over until he finds a better goalie, and Klingberg (especially at his salary) is exactly the kind of guy the Sens needed to grab after the Crosby trade.

Despite the fact that this is a trade I love for Steph, it is also a vintage Kev move. Vintage Kev moves seem to always work out for the Flames, even if they don't look good at first. The defending Western Conference Champions got a number one goalie that they very much needed in this deal. I'm most certain that was Kevin's priority when he made the trade. He got a nice replacement defenseman in Nurse, and a nice prospect (imagine that, Kevin adding good prospects in a trade) in Volkov, too.

It's far too early to tell who wins this deal in the long run, but to me, Klingberg is by far the best asset in the deal. I think Kevin could have acquired a goalie without trading him. For that reason, and the fact that there are goalies available for Steph to replace Elliott with, I love this trade for him.

To Ducks: 2019 VKG 6th

To Penguins: Tomas Plekanec (half retained), Logan Shaw

To Lightning: 2019 PIT 5th

Winner: Everyone

I'll be honest, I mostly included this trade in the article because it was a 3 way deal. It also worked out nicely for everyone, so fuck it.

The Ducks have made it known that their plan is to retain half of Crawford's salary and trade him. That plan still left them with some retention slots and money to spare. Obviously, they're not competing this year either. Retaining 2.1 mil on Plekanec for a late pick was an easy deal to make in this case.

The Penguins needed depth badly, and they got some here. Plekanec has really nice rates, and getting him retained was what made this deal workable for the new GM Tyler. He traded a 5 and a 6 to do it, but added some much needed bottom 6th depth that fit under the cap for him. Nice move.

The Lightning were going to lose at least one of the players in this deal to the waiver draft. Getting a 5 for Plekanec (without retaining any salary) and Shaw (who they were likely to lose in waiver draft) is a great move. He shedded some cap and added some much needed cap space.