NHL contenders must be wary of recurring mistake at trade deadline

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TORONTO The market has been set early, and first-rounders are the currency of the day for contenders seeking to fortify themselves with rentals ahead of the March 8 trade deadline.

There was a first-rounder going in a package from Vancouver to Calgary for Elias Lindholm as the surprising, first-overall Canucks take aim at the first Cup in the franchises 54-year history. The price point was expected and justifiable for the most desired center on the market.

There was also a first-rounder going Montreals way from Winnipeg in exchange for rental center Sean Monahan as the surprising Jets attempted to keep up with the Canucks by acquiring a nice comeback story whose price was surely inflated by market forces.

The Canadiens, of course, had already received a first-rounder over the summer of 2022 to take the final year of Monahans contract off Calgarys books when the center carried a cap hit of $6.375 million.

The Habs front office team of Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes got Calgary coming and got Winnipeg going. Not bad work.

NHL_contenders_must_be_wary_of_recurring_mistake_at_trade_deadline 3Elias Lindholm skates with the puck during the All-Star Game on Feb. 3, 2024. Getty ImagesSo there are going to be more first-rounders tossed around as activity accelerates. Teams that fancy themselves contenders will pay the price, and perhaps even less reluctantly in the current landscape under which there is no clear-cut favorite to win the title.

But here is the reality. Since the cap went into effect in 2005-06, four teams have won the Cup after trading away their first-rounders proximate to the deadline, but just two won after trading their first-rounder for a rental.

The 2020 Lightning sent away two first-rounders around the deadline, acquiring Barclay Goodrow from San Jose and Blake Coleman from the Devils. Neither was a rental. Each had another year remaining on his contract. Tampa Bay won the Cup in 2020 and repeated in 2021, with Goodrow and Coleman as staples on the checking line flanking Yanne Gourde.

The 2012 Kings sent a first-rounder and a young Jack Johnson to Columbus in exchange for Jeff Carter, who was most certainly not a rental. Indeed, Carter was on the first year of an 11-year, $58 million contract he had signed about 14 months earlier with the Flyers.

Los Angeles won two Cups with Carter, taking claim of the Hudson River by defeating the Devils in 2012 two years before wiping out the Rangers.

Now, the two teams in 23 years that won the Cup after moving their first-rounder for a rental. Sorry Meat Loaf, two out of 23 isnt good.

The 2015 Blackhawks actually surrendered a first-rounder to acquire Antoine Vermette from Arizona. Vermette was dreadful in the regular season and did not score in 19 games with Chicago. He was scratched five times in the early rounds of the playoffs. But he became a significant contributor in the final two rounds in helping his team to its third Cup in six seasons. The following summer he returned to the Coyotes as a free agent.

NHL_contenders_must_be_wary_of_recurring_mistake_at_trade_deadline 3Sean Monahan was traded by the Canadiens to the Jets. NHLI via Getty ImagesThen there were the 2006 Hurricanes, who in the first year operating under the cap set the template for jumping the market by sending a first-rounder in a package to St. Louis for Doug Weight, who played an integral role in Carolinas championship run. The following summer he returned to St. Louis as a free agent.

Look, I get it. The Cup is hockeys Holy Grail. When you are so close that you can taste it, spitting out a first-rounder here and there becomes part of the obsessive chase. Our three teams in New York and New Jersey combined to win eight Cups in 24 years between 1980-2003. Now the Islanders havent won since 1983, the Rangers since 1994, the Devils since 2003.

Everybody wants a thrill. General managers paying anything just to roll the dice one more time. Two have won. Most have lost. They were born to sing the blues. The movie never ends. It goes on and on and on and on.

Even Steve Perry knows.

Two in 23 years.

Im not sure Gary Bettmans condemnation of the events alleged to have occurred in London, Ontario, on June 18, 2018, for which five players off the Team Canadas gold-medal-winning squad have been charged with sexual assault could have been any sharper or more on point.

I want to be clear, from the moment we first learned about this on May 26, 2022, I have repeatedly used the words, abhorrent, reprehensible, horrific and unacceptable to describe the alleged behaviors, the commissioner said at his Friday All-Star briefing. Those words continue to apply.

NHL_contenders_must_be_wary_of_recurring_mistake_at_trade_deadline 3Gary Bettman speaks to the media at All-Stat Weekend on Feb. 2, 2024. NHLI via Getty ImagesYes, actions speak more loudly than words, but the NHL is not responsible for the scandal under which the Devils Michael McLoed and Cal Foote, Philadelphias Carter Hart, Calgarys Dillon Dube and former Senator Alex Formenton have been charged. The NHL is not responsible for the London Five, who have all maintained their innocence.

The responsibility for their allegedly grotesque behavior is their own. The scandal, though, lays at the feet of Hockey Canada. And the nearly six-year delay from that night to now is the responsibility of the London Police Department, which will hold a press conference detailing the case on Monday.

I dont know when exactly folks began to expect professional sports leagues to act as extrajudicial entities to punish bad actors away from the rink, field, pitch, or court. That is the job of the criminal justice system.

That is where anger should be directed when domestic violence offenders take the mound or register a sack, hit a 3-pointer or score a goal. Do you really want Bettman, Adam Silver, Roger Goodell or Rob Manfred acting as judge and jury?

There is much that is great in hockey from the grass-roots level up to the pros. The most rewarding part of watching my U12 grandson play in an outstanding program in Ridgefield, Conn., is seeing him be a good teammate. But there is a lot of swill rolling through youth hockey, and I unfortunately have some personal experience with it. SafeSport does not necessarily keep everyone safe.

The NHL can set an example. Of course it can and it should. But entities such as USA Hockey and Hockey Canada have greater accountability. They have an obligation.

They are entrusted with our children.

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