I think Carolina had the worst day. Any time a team goes from a legit contender back into building/first round fodder mode that has to be viewed as a huge gaffe. Their GM has been mostly terrible for all the hype.
Colorado is the complete opposite. Not just because of deadline deals, but the entire year leading up. Their team had problems and the GM has wasted no time in fixing them. Stellar work.
Dallas was the flashiest but I don’t think they were the best. Landed a big fish. See how it goes.
Boston getting praise from certain people is a bit funny. Following the “Calgary model” from last year that some people criticize as mushy middle. The return for Carlo was good, Marchand was a disappointment (especially trading your captain) and Coyle was OK. Will be interesting to see what their summer looks like. Overall they did OK. Good start.
Ottawa is a winner just because of the Cozens trade. Smart exchange. They also got a good deal in Zetterlund. Nothing flashy but good.
Calgary deserves a lot of credit for not making moves just to make them. People complain but there was no real need to move guys and they didn’t succumb to outside pressure into making a bad deal. Similar with Washington, addressed their need but didn’t rock the boat. Smart stuff. Oilers and Kings, on the other hand, needed to make big deals and didn’t. Oilers are taking a step back and Kings are treading water.
San Jose was OK. Not sure they know how to do the building part of rebuilding. Florida made interesting moves but it’s unclear if they were actually necessary moves.
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