Winning the trade deadline doesn’t win teams the Stanley Cup

The NHL trade deadline is on Friday, and contenders throughout the NHL are sure to bolster their rosters with the pieces their general managers deem necessary to get them over the top.

But buyer beware, because if history is any guide, paying exorbitant prices for rentals can be detrimental to a team’s long-term outlook if it doesn’t lead to a Stanley Cup championship.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by former NHL video coach Steve Peters to discuss why going big at the deadline does not necessarily lead to major postseason success.

Tyler Yaremchuk: There’s an old line, Petey, that the goal is to win Stanley Cups and not press conferences, and that is true this time of year, where we kind of get hooked on, “Oh, who made the biggest splash?” But man, you can look back through past deadlines. The biggest splash does not even always guarantee that you’re getting out of the first round.

Steve Peters: I struggle with trade deadline because I know we’re on the media side now, and it is about the hype. It’s about sitting at the desk and getting your texts, and who’s traded to who and where and what. The reality is, it doesn’t always make that big a difference. There’s a couple things. One, as a general manager of a team that’s trying to win a Stanley Cup, you need to show your team that you are trying to win. I think it’s important, even if you go through the exercise, you get somebody. I don’t care if you get a third-line guy. Look at Florida last year. You’re adding Seth Jones, who hadn’t been playing well for Chicago, and you add Brad Marchand, who, we know what Brad Marchand is and what he could do. They win the Cup because of those two deals… You have to be very careful. The most important thing is you can’t rent players and think that that’s the answer. You can ruin yourself for a very long time if you’re trying to make a big swing at the trade deadline.

Carter Hutton: That’s something for me as a player, you wonder about. I hear GMs talk and you don’t want to tinker with it too much if your team’s playing well. How often does a Stanley Cup winner at least make one big add, or is it more just a fit less than the flare that you expect from a big trade?

Steve Peters: I think when you’re looking at the guys that are really competing for a Stanley Cup championship, I do think it’s the latter. I think it’s a fit. I think it’s a lower-line guy. Again, you go to Florida in 2024, Kyle Okposo. He got traded for a seventh round pick. Now, that’s a lower level guy, but he fit, and he played some key moments in that playoff series… It’s the Cup winners that find those little pieces. Barbashev and Blueger and Jonathan Quick in 23 for Vegas, win a Cup.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…