Analysis of winners and losers of the NHL trade deadline, with a Big Lebowski quote for each (as required by the CBA).
What’s the Big Lebowski? It’s a film about a man, facing a big deadline, who must act. Kind of like NHL GM’s yesterday. With that in mind, here is a review of some of yesterday’s major players.
Carolina Hurricanes
“New sh** has come to light, man” – The Dude
“ That’s a great plan, Walter. That’s ingenious, if I understand it correctly. It’s a Swiss f**kin’ watch.” – also, The Dude
Great leaders think long term and can see around corners. And in managing through the Necas/Rantanen/Dallas saga, Eric Tulsky showed he can do both.
I cannot emphasize enough how few NHL executives would have the courage to put their managerial careers on the line by engaging in the type of high-profile, high-risk moves that Tulsky just did. To say nothing of making those moves as a young, rookie GM with an unconventional hockey background, unconventional methods, and a big target on his back.
I was in a similar role once. Many folks around the league (and their friends in the media) want you to fail because you represent a way of doing business different from their own. And that’s threatening. So, when they see something they can attack, they pounce.
In the summer of 2016 as rookie Florida AGMs, Eric Joyce and I traded Erik Gudbranson to Vancouver for Jared McCann, a 2nd and a 4th round pick. Our team had just won the division after years of futility, and we were trading the #1 fan favourite and recent 3rd overall pick for a second-year player who hadn’t yet established himself? Nearly every national and local media personality (and even one of our own players!) took to the airwaves to call for our heads. The biggest of Insiders told us that never in his career had he seen so many in the hockey world outraged at one management group.
When we first proposed the trade internally, our owner told that if it failed we’d be held responsible. We did it anyway. But not before talking together – and with our families – about the career risks we knew we’d be facing. Which is to say, when you’re the one making the moves, it’s far more than just a “hockey decision”.
What Carolina did this year was far bigger, far riskier, way more complicated, and much more public. You can be absolutely certain Tulsky knew he was putting a career he had spent decades building — all so he could ascend to a role that he had finally been promoted to only months before — on the line here.
Eric Tulsky has courage in spades.
And I love where Carolina ended up.
They started with a great young player who was going to be difficult to retain beyond 2026 (Necas) and ended up with an excellent young player under club control until 2030 (Stankoven), two 1sts and two 3rds. In Tulsky’s hands, those picks are going to be monetized this summer to acquire another transformational roster player. They will also be used (perhaps by packaging with a current roster player with term) to create the additional cap space needed to pursue a Mitch Marner or Nik Ehlers. You can guarantee it.
In the interim, he swung for the fences on Rantanen. As a matter of first order thinking it didn’t work out – Rantanen didn’t want to extend there. But we should still recognize that the opportunity to have had a chance to pitch Rantanen on Carolina was valuable in and of itself.
The Canes may not be as good this year as they would have been with Rantanen (though they very well might still be good enough), but they’ll be much better for years to come because of this series of transactions.
If you prefer a GM who treads water for a decade with a mantra like “if you have time, use it” that’s your prerogative. Give me more Eric Tulskys in hockey, in business, in politics. They’re rare.
And finally, please take a moment to recognize how respectful Tulsky was of Rantanen throughout the entire saga. All class. That’s going to resonate with players in and outside of the organization for years to come.
Tulsky went into the eye of the Hurricane and came out stronger.
Mikko Rantanen
“Ve Vont Da Money, Lebowski” – The Nihilists
Good on Mikko Rantanen and his agent Andy Scott for leveraging a lifetime of work that led up to UFA status at his peak and then securing generational wealth in a place where he can play hockey alongside some of his best friends for the next 8 years.
In the long term, when he looks back on his career, I think he will have minimized potential regret by seeing this through how he did and ending up where he most wanted to, at a time when he had the power to do so.
Winnipeg Jets
“I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in that. It’s good knowin’ he’s out there — The Dude. Takin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners. Shoot. I sure hope he makes the finals.” -The Stranger (narrator)
The Winnipeg Jets are having an incredible season. Connor Hellebuyck could win the Vezina. Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor could each score 40+ goals. It’s unseasonably warm in Winnipeg for March. Chantal Kreviazuk is back singing the Canadian anthem.
So why not keep the vibes going by adding great guy-in-the-room, veteran leader and tough-as-nails defenceman Luke Schenn while reuniting Brandon Tanev alongside Adam Lowry in his old spot? I like it.
Relatively speaking, though, the Jets did take it easy.
And I understand the sentiment that they should have made a bigger splash (though it wasn’t for a lack of trying).
After what Colorado and Dallas did, Winnipeg may be the first #1 seed to rightly claim underdog status within their own division come playoff time. But that’s a familiar spot for Jets fans who came of age in the old Smythe Division. And that’s great for the vibes too.
Vancouver Canucks
“Hell, I can get you a toe by 3 o’clock this afternoon … with nail polish.” – Walter Sobchak (John Goodman)
If you haven’t seen the film, Walter is very resourceful. He gets stuff done amid chaos when he needs to.
The Vancouver Canucks at the deadline — not so much. It was a seller’s market. The Canucks had good things to sell. Expiring assets they seem to not really want themselves (Brock Boeser). They got nothing for them. No toe. No nail polish. They gave some hard to believe reasons for that.
I’ve been in this spot before – managing a bubble team on deadline day. Sometimes the owner is in the room and the plan (or lack thereof) changes by the hour. Sometimes teams think they can wait you out for lower prices as the deadline nears because of your own internal vulnerabilities, even when other clubs are getting great returns for what appear to similar players. Navigating those waters and getting deals done takes a lot of effort. It’s not fun. It’s not easy. But it is what the money is for.
This doesn’t look like Vancouver’s year. They should have added some assets yesterday to help them next year and beyond. They want to win soon – which makes sense as Quinn Hughes will be a UFA in 2 years – and second round picks don’t help you win soon. But draft picks are currency, and currency can be used to buy other things, and Vancouver left some money on the table yesterday even if they want us to believe it wasn’t much.
Florida Panthers
“Nobody f**s with The Jesus” – Jesus Quintana (John Turturro)
Not much to say here. The, defending champion, Florida Panthers get Brad Marchand for a 2nd or a late 1st? They’re rolling.
I thought owner Vinnie Viola would have been all-in on enticing Rantanen to Florida – and maybe he was. Either way, huge add without anything coming off the roster.
Dallas Stars
“Uh, I’m Just Gonna Go Find a Cash Machine” – The Dude (Jeff Bridges)
$96M for Rantanen. $70M+ to extend Wyatt Johnston.
The Dallas Stars had a huge day. They committed a ton of future cap space to two players.
And that’s good.
These are the exact players you should be spending a ton of cap space on.
I’m far more concerned about teams like Buffalo continuing to allocate upwards of $4M/year to depth players when they so clearly need transformational, top-of-the-lineup talent, than I am about either of these deals.
Put another way, if Dallas wanted to shop either of these contracts tomorrow, there would be takers. That’s always a good litmus test. They aren’t like new cars that lose value the moment they’re driven off the lot. They’re the types of big, smart bets teams make when they want to win championships. And they might.
Boston Bruins
“Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski” – Mr. Lebowski (David Huddleston)
They had a great run.
Credit to the Boston Bruins management for not limiting themselves by refusing to trade within their division as they kicked off the eventually inevitable rebuild or at least major retool. That allowed them to maximize the return on Brandon Carlo (to the Leafs) and doing right by Brad Marchand (to Florida).
I don’t love the Coyle/Mittlestadt swap for Boston but that’s a very loosely held opinion. I think Colorado was quite motivated to move Mittlestadt and his 5.75M cap hit through the end of next season – especially after adding a better center in Brock Nelson at the deadline. Mittlestadt didn’t appear to be fitting in with Colorado. But Coyle’s signed for the same duration at close to the same number (5.25M) so it’s basically a wash, and if they’re in a similar spot next season Boston will have the option to flip Mittlestadt as a rental — perhaps after boosting his value by playing him alongside Pastrnak.
Steve Werier joined the Florida Panthers in 2014 and was Assistant General Manager from 2016 to 2017. He’s currently the general counsel to a New York based tech venture company.