It’s buyer beware time for NHL general managers.
The trades are starting to come in ahead of the deadline day when the GMs are trying to get a last push to the playoffs and get a deal done that puts them over the top.
But going through the history of the NHL, it’s clear that only one team wins the Stanley Cup every year and the odds of making a big deal that wins it all for you are high.
I’ve never understood why this deadline day is such a huge thing, overpaying for above-average talent that usually doesn’t net you much in the long run.
The only trades that make sense are generally not the rental player market but making a trade and being able to have a longer-term partnership with a player beyond the next two to three months.
Yes, a trade somehow appeases the owners and the fans and tells them that a team is supposedly going for it. But if you don’t have the pieces by now, I doubt a team will net themselves that magical piece in the next five days.