The NHL After the Deadline

Well, the NHL's trade deadline has come and gone. Many teams got better while others are giving up players in order to move on to next season and free up money for players they could potentially sign next season. With that being said, there are many teams and many GMs that helped themselves and then there are those who didn't help themselves. So let's take a look at a couple of players and GMs that might or might not have helped themselves at the trade deadline.

First, let's look at one player who is going to do the most to help his new team. To me, I believe that is Andrew Ladd of the Blackhawks. He can help Chicago's forward lines and have the right balance, but he is also a good mix on the Toews-Hossa line.

Another big player that might help is Jamie McGinn of the Ducks. The Ducks are definitely going to be making some noise this March, and his style of play is a perfect addition to the way they play the game. He can play outside the crease and if you saw the way he scored against the Canadiens in his first game with the Ducks, I think he'll be able to help the Ducks when the playoffs come.

SI.com's Michael Blinn believes the Panthers getting Jiri Hudler from the Flames will be a good fit and I'm a little skeptical about this. Hurler hasn't had the puck much this season like he did last season when he scored 31 goals. However, if he can create some offense behind Jagr and Barkov, he could actually be a good fit with what the Panthers are playing. Not only that, but with the addition of Teddy Purcell could also be a big factor into how the Panthers play for the rest of the season and the playoffs.

So now that we've looked at biggest additions this season, I'm not going to look at some trades that might be the biggest fails. The Vancouver Canucks definitely fall into that list. Acquiring Markus Granlund for Hunter Shinkaruk might not be the smartest play, especially for the team we believe is a rebuilding team. Not only that, but not being able to trade away Radim Vrbata, Alexander Burrows, and Dan Hamhuis among others might not have been the smartest thing. Granted, they have no-trade causes, but Hamhuis was willing to save his. He could've gone to a better team.

How about the Boston Bruins? They didn't do anything! Last year, GM Don Sweeney didn't move picks to get any help at the deadline. Now this year, he's giving away picks to get rental players. There's nothing that bad about getting John-Michael Liles and Lee Stempniak, but this team is going nowhere, and they are wasting away their futures on rental players that might not come back. They shouldn't have held on to Loui Eriksson, who'll be overpaid on an extension or walk away. The Bruins are a disaster right now when it comes to trading and trading away their future is not something this team should be doing.

And if you had to look at the team that was in the mix, you had to look at the Dallas Stars. GM Jim Nill whiffed on the opportunity to grab Hamhuis from the Canucks. He did get Kris Russell, but Hamhuis could've provided solid borderline defense. Kris Russell has hurt his partner on defense a lot this season, and having him alone could prove disastrous down the road for the Stars.

Well, some teams got better, others could've gotten worse. We'll see if the final stretch run of this season can prove this teams are contenders or playoff-missers. It's bound to be an exciting final part of this season, puck heads!