Stafford’s best offensive years are behind him, but he brings a little added scoring depth to the Bruins’ bottom-6. Stafford has played a reduced role in Winnipeg this season and tallied just 13 points (4G / 9A) in 40 games.
Streit was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning for all of 45 minutes before being flipped to the Penguins for a draft pick. The Lightning move was a salary cap move, but the Penguins really need help on the back-end because of the long-term injuries to Olli Maatta and Trevor Daley. He still brings a decent offensive punch and can play the second power play unit with Justin Schultz.
Oleksy, 31, is a veteran blueliner, who has just one assist in 11 games with the Penguins this season. He has spent the majority of the time in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL), where he had one goal and four assists (five points). He will likely report to the Toronto Marlies.
Fehr is a veteran who brings forward depth to the Maple Leafs. The Penguins needed to move his cap-hit in order to add Mark Streit to their blueline and the Maple Leafs were in the position to add an asset to do so. Fehr has 11 points (6G / 5A) in 52 games this season.
Corrado has not appeared in a lot of games this season because he sat as healthy scratch frequently with the Maple Leafs. He had 12 points (1G / 11A) in 18 games with the Marlies and is expected to go straight to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
Jokipakka, who cleared waivers earlier today, is heading to Ottawa, where he will likely serve as a seventh defenseman. Jokipakka has one goal and five assists in 38 games with the Flames this season and just 28 points (3G / 25A) in 147 career NHL games.
Kostka has four goals and 17 assists (21 points) in 85 career NHL games, but has not appeared in a NHL contest this season. The 31-year-old blueliner has one goal and 11 assists (12 points) in 46 games with Binghamton (AHL) and should head to Stockton.
Lazar has had a very difficult year that started with mono at the beginning of the season and never seemed to get it back on track. Lazar had three goals and one assist in 13 games with Binghamton (AHL) and one one assist in 33 games with the Senators. Following a few additions up front, Lazar would have been sitting or sent back down, so he gets a much-needed change of scenery as the Salmon Arm, British Columbia native heads to Alberta.
Parenteau missed Monday’s game with a finger injury, but isn’t expected to miss a lot of time. The veteran winger seems to score wherever he goes and adds a little scoring depth to a hot Predators’ offence. Parenteau heads to Nashville with 13 goals and 14 assists (27 points) in 59 games this season.
At this point in his career, Filppula is more like No.3 centre, who is paid like a No.1 or No.2 centre and the Lightning needed to move him. They took on another big cap-hit in Streit to even things out for this season, but Streit’s deal is up at the end of the season. Filppula could land a No.2 centre role in Philly, bumping Brayden Schenn back to the wing—he comes in with 34 points (7G / 27A) in 59 games this season.
Streit is an expiring contract with a large cap-hit that need to be moved in order for the Flyers to take on another large cap-hit in Valtteri Filppula. Streit is getting up there in age, but still has a lot to bring in terms of offence and power-play capability. Streit comes in with five goals and 16 assists (21 points) in 49 games this season.
Andrighetto has split his time between the AHL and NHL this season. He had eight points (2G / 6A) in 27 games with the Canadiens and 22 points (8G / 14A) in 20 games with St. John’s. The Canadiens were looking to get bigger so the moved a small forward in Andrighetto for a bigger player in Martinsen.
Martinsen has just three goals and four assists (seven points) in 55 games with the Avalanche this season. The Canadiens continue to try and make themselves a bigger team and Martinsen comes in at 6-foot-3 and 220 lbs.
Prout has appeared in 15 games with the Blue Jackets this season, recording just three assists. In seven games with Cleveland, the rugged defenseman had two assists. He will likely serve as an extra defenseman with the Devils.
Quincey is an expiring contract at the end of the season so he gets added to a solid Columbus’ blueline, where he will likely serve as their sixth defenseman. He had 12 points (4G / 8A) in 53 games with the Devils this season.
Beck has appeared in only three NHL games with the Oilers this season, but has registered 50 points (13G / 37A) in 40 games with the Bakersfield Condors (AHL).
Fontaine, 29, has 197 games of NHL experience, registering 27 goals and 41 assists (68 points). Fontaine has spent all of 2016-17 in the AHL, where he has nine goals and 21 assists (30 points) in 50 contests with Hartford.
Iginla will be a free agent this summer, but adds some scoring depth to a Kings team that is pushing for a playoff spot. The veteran winger isn’t the player he once was, but will help the Kings’ power-play and could be rejuvenated playing with Anze Kopitar. He heads to Los Angeles with eight goals and 10 assists (18 points) in 61 games this season.
The Canadiens want to get heavier and they do so by adding another power forward in King. The 27-year-old doesn’t provide a lot in the way of offence, having scored just 15 points (8G / 7A) in 63 games with the Kings this season.
McIlrath, 24, was the 10th overall pick in 2010 and has had a tough time elevating his game to the NHL-level. The 6-foot-5, 220 lbs. defenseman has been waived a few times this season and will likely report to Grand Rapids (AHL). McIlrath has one goal and three assists in 22 AHL games this season and five points (3G / 2A) in 43 career NHL games.
NHL trades are decided between two or more team general managers. The front office’s job is building a winning team. Building a winning team means discussing trades with other general managers across the league.
During the NHL regular season, players can be traded up until the trade deadline. The deadline is the official cutoff point for when teams can no longer make moves between each other. Players can also be traded throughout the offseason.
Teams trade players in hockey for a variety of reasons, but generally, it is done to find success, whether that is in the short term or long term. Teams may trade their top players in search of draft picks if they are undergoing a rebuild, whereas contending teams may look to acquire talent to boost their playoff chances.
Trades are a common occurrence throughout the NHL and happen often. Some years feature less trades than others, it all depends on each teams needs and the availability of attractive talent.
