The Penguins have battled injuries all season long, so they have shipped a draft pick to a rebuilding team for a top-6 forward. Perron had a career high-28 goals and 57 points last season, but has just 19 points (5G / 14A) in 38 games this season. His fantasy value is certainly on the rise now that he moves from the 27th ranked offence to the sixth best.
The Predators had placed Roy on waivers on Sunday and sent him to the minors this afternoon. The Oilers did not want to take on another contract, which is why they sent Arcobello to the Predators instead of just claiming Roy on waivers. Arcobello has 12 points (7G / 5A) in 36 games with the Oilers this season.
Roy, 31, who cleared waivers today, is now heading to the lowly Oilers. The Oilers did not want to add another contract so that is why they passed on him on waivers and then dealt Arcobello for him. Roy makes $400K (per NHLNumbers) more per year than Arcobello, but also has much more experience. He had 10 points (1G / 9A) in 26 games with the Predators.
The Jets are without Zach Bogosian, Tobias Enstrom, Mark Stuart and Jacob Trouba for the next little while, so they have gone out and addressed a huge need on the back-end. Harrison, 32, has one goal and three assists in 20 games with the Hurricanes this season. He has totalled 21 goals and 49 assists (70 points) in 337 career NHL games with the Hurricanes and Maple Leafs organizations.
Erixon, 23, is used to changing NHL organizations. He was drafted 23rd overall by the Flames in 2009. He then moved to the Rangers before ending up with Columbus, so he he now with his fourth NHL team in five years. He had one goal and six assists in 19 games with the Blue Jackets this season. He spent the majority of last season in the AHL, collecting 38 points (5G / 33A) in 40 games.
Morin, 23, grew frustrated with the Blackhawks while he was serving as a healthy scratch. He asked for them to play him or trade them and they elected to move him to Columbus. He had no points in 15 games with the Blackhawks and one goal in three games with Rockford (AHL) this season. He has 16 points (8G / 8A) in 54 career NHL games. Morin will report to the Blue Jackets.
Samuelsson, 23, was the Penguins second round pick (61st overall) in 2009. The 6-foot-2 blue liner is not known for his offensive game, but has a reliable defensive game. He had four assists in 22 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL) this season. Samuelsson will likely report to Portland (AHL).
Klinkhammer, 28, is 6-foot-3, 220 lbs. and has spent the last three years in the Coyotes organization. This season he has recorded three goals and a plus-3 rating in 19 games with Arizona.The Penguins are battling a bunch of injuries upfront, so they bring in Klinkhammer to provide some depth.
Blacker, 23, made his NHL debut on the weekend with the Ducks, but now heads over to Florida where he will likely end up with the San Antonio Rampage (AHL). He has five assists in 15 gams with Norfolk this season.
The Ducks continue to try and shore up their banged-up blue line. They acquired Eric Brewer from the Lightning but he played just two games before breaking a bone in his foot. So now they have brought in 24-year-old Colby Robak, who has three assists in 42 career NHL games and no points in seven games this season.
Brewer, 35, has four assists in 17 games with the Lightning this season. The Ducks are going to be without Francois Beauchemin for 4-6 weeks, to they are bring the veteran Brewer in to shore up the back-end.
Dillon, 24, is a big-boy at 6-foot-3, 225 lbs. and bring some size and physicality to the Sharks blueline. Demers is a better puck-moving defenseman, but Dillon is two years younger and the Sharks have a number of young offensive blueliners in their system. Dillon will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
Demers, 26, has three assists and a minus-6 rating in 20 games with the Sharks. Demers addresses the Stars need for a right-handed D-man. He is just two of seven blueliners on the Stars' squad that is a righty. He is a better puck moving defenseman than Dillon, but obviously is not nearly as big.
Acton has three goals and two assists in 33 career NHL games. He had his highest offensive output of his pro career in 2013-14 when he scored 12 goals and 11 assists (23 points) in 47 games with Oklahoma City (AHL).
Lain, 25, is a monster at 6-foot-6, 210 lbs. You may remember him from the first shift line brawl vs. the Flames last season. He has one goal and 21 PIMs in nine career NHL games.
Allen has one assist in six games with the Ducks, but heads to Montreal who just added Sergei Gonchar to an already relatively deep blue line.
Bourque was sent down to Hamilton after clearing waivers earlier in November. He has recorded four points (2G / 2A) in four games with Hamilton. He heads Anaheim, where he will have a tough time cracking the lineup.
Leopold, 34, has appeared in seven games this season, averaging just 13:04 minutes per night. He saw pretty limited action in St. Louis, yet the Blues’ deep defense probably accounts for some of that drop-off. He averaged as many as 23:20 minutes per game during his peak usage with the Buffalo Sabres in 2010-11 and has 659 NHL regular season games on his resume.
Gonchar, 40, has an annual cap-hit of $5 million (per nhlnumbers.com) and has just one point this season. He has only appeared in the three most recent games for the Stars and shipping him out for the much cheaper Moen, suggests that this was a salary dump and that the Stars have something else up their sleeves.
Yogan, 22, was the Rangers fourth round pick (100th overall) in 2010. He has yet to make his NHL debut and split his time last season between the AHL and ECHL. He had five goals and five assists (10 points) in 40 games with Hartford (AHL) last season.
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.