East teams too quiet at deadline, despite wide open Conference

The NHL Trade Deadline came and went last Friday, and while there were a number of big names moved, teams from the Eastern Conference appeared more timid than their Western Conference counterparts.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss Friday’s moves and whether the heavy hitters in the East did enough to make a dent in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I just look at the Eastern Conference, and it’s so wide open. I know everyone was bitching about Detroit getting Justin Faulk … but Carolina did nothing, Montreal did nothing, Boston wasn’t a team I expected to do a ton, so I won’t lump them in the same conversation.

But I look at Carolina and Montreal as two teams who had oodles of cap space and assets they could move, and they did nothing. I think, again, they could end up being one of those teams who lose in round one and really kicking themselves that they didn’t push their chips a little more into the middle.

Carter Hutton: When we were sitting there on Deadline Day and David Pagnotta came through and say Carolina was looking at a bottom-six guy, I was like, “OK, you’re getting a bottom-six guy,” but then when it was Nicolas Deslauiers, how does he help you win a playoff series? Yes he has a presence and is among the toughest guys in the league, but I thought they would do more. I thought they would be all-in on Vincent Trocheck and then go get someone else.

It feels like it’s Carolina who will go to the Eastern Conference Final … this is their chance, since there’s no Florida Panthers, and to not beef that up is very questionable to me. The Hurricanes are No. 1 in giving up chances off the rush, so where’s that extra defenseman for the playoffs?

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…