Stand pat or load up? What the past 10 Stanley Cup winners did at the Trade Deadline

Credit: Artturi Lehkonen and Josh Manson (© Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports)

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Can a Stanley Cup winner be distilled into a repeatable recipe?

It’s a question I ask every year after the NHL Trade Deadline passes as we reassess the league’s power structure based on which players changed teams. Is there a set list of ingredients a contending team can seek out and sprinkle into one pot every season to ensure a deep playoff run?

Last season, I laid out what I believed was a usable championship recipe by studying the previous 10 Stanley Cup winners. The recipe consisted of seven characteristics that were most common among the champions. It wasn’t as simple as just being good at everything. For instance, there wasn’t a strong correlation at all between having a good power play and winning the Cup.

Using the same parameters, which NHL roster has just the right mix of championship material this season?

So far in the series, we’ve examined six different traits common among recent champions, from elite goaltending to strong penalty killing and, most recently, having players who have already won a Cup. Today, we look at the seventh and final characteristic: Trade Deadline activity. In tomorrow’s conclusion, we’ll examine which current teams fit the seven-trait profile the best.

Stanley Cup Ingredient #7: Trade Deadline Deals

“Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don’t make.” Does that adage ring true, or is it just something a GM says to placate fans after striking out at the deadline? Have recent Cup champions made meaningful additions leading up to the deadline or chosen to stand pat?

Here is a look at the key mid-season additions, if any, for each of the past 10 Cup winners. I’ll define “mid-season” as players acquired between Jan. 1 and the trade deadline of that season. The term “key” matters here; the 2018-19 Blues technically traded for Michael Del Zotto but he didn’t dress for a playoff game.

Season	Champion	Deadline Additions
2012-13	Chicago	M. Handzus
2013-14	Los Angeles	M. Gaborik
2014-15	Chicago	A. Vermette, K. Timonen, A. Desjardins
2015-16	Pittsburgh	C. Hagelin, J. Schultz
2016-17	Pittsburgh	R. Hainsey, M. Streit
2017-18	Washington	M. Kempny, J. Jerabek
2018-19	St. Louis	None
2019-20	Tampa Bay	B. Coleman, B. Goodrow
2020-21	Tampa Bay	D. Savard
2021-22	Colorado	A. Lehkonen, J. Manson, A. Cogliano, N. Sturm

Wow. So, nine of the past 10 Stanley Cup winners saw holes they needed to address. In some cases, a seemingly minor addition ended up mattering a lot. Michal Handzus became Chicago’s No. 2 center in the 2013 playoffs, while Michal Kempny ended up playing on Washington’s top defense pair with John Carlson in 2018. Some Cup winners made splashier additions with great results, too. Marian Gaborik buried 14 goals during the 2014 Kings’ run. Artturi Lehkonen had four game-winning goals among the eight he scored for Colorado last spring.

The correlational data suggests that standing pat is extremely rare for the team that goes all the way. Even if it’s a small tweak, doing something appears to be prudent.

Stanley Cup correlation: Very Strong

So if we look at every NHL team currently in a playoff position or realistically in the hunt for one: how many have made meaningful additions since Jan. 1? Here’s a breakdown of 20 teams. Excluded are basement dwellers out of contention and teams within shouting distance of playoff spots who adopted seller postures, such as Nashville and Washington.

2022-23 Trades among playoff contending teams

Team	Addition(s)
Boston	D. Orlov, T. Bertuzzi, G. Hathaway
Buffalo	J. Greenway
Calgary	N. Ritchie, T. Stecher
Carolina	S. Gostisbehere, J. Puljujarvi
Colorado	L. Eller, J. Johnson, M. Nieto
Dallas	M. Domi, E. Dadonov
Edmonton	M. Ekholm, N. Bjugstad
Florida	None
Los Angeles	V. Gavrikov, J. Korpisalo. Z. MacEwen
Minnesota	J. Klingberg, G. Nyquist, M. Johansson, O. Sundqvist
New Jersey	T. Meier, C. Lazar
NY Islanders	B. Horvat, P. Engvall
NY Rangers	V. Tarasenko, P. Kane, N. Mikkola, T. Motte
Ottawa	J. Chychrun, J. Gauthier
Pittsburgh	M. Granlund, N. Bonino, D. Kulikov
Seattle	J. Megna
Tampa Bay	T. Jeannot, M. Eyssimont
Toronto	R. O’Reilly, N. Acciari, J. McCabe, S. Lafferty, L. Schenn, E. Gustafsson
Vegas	J. Quick, I. Barbashev, T. Blueger
Winnipeg	N. Niederreiter, V. Namestnikov

It appears most GMs got the memo and joined the arms race. Not every team made earth-shaking upgrades, but every team in the hunt added a piece aside from the Florida Panthers, who are taking a page from the 2018-19 Blues, hoping they peak at just the right time with a talented team.

On the extreme end of the spectrum: the Toronto Maple Leafs, who turned over 33.3 percent of their starting skater lineup in their quest to escape the opening round of the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Neil Smith and the 1994 New York Rangers would be proud.

So every contender checks the ‘Deadline Deal’ box except for one. Now it’s time to see which teams best combine all seven of my Stanley Cup criteria. Until tomorrow…

Previous Stanley Cup Ingredients entries: Team Weight, Top-10 Scorer(s), Top-10 Goalie, Shot Attempt Share, Penalty Killing Efficiency, Stanley Cup Rings

Next up: Applying the seven-trait formula to pick a 2023 Stanley Cup favorite

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Stand pat or load up? What the past 10 Stanley Cup winners did at the Trade Deadline

Stanley Cup Ingredient #7: Trade Deadline Deals

2022-23 Trades among playoff contending teams

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