NHL trade deadline 2023 winners, losers: East loads up with Rangers, Devils leading charge

The leadup to Friday's NHL trade deadline was about exciting as it can get.

It started on Jan. 30, when the Islanders acquired Bo Horvat and continued on Feb. 9, when the Rangers landed Vladimir Tarasenko and on Feb. 17, when the Maple Leafs traded for former playoff MVP Ryan O'Reilly.

And it got even better in the final week when the Rangers acquired Patrick Kane, the Devils got Timo Meier, the Bruins got Dmitry Orlov and the Senators landed Jacob Chychrun.

But with even Max Domi moving late on Thursday night, there was little left on Friday, and deadline day was a dud with 21 total deals, most of them devoid of big names.

The best trade, John Klingberg to the Wild, was announced after the deadline, and Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk didn't move.

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TRADE DEADLINE DAY: Analyzing the moves that went down on Friday

Here are the winners and losers for trade deadline season:

WINNERS

New York Rangers

The Rangers needed a top-six right winger, a defenseman and a depth forward. They ended up with all of that – and a future Hall of Famer, even if it took days and a salary-cap dance to make it happen. GM Chris Drury acquired forward Tarasenko, who has six 30-plus goal seasons, and defenseman Nikko Mikkola, then added Tyler Motte to stabilize the fourth line on Feb. 19. Then Kane essentially forced his way to New York and the Rangers finalized that deal Tuesday. The result is a top six of Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Tarasenko, Vincent Trocheck, Artemi Panarin and Kane ... and Stanley Cup expectations.

Boston Bruins

They're the fastest team to 100 points in NHL history, and even so, they didn't sit still. Defenseman Orlov is averaging two points a game since arriving. The Bruins added grit in Garnet Hathaway and Tyler Bertuzzi, the latter one acquired after injuries to Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno. They avoided playoff distractions by signing David Pastrnak to an eight-year, $90 million contract. And they even got good news after Brad Marchand left a game with an injury, with coach Jim Montgomery saying he'll be available for the next game.

New Jersey Devils

The Devils reeled in the biggest deadline target in winger Meier on Feb. 26 and added center Curtis Lazar on Friday for depth. New Jersey has become one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, but a lot of its skilled forwards are quick and on the smaller side. Enter Meier, who is 6-1, 220 pounds, does not mind a physical game and has 31 goals this season, his third season with at least 30. Meier, who is making $10 million, will be a restricted free agent this offseason.

Toronto Maple Leafs

General manager Kyle Dubas is under pressure to win a Stanley Cup – or even a playoff round – in the final year of his contract. He has quickly revamped all aspects of his already talented team, adding forwards O'Reilly, Noel Acciari and Sam Lafferty and defenseman Jake McCabe, Erik Gustafsson and Luke Schenn. They're a deeper team, but of course, they'll have to face the three-time defending Stanley Cup finalist Lightning in the first round.

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LOSERS

Arizona Coyotes

Hockey in the desert is most definitely not thriving. And how could it? The Coyotes are playing at Arizona State's Mullett Arena, and the team does not seem close to being a contender. But they do seem to be among the teams most receptive to adding draft picks and holding contracts for players not on their roster, so there's that! The Coyotes traded forwards Nick Bjugstad and Nick Ritchie and defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere, Chychrun and Troy Stecher, and they added the contracts of injured Shea Weber and Jakub Voracek. They also helped facilitate the Bjugstad trade (50% of his contract) and Kane deal by taking on $2.625 million of his salary. They also have the contracts of Oliver Ekman-Larrson, Bryan Little, Andrew Ladd and Josh Brown on their books; none of them play for the Coyotes. They have 22 picks over the next three years within the first three rounds, so it'll take time to build a winner, even if they win the lottery and draft Connor Bedard.

Detroit Red Wings

GM Steve Yzerman seemed to advance his plan with his offseason acquisitions, but he will cut no corners in this rebuild. Even as the Red Wings look at their seventh season in a row without a playoff berth, Yzerman is in no rush for quick, short-lived fixes. While Detroit re-signed Dylan Larkin this week, they traded defenseman Filip Hronek and forwards Jakub Vrana, Tyler Bertuzzi and Oskar Sundqvist for picks, including two conditional first-rounders (one in 2023 and one in 2024). The Red Wings have five picks in the first two rounds of the 2023 draft, but losing key roster pieces will hurt their push for a wild-card spot.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins kept the Big Three of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang together in the offseason, but production from their bottom-six forwards has been an issue all season. General manager Ron Hextall, whose team had salary cap issues, moved out Kasperi Kapanen, Brock McGinn and Teddy Blueger and added Mikael Granlund and former Penguins player Nick Bonino, plus defenseman Dmitry Kulikov. They don't seem much better after those moves.

Western Conference

All the major moves happened in the East. Yes, the Eastern teams will beat each other up in the first three rounds of the playoffs, but whoever survives should be more stacked than whoever gets out of the West.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NHL trade deadline winners, losers: East loads up for playoff push