So much happened in the weeks leading into March 3 that the trade deadline itself was almost anticlimactic by default.
Outside of some drama surrounding James van Riemsdyk’s destination, as a reported trade to the Red Wings was nixed, and Jordan Greenway getting dealt to Buffalo, Friday was pretty quiet.
But the NHL saw a slew of high-profile moves leading into the deadline, with all three New York-area teams dealing for superstars.
The Post’s Ethan Sears grades the most active teams.
The Rangers are the NHL’s biggest winners at the deadline, adding Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola, Tyler Motte and Patrick Kane to a lineup already packed with stars.
Tarasenko and Kane, whose saga came to an end on Tuesday after a long dalliance and considerable cap-saving measures, add a massive scoring punch to the lineup.
The expectation on Broadway is now Stanley Cup or bust.
We would have liked to see the Devils add a bit more sandpaper and playoff experience to a young lineup, but a megadeal that sent Timo Meier to Newark is still excellent work from GM Tom Fitzgerald.
The Devils’ top six is packed to the gills now with Meier, who comes having scored 52 points in 51 games with the Sharks this season.
With him being a restricted free agent this season, Meier will likely be a Devil for a long time to come.
The Islanders made the first big splash of the season by acquiring Bo Horvat for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty and a conditional first-round pick all the way back at the end of January, then inking Horvat to an eight-year extension.
Getting the superstar center locked down for the long term gets them the grade here, and adding rental winger Pierre Engvall to the mix at the cost of a future third-rounder was a necessary move for a playoff run.
The Bruins were already favorites, and they bolstered their chances of winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2011 by adding Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov from Washington, plus Tyler Bertuzzi from Detroit.
By trading their first round pick this season and conditionally next season, the Bruins are pushing all their chips in to win now, but that looks like the smart thing to do with their NHL-leading record and an older core.
Filip Hronek is a good defenseman, but dealing away the Islanders’ first-round pick plus their own second was a head-scratching move for the Canucks, who are just now starting a rebuild.
The return for Horvat was fine, and Beauvillier has produced since his move to Vancouver, but that pick was arguably the most valuable piece of the deal.
Getting a third-round pick for Luke Schenn is pretty much as expected, and there are worse things than taking a flier on Vitali Kravtsov, who clearly needed a change of scenery from Broadway.
The Senators needed a defenseman and they ended up with Jakob Chychrun, likely the best player on the market and someone under contract through 2025.
That could help them make a playoff push this year or next, and it came at a relatively low cost compared to what the initial asking price for Chychrun was thought to be when he came on the market over a year ago.
Over a two-week span, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas conducted what could almost be described as a roster reconstruction, dealing for Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari, Jake McCabe, Sam Lafferty and Erik Gustafsson while losing Engvall, Rasmus Sandin and a handful of depth pieces and picks.
The result is a Leafs team that looks much better equipped to take on the Lightning in an anticipated first-round series with more toughness and compete level up and down the roster.
From a purely pragmatic standpoint, Steve Yzerman’s moves were understandable. Getting a first and second-round pick for Hronek is a great return, as is a 2024 first and 2025 fourth for Bertuzzi, an expiring contract.
Getting rid of Jakub Vrana’s contract, which adds more cap flexibility, made sense as well.
But for a winning-starved fanbase and with a team in playoff contention for the first time in a long time, it’s tough to swallow.
Just look at Dylan Larkin’s emotions in a press conference to announce his own eight-year extension in Detroit on Thursday.
The Red Wings, at some point soon, need to start looking to win now instead of later.
On the other side of the coin, the Predators finally seemed to acknowledge as an organization that a teardown is needed, dealing away Nino Niederreiter, Tanner Jeannot, Mattias Ekholm and Mikael Granlund, with mostly picks coming back in return.
The five picks that came back from the Lightning for Jeannot alone make this deadline a win for David Poile, who will be stepping down for Barry Trotz on July 1.
This deadline was about accruing picks and cap space for Columbus, which successfully did both.
Offloading Gustav Nyquist to Minnesota, Joonas Korpisalo and Vladislav Gavrikov to Los Angeles and Jonathan Quick — a Blue Jacket for all of a few hours — to Vegas, Jarmo Kekalainen brought back a conditional 2023 first and fifth round pick as well as a third-round pick in 2024 and a seventh-round pick in 2025.
Trading Jakub Voracek to the Coyotes, at the cost of attaching a 2023 sixth-rounder, added $8.25 million of flexibility to their cap as well. It’s not exciting, but it is smart.