What the past five Stanley Cup winners did at NHL trade deadline

The clock is ticking down to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7, and with teams working until the dying minutes to address needs and find the last pieces to help them make a deep playoff run, major deals may well be cooking. 

But does it actually pay off to make monster moves this time of year? 

To answer that question, we looked at the last five winners of the Stanley Cup, examining the deals they struck in the final days, weeks and minutes before the deadline to gauge their ultimate impact. 

2020: Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning won their second Stanley Cup in franchise history one year after leading the regular season only to be swept in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets — upset city.

Since the Lightning won the 2018-19 Presidents’ Trophy, the team obviously had key pieces in place already. As the Feb. 24 deadline neared in 2020, Tampa added some forward depth and grit to their lineup. 

On February 16, they picked up forward Blake Coleman from the New Jersey Devils, sending prospect Nolan Foote and a 2020 first-rounder the other way. 

Coleman went on to post five goals, eight assists and 31 penalty minutes in 25 playoff games. That ranked sixth overall in team scoring, solid secondary offence for a team led by Nikita Kucherov (34 points in 25 games), Brayden Point (33 points) and defender Victor Hedman (22 points). 

On deadline day, Tampa Bay picked up forward Barclay Goodrow plus a third-round pick in 2020 from San Jose in exchange for a 2020 first-rounder and fellow forward, Anthony Greco, who they’d acquired days earlier after sending Danick Martel to the Florida Panthers. 

Goodrow’s stats with Tampa Bay during that playoff run: one goal, five assists and 16 penalty minutes in 25 games. That ranked the Canadian 13^th overall in points, but one of his assists was clutch, coming on Anthony Cirelli’s series-clinching overtime goal in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final. Goodrow was also an impressive plus-5 in the post-season. 

Conclusion: Neither move shook the NHL landscape, but the Lightning got some key supporting players and added offence to an already deep and deadly core. Probably more importantly, they got some grit, adding players who could help wear down other teams. And both were still with the team when they repeated the following season.

2021: Tampa Bay Lightning (again) 

The defending Stanley Cup champions were obviously stacked already, but they made a few moves on and ahead of the April 12 deadline. Only one was truly impactful. 

On April 10, Tampa acquired defender David Savard from Columbus, part of a three-team trade with Detroit. The Lightning gave up a first-round and fourth-round pick in the 2021 draft and a third-rounder in 2022, focusing on defensive depth to try to win (again) now. 

Savard, then 30, was in his last of a five-year contract, and Tampa Bay decided a top-four, right-shot defender was their priority at the deadline. In Savard they acquired a dependable and tough 10-year vet who played hard minutes and blocked shots. Savard played all but three games in the post-season, had five assists, and averaged just over 14 minutes per game. 

Conclusion: The defending champions had a lot of key pieces in place already, and Savard was brought in to fill a need and play mainly on the second back-end pairing. He brought hard work and dependability. Mostly, Tampa relied on its existing lineup to pull off the repeat, and it worked.  

2022: Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche won their third Stanley Cup in franchise history, denying Tampa the three-peat with a 4-2 series win. Led by stars like Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Cale Makar and Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado was stacked, and then president of hockey operations, Joe Sakic, made a few moves ahead of the March 21 deadline, with one in particular signalling his team was all-in. 

On March 14, the Avalanche picked up defenceman Josh Manson from Anaheim, giving up prospect Drew Helleson and a second-rounder in 2023.  Manson was an alternate captain in Anaheim and brought leadership and stability to the back end. He played the fifth-most minutes in the playoffs among Avalanche D and scored three goals, the biggest being an overtime winner in Colorado’s second-round opener against St. Louis. 

The next day, they added forward Nico Sturm and sent Tyson Jost to Minnesota. Sturm’s contract was expiring and the faceoff specialist didn’t produce a ton during the playoffs — just two points in 13 games. 

On deadline day, the Avs added forward Andrew Cogliano from the Sharks in exchange for a fifth-round pick in 2024. Cogliano fit on the team’s fourth line, and on the PK. He had six points in 16 games. 

They also made their biggest move of all on deadline day, bringing Artturi Lehkonen over from Montreal in exchange for defender Justin Barron and a second-round pick in the 2024 draft. Lehkonen slotted in as a middle-six winger and ranked eighth on the team in playoff scoring, with eight goals and six assists in 20 games. He scored the overtime series-winner in the Western Conference Final against Edmonton, and added a go-ahead goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.  

Conclusion: Adding Lehkonen to an already potent offensive corps brought depth, while Manson provided the same at the back end. Both players were key in meaningful moments during the run and are still with the team today. The big moves paid off.  

2023: Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights won their first Stanley Cup in 2023 after securing Ivan Barbashev, who played on their No. 1 line, just before the deadline. 

Vegas acquired Barbashev from St. Louis, sending Zach Dean the other way. Barbashev played on the left wing alongside Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault, and ranked fifth on the Golden Knights in post-season scoring, with seven goals and 11 assists.

The Knights also added forward Teddy Blueger from Pittsburgh on March 1, for defenceman Peter DiLiberatore plus a 2024 third-round pick. Blueger had two points in six playoff games. 

Finally, they acquired Jonathan Quick for Michael Hutchinson and a 2025 seventh-round pick. Quick was needed to back up Adin Hill after both Logan Thompson and Laurent Brossoit went down with injuries. Quick didn’t play in the post-season, but went 5-2-2 in the regular season with Vegas, helping them clinch top position in the Pacific Division.

Conclusion: The Barbashev deal was a big one, and he proved to be a great complement to Eichel and Marchessault on that top line. The Golden Knights were lucky in that Barbashev found chemistry with the team’s top producers when it mattered most. 

2024: Florida Panthers

After losing to Vegas in the final a year earlier, the Panthers were still looking for their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. To that end, the team that was leading the NHL in early March was one of the most aggressive in the leadup to the March 8 deadline. That included picking up one of the best rental players available, in pending unrestricted free agent forward, Vladimir Tarasenko. 

The Panthers got Tarasenko, who’d already won a Cup with the Blues, from Ottawa on March 6 for a pair of conditional picks. Captain Aleksander Barkov and fellow forward Matthew Tkachuk continued to pace the team offensively in the post-season, and Tarasenko added secondary scoring, with five goals and four assists, ranking 10^th on the team in points. 

On March 8, Florida picked up Kyle Okposo and sent defender Calle Sjalin to Buffalo, along with a conditional seventh-round pick in 2024. Okposo, then 35, played 17 playoff games, and had a pair of assists.   

Conclusion: The Panthers addressed some needs — adding offence up front and depth to their top-nine forwards. A case for the aggressive approach, which can really work.

More from Sportsnet

Maple Leafs 2025 Trade Deadline Preview: Biggest targets, chips, needs

Senators Trade Deadline Preview: Surprisingly (sort of) in buyers’ mode