Deadline winners, losers: Kudos to Capitals, Coyotes and Cup champs

The first thing Scott Walker thought about when the Carolina Hurricanes asked him to waive his no-trade clause was some advice he gave a teammate just a few weeks ago.

Niclas Wallin was hesitant about accepting a move to the San Jose Sharks, so Walker reminded him he would be leaving a team that was near the bottom of the standings all season for one that could win the Stanley Cup.

Scott Walker doesn't mind going from the Hurricanes to a potential Stanley Cup winner in Washington. (Getty Images)

The winning-the-lottery analogy had its intended effect.

"I said to [Wallin], 'Man I'd buy my own plane ticket. They're in first place," Walker told the NHL Network on Wednesday after waiving his own clause, allowing Carolina to send him the Washington Capitals. "Same with Washington. It was a no-brainer."

There also wasn't much to think about for the Caps, who gave up only a seventh-round pick to add the veteran forward in a deal that was typical of an uneventful trade deadline day. The much-hyped annual event turned out to be a dud as a spectator sport, the result of so many teams being in playoff contention and so few having the assets or the cap space to do anything of significance.

Major deals have become increasingly difficult to make at the cutoff in recent years for similar reasons, but the Olympic-break roster freeze made it even more challenging this season. The biggest names -- Ilya Kovalchuk, Dion Phaneuf and Olli Jokinen -- changed teams two weeks before the freeze, and with only a few days to deal after it was lifted, the emphasis was on either adding depth or at least shedding some salary.

Still, there were more than two dozen deals made and, as usual, some winners and some losers.

Winners

Pittsburgh Penguins: Remember the way former Colorado GM Pierre Lacroix seemed to always swoop in at the last minute and make an impact deal? Ray Shero has become Lacroix's latter-day incarnation, and once again has addressed Pittsburgh's biggest need by picking up the best player moved as the deadline approached.

Alexei Ponikarovsky is a big, 29-year-old winger who can score goals will likely be a good fit with fellow Russian Evgeni Malkin. The Penguins sent prospect Luca Caputi and spare part Martin Skoula to Toronto on Tuesday -- who was then traded to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday -- for the pending free agent, a small price to pay for a player who can help Pittsburgh repeat as Stanley Cup champion. So is the second-round pick Pittsburgh sent to Florida on Monday for veteran defenseman Jordan Leopold.

Washington Capitals: The Caps didn't do anything with their goaltending because of the steep price involved in gambling that someone might be better than Jose Theodore or Semyon Varlamov. Still, the NHL-leading Caps made themselves better with a series of moves that added depth to the roster.

Washington added forwards Walker, center Eric Belanger and defensemen Joe Corvo and Milan Jurcina, giving up a few draft picks and only Brian Pothier from the regular lineup. Corvo can be a good puck-moving defenseman and a potential impact player when he is on his game, but the Caps also loaded up on role players with experience -- and that's critical to make a long playoff run.

Phoenix Coyotes: The Coyotes have been the feel-good story of the season and that didn't change at the deadline, as Phoenix did a good job upgrading its roster for the playoff push.

The Coyotes started the day sitting fifth in the West, a remarkable turnaround from last season, and were busier than anyone by adding five veterans to the lineup. The best might be Wojtek Wolski, a young forward who was the second-leading scorer on the Colorado Avalanche but is coming up on restricted free agency. Phoenix got deeper along the blue line with veterans Derek Morris and Mathieu Schneider and added young legs up front in Alexandre Picard and Lee Stempniak.

Los Angeles Kings: If any team had the potential to make a big splash it was the Kings. Los Angeles has the kind of cap space and young talent in its organization that other teams drool over, and the Kings have had such a surprisingly strong season, they seemed primed to do something major. But Los Angeles has some good chemistry to go along with the talent on the roster, and didn't mess with it to acquire veteran forwards Jeff Halpern and Fredrik Modin, players who bring useful skill sets and leadership.

Edmonton Oilers: Like many teams, the Oilers have to overhaul big time -- and that means dumping salary. They started right after the Olympic freeze lifted by moving Denis Grebeshkov -- and the $3.51 million salary he takes into restricted free agency this summer -- to Nashville for a second-rounder, and continued on the deadline day by shipping out Lubomir Visnovsky and Steve Staios.

Visnovsky and Staios would have cost Edmonton the balance of their combined $8.3 million salary this season, and Visnovsky had two more years left at $5.6 million. Edmonton has to rebuild its blue line, but it could be around Ryan Whitney, who came from Anaheim for Visnovsky and is younger, cheaper and plays a similar type of game.

Losers

Philadelphia Flyers: They were built for a long playoff run, but the Flyers are a team that perennially gets undercut by goaltending problems and could be again. Philadelphia's solution this season was supposed to be Ray Emery, but hip problems have shut him down and forced the Flyers to go with journeyman Michael Leighton. Leighton has done a good job, but the Flyers tried hard to upgrade at the position and failed.

Boston Bruins: Last season, Boston had the NHL's second-best offense. This season it has the worst, yet somehow the Bruins are still in the playoff hunt. Credit that to a generally weak Eastern Conference, but for the Bruins to make some noise, they needed to add some scoring power. Instead, they added defenseman Dennis Seidenberg from the Florida Panthers.

Chicago Blackhawks: The consensus around the league is that Chicago will contend seriously for the Stanley Cup this season, if its goaltending holds up. And few are convinced it will because the tandem of Cristobal Huet and rookie Antti Niemi has generally looked only passable for most of the season. That may be enough because the Blackhawks have so much talent, but chances are this team could be sorry it didn’t upgrade at this crucial position heading into the playoffs.

Ray Whitney: The Hurricanes forward was probably the most sought-after player for teams looking to add offense after Kovalchuk went off the market. Whitney, 37, had several suitors, but the veteran wanted to negotiate a contract extension before waiving his no-trade. The Penguins were interested, but not under those terms, and neither were the Kings, who made a serious pitch before the Olympic freeze. So Whitney stayed put instead of getting a chance to improve his value for a contract next season with a playoff-bound team.