What NHL GMs look for in change-of-scenery Trade
The early returns on the Max Domi for Alex Galchenyuk summer swap look promising for both sides, a point Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin was quick to raise when asked about Domi’s early-season success: “We traded a good player to get Max,” Bergevin said. “Hopefully it works out for both teams.”
It’s promising on that front. In the fourth game of the season, Domi and Jonathan Drouin were paired for the first time on a line, and the results have been remarkable. Drouin is playing his best hockey since the deal with Tampa Bay with Domi as his center. Domi, meanwhile, has 22 points in 18 games. In scoring his 10th goal of the season on Tuesday night, he showed off the acceleration that was part of his offseason focus. Galchenyuk, meanwhile, made his debut on Oct. 23 and didn’t register a point in 15:01 of action. Since then, he has three goals and eight points in nine games. The Coyotes have gone 6-3-1 with Galchenyuk on the ice, positioning themselves into the middle of the Western Conference playoff conversation.
The NHL season is maturing to a point where general managers are starting to get a good idea what they have in this year’s group. It’s also a time when they can start looking for ways to fill holes via trade, with this week’s GMs meeting in Toronto an opportunity to have those conversations in person. While much of the trade speculation centered on Toronto and its William Nylander stalemate, that’s an incredibly tough deal to pull off midseason. There has to be a trade fit. There has to be a contract done, and you need two sides with an appetite to do a monster deal.
Typically, this is more a time for the change-of-scenery deals. The deals where a young player, like the aforementioned Domi or Galchenyuk, is targeted for a fresh start. It’s Canucks GM Jim Benning taking a chance on Derrick Pouliot. Or Penguins GM Jim Rutherford hoping a fresh start helps a guy like Riley Sheahan or Jamie Oleksiak recharge their careers. All were deals made last fall, all featuring players who were first-round picks.
These change-of-scenery trades are the kind of deals many general managers are constantly looking to make:
“All the time,” said Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen on Monday. “All the time.”
“You always do,” said Minnesota GM Paul Fenton. “You always look at what a change for you and what could change for the person (if you) get him in a different environment.”
How do GMs identify those candidates? Each player is different but there are certainly characteristics that can help identify a player who could blossom following a trade:
- One executive suggested that he’ll look for players struggling under the glare of a Canadian or big market team, who they think would benefit from a career reset and different expectations. Taylor Hall’s wild success in New Jersey might be the ultimate example of a player benefitting from a fresh start. Perhaps his career trajectory was going to lead him to Hart Trophy status regardless of where he played, but he’s clearly thriving in New Jersey after six seasons in Edmonton, where he was dealing with the expectations of being the No. 1 overall pick in 2010. Perhaps there’s another version of this developing in Edmonton’s Jesse Puljujarvi, who hasn’t reached expectations as the No. 4 overall pick in 2016, although it makes more sense for the Oilers to be patient there. Calgary’s Sam Bennett (No. 4 overall in 2014) is another player who has failed to reach high expectations who might benefit from a fresh start in a new market.
- In Domi, Bergevin saw a player he believed would handle the spotlight in Montreal quite well after starting his career in Arizona. “He thrives on that,” Bergevin said. “He’s a Toronto kid who played great at the World Junior on the big stage. He’s doing the same for us right now.”
- Right now, Josh Ho-Sang (No. 28 overall in 2014) is at a point-per-game pace in the AHL with Bridgeport but still waiting for his NHL break. You can’t help but think how a big personality like that would fare in a major Canadian market, having grown up in the thick of the Toronto hockey scene.
- To really get the benefit of a change-of-scenery, it helps to be able to capitalize on that initial jolt of being moved, when a player might be receptive to new ideas. “If a guy is on his fourth, fifth, sixth team change, might not make a difference,” Bergevin said. “Especially if the guy is on his first team, there’s a chance.” Bergevin has a player in his own organization who might even qualify as a potential target in forward Nikita Scherbak, a first-round pick in 2014 who hasn’t established himself in Montreal. Talented young winger Daniel Sprong is very much in play, in part, because he can’t break through the logjam at right wing in Pittsburgh.