The Athletic Hockey Show - Golden Knights shock the hockey world with Tomas Hertl deal

Episode Date: March 8, 2024

Hailey Salvian and Sean Gentille recap the two biggest trades on NHL trade deadline day with the Sharks sending Tomas Hertl to Vegas and New Jersey shipping Tyler Toffoli to Winnipeg, plus they give their thoughts on the Jake Guentzel trade to the Hurricanes by the Penguins late on Thursday night.Tune in for the Monday The Athletic Hockey Show with Ian Mendes, Mark Lazerus, Chris Johnston and Pierre Lebrun for a full recap on the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. Take our listener survey here: http://theathletic.com/survey24 Get a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. What's up, everybody? It's Friday. It's 4 p.m. Easter. And the trade deadline has come and gone. It's Haley Salvi and Sean Gentilly here with you for a quick pod. We promised we'd be here if something big happened. A lot of the day was windowed dressings, work around the edges. But the reason we're here, Sean, the Vegas Golden Knights and the San Jose Sharks, maybe saved the trade deadline, saved the day for people who had to be on.

on television for 12 hours. Vegas acquires Tomash Hurdle, at a salary retention at 6.75 million and two third round picks. San Jose gets David Edstrom, who was Vegas's first round pick in 2023 and a 2025 first. That's the big deal of the day. Sean, what do you think? It seems like only an hour ago that I was finishing up my Andrew Peak trade grade. and I found out that the hurdle trade, which nobody saw it coming. I think people could sense maybe that specifically nobody saw that coming.

We didn't know that Tomash Hurdle is going to get, they're going to get traded today. But everybody should have had a sense. We talked about this a couple days ago. Vegas was very quiet. They were quiet, and they had Alec Martinez in the chamber, as far as long-term inter-reserve was concerned. I think that should have put everybody on alert. Obviously, Hurtle is also on LTIR.

So, and he's, you know, the plan is to play in the regular season, apparently, but we shall see. We should have known this was coming. I'm glad that it happened. I'm glad that we have something to talk about. Congratulations, by the way, to James Duffy and John Bouchagross and all the guys that had to run,

like you said, that had to run TV shows today, but man. Duffie was about to start like juggling knives on national television. Literally, yeah. There's something awful. This is what it's about.

This is why people care about the NHL trade deadline. This is why everybody has six hour TV shows and why we do trade grades and why everybody mobilizes around this time of year is for the possibility that something like this could happen.

You could have a brand name player move to a brand name team as this paradigm shifting, power dynamic, you know, altering move that happened right in front of us. Because that's what this is. Like, I hope everybody has that kind of perspective on this. Like, Tamash Hurtle is a game changer. He's a difference maker. And he fits in on Vegas like a glass. like a glove, right? Like on some teams, maybe he would be less crucial,

not there because he fits in perfectly as a two C. And they're kind of short on offensive weapons and their top six. Like, that's, like, if you're looking at them and say, like, where could they fail? You're going to say that it's because there's a series where they don't have enough goals. And then they went out and got it.

They did it again. And I think, man, from a storyline standpoint, it couldn't get much better. It's a stunner for a few. reasons because like Tomash riddle was not on the radar like he wasn't on big boards he wasn't the number one guy left on the board like when I saw this you know I was I said this I was on the radio and people were like how's your deadline day I was like I was at home sense and texting our producer being like so we're good we don't have to do this today and this game I was like okay

well I guess I'm going to get ready to to kind of dive in on this and I think what makes this you know obviously the golden nights give up up a lot in their best prospect in another first round pick, but they're getting Tamash hurdle at 17% retained. So they're getting him for around $6 million until 2013. Like this isn't just juicing up for the deadline. Like they've got a legitimately good top six center with versatility who can score for the next several years at a more fair rate. I'm not saying he was overpaid in the $8 million range, but like that deal is going to age better at $6 million than it was at eight and change, right? So this is great for Vegas. I love it for the sharks. I love the return.

I think the sharks end up popping off as one of the winners among the sellers of the trade deadline as well. And we were going into the deadline looking at the sharks and saying they have a lot to sell, but not a ton in value. And they end up probably getting like pound for pound the best return of a seller because it's not a conditional first. And it's not a mid-level. Maybe he'll make it. Maybe he doesn't prospect, like in the Jake Gensel deal, which we can get to in a few minutes. But like, this is a first round pick in the best prospect. I think somebody has, like, I think the best prospect that's been moved at this deadline. So I think it's a win for both sides.

It's also a big win for Tamash Hurtle. And I think you kind of alluded to that. Like, that is the, that is the lens that we've been looking at him through for the last couple of seasons is like, boy, that sucks. Right. That sucks. Because we should mention he had a full no move. clause too. Mm-hmm.

Which means he signed the big deal. Like they were on their way down the hill whenever he signed it in the first place. That was actually a deal that was done before my career took over. That was that was done with an interim GM in San Jose, right? So that's a weird, weird situation. And I think the thought that I had any time I would look at the start, look at the, at the shark stats or, whatever. You're like, boy, that's a bummer for Tamas Hurtle because he is 30 years old and signed for a gazillion years. And he's on a team that's going to be at the forefront of

the tanking battle for the next few years it looks like. And then all of a sudden things shift. You know, that's how that's how Vegas works. And I think the biggest winner, you said this in the trade grade are the Vegas Golden Knights because they beef up again. And this is on top of already adding Anthony Mantha and Noah Haniffin, which we've already, talked about and you went on your big rant about essentially don't hate the player, hate the game. And it's true. Like if you have something to complain about the league rule, not the fact that the Vegas Polonites are willing to put their chips in the middle every year.

If you go down the list, there's a tweet going around right now. Like here's where all Vegas's first round picks over their existence are and like pretty much all of them are somewhere else. And guess what they have for it is multiple cup final appearances and a Stanley Cup. They've only been around for seven years. It's not illegal for other teams to do this kind of stuff, right? Okay, so this deal didn't happen on deadline day, but it came through finally last night after both the penguins and the canes finished their games.

It's one of these things where earlier in the day, it started becoming clear that Jake Gensel was going to be a Carolina hurricane. It took a while to get the return. Obviously, we know it now. it's Jake Gensel and Ty Smith to Carolina. And I just want to give myself a pat on the back because I did say on the podcast, is there a teen that should get Jake Gensel more than the Keynes? And you were like, I don't think they do that.

So I'm feeling pretty good about myself at this current time. And then obviously the return to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Michael Bunting. I'm calling it a conditional second. I don't know why people call it the conditional first. It's a conditional second round. pick for the penguins. It becomes a first if the Cains make the Stanley Cup final, then a conditional fifth rounder, and then three prospects. Vasily Ponomerov. Oh, God. Cruz Lucius. Yeah. Cruz Lucius. We have a fin in there as well. I believe.

Covenin. I'm so sorry. Not bad. That's okay. Sean, what do you think? You're probably not going to need to commit those names to memory. Not all of them. Like the odds of all three of those dudes hitting seem like they're seem like they're pretty low. Yeah. To go back to what we talked about yesterday, the reason I didn't think the hurricanes were the perfect fit overall is because this isn't the kind of trade that they make.

You know, we know how they operate. They don't go and get pending UFAs and they like term and they don't like, you know, adding big ticket items in season like that. So for them to go off the board and deviate from the formula that we've seen from them over the last few years, it was surprising, but it's also perfect because they probably did need to change things up. They needed a guy like Jake Gensel. This is the kind of player who we've said for years that Carolina needs to add, right? You have a guy who's not just great at puck possession and not just great at the process and not just great at expected goals.

that dude turns possession and expected goals into actual goals. In that into production, absolutely. And when the Carolina Panthers, the Carolina Panthers, the Carolina Hurricanes have, oh my God, those football brain took over. When the Carolina hurricanes run into problems, it's because they can't cash in on their chances during the playoffs, right? Nobody is better than that at that than Jake Gensel in the league. Very, very, very few are better at turning possession into points.

And he's got a postseason track record going back to 2017. And we scored 11 goals during a cup run for the penguins that suggest that he's the exact kind of guy that Carolina needs. I love this deal for them. And I certainly thought it was going to be the most impactful one of the deadline until San Jose and Vegas hooked up there. Well, it's going to be interesting to see like which team benefits more. Because both players are injured right now. Jake Gensel did practice the day that he. He was traded on Thursday afternoon, and it seems like he's trending in the right direction.

It sounds like Hurtle will play before the postseason. So he's trending in that direction as well. But it's going to be interesting to see. Are we going to see like a Keynes, Vegas Cup final? I think the Panthers are going to have something to say about that too. But, you know, we had such a big conversation about the way that the Western Conference was beefing up. And they certainly continued to do that on deadline day. Tyler Toffoli to the Jets.

I really like that deal for them. But like we saw the East get involved in a more meaningful way as well with the straight Gensel deal as one of the big ones. I think as it relates to the Penguins, I think understanding that Gensel's hurt and that Carolina isn't a big rental team, he didn't sign a new contract and that they're going to get, what, three months of the hockey Gensel? like I keeping that in mind I still find the return to be underwhelming. If it was just a first round pick

then I'd be like okay at least they got a first but like we don't even know if they did because again the Florida Panthers exist the Boston Bruins while they didn't do much of the deadline they've been good like is it a shoe in

that the canes are going to make the cup final? I don't know. They haven't the last few years. Mind you they haven't had a Jake Gensel. Right. Also I kind of like them trading for Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Yes. Earlier in the day, like he's been, he's been absolute garbage this season, but like, whatever, shake it up, try something different.

Like, he's, he's, he's, he's top six when he's right, you know, still. Um,

I, on the Pittsburgh end of things, I think this is the absolute bare minimum that Kyle Dubas could have gotten back and not had it be like a pitch forks and torches moment here in Pittsburgh, PA, right? It was just good enough to say like, okay, this kind of makes sense.

That's a terrible system that doesn't have, doesn't have many high-end prospects. And then it only gets kind of worse from there, right? Like you sort of- They didn't even get one of Carolina's top five prospects. I agree. It's not good. It's not good. And it's part of,

I think part of it is with the way the deadline kind of unfolded when we knew that there is this like run up to, okay, they're going to trade Jay Cancel. They're seeking offers for Jake Cancel. And that just led to this, you know, I think inflated expectations to a point where you're talking about players who never, never, never were going to move for Jake Gensel, especially when we found out that he actually wanted to go to free agency. So if you're talking about Jonathan Lekaramaki in Vancouver or Carolina's got... Axon Blake.

Yeah. In the, in the defenseman, the Russian defenseman, his name is Casey. He was like, who's everybody loves, everybody loves it. Like, never going to be. Moro. Is that moro? Morrow's the other one, yeah. You know.

The player, vastly Pondomerah. Gabe Perra on the Rangers. Like, these are pipe dream, you know, players. They were never going to manifest as the actual return for Gensel. So I think they suffer from that too. But the, but the return is absolutely underwhelming. Yeah, the player Ponomerov, I'm so sorry if I'm not saying his name correctly, it seems like he's actually been playing quite well as a pro.

Like he's been playing better as like an American league guy than maybe some of the other like top rated prospects have. So that's something that, you know, maybe something to keep an eye off. Maybe he ends up being a bit more of a sure thing in the NHL. But I don't think they got anyone who's like, oh yeah, he's going to be a top six NHL. in Alexander, Alexander, Ekesian was the, is the Hurricanes prospect. He was like a consensus top 10 league wide. He's a defenseman and he's breaking records in the KHL.

Like those are the kind of names that I think very online penguins fans maybe con themselves in the thinking that they were going to be in the discussion for. And it was just never going to happen for all those factors that you brought up at the start of conversation. Okay, so there were obviously other deals on the deadline and we don't need to go through all of them. we really don't need to like litigate how we feel about Matt Dumba for a fifth or Anthony Duclair to Tampa, things like that. Um, although I do like that Duclair gets to go to Tampa like for him personally.

I think that's totally. Um, the devils were kind of interesting today. As we mentioned, Tyler Toffoli goes to the Winnipeg Jets for a second round pick and a third. They also acquire Jake Allen, uh, from the Montreal Canadians at 50% retained.

Alan has one more year left on his deal. Um, so they get Jake Allen at one. at 1.925 million for one more year, and then they move Vitech Vanechak to San Jose. so clearly devil's saying, well, Tafoli's not going to resign. We're going to get what we can,

but we also like can't go into another season with VTK van. If nothing else, we have Jake Allen to fall back on, which like, you know, there's a hard again with the flames. We know that they were interested in Jacob Markstrom, or we've heard that they were interested in Markstrom. Maybe that gets kicked to the summer.

And as you said, Sean, worst case scenario, Jake Allen is an upgrade on the way that beat tech vana check has played this season. The other deal that I liked, and it's not the same, like I liked what the Panthers have done

at the deadline. That team is the number one team in the league standings right now, and it looks like they've gotten better. But like one just kind of nice story, Kyle Okposo gets traded to the Panthers for a conditional seven, which upgrades to a fifth that the Panthers

make the cup final. the Sabres wanted to like do well by their captain. Pierre LeBron said that Florida was his destination of choice. It's just kind of nice, especially if this is going to be his last season. He kind of gets to go and make the playoffs for what the first time in like nine years. That sounds right. I mean,

he's been through a ton during his career. He had some concussion issues, plenty of stuff that he's that he's fought through. Right. So to see him end up in a spot that he loves and with a team that's really, really good. And also could use a player like him, I think is pretty solid. I love to fully do the Jets too.

And I think that's almost more than like we're kind of conditioned to be underwhelmed by the work Winnipeg does at the deadline. Like they're not going out there and getting big fish. So I think, you know, coming into the day, you're like, oh, it'd be nice to see Winnipeg go out and get like a middle six winger. They could use one of those. and they did better than that. Like To Foley is, he's going to score 30 goals again.

And they needed to do something to keep pace with, with the rest of the Western Congress. I think they managed that. They also kept them away from Vancouver too, which is always a, always a consideration. So speaking of the Canucks very quickly, because we wanted to make this a quick reactions pod, are there teams that did not do anything today that you were surprised or disappointed by? Because I think I think of the Canucks, obviously they did some deadline work and they did some work before this moment they get Lynn home. They extend Elias Pedersen,

which isn't a deadline move, but it's a win for fans in that organization. But Phil Kessel doesn't sign. And they're not in on, you know, maybe they were in on them, but they don't land Gensel or to Foley or even any of the like fringe guys.

Vancouver was super quiet. Boston was super weird. Were those kind of the two playoffs? When we're thinking of like playoff teams who didn't do a whole lot, those are the two that kind of out to me. I know Canucks fans are livid, particularly of them not getting to Foley, which is understandable, right? But Boston, to me, is like the real head scratcher because they had

defined needs. Like, they needed a left shot defenseman. They needed some kind of presence in their forward group, and they got none of that. They traded for Andrew Peek, who's, you know, was getting scratched by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He's a right shot physical defenseman. You know, that's not, like, is that what you want when you're low? If you're, if you're a contending team that has, that also has areas where you need to improve. It's just kind of a baffing one. He also makes $2.75 million for the next two seasons. So it's like you can see like maybe that's almost a future focus move.

Like maybe they can, you know, get them back on track. And then they have some nasty, you know, snarly right shot D, which is great. But it doesn't help them much right now. So that's so they're the, they're the, the head scratch of the day for me. And Derek Forbert went from day to day yesterday to done for the season. Or he's been placed on LTIR and now he's likely out for the year. So that maybe explains a bit of the peak situation. But forbert's a lefty.

So it's still a little bit. And they got Pat Maroon as well. Either way, if you're two big deadline additions are Pat Maroon, who's great dude and great teammate and all that, but doesn't bring much to the lineup anymore. And then, you know, a seventh D. Like, it's a little bit of a head scratcher. All right.

I think those are the main team, Sean. I don't know if there was any. I mean, I think that what the Leafs did was a little bit like, eh. Yeah, we didn't talk about them. But we don't have to talk about that. Again, I don't think. All right, so that was the trade deadline. Thank you to the San Jose Sharks in Vegas Golden Knights for saving the day.

It's been a while since I've been like taken it back. Honestly, I was like very surprised by the hurdle trade. So it made the day a little bit more fun, forced us to do a bit more work. but that's okay. Thanks, everyone for listening to this quick recap pod with myself and Sean, Ian Mendez, Mark Lazarus,

Chris Johnson, and Pierre LeBrun will break down the trade deadline on the next episode of the Athletic Hockey Show on Monday. Thanks again, everyone,

for listening. We'll see you next Thursday with me, Sean and Max.