East up for grabs after ‘arms race’ at NHL trade deadline

Jon Cooper is keenly aware that Tampa Bay’s path to hoisting the Stanley Cup a third consecutive year got more difficult after a series of big trades in recent days.

“It’s just looks like the Atlantic’s like one big arms race,” Cooper said after practice Monday. “Everybody’s trying to get that extra edge — whatever they think that is.”

The path through the Eastern Conference is now an even more grueling ordeal than it appeared to be a week ago. Even in a sellers’ market, every playoff-bound team in the East made at least one trade and each got better in a different way.

“Good teams could get upset (in the) first round and you never know what’s going to happen after that,” Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said. “Those eight teams are all good teams: I think on any given night, one could beat the other.”

While Colorado and Calgary have separated themselves from the rest of the pack in the West, good luck designating a favorite in the East. After all the activity in the days leading up to the deadline, at least three teams could stake that claim.

Atop the list are the back-to-back defending champion Lightning, who after losing an entire forward line to salary cap attrition last summer somehow might now arguably be deeper than they were for their last two title runs. GM Julien BriseBois lived up to his wheeling-and-dealing reputation by trading a combined three roster players, two first-round picks and a fourth-rounder for forwards Brandon Hagel, Nick Paul and Riley Nash.

Tampa Bay’s trade for Hagel came in the aftermath of the rival Panthers going all in for the stout defenseman they’ve been seeking all season in Ben Chiarot. The hefty price of top prospect Ty Smilanic, a first-rounder in 2023 and another