D-Day

While D-Day is normally observed on June 6 in memory of the Normandy landings in World War II, it seemed the NHL had its own d-day today as there were a pile of moves made that involved defencemen as the centerpieces of these deals. While I wrote about Trade Deadline Day being a slow day next Monday, I didn't think that it would be as slow as it appears to be with teams making all these moves prior to the big day. Let's go over who moved where in the flurry of deals that happened throughout Tuesday.

In the first deal of the day, the Carolina Hurricanes acquired defenceman Joey Keane from the New York Rangers in exchange for winger Julien Gauthier in a swap of AHL players. In 49 games with the Hartford Wolfpack this season, Keane has eight goals, 22 assists, and 32 PIMs.

As stated above, the New York Rangers acquired right-winger Julien Gauthier from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for defenceman Joey Keane. In 44 games with the Charlotte Checkers this season, Gauthier had 26 goals, 11 assists, and 34 PIMs.

ANALYSIS: I'm not sure why the Hurricanes dealt their leading goal scorer on their AHL club for a defenceman who seems like a handful of defencemen they already have in their lineup, but the Rangers acquire a player who very likely could be playing for them before this season ends.

The Winnipeg Jets acquired defenceman Dylan DeMelo from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 2020 third-round draft pick. In 49 games with the Senators this season, DeMelo had ten assists and 31 PIMs.

The Ottawa Senators acquired a 2020 third-round draft pick from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for defenceman Dylan DeMelo.

ANALYSIS: I like this acquisition by the Jets as they didn't give up a lot to get a very good defender in his own zone with some offensive upside. I thought Ottawa might get more back for DeMelo, but adding another pick never hurts for a team in full rebuild mode. Winnipeg's third-round pick gives Ottawa seven picks in the first three rounds this summer, and 12 picks in total in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

The Washington Capitals acquired defenceman Brendan Dillon from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2020 second-round draft pick and a conditional 2021 third-round draft pick. In 59 games with the Sharks, Dillon had one goal, 13 assists, and 83 PIMs.

The San Jose Sharks acquired a 2020 second-round draft pick and a conditional 2021 third-round draft pick from the Washington Capitals in exchange for defenceman Brendan Dillon. The 2020 second-round pick originally belonged to Colorado that was dealt to Washington in the Andre Burakovsky deal. The conditions for the 2021 third-round pick are that if the Capitals win the Stanley Cup this season, the pick becomes a 2020 third-round pick that was originally owned by Arizona, dealt to Colorado for Carl Soderberg, and dealt again from Colorado to Washington in the Andre Burakovsky deal.

ANALYSIS: Washington gets the big, solid defencemen they were looking for since Brooks Orpik retired with Dillon being more mobile and having better defensive awareness. San Jose did retain 50% of Dillon's salary, but they got themselves a second second-round pick after not having a first-round pick thanks to the Erik Karlsson deal.

The St. Louis Blues acquired defenceman Marco Scandella from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a 2020 second-round draft pick and a conditional 2021 fourth-round draft pick. In 51 combined games with Buffalo and Montreal, Scandella had four goals, eight assists, and 16 PIMs.

The Montreal Canadiens acquired a 2020 second-round draft pick and a conditional 2021 fourth-round draft pick from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for defenceman Marco Scandella. The conditions for the 2021 fourth-round pick are that if St. Louis re-signs Scandella before October 7, 2020 or if St. Louis wins two playoff rounds AND he plays in at least half of the games, the Canadiens will receive the additional pick. If the conditions are not met, the 2021 fourth-round pick remains the property of the St. Louis Blues.

ANALYSIS: After losing Jay Bouwmeester for an extended period of time, the Blues reacted quickly by acquiring Scandella who should be able to help the Blues in the defensive zone while chipping in a little offence. Despite retaining 50% of Scandella's salary, the acquisition of the second-round pick means that Montreal will have four picks in the first two rounds of the 2020 NHL Entry, including three in the second round, which will go a long way in helping the Canadiens move the rebuild forward.

And while we're here talking about defenders being traded, here's what is reportedly in play tonight between two teams who sound like they'll confirm the trade details tomorrow.

The Vegas Golden Knights are reportedly in the process of acquiring defenceman Alec Martinez from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for two of the five second-round draft picks they hold in 2020 and 2021. There may be more to this trade, but this sounds like the foundation to the deal being made tonight. In 41 games with the Kings this season, Martinez has one goal, seven assist, and 17 PIMs.

The Los Angeles Kings reportedly will acquire two of the five second-round draft picks in the 2020 and 2021 NHL Entry Drafts held by the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for defenceman Alec Martinez. There may be more to this trade, but this sounds like the foundation to the deal being made tonight.

ANALYSIS: With this deal sounding more and more likely as per the NHL Insider community, getting Martinez will really shore up a Vegas defence that has looked shaky at times this season as Martinez is great in his own zone. The Kings will likely retain part of Martinez's salary to make this trade work, and could have as many as nine picks in the first four rounds of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft depending on what picks come back in the deal.

With all these deals going down with a week still to go before Trade Deadline Day, it might be time to cancel the TV extravaganzas being promoted on the sports networks about their hours and hours of coverage. There might be a half-hour of recap needed for those who missed some of the deals this week, but it seems there may be fewer teams in play on Monday when the deadline looms.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!