Trade grades: Evaluating Saturday's pre-deadline blockbusters

With Monday's trade deadline quickly approaching, Saturday was a hectic and stressful day for NHL front offices. Countless phone calls later, two blockbuster trades crossed the finish line. We break down both deals below.

Florida acquires Giroux

To FLA: F Claude Giroux, F Connor Bunnaman, F German Rubtsov, 5th-round pick (2024)
To PHI: 1st-round pick (2024), 3rd-round pick (2023), F Owen Tippett
(Philadelphia retains 50% of Giroux's $8.3M salary)

First, a fun and relevant fact: The 2021-22 Florida Panthers are the most prolific offensive team in recent memory. Seriously. Florida's 4.07 goals-per-game rate through 62 contests leads all 516 teams of the salary cap era.

Apparently leaving no stone unturned, Panthers general manager Bill Zito added to his attack Saturday by reeling in Giroux, the biggest name on the trade block.

The Panthers can now trot out Giroux alongside Jonathan Huberdeau or Aleksander Barkov on the top line. The 1B line can be Huberdeau or Barkov with Sam Reinhart. And from there, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Anthony Duclair, Mason Marchment, and Anton Lundell round out a laughably dangerous top-nine forward crew. Simply put, that's an overwhelming amount of speed, playmaking, and finishing ability to try to defend in a playoff series.

Giroux, who leaves the Philadelphia Flyers with 900 points in 1,000 games, isn't in his prime anymore. However, the 34-year-old is still an impact player at both ends of the ice. He's a crafty, pass-first center/wing who should help the Panthers in the faceoff circle (60.9 FO% this season) and on the power play.

Zito also beefed up the blue line earlier this week, picking up Ben Chiarot from the Montreal Canadiens. These two swaps solidify the Panthers' all-in mentality and, suddenly, the roster's lone question mark - goaltending - is less of a concern with Giroux and Chiarot deepening the skater pool. Sergei Bobrovsky only needs to be decent for Florida to go on a deep playoff run.

The Panthers don't own a first-round pick until 2025. But, given how long they've been stuck in mediocrity, who cares? They're finally chasing a Stanley Cup.

As for the Flyers, GM Chuck Fletcher did alright - he didn't hit it out of the park with this deal, nor did he give away Giroux for pennies on the dollar. Giroux is a pending unrestricted free agent with a no-movement clause, so Fletcher didn't have a ton of leverage. Only a few teams were really in the mix.

While a first-round pick is immensely valuable regardless of year, it's not ideal for the Flyers to wait until 2024. They want to retool quickly, and the player chosen in 2024 won't crack the NHL lineup until 2026 at the earliest. That said, the fact the third-rounder is for 2023 rather than 2022 is a win considering the hype surrounding the '23 draft crop.

Tippett's a bit of a boom-or-bust pickup for Philly. A change of scenery could jump-start the 23-year-old's career. On the other hand, it's possible the trade proves he's just not the player he was projected to be coming out of junior.

The 6-foot-1, 207-pound right-handed winger possesses a missile of a shot and has collected 14 goals in 94 games. Stuck behind so many talented forwards, he averaged a measly 11:56 of ice a night in a Panthers uniform. He'll be offered a clean slate and (presumably) larger role on the offense-deprived Flyers. It'll be interesting to see what he can do with the opportunity.

Panthers: A
Flyers: B-

Lindholm lands in Boston

To BOS: D Hampus Lindholm, D Kodie Curran
To ANA: 1st-round pick (2022), 2nd-round pick (2023, 2024), D Urho Vaakanainen, D John Moore
(Anaheim retains 50% of Lindholm's $5.2M salary)

Lindholm is a quality top-four defenseman, not a Norris Trophy contender, so on the surface, it seems like the Boston Bruins overpaid here.

However, context is key, especially around the deadline. For one, the market for rental defensemen was set quite high by the Chiarot deal, which saw a first-rounder, fourth-rounder, and promising prospect head the other way. Also, while Lindholm's technically a rental right now, the Bruins and Lindholm's camp are reportedly working toward a long-term extension.

With context, the deal is much more palatable from Boston's perspective.

Lindholm, a 28-year-old jack-of-all-trades type, can take some of the heavy lifting off Charlie McAvoy's shoulders down the stretch and into the playoffs. The career-long Anaheim Ducks rearguard is a strong skater who defends well and chips in offensively on occasion. He can play with virtually anyone and can be used on both special teams and in end-of-game situations. In a word, he's solid.

At the end of the day, the Bruins needed to bring in a defenseman and Lindholm was the best-case scenario among players believed to be available.

Since the Ducks and Lindholm didn't see eye to eye on an extension, it only made sense for them to start a bidding war for the pending UFA's services. To reel in a first and two seconds plus a prospect with NHL upside like Vaakanainen is a tidy piece of business by Ducks GM Pat Verbeek.

Unlike the Bruins, Lindholm's imminent extension shouldn't be a major factor in grading the Ducks' work. What happens after the trade isn't overly relevant to them and their plans to build around youngsters Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale through a retool of sorts. The player - who they couldn't re-sign themselves - is gone.

The Lindholm swap wasn't Verbeek's first trade and it won't be his last ahead of the deadline. He's flipped rugged defenseman Josh Manson to Colorado and depth forward Nicolas Deslauriers to Minnesota, and goal-scoring winger Rickard Rakell's on deck. Verbeek, hired in February to replace Ducks staple Bob Murray, is quickly putting his stamp on the franchise.

Bruins: B
Ducks: A

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).