The five biggest winners from the NHL Trade Deadline

The NHL Trade Deadline is over. Now that the dust has settled, it will be interesting to see how teams play with their new acquisitions. Let's take a look at the five biggest winners from the NHL Trade Deadline window.

These five teams were the biggest winners at the NHL Trade Deadline

#5 Toronto Maple Leafs

The Maple Leafs might have made themselves real Stanley Cup contenders at the NHL Trade Deadline and not the pretenders that they have been in recent years. The Maple Leafs made perhaps the biggest splash by adding St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly, who proved he still had it in his first game for the Leafs, scoring a hat trick.

Elsewhere, the Maple Leafs upgraded on the blue line. Jake McCabe was the biggest acquisition and will add instant depth to that position. The Leafs also added Luke Schenn from Vancouver and Erik Gustafsson from the Capitals, further adding more depth.

#4 New York Rangers

The Rangers easily acquired the two most skilled players at the NHL Trade Deadline. Vladimir Tarasenko, like Artemi Panarin, has been magic to watch. The Rangers adding Tarasenko to their forward group leaves them with no real weakness from the top line to the bottom.

A move that extended that even more? How about trading for three-time Stanley Cup champion Patrick Kane? Kane wanted to be in the Big Apple, and the Chicago Blackhawks finally conceded and sent him there. Patrick Kane could make the Rangers into real Stanley Cup contenders in the Eastern Conference.

#3 New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils knew who they wanted going into the NHL Trade Deadline. The biggest fish. Timo Meier had been rumored to be going to New Jersey for months, and the Devils finally got it done in a deal that was one of the best pieces in NHL history.

The Devils also made a move on Deadline Day to acquire a depth defenseman from the Vancouver Canucks in Curtis Lazar. The Devils window is just opening, and acquiring both Lazar and Meier not only cracks the window open a little more, but offers hope for the future.

#2 Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins made two key moves. As the best team in hockey, they didn’t really need to upgrade anywhere but they did it anyway. Dmitry Orlov makes the Bruins defenseman an impenetrable brick wall. Adding Garnet Hathaway will give the Bruins another depth piece.

Tyler Bertuzzi is a wrecking ball that has a scoring knack as well. He’ll fit in perfectly in the Bruins locker room.

#1 Minnesota Wild

A little bit of an underrated pick here but the Wild didn’t overpay while upgrading their team. Marcus Johansson should play more of a role with the team than he did two years ago.

Oskar Sundqvist added grit when the Wild traded away Jordan Greenway to the Sabres. John Klingberg is a low-risk, high-reward option that happened at ine final hour.

The most interesting name acquired is Gustav Nyquist. Nyquist might be injured before the playoffs begin, but it will be interesting to see what role he plays when healthy and if the Wild re-sign him at the end of the season.