Islanders: Looking at success rate of big trade deadline acquisitions

The 2020 Trade Deadline

There were a ton of first-round picks traded away at the last trade deadline. Here are all the players that were moved (and to what team) as well as their stats in the regular season and post-season (format is regular-season Goals-Assists-Points (GP)// playoff Goals-Assists-Points (GP)):

• Jean-Gabriel Pageau (to Islanders): 2-0-2 (7)// 8-3-11 (22)
• Brady Skjei (to Hurricanes): 0-1-1 (7) // 0-2-2 (8)
• Barclay Goodrow (to Lightning): 0-2-2 (8)// 1-5-6 (25)*
• Ondrej Kase (to Bruins): 0-1-1 (6) // 0-4-4 (11)
• Blake Coleman (to Lightning): 0-1-1 (9) // 5-8-13 (25)*
• Jason Zucker (to Penguins): 6-6-12 (15) // 2-0-2 (4)

When you look at this class you see a number of guys who didn’t have much of an impact right off the start. The only player who put up the type of production (in the regular-season) worthy of that first-round pick it cost to get them was Jason Zucker.

I know Brady Skjei is a defenseman and as such his production shouldn’t be measured equally to forwards, but one point in seven games isn’t exactly great.

Even Jean-Gabriel Pageau struggled for the Islanders in his first few games with his new team. We all knew he played the type of game that could excel under Barry Trotz, but it wasn’t until the post-season that we saw that materialize on the score sheet.

The same goes for Blake Coleman. Picked up from the New Jersey Devils he didn’t have much of an impact in his first handful of games with the Lightning, registering just a single assist. But in the post-season, he took off with 13 points in 25 games.

He wasn’t the MVP, but Coleman gave the eventual Stanley Cup champs the depth needed to bring home a championship. It was a price worth paying.

Looking at last year’s deadline there’s proof that what’s going on with Palmieri and Zajac isn’t rare. At least not in very recent times.