'Powerhouse' East already in frenzy ahead of NHL Trade Deadline

The New York Islanders got the trade frenzy started nearly four weeks ago, and ever since it's as if the top teams in the Eastern Conference have been playing a game of "we can top" that in what has been an active trade market.

On Sunday, the New Jersey Devils became the latest team to get involved, acquiring forward Timo Meier from the San Jose Sharks in a trade that involved nine players and four draft picks.
The Tampa Bay Lightning made news of their own about two hours later when they acquired forward Tanner Jeannot from the Nashville Predators.
The Toronto Maple Leafs continued their push to go all in this season by acquiring defenseman Jake McCabe and forward Sam Lafferty from the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday. Toronto had already gotten forwards Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues.
The New York Rangers and Boston Bruins have also beefed up their lineups by acquiring some of the top players -- some who were expected to be moved and some who weren't -- in advance of the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline on Friday at 3 p.m. ET.
The Rangers should have another big move coming too (more on that later).
The Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins have each announced their desire to add before the deadline. Maybe the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres will be too. Heck, the Detroit Red Wings could also get in on the action. Maybe the Ottawa Senators as well after forward Derick Brassard essentially called for management to help them out before the deadline with comments he made Monday, saying they have earned the right to be buyers.
All this adds up to one thing: The East is dominating the trade market and it should make for a wild ride on their side of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"My take on it is, everybody wants to put all the really good players in the East through trades," Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald said. "It's amazing."
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It all began with center Bo Horvat going to the Islanders from the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 30.
Since then, the Islanders are 6-3-2 and Horvat has five goals in 11 games. New York was two points out of the postseason at the time of the trade; it is now in position to be the first wild card into the playoffs from the East, three points clear of the cutoff line.
Of course, seeing that it was the Islanders who jumped the gun on the deadline, it figures the next team to do it would be the Rangers, who got in on the action Feb. 9, acquiring forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola from the St. Louis Blues.
Tarasenko, the marquee player in the trade, has four points (two goals, two assists) in nine games and the Rangers are 5-3-1 with him. Mikkola was plus-3 and played 25:34 in a 5-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
The Rangers also got forward Tyler Motte from the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 19 to improve their bottom-six forward depth.
But they're not supposed to be done yet.
Multiple media reports are linking the Rangers to Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, with a trade potentially happening as early as Wednesday depending on salary cap implications.
If -- or at this point when -- that happens, it would give the Rangers a top-six forward group featuring Tarasenko and Kane as the right wings, Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck as the centers, and Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider as the left wings.
It would arguably be the best top six in the NHL.
But the Maple Leafs might quibble with that; they got OReilly and Acciari from the Blues on Feb. 17. O'Reilly has been playing on Toronto's second line with John Tavares and William Nylander. Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner and Michael Bunting make up the first line.
The Maple Leafs are 4-1-0 since the trade and O'Reilly had a hat trick and an assist in a 6-3 win against the Sabres on Feb. 21.
And on Monday the Maple Leafs improved their blue line and added to their forward depth by getting McCabe and Lafferty from Chicago.
Toronto, like the rest of the NHL, is chasing Boston, which has been the best team since the start of the season; that didn't stop them from adding defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway from the Washington Capitals on Feb. 23.
The Bruins felt they needed more depth at both positions, and they plucked it from the Capitals, who went from contenders to sellers in a matter of a few weeks. That's what a six-game losing streak will do to a team in the Eastern Conference this season.
New Jersey hasn't had that problem this season. The Devils are 17-4-3 since Dec. 30, their 37 points the most in the NHL in that span, and they made their big move to push the Hurricanes for first in the Metropolitan Division by getting Meier on Sunday.
Meier has 31 goals in 57 games this season. He could play on a line with Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes when he recovers from his upper-body injury. Jesper Bratt could be on the other wing, or maybe Dawson Mercer.
The Hurricanes are in first place in the Metropolitan Division, three points clear of the second-place Devils with a game in hand but were reportedly in the market for Meier until a few days ago.
Now that the team chasing them got Meier, the Hurricanes are a team to watch to see how they respond.
The Penguins are the same and maybe their 7-3 win against Lightning on Sunday, their second straight win following a four-game losing streak, is their way of telling general manager Ron Hextall to make a move to help them out.
What about the Sabres, Panthers and maybe the Red Wings too? Will they get involved to push out the Islanders and/or Penguins from a wild card spot? Will the Islanders, Maple Leafs, Bruins, Devils and Lightning make more moves before the deadline like the Rangers are expected to do?
They might have to if they want to keep up in the Eastern Conference.
"It's a powerhouse," Fitzgerald said.