Niederreiter, Duchene trades strongest moves in days ahead of Deadline

Teams have been active in the days leading to the NHL Trade Deadline, which is Monday at 3 p.m. ET.

Evaluating trades in the moment is a challenging business, especially when they involve prospects and draft picks. Nevertheless, it's fair game to look at the production of the players involved in trades to determine which moves have been the best in the 55 days leading to the deadline.
RELATED: [NHL 2019 Trade Deadline Live Blog]
The Dallas Stars' acquisition of forward Mats Zuccarello from the New York Rangers for two draft picks Saturday might have been the winner, but the forward is expected to be out for at least a month with a possible broken arm sustained Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks in his first game with the Stars. Zuccarello, who had 37 points (11 goals, 26 assists) in 46 games with the Rangers, had a goal and an assist for the Stars.
The Columbus Blue Jackets brought in one of the biggest names on the market, acquiring forward Matt Duchene from the Ottawa Senators for two prospects and a first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft on Friday. The 28-year-old center has 60 points (28 goals, 32 assists) in 52 games and provides another big offensive weapon, loading up the first line between Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson.
Another team that addressed a big need was the Toronto Maple Leafs, who acquired defenseman Jake Muzzin from the Los Angeles Kings.
The prospects surrendered by the Maple Leafs haven't played in the NHL, but forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Sean Durzi each has played well in the American Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League, respectively.
Each of those trades is a contender for the best this season, but the Carolina Hurricanes' trade for forward Nino Niederreiter from the Minnesota Wild for forward Victor Rask on Jan. 19 could be the best move before Monday.
Niederreiter, a 26-year-old wing, has a well-established reputation as a play driver. Since the 2015-16 season, Ottawa's Mark Stone (7.27) and Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins (7.23) are the only skaters (minimum 100 games played) to have a higher relative percentage of shot attempts than Niederreiter (7.20). It comes as no surprise, then, that he's continued to carry the play since joining Carolina, a team that controls an NHL-best 55.04 percent of shot attempts during 5-on-5 play.

Though shot-clock dominance may have been expected from Niederreiter, his track record as a scorer has been inconsistent. He's a three-time 20-goal scorer and produced NHL career highs of 25 goals and 57 points in 2016-17. However, he slumped to 32 points (18 goals, 14 assists) in 63 games last season and had 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in 46 games with the Wild this season.
Offensive inconsistency is what made Niederreiter available, and oddly enough he was joining a Carolina team that profiled the same way: a team that dominated shot counts but had trouble scoring goals.
In Carolina, Niederreiter took a spot on the top line and his rise in production has been dramatic. He has seen his ice time increase from 14:37 to 18:25 per game and has as many goals (nine), in 16 games with Carolina as he did in 46 games with the Wild. Niederreiter had 81 shots on goal in 46 games for Minnesota, an average of 1.76 per game, a reason for his struggle to score. Since joining the Hurricanes, Niederreiter has 53 shots on goal in 16 games, an average of 3.31 per game.
The Switzerland-born forward has 15 points in 16 games for Carolina (33-23-6), which is 11-4-1 with Niederreiter and held the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference entering Monday.
Rask, who slumped to 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) last season after he had 45 points (16 goals, 29 assists) in 2016-17 and 48 points (21 goals, 27 assists) in 2015-16, has one goal and one assist in 10 games for the Wild, averaging 12:11 per game. The Wild are 4-4-2 with Rask, who sustained an unspecified injury on Feb. 12 and has not played since. Minnesota (30-27-6) holds the first wild card from the West.