The idea that you can't judge trades in the present moment because you have to wait to see how it plays out is a pure cop-out for suckers. Obviously, our perception of the moves will be influenced by how they ultimately work out, but it's unfair to use the benefit of hindsight to evaluate the actual decision-making process itself. We have to use the information we have available to us right now to form opinions on the deals, and that's exactly what we're going to do.

If you're interested in deeper breakdowns on individual transactions, we've got you covered. Earlier I wrote at length about Claude Giroux going to the Panthers, Hampus Lindholm going to the Bruins, and Marc-André Fleury going to the Wild. My colleague Ryan Lambert also took on the tall task of grading every single trade we saw in the lead up to the deadline, no matter how big or small in nature. He's an absolute mad lad for doing so, but I wouldn't expect anything less from the man with the hardest working motor in the business.

This will be a bit of a bigger picture view of how things shook out. Let's take a look at notable themes and takeaways to be gleaned from the festivities. Who in particular is notably better or worse off following all of the player movement we just saw?