I went with a solid B.
I don't have much of an opinion on Holden, but he sounds like he was in a similar situation as Kevan Miller 2 years ago when he was playing with Chara way too high up the roster. Once Carlo stepped in and Miller could mange the third line, he found his game and his confidence grew dramatically. I'm hoping we'll see something similar with Holden, but at the worst he's a step above Postma and pure defensive depth. I don't think O'Gara had a spot here, happy to swap him out with a veteran with more experience. I thought the 3rd was a little pricy, but I'm not losing sleep over it.
Especially since we got a higher third on a player I thought we'd lose to waivers. I think Vatrano has plenty of upside but wasn't going to get many more chances here. Getting a third for him is pretty shrewd, I think both teams will be happy with this in the end. So maybe he won't be a goal per game in the NHL, but he should be a decent 3rd/4th line scoring winger.
I really like the Nash trade. Exactly the kind of winger Krejci loves, good leader, seems like the type of player Debrusk should model himself after hopefully he'll look to him as a mentor. He looked fantastic in the Buffalo game despite the score, drawing penalties, hardnosed defense, good scoring chances. All over the ice. The one thing that worries me is Rangers fans saying they've seen many similar performances but he has trouble finishing, but I am hopeful that playing with significantly better linemates will help him out.
I'm really happy they were able to move out Beleskey, even at 50%. I think retaining is the one part of the trade I don't love, but if that's the difference between Lindgren and Zboril/Vaakanainen/Frederic, I will eat that salary every day. Lindgren is a solid prospect, but he didn't impress much at WJCs and seemed to be moving down USAs depth chart, type of prospect I have no issue giving up. I liked Spooner more than most going into this season, and he impressed in his new role, but Nash is a significant upgrade for a host of reasons, and I don't think Spooner had much of a future here if the organization didn't think he could be a center. the late 1st and 7th is a fair addon for Nash and the cap space.
I don't know much of anything about Wingels, from what I've read, meh. I kinda would rather hold onto the pick, but I see the reasoning. If he fits on the fourth line, I love it. If he is the 13th forward, sure. If he stops Gionta from ever getting on the ice, the trade is worth it.
After writing all that, the moves were pretty good in general. I'd probably change my vote to a B+/A-. We're a better team than we were Friday and didn't have to give up much that didn't already have one foot out the door.
