Nashville Predators get: RW Ryan Hartman, 2018 fifth-round pick
Chicago Blackhawks get: 2018 first-round pick, 2018 fourth-round pick, C Victor Ejdsell
Follow all the trade deadline action here.
Click here for all of the trade grades ahead of the 2017-18 deadline.
Nashville Predators: B-
Everyone around the league knew Predators GM David Poile was waiting in the wings to make a big move -- with an embarrassment of riches at center and on defense, a top scoring winger was on the wish list. Rick Nash was a likely target. Evander Kane would have made sense, too.
Raise your hand if you would have predicted Ryan Hartman from the division-rival Blackhawks as the player he homed in on.
A first-round pick seems very high for Hartman, even though he was a first-round pick himself, and is young, cheap ($863,333 cap hit) and feasible for the future (he's a restricted free agent after this season). We would have graded this lower, but the first-round pick is likely going to be low, as Nashville is poised for a long playoff run.
Chicago has done a lot of line shuffling this season, but Hartman has performed reasonably well -- even though he has spent a good chunk of time on the fourth line. His points per 60 minutes rate at 5-on-5 is 1.95, which was actually higher than Jonathan Toews (1.86) this season. There's no doubt Hartman makes the Predators stronger on the bottom half of the lineup. But surrendering a first-round pick for a guy who might not play higher than the third line? That's a little much.
Chicago Blackhawks: A-
The Blackhawks are in an unfamiliar position at this time of year, almost mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. (There still is a chance, but come on ...)
As we wrote on ESPN.com earlier this month, the Blackhawks have been retooling on the fly, making their roster faster and younger so that they don't have to pull a full reset over the summer.
Hartman fits into this identity. He's only 23, a former first-round pick with a lot of upside. However, he's still on his entry-level deal, and will be a restricted free agent after this season. By parting ways now, GM Stan Bowman gives himself more flexibility over the summer; he is no longer burdened by working a new (likely expensive) contract for Hartman.
That Bowman was willing to trade within the division is a sign of the times; the last time the Blackhawks and Predators made a trade was 2004. That Bowman was able to squeeze a first-round pick out of a player who was playing on his fourth line just shows he's still one of the stealthiest GMs in the league.
Two weeks ago, the Blackhawks' draft selections for 2018 were pretty shallow: a first-rounder, a third-rounder, two fifths, a sixth and a seventh. That has been beefed up significantly, adding a first- and a fourth-rounder for Hartman and a third-rounder for Michal Kempny.