On March 7, the Carolina Hurricanes made the biggest splash of the trade deadline by obtaining top target Jake Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Michael Bunting and a package of picks and prospects.
It isn't every day that you see a trade like that immediately bear fruit for both teams, but it's safe to say both clubs are happy with what they've gotten.
In Guentzel, the Hurricanes have gotten another potential game-breaker. His seamless transition into the Carolina top line (5 goals and 20 points in 13 games) gives the Canes plenty of hope that the playoff scoring he's know for can keep up.
We all knew he had a goal scoring touch, but his playmaking ability has been on another level.
Countless give and goes with Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis and whether it's even strength or on the power play, he's just producing.
In Bunting, the Penguins have finally gotten a winger that has seemingly been the perfect complement to Evgeni Malkin.
Pittsburgh wasn't getting enough of Malkin this season, but all of a sudden, Bunting has seemingly unlocked another level of the Russian star.
But even past Malkin's awakening, in 16 games, Bunting has five goals and 13 points and he's been involved in some pretty big plays during Pittsburgh improbable run back into playoff contention.
The Pens are also loving Bunting's net-front presence, agitator mindset and physicality too.
While we usually don't see this too often in the NHL, a hockey trade that gives both teams a tremendous boost is always what general managers are looking to pull off.
Of course the one-sided deals are usually the fan favorites, but more often than not, when an NHL GM gets embarrassed they don't really engage with the team that made them look bad again.
So making a good deal that helps everyone also helps to maintain general manager relationships for potential deals down the road.
For all of those reasons, both the Canes and Pens can look at the trade deadline splash as overwhelmingly positive.