The NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and it's time to take a look at who put themselves in a better position to win the Stanley Cup. Not all of the big names that were expected to move actually did. But for the ones that did, they brought back some impressive hauls for their former teams.

Here's a look at some of the winners of deadline day:

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins needed a big scoring winger to pair with David Krejci, and they got just that in trading for Rick Nash. Giving up on Ryan Spooner was tough, but shedding the unusable Matt Belesky and finishing the trade with draft picks and prospects was exactly what GM Don Sweeney was hoping for.

He did not want to break up the young team that has had such great chemistry. It was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but the team has played so well they must invest in it. Being able to add a scoring player like Nash while only giving up one player off that roster is a win in Boston.

If they win a cup, or re-sign Nash, they will have won this deal.

Winnipeg Jets

Kudos to the Jets for not going crazy at the deadline. They have a great team and are in the mix for the cup, but they certainly needed to add a piece or two.

Where teams were shelling out big packages for less than worthy players, the Jets stayed pat and ended up with Paul Stastny from St. Louis.

Stastny wasn't supposed to be available, but recent contract talks and the teams current losing streak created the perfect storm for him to be available.

Playing on the 2nd line behind Mark Scheifele will be a big boost to this offense.

Vegas Golden Knights

The biggest surprise of the season, the Golden Knights appear locked to win their division. This was supposed to be a big day for the franchise to sell off rental players and collect assets to build over the next few years.

Instead, the Western Conference leaders were buyers and picked up a solid young wing from Detroit in Tomas Tatar.

The cost was high, as they gave up several high draft picks, but Tatar is locked in for 3 more seasons at a reasonable salary. He's arguably a better addition for the next three years than any of the draft picks Vegas would have used.

Not everyone was happy at the end of the day though. Here's the losers of deadline day:

Washington Capitals

The leaders in the Metropolitan Division were strangely quiet at the deadline.

They had the chance to bring back defenseman Mike Green, but no deal materialized.

It's hard to feel comfortable as Pittsburgh, Columbus, and New Jersey all made moves to improve their team and are right behind Washington in the standings.

If they have another early exit in the playoffs, disgruntled fans will look back and wonder why they did nothing.

Ottawa Senators

A team going nowhere this season missed a big opportunity to build for the future. Trading Erik Karlson would have been difficult, but the return would have addressed a lot of their needs. They also had Mike Hoffman and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who were drawing interest around the league.

The team went all in early in the season when they traded for Matt Duchene. They must be feeling the buyer's remorse now as they somehow went from the verge of the Cup last year to the basement this year.
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