Kellen Moore Calls Saints’ Deadline Moves ‘Bittersweet’ — But Fans See It as a White Flag
The New Orleans Saints' offense is going to look a bit different when they take the field on Sunday to take on the Carolina Panthers?
There may not be a team out there that needs a bye week more. Last week, the Saints installed a rookie quarterback over the course of a few days ahead of a matchup against the Los Angeles Rams. Now, the trade deadline has passed and the Saints traded away No. 2 wide receiver, Rashid Shaheed, and offensive lineman, Trevor Penning.
Fortunately, the Saints will have a week to breathe after facing the Panthers because there have been a lot of changes in a short amount of time.
After the deadline passed, Saints head coach Kellen Moore discussed the day, and specifically the "bittersweet" deal to send Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks, as transcribed by Audacy Sports' Jeff Nowak.
The Saints had a busy day on Tuesday
"Trades are really hard in this league," Moore said. "There’s a personal side of this thing that always naturally grabs you. Loved Shaheed, one of the nicest people you can possible meet in the NFL. He’s an awesome person. He’s competitive. He’s had so much success in this league and he’s earned it through his whole entire journey in this league and so there’s a bittersweet component to this.
"We understand the business side of this. There’s an opportunity that from our team standpoint there’s some value in this moving forward as far as the assets you collect. We have some younger players that we feel like we’ll certainly have opportunities moving forward that we’re excited about, and you know, for Shaheed he’s going to go out there and I’m sure he’s going to play really, really well for Seattle and continue the success that he’s carried."
His comments make sense and are unsurprising. It is bittersweet to see a player like Shaheed go. He was set to enter free agency after the season, but also was a key component in Moore's offense as well. Penning is someone whose job it was to protect the rookie quarterback, so that's important as well.
The Saints did get a return for Shaheed that could help the team in draft and there are guys on the team to be excited about, like Devaughn Vele perhaps, but overall, still a tough day.
Shaheed had 44 catches for 499 yards and two touchdowns before the trade. In Tyler Shough's first start in the NFL, Shaheed was the guy he targeted the most (9). Now, the offense needs to find a way through one more game before regrouping and fully adjusting after the deadline.
Colorado Avalanche showed Championship-level grit against the Lightning
The Colorado Avalanche fended off the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, with a final score of 3-2. It was a hard-fought battle between the two 2021-22 Stanley Cup Final teams. If one thing has been evident in the world of hockey—especially with this year’s Avalanche—it’s that you have to battle through the final whistle and faceoff. If you lay back, it can come back and bite you.
Thankfully, that’s not what happened in this game, as the Lightning had to pull goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, forcing them into a 6-on-5 man-advantage to try and get that tying goal. Thankfully, that wasn’t in the cards for the Lightning, as Colorado was able to keep them from scoring.
Cale Makar was a huge part of the game, and especially the final minutes, as he blocked a shot which hit his hand. He was in a lot of pain, as his reaction on the bench clearly showed. On one hand (no pun intended), that’s the type of
Jared Bednar on Cale Makar after blocking the puck late in last night's win over TBL via @AltitudeSR:
He said that Cale is okay!
"It says a lot. Those three minutes, regardless of how you played the whole night... I love what our guys did on that 6-on-5."#GoAvsGo |… — Adrian Hernandez (@AdoHernandez27) November 5, 2025
You know what? That honestly feels like a Championship-quality move. Now, it’s easy to talk about an obvious playoff team being a Stanley Cup contender in November. I also understand the hesitation to do so. But if the Avalanche fight like they did against Tampa Bay on a regular basis, the sky is the limit for them. They finally have quality goaltending, and we have guys who will go out to battle for each other.
Gabriel Landeskog’s fight is also one to note, as he’s been one of the more physical players on this year’s team, which is surprising given his three-year absence from regular season hockey, but it’s a welcome sight. He showed a lot of guts against the Lightning, too. Landeskog continues to show that he is doing quite well in his long recovery from knee surgey, and we might not even have to be talking about it any longer.
The Avalanche have a three-day break before a tilt with the Edmonton Oilers in Western Canada. We’ll get to see the battle between Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid, two guys who are often linked together. That should be a lot of fun. Who knows? Maybe we will get to see Mackenzie Blackwood back in action.
