The National Hockey League’s trade deadline is this coming Friday and business is picking up.
Seth Jones, Gustav Nyquist and Ryan Lindgren were the latest names crossed off the trade bait boards on Saturday, bringing the total to 13 meaningful moves this season — dating back to the Jacob Trouba deal on December 6th.
That was followed by Mackenzie Blackwood to the Avalanche, Cam Fowler to the Blues and Kaapo Kakko to the Kraken before the biggest blockbuster to date, which sent Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall to the Hurricanes with Martin Necas and Jack Drury becoming Avs.
Then the Flames fetched Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee from the Flyers for Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier, while the Canucks sent JT Miller and Erik Brannstrom to the Rangers for Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini and a first-round pick that Vancouver flipped to the Penguins for Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor.
Dallas got in on the action by acquiring Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci for first- and third-round picks in this year’s draft.
Dallas likely isn’t done and most those buyers still have irons in the fire. They are certainly working the phones, trying to add more firepower for the playoffs.
Problem is, there aren’t many sellers with tight races in both conferences.
Vancouver, Calgary, St. Louis and Utah are battling for the West’s final berth with 20 games to go.
Columbus, Detroit, Boston, Ottawa, Montreal, the Rangers, Philadelphia and the Islanders are all in the mix for the East’s wild cards.
Anaheim was heating up but will likely be joining Seattle, Nashville, Chicago and San Jose as sellers from the West.
Pittsburgh doesn’t want to wave the white flag but is only better than Buffalo in the East.
Counting the Ducks and Penguins, that is seven sellers and 25 potential buyers.
But those trade bait boards are full of players from the bubble teams, including some prominent names like Brock Nelson and Brock Boeser.
Elias Pettersson and Noah Dobson are less likely to be dealt at this point.
Brad Marchand and Chris Kreider also feel unlikely, along with Ivan Provorov and Rasmus Ristolainen by the sounds of it.
Brayden Schenn and Jordan Binnington have been bandied about in recent days.
Scott Laughton and Lawson Crouse could be hot commodities. Ditto for David Savard and Carson Soucy.
The Canadiens could throw in the towel, parting with Jake Evans, Joel Armia and perhaps Josh Anderson.
The Islanders could retool by trading Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Kyle Palmieri in addition to Nelson.
The Bruins have a difficult decision on their hands with Marchand, but Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau are also garnering interest.
And the Rangers might still move K’Andre Miller in overhauling their blue line beyond Lindgren and Trouba.
Keeping the focus on those seven perceived sellers, let’s see who could be available between now and Friday:
San Jose
The Sharks already shipped out Granlund and Ceci but Mario Ferraro’s name has been making the rounds as a trade target. He is under contract through next season at $3.25 million.
Luke Kunin, Nico Sturm and Klim Kostin could be depth options but won’t fetch significant returns.
Barclay Goodrow, Alexander Wennberg and Marc-Edouard Vlasic will be hard to unload in the cap world — San Jose is already retaining salary on the maximum three contracts — but Mike Grier will certainly be shopping them.
Chicago
The Blackhawks made their big move by trading Seth Jones but Kyle Davidson should be listening on almost everyone with this rebuild still in its infancy.
Ryan Donato has been trending and Pat Maroon will be relocating again. Craig Smith is another veteran forward and pending free agent who could find a new home.
Connor Murphy ($4.4M) and Petr Mrazek ($4.25M) have another year left but could be coveted.
Philipp Kurashev and Lukas Reichel could benefit from fresh starts.
A handful of others have prohibitive cap hits with Chicago already retaining on three contracts, so the Hawks are likely stuck with Alec Martinez, Andreas Athanasiou, Nick Foligno, Ilya Mikheyev and TJ Brodie through this deadline.
Nashville
Nyquist was first out the door but won’t be the last, as Barry Trotz hits the reset button on a disappointing season.
Ryan O’Reilly and Luke Schenn will bring the best returns.
Colton Sissons is one of the longest-tenured Preds but could be pried away this year.
Michael McCarron and Andreas Englund offer cheap toughness.
Buffalo
The Sabres are the most interesting seller and might be the most active, with some big names rumoured to be on the block.
Dylan Cozens and Alex Tuch could shake things up.
Bowen Byram may not be willing to commit to Buffalo long term, or there may not be a fit behind Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power.
Ryan McLeod could also be one-and-done as a Sabre despite his breakout campaign.
JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn projected as part of the future, but they haven’t been immune to the many rumblings out of Buffalo.
Tage Thompson and Mattias Samuelsson are locked up as core pieces through 2030 but even their names have surfaced at times.
Jason Zucker, Jordan Greenway, Henri Jokiharju, James Reimer, Jacob Bryson and Dennis Gilbert are pending free agents that Kevyn Adams will try to convert into futures.
The Sabres aren’t retaining on any previously traded players, so that flexibility makes them a team to really watch this week.
Seattle
The Kraken have had players take strides this season — most importantly, Shane Wright — but missing the playoffs will result in more turnover.
Pending free agents Brandon Tanev and Yanni Gourde are as good as gone. There could be bidding wars for their services.
Jamie Oleksiak ($4.6M) has another year left but that might make him more attractive at this deadline.
Those are the big three for Ron Francis, who could be open minded on the likes of Oliver Bjorkstrand and even Jared McCann. He’ll get calls on Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Eberle too.
Seattle isn’t retaining in the present but will likely be buying out Philipp Grubauer in the offseason, so that will weigh into their business decisions.
Pittsburgh
The Penguins are probably pulling the plug on this season.
They are retaining on two and Erik Karlsson will likely be the third if they can find a taker for the $10-million defender.
Rickard Rakell might be their best trade chip, assuming Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are staying put. Those two control their fate with full no-move clauses.
Karlsson can pick his spot too but could welcome another change of scenery.
Matt Grzelcyk and Anthony Beauvillier are pending free agents that Kyle Dubas could extend or cash in.
Anaheim
The Ducks are destined to do the same after suffering a humiliating home defeat at the hands of Chicago on Saturday night.
John Gibson got lit up there and appears done with Anaheim but retention might be necessary to facilitate that move with two years remaining on his contract.
Trevor Zegras is another popular trade chip but the market for him remains to be seen. The talent is evident but the attitude has been questioned.
Trouba, like Rantanen, is a candidate to be flipped, but those odds aren’t great at the moment.
Brian Dumoulin and Robby Fabbri are far more likely to be packing their bags as pending free agents. Brett Leason could be jettisoned as well.
Pat Verbeek isn’t going to panic with this rebuild starting to show promising signs.
Final Thoughts
If we’re setting the over-under at 20 more trades by Friday’s deadline, take the over and bet on chaos. It’s coming, as contenders will be pushing their chips into the middle rather than folding. Several teams will be going all-in for a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup in June!
Fishbowl Sports 
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