WINNIPEG – To this point, the East has been an arms race that only figures to intensify while the West is the equivalent of a staring contest or a high-stakes game of chicken, depending on your point of view.
Welcome to the final six days of the NHL swap meet, where the clock is ticking and many clubs have come to realize which aisle they’re going to be in: buyers and sellers.
Sure, there could be a team or with one foot on each side of the fence but the standings are starting to crystallize and with the Nashville Predators making a move with the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday for Nino Niederreiter, it looks like David Poile could move several more players out before 2 p.m. CT on Friday.
Why are things taking so long for Western Conference teams to load up, while players seem to be arriving in the East with much more frequency?
That’s a tough code to decipher, but it’s not going to stay that way in the coming days – even if the New York Rangers look poised to add Patrick Kane from the Chicago Blackhawks, barring something unforeseen (according to colleague Elliotte Friedman and others weighing in on the story).
Maybe the move made by the Vegas Golden Knights to acquire forward Ivan Barbashev will set the dominoes in motion in the West.
There’s no doubt that the Eastern Conference has enjoyed more success to this point of the season, though the most important games are still to come.
Going into Sunday’s games, the Boston Bruins are 45-8-5 and have amassed 95 points and that’s 19 more than the Vegas Golden Knights, who lead the West with 76 (35-18-6).
The Tampa Bay Lightning are the fifth seed right now and their 78 points would put them on top of the Western Conference if the playoffs started today.
What does that mean for this year’s NHL trade deadline?
Despite the fact most of the targets in the West have been moved the other way to bolster rosters, that trend figures to be changing in the coming days.
With captain Mark Stone on long-term injured reserve, Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon was believed to be looking at bringing in an impact player – perhaps even the most coveted forward on the market.
On Sunday morning, the Golden Knights acquired a complementary piece in Barbashev, but his $2.25 million cap hit leaves enough room to add another player or two, should they so desire.
Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill gave his forward group a potential upgrade by acquiring Evgenii Dadonov from the Montreal Canadiens, though there could be more moves to come.
And after rattling off five consecutive signature victories over the Jets and Calgary Flames on consecutive days to move into second place in the Central Division based on points percentage (.623), do you honestly think Colorado Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland isn’t going to take steps to improve his team?
While it’s true the Avalanche have already spent a good chunk of draft capital – they’ve only got four draft picks at their disposal in 2023 and the same number in 2024 – MacFarland still has his first-rounder in each of those drafts.
Given the way Nathan MacKinnon and company are playing, adding a piece or two just makes sense – even with captain Gabriel Landeskog expected to return for the Stanley Cup playoffs (he’s back skating in Denver after missing the entire season with a knee injury).
The Los Angeles Kings are still fighting tooth and nail with the Golden Knights for first place in both the Pacific Division and Western Conference, so Rob Blake figures to be on the market to add another piece to the puzzle – though he only has roughly $3.1 million of cap space at his disposal, according to CapFriendly.
Armed with seven draft picks for 2024 and a strong prospect pool, don’t sleep on the Kings.
That leaves Ken Holland of the Edmonton Oilers, Ron Francis of the Seattle Kraken, Bill Guerin of the Minnesota Wild and Brad Treliving as the four other GMs in the West on the expected buyers list.
The Kraken are ahead of schedule after taking a big jump in Season 2 with the expansion franchise, but Francis made several off-season upgrades and might not want to surrender too many future assets just yet – though there must be some level of temptation to acquire a player with term, if the price isn’t too steep.
Holland has been forced to participate in salary-cap gymnastics, though he owes it to the Oilers best players to continue to look for creative ways to supplement the roster with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl playing at such an impressive level.
Guerin has twice acted as a third-party broker and might look to complete the somewhat unnatural hat trick before Friday to add another asset, though an injury that landed D-man Jonas Brodin on IR last week means the Wild could be doing some shopping for players this week as well.
The other priority for Guerin is to figure out what’s going to happen with pending UFA blue-liner Matt Dumba.
There’s always a market for right-shot D-men, but a $6 million cap hit isn’t something a lot of contending teams can absorb. Plus, it’s been a down year in terms of his offensive production (four goals, 13 points in 57 games).
Perhaps a change of scenery for the stretch run could be the spark Dumba needs to get his game back on track.
As for Treliving, he must decide whether or not to stand pat or look for further upgrades for a Flames team that has been wildly inconsistent this season.
There’s already been a lot of change to the Flames roster and with them entering Sunday four points out of a playoff spot, you could understand there being some reluctance to push more chips into the middle of the table.
But if you look at where the Flames are in terms of their window of contention, adding another forward figures to be at the top of the to-do list.
That leaves seven projected teams in the selling category, though it’s too early to tell if Poile is going to strip things down or opt for more of a minor renovation to the Predators roster (the latter seems more likely).
Either way, more moves are expected.
Doug Armstrong got a head start on his retooling of the roster and Sunday’s move means the next steps could include moving out players with term, if that’s the approach the Blues GM decides to take.
The Blues aren’t going into rebuilding mode, so they could potentially be involved in discussions for Jakob Chychrun, but the buying element could be on hold until the NHL Draft or free agency.
The Vancouver Canucks already moved captain Bo Horvat, but they remain very much open for business, with Luke Schenn among the rental options on defence that should be heading to a contender this week.
The Arizona Coyotes are looking for a resolution with Chychrun, though the interested parties have been balking at the price tag so far.
Does that mean another team enters the bidding late and scoops him up?
Do the interested parties already involved in the discussions up the offer or wait impatiently and hope the price tag drops as the deadline approaches?
Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong has some other pending UFAs that could draw interest this week in defencemen Shayne Gostisbehere and Troy Stecher and forwards Nick Bjugstad and Nick Ritchie.
Winger Timo Meier remains the most coveted player on the market and Sharks GM Mike Grier continues to weigh his options, looking for someone to meet the asking price.
Given how the arms race is heating up in the Metropolitan Division, the New Jersey Devils look like a logical landing spot – though the Golden Knights appear to remain in the mix.
With Devils 2020 first-rounder Dawson Mercer riding a six-game goal-scoring streak and up to 19 goals and 39 points in 59 games, you can understand why the Sharks would be interested in him but GM Tom Fitzgerald would probably prefer to include someone else in the deal who isn’t on the roster.
Could Norris Trophy front-runner Erik Karlsson be on the move as well?
That remains a highly complicated transaction.
Perhaps there is some traction this week, though it seems like more of a draft-day blockbuster or off-season project.
Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson has teams asking about defenceman Jake McCabe and forward Sam Lafferty (held out of Saturday’s game for trade-related reasons) and you can bet others are interested in forward Max Domi, who has put together a strong campaign and is reported to be interested in sticking around longer.
Rounding out the Western Conference teams are the Anaheim Ducks and GM Pat Verbeek figures to be interested in moving all four of his pending UFA D-men: John Klingberg, Dmitry Kulikov, Kevin Shattenkirk and Nathan Beaulieu.
The latter three have been moved previously at the deadline by other teams, while Klingberg is someone with playoff experience and the ability to run a power play.
After signing a one-year deal and betting on himself, going to a contender could help Klingberg boost his stock for his second crack at unrestricted free agency.
As for the East, the Bruins got better this week by adding defenceman Dmitry Orlov and feisty forward Garnet Hathaway, the Tampa Bay Lightning appear to be lurking in the weeds and the seven teams in the wild-card chase (yes, we’re including the Ottawa Senators along with the Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals) must decide what approach they’re going to take.
By removing right-winger Kasperi Kapanen and his $3.2 million cap hit when he was claimed off waivers by the Blues, the Penguins could be looking to be aggressive this week.
Even with the pre-emptive strikes that have taken place, the week ahead figures to be full of twists and turns and interesting transactions to break down.
Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride.
GOALIE GOAL
If Linus Ullmark wasn’t having an impressive enough season, the Bruins netminder figured he may as well add a goalie goal to his long list of accomplishments.
Ullmark fired home an empty-netter in a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday with 47.3 seconds to go.
Pekka Rinne of the Predators was the last goalie to accomplish the feat (Jan. 9, 2020).
“I just had to take my chance there. We’d been pretty close there. Me and (Jeremy Swayman) have been talking about getting one. I don’t know really what to say. I’m ecstatic and I’m trying to calm down to do this (interview),” Ullmark told reporters in Vancouver. “It’s one of the dreams that I always had, that I wanted to score a goal. I had the opportunity. I tried it at the Winter Classic and I didn’t really make it. Everything came together with how it went.”
After the Canucks dumped the puck into the Bruins zone, Ullmark pounced on the loose puck just to the right of his crease, rifled it over three pursuing players and into the middle of the empty net.
“I thought it went in my own net first, actually,” said Ullmark, noting he hit the post once while playing junior. “I didn’t see it. As soon as I shot it, I saw three guys jumping towards me and I had no idea where it was. I didn’t hear anything, I didn’t see anything … then I see it going toward the net and the rest is history.”
“It’s hard to describe what I’m feeling right now. I have to kind of digest it all. I’m just so bloody happy.”
Ullmark is up to 30 victories this season (30-4-1) and continues to lead the NHL in most categories, including goals-against average (1.86) and save percentage (.938).
As for the Bruins, they’ve now recorded four winning streaks of six or more games as they continue to lead the NHL in wins, points and points percentage.
RAPID FIRE
No surprise to see such a warm reception for Nazem Kadri as he returned to Denver with the Flames for his first game against his former team. Kadri is beloved by the Avalanche faithful and his Game 4 overtime winner in the Stanley Cup final was among the many highlight-reel moments he produced during his three seasons with Colorado.
It was also a warm reception in San Jose, as Patrick Marleau had his No. 12 retired by the Sharks and raised to the rafters on Saturday. Marleau had a legendary career and it was great to see so many of his former teammates on hand for the moment. Didn’t have many opportunities to chat with him over the years, but did watch him closely during the 2016 Western Conference final against the Blues while covering the series. Being in the building for Game 6 when the Sharks advanced to the first Stanley Cup final in franchise history was quite a moment.
Can’t help but wonder if teams looking for goalie insurance aren’t focusing on Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Joonas Korpisalo, who made 42 saves (including 22 in the third period) in a 6-5 victory over the Oilers on Saturday. Had an opportunity for another live viewing last week in Ohio and Korpisalo was outstanding, making 38 saves in a win over the Jets. He recently stopped 41 in a loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. As a pending unrestricted free agent, Korpisalo could be someone who could benefit from a change of scenery and perhaps move into a comfortable 1B position for next season. The 28-year-old Finn is on an expiring contract that carries a cap hit of $1.3 million.
Speaking of goalies, Ducks netminder John Gibson delivered the third 50-plus save performance of the month on Saturday in a 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes. Gibson, 29, is under contract for four more seasons at $6.4 million and while he probably loves playing in southern California, it would be interesting to see if a contending team made a play for him during what appear to be his prime years. The Ducks rebuild might speed up dramatically if they win the NHL Draft lottery and land Regina Pats captain Connor Bedard, but if you’re a GM looking for a bona fide No. 1, now might be the time to get in touch with Verbeek.
