With the holiday roster freeze now upon us, NHL teams get a moment to sit back and take stock of their franchise. Decisions will be made over the direction of a team this season, and what, if anything, they will do to fix their roster in the New Year. There are a handful of pieces out there, with rumors still surrounding players like Kevin Shattenkirk, Anthony Duclair or James van Riemsdyk.
If your team had a chance to pick up a piece in early January in order to take a run at the playoffs or solidify their status as a cup contender, what would it be? Vote in the poll and be sure to leave a comment below explaining your decision.
[Mobile or app users click here to vote!]
Fluery 2nd rounder for JVR
Not a fan of either team but sounds like a solid deal for both teams. I like it.
Leafs have a #1 goalie for another few years. They need a shutdown D, they’re too small back there
They have Andersen so I cant see them giving up JVR for another.
Fleury as in Marc-Andre Fleury? If so, that makes zero sense for the Leafs since they’re already paying Frederik Andersen over $5 million and Andersen is younger and arguably better than MAF at this point.
Ya worst leafs trade ever. More like Olli Maatta for jvr
That makes zero sense for the Pens. Maatta for JVR
Tell ya what leafs throw Matt Hunwick in for free
The hawks could use a top 4 defender to help that awful pk.
For the Habs, getting Martin Hanzal and Anthony Duclair in a package for a few prospects/picks(and salary dump for cap purposes) would be a great post-trade freeze.
That might be a great trade for the Habs, but not so much for the Coyotes. Arizona would be smarter to trade Hanzal & Duclair separately. They would probably get more that way. Also, the Coyotes do not have the cap space to take a salary cap dump. They are only cap compliant because they were able to put Pronger & Bolland’s contracts on LTIR. They also have Datsyuk’s contract counting against their cap, as well as buyouts of Riberio & Vermette. If Montreal is looking for a salary cap dump to add more pieces, they will have to do it in a separate trade
It’d be an expiring deal like Desharnais or Flynn, something that slightly offsets Hanzal’s incoming salary. But looking closer at the numbers(and realizing Hanzal’s cap hit isn’t as high as I initially thought), with Galchenyuk and Desharnais being on LTIR, a cap dump going the other way likely isn’t needed in a trade for Hanzal and Duclair.
Duclair’s value isn’t very high due to poor performance and Chayka almost openly trying to trade him. I believe in his potential but would not be willing to pay full value right now. Hanzal on his own as a pending UFA, you’re looking at probably 2 draft picks and maybe a prospect or an additional pick with conditions.
I believe the Habs could net both in a trade by sending Mike McCarron, Charlie Lindgren, a 2017 1st and two 2018 2nd’s.
I like Duclair’s potential, but that seems like a stiff price to pay for the Habs for what would pretty much amount to depth pieces at this point. That’s the type of package you would put together for a legit first-line player/top-pairing D-man.
That package wouldn’t net any top line or top pair player. McCarron’s ceiling is that of Hanzal and Lindgren likely wouldn’t hold much value to another team as he would to Arizona since the Yotes lack any goalie prospects and Domingue has shown zero consistency. The picks are picks and really, 2nd rounders don’t hold as much value as they probably should, the Habs dealt two of them for Shaw and traded Eller for two more.
The Habs really need to make a push this year and next year before Price’s deal expires. Hanzal would be a huge upgrade to the 2nd line while Duclair would get a fresh start on his hometown team while also filling a need on the left side.
Eller and Shaw were worth 2 2nds because they are solid 3rd line guys who weren’t rentals. You want to give a 1st, 2 2nds, a top 100 prospect, and another decent prospect for a 2nd/3rd line rental and a guy with 5 points in 30 games. Way too much future potential for what you’re getting back. I doubt many Habs fans would think that’s a good trade for them. That’s a package you could work with to get someone like Duchene, forget Hanzal.
You’re not getting anyone close to Duchesne without a package headline by Sergachev and/or Scherbak plus picks and maybe even more.
Yes, Duclair only has 5 points this year but he scored 44 as a rookie last year. He’s also shown much more at the NHL level than McCarron has. McCarron’s ceiling is that of a fringe 2nd line player but more likely solid 3rd line centre. He is quite slow which limits his potential. The Habs are very likely to pick in the bottom third of the 1st round in 2017, that doesn’t hold a ton of value nor does two 2nd’s that will also be at the tail end of the 2nd round(essentially 3rd’s). Lindrgren’s essentially a throw in because goalie prospects don’t hold much value in the NHL. He may hold slightly more value to Arizona because as I mentioned, they have very little depth in net but that’s assuming they’re comfortable adding a goalie prospect instead of targeting one of the many veterans available.
And for reference, Antoine Vermette and Paul Gaustad brought back 1st round picks as rentals and Eric Staal brought back two 2nd’s and prospect as a rental. Even Ryane Clowe brought back two 2nd’s and a 3rd as a rental. That’s the going rate for 2nd/3rd line forwards at the deadline. The added pieces are to add a potential top line(but probable 2nd line) scorer.
Maybe this is a bit of a cop-out, but I would say most of those deals you cited were arguably overpays (Staal’s was fair). I did say it was a package that could be worked with; I was aware that it would probably have to include Sergachev, as Colorado desperately needs some rays of hope on the back end.
I will say that I think hockey teams are a little too liberal with giving away draft picks. It’s weird that baseball, which doesn’t even have a hard cap, seems to highly value young controllable players right now, while hockey, which does have a hard cap, just tosses them away like nothing for rentals.
For the Sabres, someone to energize the offense; they have so much talent on the top two lines but they can’t consistently put it together. And someone who can actually score goals in the shootout.
Also, could you guys add a link to the poll? Those of us using the iOS app can’t see it.
Sorry about that, I forgot the mobile link. It should be there now!
Thanks.
Coming into the season, it was clearly a top 4 defenseman for the Bruins. However, their defense has played better than expected. Their offense hasn’t been good. They have been playing bottom 6 forwards on the top 2 lines. They clearly need another scorer. If the Avalanche decide to take calls on their players, the Bruins would be smart to call about Duchene
He’d be a great pickup. Problem is they’d have to give up a package of prospects to get him then move a high priced player to make room. With Pasta, Spooner and a few others becoming RFA’s next year they can’t afford anther big salary without dumping some. Bergy , Marchy, Rask, Backes, Krug aren’t going so that leaves Krecji and Chara both with NMC’s. Chara only offers short term relief as he only has another year left and his cap hit drops. Couple of prospects for Duchesne, Krecji and Chara for some younger cheaper NHL level talent. It can work but it will take some doing.
A coach that stops playing Dan Girardi twenty minutes a night or you know stop playing him at all or a time machine so Gorton could go back to the summer and buy out Girardi,
CBJ has solid-to-great Top 4, #1 playmaker, RW sniper,, Vezina winner in net, & a Cup winner behind the bench. What they need most is the last 50 games to be as injury free as possible, especially Bob.
Would love to see NYR unload some of these huge contracts and get picks back
Love the islanders to move back to the “island”
The islanders need a new coach general manager and a top wing to play with Tavares and trade halak. And trade strome and bailey
Bruins need Pasta and Vatrano healthy and in the lineup and a 3rd line RW. At least they finally smartened up and moved Czarnik to 3rd line center. They have to stop playing Nash on anything other than the 4th line. Stop playing Hayes at all move him for whatever draft pick they can or include him in a package just to get rid of him. They should explore trading Subban who they are likely to lose in the expansion draft.
Flyers need to unload Mark Streit. A Big LW with a scoring touch would be nice going into the playoffs
Trade MAF for a boatload of draft picks and maybe a defense prospect. Focus on the draft picks to build for the future–no need to add to the current team
As bad as the B’s offense has been Id still like to see them get a top 4 D
Mattaa + (either a prospect or pick) for Trouba
Tampa needs health. Just everyone getting healthy and we would win the cup
It would be nice if the team that we have could play a game with a healthy roster. It would have a great effect on the team’s record if they didn’t have soooooooo many injuries.