When Will Teams Start Selling Off Pieces
Jim Biringer of NHLRumors.com, Full Press NHL, and RG Media joined TSN Radio in Montreal on Monday and was asked when we could see general managers around the league start to tap out on the season and sell their pieces off as we approach the Olympic Break and NHL Trade Deadline.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning
Host: “Jim, all right, so a couple of things in and around the National Hockey League. Look at the Eastern standings. Specifically, the standings the Canadiens are sitting in are as congested and as ridiculous as you can possibly imagine. The Atlantic Division, the top five teams in the Atlantic Division are playing like .800 hockey. It’s just ridiculous.
And I’m just wondering, from your perspective here, when we get to that ever-popular NHL trade deadline, like, how many teams will be in sell mode? Like, how many teams will have general managers would have said, ‘We are tapping out of the season, and we are moving on.’
Jim Biringer: “I mean, that’s a great question. I think that’s the million-dollar question, right? Like, when is everything going to hit the fan? When are teams going to realize, hey, we’re not going to make the playoffs this year? I think we need to pump the brakes on everything. And I think that activity is starting to pick up. You’re kind of seeing it now, after the I guess I could use the word pounding, that the Boston Bruins gave to the New York Rangers on Saturday.
NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils and Vancouver Canucks
I tend to think the Rangers are starting to decide, hey, wait a minute. As much as their owner comes out and says, ‘Hey, I’m going to back the GM. Don’t count my team out.’ Everybody knew going into this season, this team is not a playoff team, and they have some pieces teams want. I think you’re going to start to see in the East, I mean, it’s so tight, because I think this month is so crucial for so many teams, and we’ve talked about it, the Bruins, right?
Did anybody really expect Boston to be this good this year and be in contention for a playoff spot? We thought maybe they’d be selling off pieces again, like they were last year and just continuously doing this rebuild, retool. But nope, they did the Washington, retool on the fly, real quick.
And I’m wondering more so out West, when it comes to like, okay, these Eastern teams, they’re looking at, oh, okay, what does Calgary have? What does Vancouver have? Teams like that? That’s where I’m starting to look. Because in the East, I think we’re going to wait till we get to the break to find out who’s really out of this thing.”
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