With just over three weeks to go before the trade deadline, many NHL general managers have to determine whether they are going to be buyers and make a bid for a playoff spot or become sellers and trade off expiring contracts for future assets.
Trades picked up in January after three months of relative inaction, but the moves of rental players that are more familiar closer to the deadline have yet to occur.
Here is a look at what the eight teams in the Atlantic Division may be trying to do prior to February 29th.
Florida Panthers
Status – Buyer
Projected EOS Cap Space – $6.57 Million (per General Fanager)
Cap Space Today – $19.09 Million
Cap Space at Deadline – $30.55 Million
Need – Forward, Defensive Depth
Analysis – The Panthers were expected to improve after nearly making the playoffs last season, with young building blocks Aaron Ekblad, Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov gaining experience. Head coach Gerard Gallant’s crew leads the Atlantic Division and could be positioned to make a deep playoff run depending on what GM Dale Tallon chooses to do at the deadline.
Tallon may not want to mess with the chemistry of his young club, but could use the large amount of available cap space at his disposal to add a couple rentals for the stretch run. Expending significant assets to acquire an impact player like Dustin Byfuglien (who Tallon knows from his stint in Chicago) would only make sense if the Panthers could lock him up on long term deal.
Florida appears to have enough scoring depth with veteran Jaromir Jagr, Reilly Smith, Nick Bjugstad, Jussi Jokinen and Vincent Trocheck, but may put their focus on adding a blueliner to take some of the burden off of Ekblad and older veterans Brian Campbell and Willie Mitchell.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Status – Buyer/Seller
Projected EOS Cap Space – $0
Cap Space Today – $1.72 Million
Cap Space at Deadline – $1.72 Million
Need – Forward, Defensive Depth
Analysis – GM Steve Yzerman’s primary focus in the next three-plus weeks is to see if he can get close to equal value for disgruntled young winger Jonathan Drouin, who left the Lightning’s AHL affiliate two weeks ago to await a trade.
Tampa Bay does not have any massive shortcomings in their lineup to address and the reigning Eastern Conference champions have bounced back after a 40 game Stanley Cup hangover. Any additions at the deadline would be for depth purposes and would necessitate moving out a salary to make room.
Less than $2 Million in available cap space at the deadline means that a Drouin trade would have to be for player(s) still on their entry-level deal and someone that the Lightning can retain for a number of years. The recent surge by Tampa has made it a long shot that they would entertain the idea of trading Steven Stamkos before February 29.
Boston Bruins
Status – Buyer/ Seller
Projected EOS Cap Space – $1.2 Million
Cap Space Today – $3.68 Million
Cap Space on Deadline Day – $5.89 Million
Need – Defense
Analysis – The Bruins are battling for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but are not the same team that won a Stanley Cup in 2011 and made the Final in 2013.
In spite of the departure of Milan Lucic and Reilly Smith, Boston has been able to generate offense thanks to one of the league’s best power plays and the additions of Jimmy Hayes, Matt Beleskey and Ryan Spooner. The Bruins however are in the middle of the pack in goals allowed and are still weak on the blueline after having to deal RFA Dougie Hamilton last summer.
GM Don Sweeney does not have a lot of cap space to work with and may move pending UFA winger Loui Eriksson out to open up cap space. With Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug and Dennis Seidenberg logging major minutes, it is likely that the Bruins will look to add at least one or possibly two defensemen.
Detroit Red Wings
Status – Buyer
Projected EOS Cap Space – $0
Cap Space Today – $4.41 Million
Cap Space on Deadline Day – $4.41 Million
Need – Defense
Analysis – The transition from Mike Babcock to Jeff Blashill in Detroit has been relatively smooth, but GM Ken Holland may have to bring in some help on the blueline to help keep the Wings in the mix for the playoffs.
With super rookie Dylan Larkin, youngers Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar and veterans Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Brad Richards, Detroit has enough weapons up front, but the loss of blueliner Niklas Kronwall to a knee injury only amplifies the Wings weakness on defense.
Kronwall is expected back before the end of February, but the group that includes Mike Green, Kyle Quincey, Danny Dekeyser and Jonathan Ericsson makes it a necessity for either Petr Mrazek or Jimmy Howard play well to get victories. Holland will likely be looking to add a rental defenseman to step in on the bottom pairing.
Montreal Canadiens
Status – Buyer/Seller
Projected EOS Cap Space – $1.54 Million
Cap Space Today – $4.48 Million
Cap Space on Deadline Day – $7.18 Million
Need – Scoring
Analysis – The Canadiens have been an unmitigated disaster since losing Hart Trophy winning goalie Carey Price, plummeting from the top of the Eastern Conference to trailing the final wild card spot by five points.
GM Marc Bergevin has ruled out firing head coach Michael Therrien this season and has tried to make small improvements like adding backup Ben Scrivens for Zach Kassian, but Montreal cannot score enough to win with less-than-superman goaltending.
Bergevin now has to decide whether he should expend young assets or draft choices to add scoring in hope that Price can get back into the lineup or shut him down for the season. They could also sell off expiring contracts in Tomas Fleischmann and Tom Gilbert or try to move veterans like Alexei Emelin, Lars Eller or Andrei Markov.
Ottawa Senators
Status – Buyer/Seller
Projected EOS Cap Space – $6.49 Million
Cap Space Today – $18.86 Million
Cap Space on Deadline Day – $30.18 Million
Need – Defense
Analysis – The Senators are in the unenviable position of being seven points out of a playoff spot and not bad enough to finish at the bottom of the NHL standings to get a top five draft pick.
Selling at the trade deadline would make sense, but they have little to sell.
36-year-old veteran winger Chris Neil is the only unrestricted free agent (other than the injured Chris Phillips) on the roster. GM Bryan Murray may be hard pressed to move out defenseman Jared Cowan, who makes $3.1 Million next season and has just four points in 37 games this season.
Ottawa reportedly had interest in Tampa’s Jonathan Drouin, but balked at giving up promising young defenseman Cody Ceci in the deal. Murray may be in a position to use his available cap space to take on contracts for future assets, but the Sens are a budget team and it is not known how much financial leeway owner Eugene Melnyk has given him.
Buffalo Sabres
Status – Buyer/Seller
Projected EOS Cap Space – $9.33 Million
Cap Space Today – $27.12 Million
Cap Space on Deadline Day – $43.4 Million
Need – Quality Assets
Analysis – The Sabres are a team with a bright future, with young building blocks in Jack Eichel, Zemgus Girgensons, Sam Reinhart, Ramsus Ristolainen, Ryan O’Reilly and Evander Kane. GM Tim Murray still has a lot of work to do to get his club in position to compete for the playoffs.
Veterans Jamie McGinn, David Legwand and Mike Weber are unrestricted free agents and could be moved as rentals before February 29, but underperforming players with large salaries and term left (Matt Moulson, Brian Gionta, Tyler Ennis, Zach Bogosian and Josh Gorges) will be more difficult.
Buffalo has the advantage of lots of available cap space and owner Terry Pegula is not afraid to spend money, which means you could see Murray retain salary on some players to make trades or take back contracts from teams looking to free up cap space for a draft pick or young prospect.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Status – Seller
Projected EOS Cap Space – $1.19 Million
Cap Space Today – $8.77 Million
Cap Space on Deadline Day – $10.86 Million
Need – Future Assets
Analysis – Toronto will be the most interesting team to watch in the next three weeks, as they are in full rebuild mode under Team President Brendan Shanahan, GM Lou Lamoriello and head coach Mike Babcock and currently reside at the bottom of the NHL standings.
The Leafs have seven unrestricted free agents, including James Reimer, Roman Polak, PA Parenteau and Shawn Matthias.
Reimer is having the best year of his career and may be looking for a long-term extension that Toronto is not willing to give. Polak is a veteran bottom-pairing defenseman and right hand shot that would be a good fit for a contending team looking for a tough blueliner. Parenteau has bounced back offensively after being bought out by Montreal last season. Matthias is a big body that playoff teams always like to add down the stretch.
Lamoriello should be able to move out many of his short term contracts for a pile of draft picks over the next few years, but his real challenge will be to try to further the transition by moving veterans like Dion Phaneuf, Joffrey Lupul, Tyler Bozak, Jonathan Bernier or Nazem Kadri.
Toronto has a significant amount of cap space available, due in part to the contract of winger Nathan Horton being placed on long-term injured reserve(LTIR) and could open up more room by moving the $3 Million contract of injured defenseman Stephanie Robidas to LTIR. This will enable the Leafs to take back salary in deals that other teams might not be willing to do.
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Written by Michael Augello, who can be found on twitter @MikeInBuffalo