The upcoming NHL trade deadline has a unique twist this year.
As the league prepares for Friday’s frenzy, many of the players expected to move are not the usual players. Instead of a long list of skaters hoping to become unrestricted free agents and expected to pack up their teams for a new destination, many of them have at least one more year on their contracts after this season.
A couple of them were quickly traded on Wednesday: Tyler Myers, from the Vancouver Canucks, to the Dallas Stars; MacKenzie Weegar, from the Calgary Flames, to the Utah Mammoth. Additionally, a trade has been reported that will take Robert Thomas from the St. Louis Blues to the Buffalo Sabres.
That trio likely won’t be the last of players to leave even though they still have seasons left on their contracts and have trade protection.
The Blues have a ton of players on their radar despite being under contract beyond this season, including Justin Faulk, Brayden Schenn, Jordan Kyrou and Jordan Binnington. Likewise, the Flames, having finally committed to a rebuild, are in the same situation with veteran forwards Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman.
There are still plenty of other candidates, including Vincent Trocheck (New York Rangers), Dougie Hamilton (New Jersey Devils), Ryan O’Reilly and Steven Stamkos of the Nashville Predators, Jake DeBrusk (Vancouver Canucks), and Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nicolas Roy of the Toronto Maple Leafs, just to name a few.
Interestingly, most of the players in this category are not salary-lost players in the true sense of the word, and this comes at a time when the salary cap is estimated to rise by $8.5 million from the $95.5 million mark this season.
This is a case of clubs admitting that rebuilding/retooling/reorganizing (whatever you want to call it) is necessary and that trading their proven veterans will provide draft and/or prospect capital to aid the process.
Of course, there are plenty of pending unrestricted free agents from teams unlikely to make the playoffs on the market, with players like John Carlsson (Washington Capitals), Evander Kane (Vancouver), Bobby McMann and Scott Laughton (Toronto) and Sergei Bobrovsky (Florida Panthers) among the countless names being tossed around.
But with such an uninspiring crop of free agents legitimately expected to hit the market this coming summer, plus the league banning the double-holding strategy of years past when teams traded one player to two clubs to reduce the impact on salary cap acquisition, and the salary cap impacting playoff rosters, teams are looking for deals with a more long-term impact.
This is positive as it approaches 3 pm ET on Friday. We know that league heavyweights and Stanley Cup favorites like the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes, Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights will fight to improve their odds.
Additionally, teams hoping to boost their playoff chances or hopes (teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins and New York Islanders) won’t be able to sit idly by.
They just need to get more creative and actually pay the price.
Buckle up and enjoy the show.
