The Athletic Hockey Show - 15 teams to keep an eye on ahead of the trade deadline

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

Hailey, Max and Sean take a look at the potential sellers, including Anaheim, Calgary and San Jose, buyers in Manhattan, Raleigh, Edmonton, Tampa Bay and Dallas and bubble teams in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Detroit, Ottawa, Nashville and New Jersey, with the NHL's trade deadline 22 days away. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another Thursday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. I guess it's the first episode in this new revamped lineup of the program. Nothing you'd report here, though, folks. It's still Haley, Salvi, and Sean Gentilly and Max Bolton, you're stuck with us for now. Forever, actually. Sean, I think we need you to rank your favorite co-hosts now.

there's another in the mix for you. So one through three. Is this all time or? No, no, between your current co-hosts, me, Haley, and Mackindoo.

We need a one through three. All this is, if there were an all-time ranking, we all know who would be last. Ian Mendez. No. Yeah, that would be Craig Custins

because he never showed up to work. Bum. That's correct. So you're not going to actually. give us a ranking. Do you think Craig has ever listened to our show to know how much we reference him? No. There's no chance. Craig probably listens to like the football show, but he's not listening to the athletic hockey show. If you're listening, Craig, meet me at tipsy McStaggers in 30. And make sure you drive drunk on the way out of there. It's the tipsy McStaggers promise.

Oh my gosh. Happy Valentine's Day. I guess that's the, we're recording this on Wednesday, Eve. But yeah, nothing new from us if you didn't see the new announcement. Sean is on a new show on Wednesdays every week with Sean McIndoo. So if you want to listen to more Sean or Sean Times 2, you can get that on Wednesdays and then Thursdays. It's still this trio here. And this week we're going to go into another deep dive episode. We're less than one month away from the NHL trade deadline.

At this point, we know who some of the buyers are and who has already been aggressive. Vancouver has already brought in Nikita Zedorov, Elias Linholm, and potentially Phil Kessel. It looks like all signs are trending toward Phil Kessel joining the Vancouver Canucks, which is very fun for quite a few reasons, I guess. And then the Winnipeg Jets jumped into the market too, got Sean Monaghan from the Montreal, Canadians. Montreal, Chicago, Anaheim, San Jose, and Columbus have been sellers for the last few trade deadlines. we can expect that to happen again,

I think the most intrigue is going to be found among the bubble teams as the standings either shift or stay the same throughout February. And yeah, so this week we're just going to take a look at who could be buying, who could be selling, and who was stuck in that mushy middle right now, waiting for to see how things change over the next few weeks. I don't think we'll hit on the teams that have already been active since we've broken down those deals, particularly Linholm. Sean, I think you and Mackendoo talked about Phil.

Kessel today or on Wednesday already, right? So let's just say it was a Phil, it was a Phil heavy episode. We're Phil guys. Okay. Okay. Yeah, perfect. So if you want to get some Phil Kessel talk, listen to the Wednesday show with Sean and Sean. So for today, we'll just go through some tiers, the top sellers, the top buyers, and the top in between. We're obviously not going to talk about all 32 teams because then this would be a three hour show and no one would listen.

Facts. All right. So let's start with the sellers, guys. I think that makes the most sense so we can kind of set the stage of who might be available before we talk about the buyers and then get into who could be available or who, what teams could be aggressive at the deadline in terms of that kind of bubble situation. So I think one of the more obvious sellers that we can hit quite quickly here, it's the San Jose Sharks. Max, I think I'll go to you first on just like if you're, the general manager of the San Jose Sharks. Are you kind of just selling off and doing what you can to get Macklin Celebrini? Yeah, because there's really not that much for the Sharks to sell off. They're not the team that you first think of that's going to, you know, set the tone of this trade deadline.

But they have a huge incentive to unload, you know, for, it's that dirty T word, basically. But Capo Cawkin is going to be one of the bigger goalie names, potentially out there. And the biggest reason to move him, as you say, Haley, is because you don't want. to keep him. That's the position that can most help you lead the race for Macklin Celebrini. And I do think he will be a name that can make sense for his teams. He's got that

cap hit to his advantage over some of the other goalies we think will be available. Anthony Duclair is a guy who I think for fairly cheap depth scoring teams should be interested in. And that's a team that I think maybe not the splash appeal, splash names of some the other teams we're going to talk about today. But certainly you expect to see two or three deals from them by the end of the deadline. line, right? And I think Anthony Duclair is probably the main one to keep an eye on. He's 21st on Chris Johnson's trade board. He's played for quite a few teams of the last few years, but he's only two years removed from a 31 goal season. He slowed down after the torn Achilles tendon from last

year in Florida playing on an expiring contract. He's got a reasonable cap hit could be like a by low candidate at the deadline for sure. Definitely would be by low. It's 17 points in 46 games. Underlines are bad. I mean, we know that Duclair's talented. He's done it before,

but also I think it is a little bit of a tough sell because he hasn't been productive. He did have a serious injury last season. I think the thought, or I'd imagine the hope, if you're Mike Greer, is that Logan Couture comes back. And he meshes well with two,

Claire, right? Because those are two skilled players who have, you know, a track record of, certainly, of, of NHL success. And now, Concierge third again. So it's like, DeClaire's, you know, not going to play himself into a more desirable position or, or play himself into more value because he's had 46 games to do it and is, you know, like, let's be honest. Yeah, he hasn't been good. So, like, do I love Anthony Duclair's game from two years ago? Like, absolutely. Is that the guy that a team is getting at this point on Valentine's Day 2024? Like, I don't think so.

The appeal that you're selling, if you're Mike Greer is, this is a bad Sharks team. Who's going to produce like they did two years ago on this team? And if I retain a certain percent, they only have one retention spot left because they're already holding money on Burns and Carlson. But if I can get them to you at 1.5 million, you're telling me you're not going to take a chance. on this guy for for some kind of meaningful asset. That's what you're selling if you're Mike Greer. For sure. And he was fine in the playoffs last year for Florida.

He was a part of that cup run, 11 points and 20 playoff games. And that was, again, coming off of a surgically repaired Achilles tendon. So that wasn't too far away. And yeah, the sharks just don't. They're not playing great hockey. So there are some other, there are some other players in San Jose that are kind of on the trade board. Mike Hoffman, Max, you already mentioned. the goalie Kevin LeBank as well.

So I think we can kind of expect San Jose to be selling what they can. But like Max said, this isn't going to be the team that people expect to be like the most fun to follow. So I'm curious, I'll go to you, Max, first. Which team are you most excited to see kind of sell off at the deadline? Is it the Calgary Flames or the Anaheim ducks? It's got to be Calgary because there's a very, I mean, they've already traded Elias Lindholm.

There's a very real chance that by deadline day, they've traded, what, three of the four biggest names who move at this deadline? And obviously, we're talking about Noah Hannafin and Chris Tannav. We'll see on Hannafin. That feels like the one that still has a chance to get done on an extension. But certainly it looks like, you know, you would think TANF is, you know, one of those two is going to be the biggest defenseman on the board. And I guess whether either of a move will see, but it could end up that both of them

are the two best defensemen traded on deadline day. Which is brutal. Elliot Friedman called Chris Tan of the Taylor Swift of the trade deadline. And I just wanted to say that to get Sean's reaction. What does that even mean?

Because people keep talking about them. Watching her, watching Travis Kelsey on stage. Listen, that is, I'm not trying to go off the rails here. But Taylor Swift is like dancing and doing the same weird stuff

at every award show. they are the same person. So it's fine. But no, it means that. Chris Tana of, yeah. Kristanav is always dancing and doing strange things,

notoriously known for being a weird boy, not just like very serious and intense and very good on the blue line. But no, it's the fact that everyone keeps talking about Kristanav. He is the bell of the ball, so to speak. He's the defender that people keep talking about, the same way that everyone talks about Taylor Swift in a way that makes Sean

very angry in a concerning way. I have no opinion on Taylor Swift. Do you have an opinion on the Calgary Flames at the deadline? I'm glad they exist, because if they didn't, we would be up a creek without a paddle. Like, I don't like what, they're still two of the top four names on CJ's board or something. And that's also not accounting for Jacob Markstrom, who, It seems like came fairly close to getting dealt to the New Jersey Devils at some point that that deal, that deal fell apart. And we will certainly revisit that, I would imagine, at some point during this conversation.

We are lucky to have the Calgary Flames. They might. And also, like, not for nothing. They should, should they trade everybody? Absolutely. Yeah. Are they starting to, like, string together some wins, like, maybe. Uber does plan.

Uber does plan better. They're like, they're going back. Watch this. They're going back to purgatory. They're like not going to move Hanifan. Just watch. I love this. There are seven teams in the West that have a positive goal differential.

The next best goal differential at Even is the Calgary Flames. Sounds about right. And if I gave you today the runway to the end of the season of these four teams, who are you taking? St. Louis, Nashville, Calgary, Seattle. They're all within four points of each other. damn it if the Calgary Flames are not the best of those four teams

it's brutal it's brutal it all depends on Jacob Markstrom right because he is the piece that is going to keep all of that together because you can sell off as much as you want the flames are never going to be in full tank mode when they have Jacob Markstrom in net like he is the biggest piece

like if they are going to rebuild it's not going to be with him as the number one like he's just too good and I think to speak to Sean's point there was a report from Daily Face Off. It was Frank Sarvali. He said that Markstrom was willing to waive his no move clause for a deal with the New Jersey Devils. That deal fell apart, but it looks like they went pretty far down the road to the point where they asked Markstrom, would you waive for this specific move? And he said yes. Will that, will they come back to the table? Why did it fall apart? We don't really know. But that apparently happened, according to Frank Serravely. of Ali. So if Markstrom is still on the flames post deadline, like they're not going to be in the basement of the standings. He's just too good. He's having a great season. And I think there was a quote from Blake Coleman and Julian McKenzie's story today, looking at the flames and how

they've been pretty good and they're not going to let this whole trade deadline sell off to find them. It's kind of like a hockey jargon thing. But I guess Blake Coleman said, we moved a couple pieces that were pretty vocal about not wanting to be here. Once you eliminate that and the noise, it's not really affecting us. So maybe we can read into the fact that the flames are vibing a little bit better now that there's guys no longer in the room who did not want to be there. I think it's also just a really good start to being a GM for Craig Conroy. I've got to say, I've really enjoyed the way that he's maneuvered a lot of this.

still got some work to do you're right about markstrom and him being an obstacle to a rebuild because they they they are in a decent spot to really kickstart this thing but it won't happen with markstrom playing the way that he's playing in goal for them keeping them right exactly where they are and he would deliver arguably the best asset it's him or hanafin right i mean of the remainers uh yeah and you know i i think you kickstart a rebuild even better, but it's that tough spot to be in. You wait your whole life to be a GM and

six months in you're already rebuilding. Like, I don't envy that. He's an obstacle to a rebuild now and last season he was an obstacle to a playoff spot. He stunk. He's like, he's capable of going in the tank. He is. For six weeks, we saw we saw last, we saw

last year. I don't know. Nothing we've seen this year says he will. It's true. He's been great. He's been great. he was a and he was a Vesna caliber goalie the year before that. So it's the, that's the roller coaster that we're on, I guess,

with Jacob Markstrom and Calgary. The Adaheim ducks do not have this problem. The Anaheim ducks know exactly where they are. The only question. It's pretty cut and dry. Yeah. So Adam Henrique is seemingly the best center left on the market. And Frank Vitrano, I think, is a name we've heard.

I'm curious about that one, if only because he's under contract and they do need to continue to feel the team. But it seems entirely possible. Those are two of the top six forwards left that we can see move. Seven. Henrique's the best center on the market, which is bad enough at face value. And he's like not even a center anymore. Eric Stevens said I read something that Eric wrote last week about how, you know, most of

most of Henrique's most productive moments over the last yes he still takes face offs and whatever he's he's a good and versatile player but you know his on ice position outside of that is his best

work's been done on the wing which is wild because everyone's saying like who who is the second best center behind Henrique yeah it might be like Alex Wenberg or Scott Lawton if he moves Scott. Morgan Frost, if you consider him a center?

Yeah, it's another candidate. I mean, Trevor Zegris, if you consider him a center and if you consider him in market, I think in terms of like a deadline, like rental player, I think Adam Henrique is going to be more coveted than a Trevor Zegris if you want to win in the playoffs, no? Because he's a solid middle six guy. He can eat minutes. He's a decent play driver. He can play in all three zones. like I would think that a team looking for a veteran guy who can play in the middle,

six, he can kick out to the wing, play up the middle. Somebody would rather have an Adam Henrique than Trevor Zegris. Now, talking long term, someone might want to add Trevor Zegris more than 34-year-old Adam Henrique. But I know Dom did like a behind the trade board story and Adam Henrique was at the top of the second tier of guys on the trade board. He wasn't in the first tier, which is where Jake Gensel and no, Hanifin, like the top end talent, but he was the best of the middle of the lineup guys.

So I think the ducks are going to be a huge conversation starter at the deadline. And in terms of playoff type, you compare him to Gensel, obviously Gensel, I think it's a better player. But like when you look at what playoff teams are usually looking for, probably more resembles Adam Henrik, right? Like you probably have your Gensel already. No one's going to say no to a score of Jake Gensel's caliber at the right price. But, you know, Henrique feels that like, you know, potentially is your three seats.

or he's a really good, you know, second-line winger who can do damage for you around the net. And those are the things that playoff teams usually are looking to add, even though they'll happily add to Jake Gensel. But fits the profile more of like the big trade deadline ad. I think the other big conversation out of Anaheim is going to be John Gibson. Like, he's going to be a conversation starter again. But I feel like he's one of those guys that the ducks are going to miss the playoffs for the six straight season. And we're going to talk about him for probably the sixth straight season. And I just don't know if we're ever going to see a John Gibson trade at the deadline materialized because he makes $6.4 million until 2026, 27.

Like that just seems like it's going to continue to be an issue in terms of moving him, him out. And also maybe the ducks want to keep him. Like I feel like we keep talking about John Gibson at the deadline and in the summer and nothing ever happens. Yeah. And it's probably because as we've talked about on past shows, goaltending is just so thin in the league. like it's you know everyone needs it so it's natural to look at the worst teams that have decent goalies and say why not that guy but it is just it's a tricky contract to move unless you can get anaheim to retain and that's a long time to retain yes it is three years left after this one

it's 6.4 it's 30 now which makes me feel ancient that john gibson is 30 years old um and he's been good like has he kept up the level of play from the start of the of the season when the ducks were, you know, on a little bit of a heater to start out there. Like, no, he hasn't. But he's still, you know, around league average, say, a percentage. He's 12th overall in goal save to all have expected. Like, he's been fine. Fine is just not what gets you traded when you're a goaltender who makes six and a half million dollars for three more years.

Like the price tag is just tough. So when you look at that, when you look at him in comparison to, ever, even a guy like Capo cocking in. Like, who you picking? Really? Like, and it's a tough, it's a tough ask. He's still got a league average. I know when we had this conversation before,

I don't have like the updated number, but I think a 903 was the league average for safe percentage. Like, he has been average on a bad team, like the 903 save percentage. He's been better than that, too, bailing out a pretty leaguey in terms of defense, Ducks team. Like he's got 14 goals saved above expected.

Money puck has him at five goals saved above expected. So the evolving hockey tracking has him a lot better. That's a pretty big discrepancy. But he's back to being a very solid starter with the potential for more and a better environment. So I don't know. I think when we're like we're having the conversation about would Jacob Markstrom be on the market? Like maybe a team that strikes out on Jacob Markstrom could look at John Gibson because Markstrom has a pretty big contract too.

So maybe that's something that the devils could look at. Maybe there's something easier to be made. There was a quote from Jack Hughes. We can have this conversation later when we have the devil's chat. Spoiler alert. But you know what? I'll just save it for there. Oh, that's a tease.

Listen to the rest of the show for more. Obviously, there's more sellers than just the ducks, the sharks, and the flames, the Chicago Blackcocks, they're going to be selling. The Columbus Blue Jackets, they're going to be selling. the Montreal Canadians have already started selling off. I think those were the top three. And obviously for a team like Chicago, they just don't have the same trade chips this year as last year.

Like, they're going to move some pieces out, but we're not talking about like a Patrick Kane, Jonathan Taves, Jake McCabe, kind of trade deadline sell off in Chicago this year. So be good on sellers, guys? Oh, are you going to look at Chicago? Before we move on, yeah, like who is even, who are we talking?

about who is even in Chicago's like movable piece Tyler Johnson yeah with it with a with a modified no trade clause Tyler Johnson making five million dollars a year yeah that's correct that's why we didn't talk about Chicago in case anyone's wondering so let's take a quick break when we come back we'll dig into some of the the top buyers oh my God I'm never beating these annoying voice allegations. My voice just cracked. Just leave it in, Jeff. It's okay. I'm not going to let the haters get me down. When we come back, we'll look at the top buyers heading into the trade deadline on the athletic hockey show. All right, welcome back. It's time to get into some of the buyers that we are keeping an eye out for ahead of the trade deadline. The deadline this year,

by the way, is March 8th. Mark it on your calendars, if you care. The PWHL trade deadline is March 17th if you're interested in that as well. First trade in the in the P-Dub already. So that was fun. On Super Bowl Sunday, by the way. Like, after the anthem was done, I hit on my Riba under and then had to go and write a trade story. Very controversial.

Depended on who you made the bet with, but I digress. Mine hit, though. Can we talk about the trade deadline being one big Friday news dump? How did the NHL land on making their trade deadline the day that everyone knows that news goes to die? Is that a Friday? It's a Friday. But it won't be a news dump if it's the whole day. But like, okay, so your deadlines at like 2 or 3 p.m.

That's when you like leak that like your CEO's stepping down because you did some shady. You know what I mean? Right. But like I don't think people who care about the deadline are going to be logging off at 3 p.m. if they care about the deadline, right? That's fair. I'm more worried about my personal subscribers to the athletic, and so I'm looking for...

Right, like no one's going to open up the app on the weekend, so no one's going to read your analysis on the trade deadline. That's probably true. It's going to be bad. No, because it's the trade deadline. That's like a tentful thing. People who care are going to care regardless if it's on a Tuesday or Friday. It'll be like a nice day in Detroit on...

March 8 and everybody's going to go outside on Saturday. Everyone's going to play tennis fishing. Max's views are going to be in the tank. Interesting point from producer Jeff here. I did forget about that because this is the second straight year that's been on a Friday. There was an issue because it was, you know, when paperwork, whatever, immigration paperwork, it's like if you get traded Friday at a five and the office is closed for the weekend, like, Good luck.

Two-day delay. Yeah, that's very funny. It's not a business day. Let's bring it back to Monday or Tuesday. That's the real point of this podcast. I feel like Tuesday is the money day. Maybe we should just expect a really boring trade deadline. The NHL looked at the pending UFAs and we're like, let's put this on a Friday this year.

We're definitely going to be one of those deadlines, especially because of watch. Like some big name player all get traded. in the next couple weeks. And it'll be one of those years where you can see, you know, you can see this sweat start to form on Duthy's brow like live on television where he's like, we need to move on.

You saw it firsthand. I've done a trade deadline day show when a bunch of the trades happened. And I was, I think that was the year. Because I did a free agent frenzy and a trade deadline day show for TSN. And I think it was the trade deadline where I was actually on a panel.

And then it was free agency where I was like actually working the free agent board. And I think at certain points they were just like, do you guys have anything that you want to debate or like anything going on?

And then we had guys coming in with like mini sticks. And then there was the little kid who gave the pep talk, which was very nice. But yeah, you can definitely, that's a long.

Was that the Herb Brooks beach? Or with the little kid? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, even though I think I got in at like 5.30 in the morning that day. That's like a really, really long day. And when there's nothing going on, it makes it even worse because you're

just kind of like sitting in the studio being like, do you have any of anything to talk about? So yeah. Well, I really enjoyed the first insider segment on our, on our new lineup this week, featured Laz just putting CJ on the spot to tell him how boring his tradeboard was. That's so rude. He was having fun with it. He was just there. There's not a lot of fun names on this. And CJ was like, yeah, thanks. Adam Henrique, yeah. Aren't you psyched her?

Let's get pumped for, you know, Tyler. And now here we are talking about all these players and who teams could come. Hell yeah. People care. Dude's rock. Let's get to the buyers. Let's start with the Edmonton Oilers. I think they're the big one here.

They're on the hunt for a top six winger. It looks like, Max, I know that you were talking about this. already. Warren Fogle is on the trade board. Um, so this is a team that, you know, they have some money to spend. They have deadline cap space of about 2.37 million, according to cat friendly right now. Um, but if they want to bring in like a Jordan Eberley, whose cap hit is around five and a half, you're probably going to have to move some money out to make that work or have, you know, the Seattle Cracken or whatever team you might be making a trade with, retain some salary. Um, Warren Fogel,

could be a guy who's the odd man out on that oiler's roster if they want to add a meaningful piece that comes with cap space. But you had a kind of interesting point that we were discussing as to should they actually just keep Warren Fogel and figure out the money elsewhere. Yeah, so I was talking about this with our colleague Harmon Dyle earlier this week, and he made the good point to give him the credit here. Fogel, while yes, that is a move that can make the money work. Like he does bring some couple of really nice elements. elements to a bottom six. If you if you're that tight up for money and we're using this number five and a half just because you mentioned Jordan eberley here, but like you can find, you know,

in addition to Seattle retaining a broker team to hold another 50 percent and that probably ends up costing you something cheaper in terms of draft compensation than what you lose in your lineup and subtracting guy like Warren Fogel who does bring some production to the bottom six, does bring a heavy element that I think it's been important for the oilers to have this year. And so if you are the oilers, I do think by the end of this, like, yeah, you might want to move the money and obviously we'll see what the name is that they ultimately end up targeting and how motivated they're going to be to make it happen. You probably do want to hold on to guys like that. That's probably a big part of the depth that has made them a better team these last couple years. And that's, to me, enough incentive to not just treat that as a cap them to treat him as a value at.

And I think we can all agree that the Oilers are going to be a team that should be. an aggressive buyer at the deadline. There is no gray area here. They're probably going to have to get pretty creative in terms of the cab space in terms of the players that they move in and out. And they're kind of tradable assets. I don't know that they have a ton of great prospects or young players that they can package.

They do have their first round picks for the next three years. They have a second rounder this year. They don't have a third or a fourth this year. But they do have assets in terms of draft capital. Sean, as you look at the trade board, is there a player that pops out to you that is like a perfect oilers pick? I feel like I just keep deferring back to Jordan Everly

personally. I mean, just because I for the plot, honestly. Well, we also have a sense that maybe the cracking, I mean, they're in that in that mushy middle in the, in the West.

I mean, they should be in a position to think about selling where they can. And so Everly's certainly qualifies there. That would be fun. It'd be fun. Bring back like a kind of late career, Jordan,

ever really, let's say. reunite them, reunite them with David. That's the exact kind of player they need is some kind of, you know, offensive element like in the middle, in the middle six,

right? They already, they already back, Sam Gagne's kicking around. Let's bring all in back. And Corey Perry. I'm curious about him. Let's bring back like Alice.

or something. Bring back everybody. Fernando. I.R. Fernando Pazani. Let's bring back like one like Hall of Fame that guys from Edmonton of years past. Yeah, I think I think

that it'd be awesome. He makes a ton of sense. You know, it's like you guys have all you guys said before. The money's going to be a challenge for Edmonton. I think in a way that maybe it isn't. It isn't for others. And it would make adding Aberley maybe a little tough, but hey,

make it happen. And CJ made this point in his trade board, too, so we'll bring it up and Max flagged it in our chat. Philip Roburg is probably one of the young prospect players that the Oilers could potentially move on from. He hasn't had a ton of meaningful NHL minutes. In Edmonton, he's 22 years old, eighth overall pick from 2019.

He's playing in the American Hockey League right now. He's 6'4 defender. I think if you're the Oilers, you probably want to keep a prospect like that. but he is also probably the most valuable trade chip in terms of a young player that they might have. So that's maybe a name to circle. If you're trying to see what are the Oilers going to do, who could they move in and out? Broberg is somebody that CJ has already circled on his trade board.

I want to hit the Rangers guys. I think they're an obvious candidate as well. And they're another one of those interesting teams is like we know they're going to, like we know that they're going to be a buyer. but they also do have some guys on the trade board that could be moved out either for cap considerations or just a player that they might move on from. Sean, do you have a thought on the Rangers being a buyer at the deadline? It's bad that Philippailles heard, obviously. They would rather have Philippaedal, but the fact that he is done for the season gives jury almost $4.5 million of extra cap space. work with because he's on LTIR, right?

So I think you look at them. They're a team that you would imagine is in the mix for, you know, is he, is that where Adam Henry ends up, a player like that who's, who's, who's, who's a middle six guy with some versatility to, you know, give him a little bit of pop there for a guy like say, where, you know, Capo caco, or hasn't, hasn't worked out. They're not, not thrilled with him. Understandable. They need to find some way to, they, they,

He was a guy who they thought would produce on the middle six. It hasn't happened. So you got to find it from elsewhere. And they have the money to do it. And, you know, it's a flawed Eastern conference. Me and McIndoo talked about that, you know, at length today. There aren't a lot of slam dunk, you know, elite contenders there. The Rangers are as close as anybody to that status, right?

So I think if you can get some five-on-five production, if you can get another forward there, they have the cap space to do it. now I think they get a lot more interesting. I think the Rangers are just a lock to be an aggressive buyer at the deadline, like Sean said. I mean, they've been one of the top teams in the East, despite the fact that Igor Shostirkin looked human for large chunks of it. He looks like he's back. He got a shut out in that last game or his last start. And we know that this is a team that has been aggressive at the deadline.

And this is a team or a general manager, at least in Chris Jury, that has gotten creative with less money to speak. bend, right? They went out and got Teresanko and Patrick Kane while navigating a very tight cap situation last year. And he has more wiggle room this year, according to cat friendly. They have around $5.2 million in deadline cap space. So you could add a meaningful player in that sense if you're the New York Rangers. I think another one to talk about, you know, one team that we might maybe just skirt over the Boston Bruins. They're a team that you could probably watch to buy in terms of a top six scoring winger, but they have a shortage of assets to get an impact player. They don't have a first round pick in 2024. They don't have

their second or their third rounder either. So the Bruins are kind of in tough and like they should do something, but what are they going to be able to do? Let's go to the Carolina hurricanes, though, because this is a team that has been one of the best in the East over the last few weeks. They had a really good start to 2024 when we're looking at coming. out at the break. What do you guys think that the Keynes are going to do post-deadline? Is it just a goalie? It seems like that's the need, but over and over again, we see that Caroline, I think Laz or Ian or somebody made this point earlier this week, over and over again, they seem to prove that they, we think that every year about them and they don't really seem to agree or do anything to

suggest that that's how they're going to approach things. So I look at them and say, yes, absolutely. If it's not that, you know, I don't know what it is for them. They're pretty clinical team. They're really hard to play against team. And then it's just a matter of, you know, does it go their way this year? And to me, I would look at that if I were them and say, the one thing I haven't tried is getting a stud goalie. I'm going to try that. But, Sean, do you see any reason to believe that that they're going to actually do that? Why wouldn't they just keep going as business as usual? They've given us every indication. That's how they think. I think from past years they've had, you know, you don't want to say that Freddie Anderson's

a random guy because he's not. But they've had like at least one violation. viable option. He's been hurt. And Tehranta's been bad. Kachetkov hasn't been, you know, he hasn't taken, he hasn't taken the leap. I think that's where things kind of differ for him, right? Like last year, Ranta had, Ranta was better. The year before that, Freddie Anderson was a Vesna finalist. Like, they had, they've had options there in the past. Now, could part of that be because of their game, it has, it makes easier for a goaltender to look good? Like, absolutely.

But it also hasn't worked out that way this year. despite, you know, whatever. It's the course he canes, right? Shot attempts and expected goals and possessionally in his own time and all that stuff. They kill it. They're killing it again. They do every year. But the variable for them is, yeah, is that they don't have that guy in net who's performed this season.

Maybe that's Freddie Anderson down the stretch, but, you know, when he's healthy and ready to go. But I think that's, I think that's a pretty, pretty tough ask. So I'd be surprised if they didn't go out and get, you know, some option. Because, again, like, that team's capable of winning a Stanley Cup right now. And like, do you really want to go in the playoffs with a guy who you waived earlier in the season, a guy who's who struggled with serious health issues, you know, all season? And then another guy who's a young dude who hasn't quite been able to bridge the gap from HL performance and HL performance.

I don't think so. I guess the one other thing you could do is say, if you're not going to, to do it in goal, you go get another forward, right? And you try to just score more goals, right? Because that's the other thing about the canes is they get all this pressure and that's the, you know, the course of canes, right? How often does it lead to pucks in net? So that's the alternative.

They get, six and a half million in deadline space. That's enough to get a score, especially if a team retains, you know, that's potentially enough to get you in on like a Jake Gensel even. If he becomes available. They're always like, that's always my go to when like when we're talking about cancel, I'm like, yeah, if it's the off season, he signs for seven, seven years and $52 million with the canes. Right.

Because it is. That's the kind of fit that I think makes sense. Yeah. I think we also just have to remember, and Max already said this, but like this is not a regime that has been particularly aggressive at the deadline. Right?

Like I think the biggest thing, the biggest swings we've seen them make is for like Brady Shea and Vincent Trocheck. This is not like an all out on rentals at the deadline kind of group in the year before. there was no reason for them to get goalies because their tandem was great. And they believed that they had a deadline ad, quote unquote, internally and Max Patretti, unfortunately he got hurt again.

So maybe they swore from that looking at their window and saying, like, maybe we should do something different because we haven't been aggressive and we haven't won. So maybe they'll change a little bit in terms of the goalie conversation. If we're not, if we don't think they're going to go for like a Markstrom or a Gibson, is Jake Allen or Mark Andre Fleury going to be the answer in Carolina. Like that's the problem. Who are they going to go out and get? I will say like I'll say in their defense too. Like they were in on Timel Meyer last year.

Didn't get him. And now in hindsight, given the way he's played this year for Jersey, like is that so much, is that a bad thing? Like not unnecessarily. And then a couple days after the deadline, Andre's Special Cup blows out as ACL.

So like that was, that's the underrated part of that injury being devastating for, for their, for their for for for their season aside from the fact that they lost sveshnikov they lost him at the most inopportune time imaginable because otherwise they could have they could have put them on lTIR they would have had more money to work with maybe a greater sense of urgency we would have changed maybe the way they moved when it came to mire or a player like that and we so we we we see how that worked out right but they're i think they're a little bit more they're a little bit more

aggressive, I think, than maybe we give them credit for it in one way or another. I don't think it's out of the question that they try to make some kind of big time move. All right, the Dallas stars are another team that should be a lock to buy and they seem like a pretty simple one. Their top nine, we've talked about it a lot over the course of this season. Like, we all really like their forward group. I think the thing to add to is their blue line, correct? Yeah. And this is a team that I think we all feel. In fact, I think we may have all three been among the Dallas star Stanley Cup predictors in the athletic bowl of the season.

So we all think this is a team that is certainly good enough to win the Cup, maybe even if they don't do anything, but if teams around you're loading up, I think you'll want to yourself if you're this Dallas team and you're built as well as you are, to go all in a little bit for this. And I think if Noah Hanofin gets to market, they should be in on him. If not, Chris Tanniff should be very much on their radar. if they miss on both of those guys, don't give up and go chase. You know, I know there's a drop off from there a little bit,

but you should be in on whether it's a Sean Walker or Joel Edmondson, just load up because if you're Dallas, I think you've got to plan to play at least a month of playoff hockey and you should be thinking about playing two. And I think that that means blue line depth, plain and simple. Cap's going to be a challenge for them. They've got less than $2 million in projected deadline space. According to cap-friendly, so that makes it tough.

But at the same time, like, I don't know. retain some money get creative send out a pick send out find a figure out figure out who who would yeah who who who a team would want you know find a broker that to add whatever it takes you know make Sean Walker only makes

6.6 Jesus 2.65 million he's not that out of the budget I love Sean Walker from them it's got some right shot D got some offensive ability these are right shot. That's the exact, it's the exact sort of thing that they need.

And even TANF, right? Like, I mean, if you get Calgary to retain money there, like he's starting for you at 4.5, you get that down to 2.2 and you send a, you know, a smaller contract out and you're, you're there, right? So it's, you can, you can afford to be in on, you can afford to do enough to upgrade your blue line here.

I think the debate is do they need a shutdown guy or do you want a more offensive defender on that blue line? And it's tricky, because you just traded a first round pick a couple years back for Nils Lundquist. And I don't know that he's yet ready to be that guy in the playoffs. And it juries out on if he will be at all. But like, you know, are you doubling down a little too much there?

I think you could make that argument. You can also make the argument that, you know, you don't have the time to wait because Joe Pavelski's as much as he's remained ageless to this point will not forever be. Right. So I think you can make a case either way. I personally will go for the shutdown guy. but it's a very real question. Their second pair right D is Yanni Hockenpa.

Who's like, is this, you know, whatever. Give him, he's on the roster. He's been a pretty good at NHL player for a long time, but hard to imagine, you know, between him and, between him and in Lundkvist on the right side, that there's not a way for them to get better there. I love, but yeah, Sean Walker, I love it. Let's get that done.

Let's make it happen. It's the first smart thing I've said in the first 45 minutes of this podcast. It's not true. I hope everybody made it this far to hear that. Okay, the final team before we wrap the buyer's segment, do we think the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to be buyers at the deadline? Question mark. They'd like to be.

But you got to give up stuff to get stuff. I mean, like, they have all this cap space now because Sergeathev's on LTIR, which I'm sure they'd rather have him around for a variety of reasons. but they gave up a full draft for Tainer, you know, and the Brandon, and the Brandon Hagle trade, like great as Hagle's been, you know, that depleted the reserve there. So you know they would love to get something done.

You know they have the space to do it in a way that most, like, playoff caliber teams don't now because of, because of how much money Sergachev is making, but it's like... Seven and a half million in deadline space right now, by the way. But how do you... But they don't have a first round. round pick until 2026.

They should just trade the 2026 first round. Who cares? Flipside, like though, flip side is we just talked about this is a fairly uninspiring trade block. Like we're not talking about first round picks necessarily, right? If you want to get in on Tannaver Walker, is it really costing you that much more than the 25 second? Yeah,

I wouldn't have done that, honestly, but yeah, that's true. It's the meanest thing, Max. has ever said. Oh my God. Why do you hate Sean Monaghan? No, it's just, it's a little rich. I don't know. But like, but if you're Tampa, why can't you get Sean Walker or Chris Tanna for a package around a second round pick and something else a little later on your ledger? Why can't you do that?

I don't think Chris Tannov's going for a second. And he's the bell of the ball. He's the very good. Hey, haven't you heard? He's the Taylor Swift. The NHL trade. Taylor Swift is. I was going to let.

this go earlier. Sean said he had no opinion on Taylor Swift and then when asked if he had an opinion on the Calgary Flames, he said, I'm glad they exist. And I think there's an ipso facto there. It kind of makes me wonder. Wait a second. Oh, no.

Very, very, very sneaky. We're going to, watch, Chris Tanna's going to get a first and a third or something. Oh, wow. Like someone, someone's going to lose it. He's 34. Doesn't matter. He's the best.

Defensive Defender available. Okay, then forget I said TANF. Why not Sean Walker for a second and whatever? Because Sean Walker is going to the stars, bro. Come on. Max, why does nobody listen to me? That's true. All right.

Well, fair enough, I guess. You're right. You're right. But to be fair, they don't have a second round pick this year either. 2025. Yeah, that's right. 2025. But Nikita Kuturov is playing so well.

You're only going to have so many more years of him at this level. If Andre Vesilevsky at this level, screw the future. Like, go, you guys make the joke about the 26 first. Like, do what it takes to,

I mean, and maybe it's just too impossible already down Sergachev that might be the case. But I would have a really hard time punting and the lightning for how long have been finding creative ways to get better at the trade deadline. I say yes until they are literally six points out of a playoff spot at the trade deadline. I'm a yes. It's the last year of Stephen's DM Coast in Tampa Bay.

You're going to pun on it. I don't think so. Yeah, they can't. Breezebaugh is one of those GMs that understands the gift, so to speak, to steal what Sean always says. Like, that is a general manager

who knows what he has and he's going to spend futures to get another crack at it. So we can talk about their not having a first round pick all we want. They're going to figure something out. It seems like he's a guy

who can get creative. creative and get stuff done. Let's take a break and yeah, we saved the best for last. We said that we think the bubble teams are the most interesting and it took us a while to get there. But when we come back, we're going to talk about all the teams that could kind of go either way. We're still waiting to see that's the penguins, flyers, the red wings and more that's coming up next on the athletic hockey show. All right, welcome back. It's time to talk about some of the bubble teams, the teams that we don't really know what they're going to do yet. We're still waiting to see there's a little less than a month until the trade deadline on March 8th. Still some time, but these teams kind of got to figure

out, are they going to buy? Are they going to sell? Are they going to stand pat? Let's start with the Pittsburgh Penguins. We talked about them quite a bit last week because we talked about Jake Gensel more specifically. So, Sean, very quickly, the Pittsburgh Penguins, whether they are in or they're out, I just, Jake Gensel is the top name on the trade board. And I just feel like I don't, I don't, see him getting moved at the deadline personally. But maybe if they're way out of a playoff spot and there's a huge deal that Kyle Dubus can't say no to, like what's your thought on Jake Gensel and the Pittsburgh Penguins at the deadline? I looked this up earlier.

They have 11 games before the deadline. We're going to know in one way or another, whether this is a team that's capable of actually making the playoffs, which for them, we talked about this last week, I think. It's all the matters. Just get in, like hope Jari gets hot, you know, and roll the dice because why not? But we're going to know if they're even capable of getting there and putting themselves in a position to roll the dice by the time the deadline rolls around. And they have a ton of games in hand on the rest of the Eastern Conference field, but they're also way, way, way behind in points, right? So it's a point flip.

Like can they make up the ground? can they not? We're going to know by the time March 7th or 8th rolls around. So that's, I think some of the guesswork until then will be interesting, but we're going to know eventually, like before it's all said and done, whether, you know, that's a team worth keeping together or whether it's worth trying to, you know, get the, get the Claude-Jure deal for Jake Gensel, which I saw someone compare it to, where you get a first and a third and a relevant young piece like Florida,

like, uh, like Philly got an Owen Tippett from Florida. I think that's like the platonic ideal if they trade J. Gensel, what they'd get. But they have to be out of the mix first. And I'm not ready. I'm not ready to declare that because, you know, it's not a good team overall maybe, but it's certainly a team that's capable of rattling off, uh,

six wins out of eight or something. And then if that happens, you know, they're right back there. What's in the mix for you? Like they have to be in a playoffs. That's a good question. Yeah, because there's seven points back of the Red Wings

for the second wild card spot right now. They need their Red Wings to start losing some games, which we saw. We did see that happen last night. They lost in regulation to Edmonton. McDavid had 15 assists or whatever it was. They need that to happen a few more times. And they need some breaks to go there.

And they need to win games. Like games in hand don't matter if you don't actually win them. So they need to meet what. they need to eat, eat what's on their plate as far as that's concerned. But I think if they're, you know, if it's March 7th and they're within four,

two, three, four of a, of a, of a playoffs. But to me, that's good enough to just let it roll. Because their situation,

and I feel like I say some version of this every single week, their situation is bad enough long term where it is not going to, a Jake Gensel trade is not going to fix this. Yeah. Them, then moving out, Then moving out Gensel for two good pieces and a half decent one is not going to all of a sudden make 2027 any less of a disaster for them. So they might as well just let a rip.

And like wouldn't you might as well just like re-sign Jake Gensel though? Yes, completely. But I, but, you know, if, you know, if this is if this is a team that three weeks from now, we're still talking about is seven or eight points out of a wild card race, then, you know, I can, I can, I can. see the logic there. I just look at it as with Jake Gensel, if you're not, if you don't think you can get him back and you think, you know, you're not, you know, I don't know, to me, I think I'd even want to be, I'd want to be in the playoff spot by the trade deadline to hold him. Not because I think it's the difference between being good, the first round pick itself is the difference in between being a good team in 2027 or not or whatever, because that's an asset you

can use this summer because you know you're in this wind. That's true. That's a good point. You can flip that this summer for the reconstruct for next year. But I think it's, gets less likely every year. So it's a tough, you know, this might be your better chance the next year, even with your two points out of the deadline. I don't know. Yeah. I just think even if there's seven points out, I just have such a hard time seeing them

trading Gensel because even though he's probably the player who's going to get the biggest package by trade deadline standards, you're not going to get a player who can be Jake Gensel right now or become Jake Gensel, in my opinion. So you, like, you've already gone all in. I said this last week. You've already gone all in. You kept the big three together. would you get rid of Sidney Crosby's linemate and like an elite player on his own?

If you know that he's going to won $7.5 million, whatever, then I can kind of see it. But even still like, I don't know. And you should know that to be clear. You should know. 100%. Clear space elsewhere, though, without. And this is also a relevant player who's on CJ's list. Riley Smith has not worked out in Pittsburgh at all.

But he had he had a couple. several really good years in Vegas where he's going to, you know, does he have some value elsewhere? Not cheap. A guy like him, a guy like Ricardo Kel, like in the off seas. And if they need to clear space to sign Jake Gensel, there's more candidates there than I think we're giving him credit for. Yeah. Is there any world where you could trade Jake Gensel and get, you know, the most that you can get for him and then trade for like Anthony. No, no, no, no, no.

That's not what I mean. Oh. Also trade for Anthony Duclair. You get your sword and you say, hey. said like sorry but keep going for it with this guy we'll see if this is a spark of any kind and we have a pick that we can do something with this summer declares a right winger is he right he can play i think he's pretty versatile yeah max i don't like when you make good points because i don't like it it might get hit for like not picking a direction or something i don't know

i don't know if that if that would be too harsh of criticism i'm just saying if we're saying you owe it to these guys to go for it but you're saying the asset management case is so clear. You owe with them, you owe it them to go for it if they're within spitting distance of a playoff spot. What is spitting distance? Seven points? Three points. No, it's, it's, it's way less than that. It's two, it's in it's, it's, yeah, two to four. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. And if they're not, in a fair not, I guess I wasn't listening. A zoned out. I said, I said, I said three or four like that, that, that to me is the dividing line on on, on March eight between being like, all right, we need to, we need to, we need to make some tough decisions

here or just say let it rip. I'd trade them, but I'd be open to trying to do both and add somewhere else because I just think it's, I don't think you can ignore that that's your chance to get assets to do something else with. That's where I'd be. Yeah, it's a good point. All right. The other team to kind of look at in the wild card race in the east and I guess just in terms

of the Metro division is the New Jersey Devils is the team that I think we kind of have like a debate on, right? like do we look at the devils as an in-between team or should they just strictly be a buyer? We already talked about the fact that they were in talks for Jacob Marks from trade. So that clearly signals to us that they are in the market they want to buy. They want a goalie. And this was, I guess, the little tease that I brought up. And we have this wonderful, very kind quote from Jack Hughes from two days ago.

When we get the saves, it's much easier to win. I think by that, I think the devils are buying. based on that and also the fact that they are much closer than a team like the penguins to a wild card spot. I think they're only three points back of the Red Wings right now. But I think there's maybe a debate. Are they a tweener? Like, do you just not do anything?

Say we're going to punt this year and try again next year? What do you guys think? I think we've talked on the show four or five times and I keep saying, just wait, the devils are coming. And I think they are, but like, it's getting harder and harder to make that case. And, you know, what would you have to bet on that to happen? You talked about, you know, the idea of a Markstrom tray that seemingly has fallen through. How many more other names there do you trust to be that like, you know, I know I'm getting a save from this guy.

John Gibson's one, but there's the money thing. Like, if it's not Markstrom, then who? Yeah. Is Flurry that, I don't know. Is he that sure of a thing? the thing that people lose sight of with Markstrom is he has term he's got two years left after this one at six it's six million dollars so you can see why the devils were interested in the first place aside from him being really good right now you can say as stinky as he was last

year you can say like this is he's stinky he's stinky you can see how you can see them saying like all right this is going to be our guy for the next couple years it's a it's a reasonable it's a reasonable leap to make. I don't know, and I don't know if necessarily, even though John Gibson is in that money price-wise and contract-wise and age-wise, I don't know if you can say necessarily that he offers the same kind of skill.

So it's interesting. I think the devils are in the, I think they're a little bit closer to the buyer tier. Again, they're only two points out of a playoff spot. I think the question is just like, who else would they buy if it's not a goalie? Just try to get some depth. I don't know.

Yeah. It'll be interesting to see. It is. You can make the argument either way. If I'm them, if I can't get a goalie, I think I'd just say, let's see what happens. Because I really do like what they have. But it's getting, you know, we're so far into the season. I don't know how much longer I could keep saying that.

Yeah. They're coming, though. They basically come out of, like a week or two or three ago, they were so banged up health-wise. And they're at least out of that run. I know Dougie's on LTIR until the playoffs if they make it

by all accounts so easy to say there but like I don't know they've made it they've made it you know to the other end of the to the other end of the river I think in one way or another

I think the last update I saw was January 5th and this was just like a CBS fantasy update or this was from Manas Dynne actually on the CBS site this was in January he's still a long ways away is talking about Dougie Hamilton's He had surgery December 1st for the torn peck and will likely be sidelined for another three to four months.

Torn peck cert. That's a low-key, very, very nasty, nasty injury. Yeah, it doesn't sound low-key. It just sounds like blatantly terrible. I think the consideration when we're talking about the devils and even the penguins, maybe to a lesser extent, is what happens with the Philadelphia Flyers. They are standing pat with a metro playoff spot. They are third in the metro. only one point back of Carolina, but this is a team that has said that are kind of open for business,

or not open for business, not as aggressive, but they will listen. And they have a lot of players who are on the trade board. Rasmus Wistler-Lynin, they've got Morgan Frost, Nick Seeler, Scott Lawton, and Sean Walker, who we've talked about already. So this is a team that's been competitive, but they also have a lot of players that teams might be interested in. And it doesn't seem like their front office is going to say, no, we're trying to make the playoffs and go on a run the metro. So that's a team who could drop out of the playoff picture. If you're the flyers, do you try to get it and see what you can do? Or do you kind of stick to the plan, which is like, we are in a retool, we are in a rebuild, so to speak, let's just move out who we can.

Do you think management's going to be in alignment with John Tortorella on this, I think, is my question. They're all supposed to be working together. That was the whole deal. But Tortorella is not going to ease off of this. I mean, he's not going to, like, fight them if they trade somebody. But like it's, right? Like, like, they're those players, that locker room is, you know, galvanized around trying to prove people wrong. You can't just.

I feel like the most. That's like, you can't say no if someone's trying to give you a first rounder for Sean Walker. No, no, no, we've already traded Sean Walker. He was in Dallas already. Dallas. Yeah. But, but I just mean like, you could, I think you could only.

strip it back so much. Like you, you, you, don't, you can't say no to the deals that are, that are no brainers for you. That's, that's, and I don't think

Geron Torterella would argue that with you either, but I don't think you can have like a full. How many names that we just list? You can't trade all those guys, right? Like, you can only trade one, maybe two. Yeah, you can't trade five guys in a playoff spot.

Just when you thought they were dipping out too. They, they won four in a row now. Yeah. They kind of, they kind of counteracted the, the, uh, the, uh, the,

the, uh, the lull that we saw that we saw and then a week or two ago. I just, I still feel like if they're in, if it's in three weeks and we're still talking about them as the number three team in the Metro division,

I don't know if you, maybe you don't tear it down to the studs, maybe you make some kind of, you know, glancing addition just to, just to say that you did it. Because that, that's tough.

If you're in, if it's, if it's May, if it's March 7th and they're the number, they are still in third place in that division, Are you going to trade Sean Locker to the Dallas Stars? I think you are because he's an unrestrictory agent. I think you do.

He's 29 years old. He's a UFA. I love it. When the fly actually want to win, like he's not going to be as good as he is now, right? So I think what the flyers, if they are still in the metro, in the wild card,

like they're still in it, I think we'll maybe see or I think I would like to see. I'm not going to suggest that I have inside information on the flyers because I don't. But I think what would make sense for Danny Breyer would be like, don't gut the team because they're still winning to that's point. Don't strip it to the studs. Things are working well.

Don't totally mess up a good thing. I don't think they should add to that roster. So I think this is still a team who will want to have multiple first round picks top four round picks in the next couple of years. But I think you move out those UFAs like Sean Walker, Nick Seeler, Mark Stalsy, UFA as well, not sure if there's going to be a top of ton of interest in him. And then you maybe think like,

okay, is Morgan Frost or Rasmus Risteline and going to be a part of this kind of next wave? Like I think you maybe listen on those, but in terms of like UFAs, those guys should probably be gone. Like there's no reason to keep a pending unrestricted free agent in Philadelphia this year.

I've just enjoyed the 23, 24 Flyers experience. And I don't think I want it to end. I think that's mainly what I'm saying. But yeah, that's like that's the smart enough you can strike a balance between buying and selling right yeah if you're danny brayer you can sell it is i already bought i went and got jamy drysdale and that's really more of a hockey trade but they brought a defenseman into this already so if they do end up trading a defenseman you say yeah we got a defenseman in and we had a defenseman out and we got younger but

it's still a good player who can help us right now that's probably how you're trying to sell it if if that's what they end up doing i was surprised that morgan frost made his way onto the trade board Me too. I wouldn't trade Morgan Frost. He's under contract for next year, too, at a good number. Like, why are we trading Morgan Frost? Weird history of torts over the last couple years. And I don't know.

We'll see. Why do you want to keep him, Max? He's been really effective. Like, I mean, I, you know, it's been a good line for them. He's a good young player. Like, I don't know. I mean, it's, the profile on the player type is stalled prospect. And I get that that's been kind of the narrative around him.

And it's been true for a couple years. But, you know, I've liked him this year. I don't see why you're so going to rush to trade him. He's over a point per game. Like, I'm keeping Morgan Frost if I can. It's a good number for that production. I think the flyers are going to be very, very interesting at the deadline.

Like they might be one of the teams that kind of pops up and is more fun than we might think. Obviously, we think they're fun because we're talking about them here. Or they just go in the tank and make Breyer's job way easy, like the deadline. That's like not an unlikely. outcome. That happened with Detroit last year. They were to a point where it was like, oh,

could they even buy and they go and they lose to Tampa at home and they go to Ottawa and get, you know, blown off the ice basically six two, six one consecutive nights and they trade Tyler Bertuzi and Philipparonic in the next two days. Like it just made everything. Well, that's that, right? And that could happen for Philly too. Things happen pretty quickly. I think the Red Wings are another team that is another kind of wait and see one. Max, do you think that if they're in, they're going to want to spend, or could this be another year where if things go poorly closer to the deadline, they just do a heel turn again?

I think the bigger, my guess is they're probably more of a stand pat. I think it's Steve Eisenman. You can always be caught off guard by a player that he's going to add that you didn't really know. I think the bigger question is if they start to slip, how severely do they sell? Because Patrick Kane, David Perron, Daniel Sprong, are all pending UFAs for them, could kind of flood the market. some interesting forwards there.

If the Red Wings do take another nose dive, they got, you know, I thought they actually played very well for two periods in Edmonton last night, but then they give up five and the third and McDavid, and McDavid things. And, you know,

they're going to Vancouver tomorrow, I guess tonight, it's Thursday on the podcast here. And then they could lose that game. And then all of a sudden, are you even in your playoff spot still? So things can change quick. And if it happens,

I think they're a very interesting team because less so of, of what are they going to buy, although it's possible that they could. But I think more so because if they get out of it, I think that it adds two to three really interesting potential names all of a sudden people are going to be talking about. So I do think they're an interesting team. I think they belong in that bubble conversation,

but maybe more so of what could happen if they fall out of it than the alternative. Yeah. No Detroit Red Wings. I can't say Red Wings. There's no Red Wings on the trade board, which is kind of interesting and fun. But as you said, maybe things could change there. And Patrick Kane's been very good.

I'm not trying to say like Patrick Kane should be a rental at the deadline this year. But he's been good since he came back from the hip resurfacing. Really good. And close to a point per game player, everyone talked about, you know, oh, yeah, but he's going to give it all back defensively. Well, if you look, he's had the puck so much that they really haven't given that back defensively at all. It's actually been pretty tilted in their favor with Patrick Kane on the ice.

So I think, you know, Sean did the story on why they thought Patrick Kane could be the, kind of the symbol of this surgery working. And so far, all signs are that that looks really promising. So, you know, he's got no trade clause. It's not like they can just up and decide to trade him. I think he'd have to be involved in the process around that. I don't want to get ahead of the skis here because they are in a playoff spot and they have been really, really good for five weeks now, six weeks now. So, you know, but we'll see what happens.

And they've been in and around it. for most of the season. I don't know if there's been a time where the team has completely dropped off and has been out of a wild card position. So one of the- When Larkin was hurt, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. One of the teams that interests me to is the Nashville Predators in the Western Conference here. We don't need to go too, too deep into them. They're only two points out of a wildcard spot behind the St. Louis Blues. They have a number of players on the trade boards. But Barry Trotz was on. Sportsnet Radio on the Jeff Merrick show specifically before All-Star Break. And he said, I am kind of preparing for both in terms of being a buyer and a seller at the

deadline. He said he was kind of preparing for this year to be more difficult than it was. Like he thought the team was maybe going to be worse than it has been. And it was like, if we're at the trade deadline and we're right there, I have no problem adding something to our roster. Because these guys have done a really good job of keeping us in the hut. I'd like to help the group, but also if things go poorly, like we could also see Barry trading off. He was like kind of the GM to watch, a free agency.

He made a lot of fun moves. And I think Barry Trott's first deadline as GM could be pretty fun as well. So the Preds are one of those middle teams that I think we're all kind of interested to watch. The Ottawa Senators, they could sell Vladimir Tarasanko, Jacob Chickren, Dominic Kubelik there on the trade board. I saw a report locally that they're maybe looking at bringing in Matt Dumbah. So I think the Sends should be like a traditional seller, but if they're going to maybe add Dumba,

that kind of throws them into this middle class. It's kind of strange. I don't really know. I think they should just be selling. I think the last team for us to actually talk about, though, is the Krakken. This is the last one we've been talking for over an hour. We talked about Jordan Eberley.

Alex Wenberg is also on the trade board, but the Krakken are also a team that they're not really in it, but they're not really out either, only four points back. Do we think the Krakken should just be selling? Are we still kind of waiting to see? I think that's what I'd do if I were them. I mean, they're one of those teams we mentioned,

one of those four that seem like they're kind of buying for that last spot in the West. But Joey D'Corp's been good enough, I guess, to maybe give them some hope that they want to ride that. God, he saved their season. But if, you know, big picture, like you already kind of had the feel good run last year. Now I think you owe it to yourself as kind of a new team to just try and stock up on some of these assets before some of the guys that you pick in the expansion draft can potentially walk for nothing. And Jordan Everly, I think, would be the biggest, you know, to that end, right? In Winberg and Justin Schultz.

Yeah. Right. So, yeah, we're not just talking about one guy. Like, this, the part of the idea behind, you know, what they could do with the expansion. draft without maybe the picks that Vegas locked into was, okay, we'll see what happens with these guys in the years to come. I would say kind of execute on what looked like from the outside the possible remedy to that.

Absolutely. I think the Krakken, again, another one of those middle teams, but maybe we could see them just the kind of selling at the trade deadline. And as Sean mentioned, there's more than just Jordan Eberley. But I think we have now traded Eberley to the Oilers. and Sean Walker to the stars. Those are the kind of two main ones. Maybe John Gibson to the Devils.

I think Sean gave Henrique to the Rangers. I forgot about that. I forgot about Henry to the Rangers. I forgot about Henrik to the Rangers because it happened six hours ago. And I'm giving Jake Gensel a blank check for the next three years. I traded Jake Gensel. That's true. Not me, though.

And Chris Tanna will get like three first round picks if. That's what I have. I'm trading if I'm the GM. We hit 15 teams, guys. We talked for a little more than an hour, but we wanted to do like a big trade deadline tiers. We're less than a month out. There'll be more kind of shopping,

the trade board, trade deadline stuff we can get into. And the standings are going to change a lot. So we can always revisit who is completely fallen off, who's going to buy, who's going to sell as we get closer to the trade deadline. But that's it for this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show. This is the new Thursday. We're much more professional in this new revamped model of the show.

Thanks everyone for listening to this episode. Please give us a five-star rating and review. If you're enjoying the show and right now, you can get a one-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show. The Prospect Series with Max, Corey Pranman, and Flow Hockey's Chris Peters, drops by on Friday at the athletic and wherever you get your performance.

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