The Athletic Hockey Show - Top 5 NHL trade deadline deals we’d make

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

Hailey Salvian and Sean Gentille present the five trade deadline deals they want to see, for NHL front runners the Winnipeg Jets, who would benefit from an impact forward, the Dallas Stars who desire a right shot defender, a third line center for the Washington Capitals, a goalie for the Edmonton Oilers and a puck moving offensive defensemen for the Florida Panthers. Hosts: Hailey Salvian and Sean GentilleExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Jeff Domet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the athletic hockey show. It's Haley and Sean Gentilly here with you. And the NHL trade deadline is just over one week away. So today on the show, Sean and I are going to share the top five trades we want to see before the final deadline bell goes off on March 7th at 3 p.m. Eastern. What's up, Sean? How are we feeling?

I feel like the trade deadline is kind of snuck up on me a little bit. How are you feeling about this? Why have you had something going on your life the last few days? Yeah. So if people, I can acknowledge this. If people have wondered why there hasn't been any Haley-Salvian bylines on the website, not much PWHL content, I did post about this on Twitter. My sweet little French bulldog Bono needed emergency spinal surgery,

which is about as like scary and serious, I guess, as it sounds. So I've been off for the last week. It's been a little scary, but he's home recovering. He's on anxiety medication, just like this long. Interesting. So I'm back. The deadline is, yeah, oh, my God, I just like woke up from my week haze of emergency veterinary hospitals to the deadlines a week away. So I don't know how you're feeling, but that's where I'm at.

he pulled off a very professional television broadcaster intro to the pod today. It sounded like I was watching deadline coverage on March 7th. The bell, when the bell rings, deadline day is here. This is Salvin Trade Center on T-H-T-A-HS. Yeah, I did one T-SN trade deadline day,

and that's always going to be in my bag. No one can take that away from me. You and Mike Johnson. I watched James Duffy host Trade Center and I'm like, yeah, great, I could do that. You watch him roll out the unicyclers and jugglers or whatever, whatever the gimmick was. No, man, man, watching, you know that he does a great job when you watch him on TV, but watch him from the studio and you're like. That's what I'm saying. He's the, he's the ringmaster. That's the job. He's better than anybody. Anyways. How do you feel about the state of the trade deadline?

It feels like it's simultaneously late and early because you look at the calendar. It's like March 7th. That's a little funky. We had the two week break for the Four Nations tournament throw a wrench, I think into the normal rhythms of the season. So it's like I feel like we shelved trade discussion for two weeks now, right? Because of the tournament. And now it's like we're compressing all this stuff that we would have talked about,

you know, during the tournament into eight more days here. So it's all good. I think that's for the best, honestly. It gave us something else to talk about for a couple of weeks. And now we can, you know, resume the trade deadline stuff. We haven't had to talk about Brock Nelson for 17 days in the middle of, in the middle of February. No complaints there. Yeah, I guess what the kind of mini trade deadline that we saw happen before Four Nations has done to this trade deadline is water it down a little bit.

Because now we're looking at, you know, Dom looked over the trade board and went by the numbers of all the defenders and the forwards available and like the top defender in terms of their, you know, net rating or offensive ability or just overall value is Eric Carlson, who we know hasn't had a great season in Pittsburgh. And like the elite forwards are basically Miko Ranton who already got traded. And then it's a bunch of top six guys, middle six guys, depth guys. Like there isn't a ton of elite talent available at this deadline. And I think the fact that Miko ran into still like the top elite forward on any of these trade boards after already being traded, like I don't, I think it'd be wild to see him

traded again, but that's not going to be great for it being, you know, a buyer's market by any means. Yeah. And I think the big factor here, too, that we have to consider is how many teams are stuck in the mushy middle, too. You mentioned the buyers and sellers market. They're just. Yeah.

aren't a ton of teams who are willing to sell off their pieces. Like that's the way it goes when you have however many teams are above sick. Like look at the Eastern Conference standings. You have in different worlds, Columbus would have been a seller already. And the islanders would have been a seller already. Maybe the Detroit Red Wings would have sold already. The Philadelphia Flyers have like hung around on the periphery

probably longer than they should have. And on and on, it's a long list. And it's true in both conferences, right? So you have fewer teams that are that are ready to, ready to part with assets or ready to part with players. It's simple, it's simple economics and it doesn't favor the teams that are actually trying to go out

and make stuff happen. Yeah, yeah. One NHL executive told the athletic, this was through Pierre LeBron on Tuesday, that it's a seller's market out there right now. And to your point, Sean, it's this mix of not a lot of players being available, but also just not.

a lot of, like, there's not a lot of elite talent on the board. And part of that is because there's not that many sellers, as we would typically have about a week out from the trade deadline. I think the Utah hockey club is a great example as of, of this kind of trend happening. This year, it's probably not a trend, just a great example of what's happening right now. It doesn't seem like they have any intention of being a seller. I don't know if it's because they're trying to like chase down a wildcard spot. It seems like they kind of, feel like they're in the hunt. They kind of like where the team's at and the fact that they have stockpiled so many picks over the years when they were still the Arizona Coyotes.

Looks like Utah's a bit reticent to sell. And I think that's kind of what we're seeing with this seller's market. Yeah. And you mentioned the lack of elite players. I get it. It's true. There aren't many high-end pieces that we're talking about. You look at CJ's trade board. that's example A of that. Brock Nelson's number one. You're in themselves up for the Brock Nelson sweepstakes. That's not a great sign. But also like that's kind of part for the course for what the deadlines become, right?

Like we don't see, you know, it's, it's rare that we see huge pieces move. And we already saw a couple of them already if we're talking about Miko Ranton and Martin Aches and whoever else. Right. So we had that mini deadline ahead of stuff that certainly took some names off the board. I'm less, I, when I look at the themes for this deadline, I think less about, I'm focused less on a lack of elite pieces. I'm more focused on a lack of pieces in general, right? And I think that circles back to what we spoke about before, which is a, which is just an overall lack of sellers because so many teams are at least theoretically in the hunt. A lot of teams out there can convince themselves that they have a chance.

And I think that's, you know, that's what, if we're hoping for stuff to analyze and stuff to talk about, that's what's going to need to change over the next, over the next eight days. Need some of these teams to lose, basically, is what I'm saying. All right. I'm sure the deadline will get more exciting in this next week, eight days to come. And again, as we wait to see what actually happens, Sean and I have a little wish list of the things that we would like to see happen before March 7th at 3 p.m. We have five trades that we've concocted in our minds. We think are great. Really smart.

GMs would be smart to do this. And number one. Now, just hear us out because it's going to sound generic at first, but we'll flush it out. Somebody big to the Winnipeg Jets. That is number one on my wish list. And again, we will go through some options. Jamie Alexiak, for example,

Rasmus Ristolinin, maybe Ryan O'Reilly. I don't care. Just do something. Sheveled out. Yeah. Something. That is what I want to see from the Winnipeg Jets.

They've won 11 straight games at the point where we're recording this podcast. I never dropped them. I've loved them always. I've trusted them with my life. My Winnipeg Jets, I want to see you make a big move. And to the point, I think. Sean and I, we've been discussing mostly like a big shot blocking, clear the lane type D. That's you.

That's you who wants that. I don't like, you're like, you're like, we need the, we need the Winnipeg Jets to make a big move. You said Rasmus for Seline and Jamie. Why wouldn't you correct me before I just said all that on a podcast? You said we want to make a big trade. That's a big trade. They're tall for sure. Rasmus Ritalin and Jamie Alexiak, right?

Okay, so what do you see them do? I want to see them go get another score. And they certainly need to, they certainly need to add a defenseman. Let's start there, because you're right. We're just, we're just, we're just, we're just, we're just having fun. I'm not, right. Rasmus Ristelainen.

Yeah, all right. I'm having fun for five days or whatever, no. Rasmus Ristelan, we need to, and Dom has said this much in a couple of different capacities. is easy to make fun of Rasmus Ritalin for a very long time because he's signed some very questionable contracts. The performance has at times been rough. We need...

It's on his fault. The contract part. He shouldn't say no to that. Just take the bag and run. It hasn't been a lot of value in Rasmus for Salin. And let's put it that way. That's a very, that's a very judicious way of stating it.

We need to change the way we think about this guy. He's been good. And he's one of those guys. guys who works with John Tortorella, and that's always fascinating to me because we hear from in so many different capacities about the, the player prototype that doesn't work with torts, right? The flip side is that when guys do buy what he's selling, you know, it can, it can change their careers.

And that's what's happened with Rissalainen. He's a legit, he's back to being slash maybe for the first. sign ever being a top four defenseman by pretty much, by pretty much, uh, you know, any, any measure. He's a good second pair guy,

but he's winning his minutes pretty decisively. So you look in as much as it would, as fun as it would be for Winnipeg to go reel in a big fish trade candidate, like in a forward group, you look at what Rasmus for Salin provides and it's, it's kind of exactly what they need. Right shot, big body takes care of business.

I like that one a lot. Yeah. So I think the reasons for Rasmus Wistelainen being appealing for the Jets, I think Marat covered this really well in a piece recently at the athletic because Connor Hullabuck, one of the best goalies, if not the best goalie on the planet right now, big body, Reed plays really well. If he's got eyes on the puck, he's probably going to save it, except apparently in the postseason.

But then if we look at some of the postseason stats, for the Winnipeg Jets. Last season, they gave up more slot shots than anyone else in the 2024 playoffs. So like teams are getting to the middle of the ice and getting good looks right on Connor Hellebuck. People are posting up in front of them, taking away the eyes,

they're getting to dangerous areas of the ice. And if the Jets want to avoid the Connor Hellebuck implosion, which likely has more to do with the defense in front of them, you want to beef up the defense in a meaningful way. And I don't think the Jets are looking at a blue line. saying we need more offense coming from our blue line. I think they're saying we need someone who can box out, clear the way, and let our superstar goalie see pucks, track pucks, and stop pucks. And I think Rasmus Wistelainen does that really well. He's, to your point, Sean, he's kind of matured a bit

as a player. He's not just chasing the big hit. He's got that like meaningful net front physicality that we know GMs and teams love in the postseason. And that's something that seems that was missing for the Winnipeg Jets last season. So Marat did a great job laying out the case for Rasmus, with Stalina, and I saw some Jets fans saying, like, if that's the only thing they do, I'm kind of okay with that. There was a very interesting, so again, Marat, Marat stocks are way up.

They're always up. He's great. You care about the Jets. You're probably reading Marat and you're smarter than all of us. he did a fun who says no subscriber trade proposal piece and I wanted to throw this one at you where is it

it was Jamie Alexiac and Jared McCann to Winnipeg Seattle gets Brad Lambert a 2025 first round pick and Logan Stanley and the question

or the answer to who says no was kind of just nobody like this was one of the rare fan submission like Marotte and the agents and the executives who were asked about these all were like, yeah, that actually, that works. Yeah, I would do that.

What do you think? I think it's a nice two birds one stone thing for Winnipeg for sure, but I would rather, I think I'd rather see them go get a right shot, and that's Ristolin. And again, we said it before. You got to be careful if you're not putting too much on Rasmus, too much dip on the chip with Rasmus Ristaline, You don't want to put them on a top pair with Josh Morrissey.

I want to like figure it out there. But I think Alexiak's left shot, you know, I know Logan Stanley's in that fake trade that Marantz Rader cooked up. I think that helps too because you can maybe drop Dylan Sandberg down the lineup if if you need to. I think I, I think I like it, even though I would rather if I were Winnipeg, go out and get someone, someone for the right side. And as far as Jared McCann goes, man, absolutely.

They need, I love. I love what Winnipeg's done. That's a good offensive team. It's better than I thought they're going to be, but I would still love for them to add a middle six, you know, pretty reliable five-on-five goal score with some positional versatility. And that's Jared McKean.

We know we can play center. We know we can play wing. Nasty shot, pretty consistent score at five-on-five. And you can never have too much of those, especially if you're Winnipeg. So yeah, kudos to whoever in Winnipeg sent that one into our boy.

Zach T. congratulations I think if you're the Jets you probably like Alexiac is not as good and maybe a shutdown or boxout role as Ristelainen would be but the reason you do that is for the Jared McCann of it all

um McCann has scored more points per minute at five on five than any jets forward outside of Nick Eilers. So that's why you make that move. Not so much for the defensive value. although like he does add some of that size.

He's six foot seven. Everyone knows that. That's the big trade. Ha ha. But I think the reason you do that is for Jared McCann. There's also, you know, maybe Alexiac ends up playing better. Alexiac. Yeah.

Jet defensive structure playing better in the Jets defensive structure than Seattle's. But it does look like the Cracken face a lot of shots when they use Alexiac in a shutdown roll. He's not bad, but. he hasn't been yeah and also like Seattle is just not a good offensive team too so if you're looking at Alexiac's impacts and saying like these aren't great that's true you know

despite playing with Brandon Montor but that's also a pretty mediocre a pretty mediocre offensive group so it's fine it'd be an upgrade you know like if you want to if you're a Jets fan you probably want to get Logan Stealing out of the lineup and you want to drop down Dylan Sandberg

and Alexiak as a left shot would certainly accomplish that All right. So that's our big idea first. I just want to see the Jets do something. And I want to see them make it out of the first round. Don't make me look dumb, even though I dropped you in the preseason. No, I didn't. Let's take a break. When we come back, we've got four more trades to go over. Sean's got the next one. This is his passion project. We'll be right back on the athletic hockey show. All right, welcome back. I made it clear. I wanted Jets trade. Sean, what do you want to see happen in the next day? days. I lost my stomach for posting this in one of our upcoming all 32s, which is going to run on Saturday. It's a trade deadline focused addition of that. Imagine, imagine that. I want Eric Carlson out of Pittsburgh. And I don't say this as someone who lives in Pittsburgh. I say this is someone who wants to watch Eric Carlson play meaningful hockey for the next couple years because we saw what Eric Carlson playing meaningful hockey still looks like in the four days tournament.

That dude was a blast. We need to get him on a playoff team. And Pittsburgh certainly ain't that. And that's only been reinforced over the last few days. We know that according to Josh Yoey, that Kyle Dubus is certainly willing to discuss an Eric Carlson trade. $10 million for the next couple of years after this is a lot of scratch. There's not a lot of teams that can easily make that happen.

Going back to the events of the Four Nations tournament, though, Matthew Kachuk, groin injury. It seems like for a decent chunk of time, Paul Maris is saying we think he's going to be back to us this season. Okay. Didn't say regular season or postseason. I want Florida to LTIR Matthew Kachuk, and I want them to trade for Eric Carlson. And I wanted to happen right now because I love, love, love watching teams go all in. Florida has been better at that than anybody over the last few years. It's paid off in a big way.

They need a meaningful upgrade on their blue line. We know that. And they're about to have a whole bunch of money necessary to get it done. What does that mean moving forward? Aaron Eckblatt's contracts up, Stan Bennett's contracts up. There's money coming off off the books for Florida. stuff gets complicated in a hurry. But man,

Eric Carlson, you know, waltzing through the neutral zone, getting the buck to Sam, right, or whatever, just imagine it. It would be fun.

We need this to happen. I'm on board for it. I think I had initially maybe said, like, could Seth Jones be an option? Like, any, like, good defender to the Panthers

was probably something that I was writing down on my list, but you convinced me on the Eric Carlson of the, all. We know that he hasn't been great in Pittsburgh this year. The big, you know, end-to-end offensive moments have been a little bit more few and far between, or at least more muted, and then some more defensive lapses have popped up. But again, we saw him at Four Nations. He was really fun. He looked rejuvenated. He's probably a particular fit because of

the way that he plays, right? But I think Paul Maurice has shown that he can really work a blue line. and I like it. I'm into it. And Florida's been looking for a power play solution all season long. And they have in. They need someone after losing Brandon Montour. And we know Montour was, you know, important to the Bix in the postseason. And this could be their offensive injection to the blue line that they lost.

Do they have enough picks to make this happen? Because I wonder if they'd need to give up a lot. Oh, I think so. No. This is the thing with the death of cat friendly. I don't just easily be able. I can't just easily pull this all up. What's the new website?

Pluckpedia. Puckpedia, I guess. And that's not new. We've had that for a while. They don't have a first round. They don't have any picks in the first three rounds this year. So they need to be 2026 or 27. This draft is a wash for them.

But I think if the penguins would retain salary, then maybe they can make that work without having to say, Sam Ben has to walk. Which I don't think they would be psyched to do, which is going to drive down the price. So like, whatever. Panthers don't have. of their beggars can't be choosers.

If you're, and if you're Pittsburgh and you want to move out Eric Carlson, you can't be like, ah, we'd like a 20, 25 first round or instead of 20. Now, you take,

you take whatever you can get. Yeah. But yeah, like I said, man, I just want to see Eric Carlson in the playoffs. I'm being selfish here. So Florida, whoever,

make it happen. I like it. All right. So trade number three is Sean wants to see a good three C bottom six center to the Washington Capitals. But you've landed on Jake Evans from the Montreal

Canadians instead of Brock Nelson, who we already mentioned is number one on the trade board. Can you explain why you'd rather see the caps go for Jake Evans over, you know, the kind of bell, the ball, which is Brock Nelson. If the caps want to go out and get Brock Nelson, they can.

Like, that's clear. They have the LTIR space as whatever, as many people have noted over the last couple months that comes with having Nicholas Backstrom and whoever else on LTIRs. TIR got a bunch of money to spend. If they want to accommodate Brock Nelson's contract, they can.

That's fine. And I think that it'd be a lot of fun for, you know, the best team in the Eastern Conference to go out and get the bell of the ball, as you said, depressing as that sounds. But I want them to go get Jake Evans. I think he makes sense, even though he's a UFA, a pending UFA,

he makes sense as a potential long-term piece for them. He's 27 years old. values probably at some kind of some kind of high, certainly. He's been, he's been playing well. Is he a true 3C? I don't know about that. I think on a really good team, he's probably, he's probably a high-end, a high-end fourth-line center.

But there's something about the fit there that I just like a lot. And I think what, what the caps have done over the last, you know, going back to the draft is find pieces that are, we'll call them young prime players who were 26, 27 or whatever, who can help Alex Ovechkin win games, meaningful games in a big way immediately. And then when we're talking about two years down the line or what have you,

can help kind of usher the caps into whatever the next phase of their existences, right? So I think Jake Evans fits in a lot of different ways, even though, you know, is he a high-end 3C? I don't, I don't think so, as well as he's playing right now. really good defensive player. We know that he can make a difference in meaningful games. We've seen that from him at times with Montreal. I'm thinking back to the bubble. So yeah, it's not the sexiest trade.

I know there's a lot of Caps fans who would probably love to see them go out and get Brock Nelson. But, man, they got, they got cost. Yeah, it's going to cost a lot. And they also have, they're going to have Sonny Milano coming back. Maybe have Ryan Leonard show up after the NCAA season. You know, the stuff could get crowded quickly there. They need a, but they still need a center. The larger seller acquisition hasn't, you know, I don't think he, at this point, he's a true 3C either.

So I'm going to go out and get the younger dude who could be a piece today and tomorrow. And for me, that's Jake Evans. Yeah, defensively sound, got a little bit of scoring punch. That's a, that's a solid bottom six center. Probably not going to cost as much to acquire. His contract's not as much. he's in the third year of what $1.7 million deal

so that leaves you some room to maybe do something else. I like it. I like it even though I think maybe Brock Nelson is still probably like Jake Evans feels like the plan B that they might end up having to shift to if Brock Nelson's

cost to choir is way too high. You know, Jake Evans is a depth guy and Brock Nelson is more of like a top six like top line type guy. he does kind of fit the mold of what they're doing, to your point. Andrew Mungiopani is 28 years old. I like it.

Yeah. He can PK. I don't know if I want to give a first round pick. I don't know if I want to give up a first round pick for Brock Nelson to go sign with Minnesota in the summer or whatever's going to happen. That doesn't interest me. I'll take a nice long term piece. Thank you very much. Okay.

Let's take a break. We have two more left. and the next one's the next one's all mine. This is my, I'm manifesting this next one. I'm so excited. We'll be right back.

All right, welcome back. This is the part of the show where I, Haley Salvean trade Jordan Bennington to the Edminton to the Edminton Oilers. You should have been on, you should have come on with Frankie yesterday. Frankie and McHenka,

both. They really want, It's more Sean than anybody. I mean, I went Jordan Bennington. He wants Jordan Bennington on the Oilers, too. Oh, I thought this was like unique and smart of me. Just kidding. No.

This is kind of the thing ever since Four Nations. Yeah. Trade Jordan Bennington at his absolute apex to a team who maybe has a better goaltender than him on staff at the moment. You think Stuart Skinner is playing better hockey than Jordan Bennington right now? It's like the whole reason that the Bennington. to the Oilers things happening. Yeah, I know.

I think I'd rather have Jordan Bennington. Yeah. Or I'd rather I'd rather have Stuart Skinner long term. I don't know if I'd rather have them starting a playoff series for me in two months. That's for sure. So I think some of the Jordan Bennington stuff started popping up because Nick Kiprios has him on his latest trade board over at Sportsnet. Obviously, he showed that despite everyone,

including me being like, please God Logan Thompson, come and save us. He continues to be a big gamer. The amount of times I saw that clip of him in the postseason in 2019 of someone being like, how are you feeling right now?

Are you nervous? And he's just being like, do I look nervous to you? Bennington's a big game guy. The Oilers notably lost the big game last year in game seven of the Stanley Cup final. Not that it was all. Goaltending.

the problem. Obviously, they go to game seven. You're not just getting cooked in the crease, but he just won at Four Nations with Connor McDavid. There's just like something kind of fun about that. I feel like the goalie market's always difficult to figure out, like Logan Thompson, who's now the best Canadian goalie that everyone wants to talk about was traded for a few third round picks in the summer, right? So are the oilers really going to go out and trade like big pieces to bring in Jordan Bennington. Could they look at John Gibson? Do they actually want an upgrade in net? Or do they believe that Stuart Skinner is going to figure things out? Because Bennington is making $6 million for another two seasons. He has an 18 team. No trade list

attached to his contract as well. And if there's teams that want to upgrade goalie and if the blues are open to letting Bittington go, there's going to be more than just the Oilers probably interested in Bittington. So this was another thing that I saw here. it doesn't seem like oilers management has wanted to squander assets on a goalie and has never really planned on adding to its goal tending since the season began. But like that could also change. Skinner has not been much better than fine and net this season. Sometimes that's okay because the Oilers can win by more than one goal, right? Like this isn't a team that's built to win two one hockey games. But the two points. eight four goals against average and 989 say percentage isn't great. I know Bittington's numbers aren't the best, but again, he's won a Stanley Cup and he just

won at Four Nations with Connor McDavid. I don't know. I'm kind of into it. Just do it. I don't care. Who cares? This is all fake anyways. We live on a floating rock. Trade for Jordan Bittington. I like the idea of adding him as an option.

I like the storyline element of adding him. Ultimately, man, this is still a guy, who's got his sub-900 save percentage. The goal saved above expected of just a hair above zero-zero. Like, he's, he, the way Jordan Biddington plays a goal for the St. Louis Blues, the body of work over the last few years is not quite,

not quite the guy that we saw in overtime against the body of work that includes a Stanley Cup. It was five years. It was about to be six years ago. It's more Stanley Cups than Stuart Skinner has. You got me there. I'm fine with him going out and getting somebody. I like the idea of having him as an option if Stuart Skinner is looking like a real problem

once the spring rolls around. But I think I would rather, I think I would, I don't think I'm taking Skinner's job and giving it to Jordan Bennington immediately either. Yeah, but you're not trading for Jordan Biddington and making him the backup. You sure?

That would be insane. I mean, why would you spend those assets to not plan? I don't know. Do you think the fact that I know this was mostly a cap dump, but do you think the Villay Huso to Anaheim dump means that Gibson is actually maybe going to finally get traded? They're trying to say that it isn't, but I don't think we should believe them. I think they certainly have them.

John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks, I feel like I hate one. if you're a new fan listening, I'm sorry. J. Dot Gibson. Jay Dot Gibson from Anna. My guy Gibby and my guy Gibby, I hate when people use like nicknames and stuff. You mean Whitehall Johnny Gibson? Suburban from suburban Pittsburgh.

Yeah, it's from Whitehall. Why would I know what Whitehall is? That's a good question. Yeah, I, you know, they say that that's just a coincidence that they go out and get Billy Hussel for nothing. I tend not to buy that. I think there's a real chance that it finally happens. So maybe we're talking about John Gibson to the Emmettson Oilers.

Who knows? Well, yes, that's why I brought it up. Anaheim has options now. They don't have to throw Lucas Stavstaw to the Bears for the next two months. They don't have to be like, all right, buddy, go out and start 100% of the games from now until the end of the season. Really, whoso if nothing else is a warm body. And you can help take some of the, take. some of the starts there.

Connor. Oh, Connor. I always said Connor McDavid to the Detroit Red Wings. That's really bad. Jordan, to the Detroit Red Wings. No. I think it would just be,

I know maybe Blues fans are listening and being enraged, but I just feel like I'm sure Doug Armstrong's getting more calls on Bennington after Four Nations. Yeah, of course. He was, I, we talked about it

in the post game wrap up. I, you could have given that dude, MVP for that tournament and I would have been okay with it. He was fantastic. I just think putting all your eggs in that basket is something I wouldn't do. Now, again, having them as an option, next to Stuart Skinner or whoever it might be, sounds fine to me. I know. Chris Knoblock kind of ripped Skinner the other day too and at home. See, it's bad. I think the vibes are, it's not good. It's not good. what day was this?

Like literally this week, not, I was against Tampa. There was like an awful goal against in Tampa. I'm not saying it's a terrible goal, but it's one you want them to make more times, like a save you want them to make more times than not. And then at home even said,

I think Stu may want that back. Like that's, I don't know. Am I being a hater because Jordan Bennington just beat the United States in hockey? It's certainly possible. that's all that's all that's all i just think it would be the kind of trade that would like shake things up enough and like get things talking get people talking to i don't know it's just kind of fun or something

fun about the idea of bennington being moved particularly to Connor macdavid's team after four missions connor macdavid going out and saying hey how about you go get the guy who just uh who who just won me the the biggest the biggest tournament of my life to date but how about you go get that. Do we think Connor McDavid cared as much about that as like the Kachucks did? Like I don't think Connor McDavid's going at. Connor McDavid wasn't going out there being like this is bigger than game seven of the cup final.

It's easy to say that. But Matthew was the one. Matthew was the one who was selling this tournament. It's also easy to say that stuff when you've already won a Stanley Cup and only one of those guys has done it. Connor McDavid would be foolish to say anything like that. We can laugh at it and explain it away with, with Matthew Kachuk, because he's already got the ring.

And McDavid, David, don't. Yeah. Okay, we've got one more trade. Do you want to take this one away, Sean? I'll do it. Certainly. We were going to lump this one in with Eric Carlson, kind of, because it's a similar idea,

because we have high profile, possibly in decline, very expensive, right-shot defensemen, who are marooned on terrible teams. I want Seth Jones to get traded to the Dallas stars. And I'm saying this with full realization.

Don't ask about the money or the assets. Let's not even, let's not even think about it. We, as of 2025, in 2024, in 23 and 20, we need Dallas. to find themselves a competent top four right shot defensemen. They need another one of those. And I think that's, I think that's Seth Jones, A, at this point in his career.

He's not a first pair guy, certainly not a first pair guy on a good team, but he's someone who can eat a ton of minutes. He is better than his reputation. I think he's a solid number two. He's a number two. I think he's a guy who I would really like on my second. in pair. If that's a, if that's a two, call it what you will. I don't want Seth Jones playing

against top lines necessarily, but I'm totally fine, rolling them out there as a, as a major, major part of my team. He's from North Texas. It certainly seems like hits his preferred destination. I think that's another Pierre Nugget that's the made its way into, onto the site over the last couple days. Dallas's situation is difficult. They used up a bunch of that space whenever they went out

and traded for Mikhail Granland and Cody Cic. So they don't have the full complement of the Tyler Sagan LTIR exception, right?

It's not that easy. But man, Dallas to me is in that group with Florida and Edmonton at the tippy top of all this where it's like go win a cup now.

Don't worry about next year. Flags fly forever. Do what it takes to get this done ASAP, right? So I think that's, and that brings me back to what I said about Eric Carlson and the Panthers. I look at those guys of a type. It's like, who cares that the cap situation isn't the cleanest in the world. Go get a really good player. Go fill in need.

Try to win a cup and figure this stuff out in the summer if you have to. And I think it's possible for Dallas. That being said, they would need to send out money. So good luck with that Jim Nill. Trade shocks the nation. Don't fret. Dallas got their guy. Cody Cici time.

That is the, for anybody not listening, that is the Dom Lus Chishin Haiku from Power Rankings immediately after the Greenland, the Granland CC trade. I look, man, I just, I look at the stars, at the stars up. I have actual insight to say. I was just joking. Okay, sorry. All right.

Go for it. No, you go ahead. I just need people to know that I'm not just sitting here writing haikus. I think so I think. So what Pierre LeBron reported is that Paterson, who Seth Jones' agent, has been working behind the scenes with the Blackhawks for a few weeks now on trade scenarios for Seth Jones. It does say that the Dallas Stars would be at the top of the wish list for him. That's according to league sources. is not according to Pat Brissan on this story.

He also floated the Florida Panthers as a potential option. As we mentioned earlier in the show, given that Aaron Eklads, a pending UFA, who has yet to be extended, I think because of his contract, there's a bit more, it's like pretty complex, right? He's got five years left at $9.5 million. And like two things can be true.

Like, he is not super old. He's 30, right shot. And I think most people do see him as like a second pair number two guy at this point in his career. So like Seth Jones is fine. But like fine doesn't justify nine and a half million dollars for the next five seasons. So for the Dallas stars to make this work, they need to move out a significant chunk of cash now. And for the next five years, they would also probably need the Blackhawks to retain.

salary on that. So then the stars are going to need the assets to make that work as well. I'm with you, Sean. I think that I would love to see Seth Jones on the Dallas stars or the Florida Panthers. Just like let him go. This is like he has been vocal about the team's struggles.

Like he clearly wants like they're clearly working to get him out. Just like whatever. I guess I'm at the point now. I'm like just let like just make it work. Let him go where he wants. Let him just let her go. Trade Seth Jones. and the stars need a guy like that anyways.

So just do it. It's mutually beneficial if you can make the money and the assets work. I know that's easier said than done, but this is what I want to see. Yeah, we talked about this a bit yesterday too. Like, nobody twisted Seth Jones's arm and made him sign a long-term deal with Chicago Blackhawks. Like he knew they were going to be bad. I know, obviously.

I know, I don't feel particularly bad for him. But at the same time, like, he's a big name. And the stars are big game hunting when it comes to this sort of stuff. You know, you just look at their cap situation. And it's, you're paying 3.75 to Matt Dumba and 3.25 to Cody C.C. And 3.25 to Ilya Lubushkin. That's more than $10 million going to right side defensemen who are varying degrees of ineffective. Right.

So there's a lot of, you know, a little bit. of an overpay there, some, some, some, some overpay there. And then before you know it, it's like, you don't, you're, you're out of space to, to do them, to pull a move that otherwise would make a ton of sense. It's a shame. Yeah. But they'll probably just go and, you know, trade for another right shot on an expiring contract who isn't very good, because that seems like that's what they do. Yeah. I just think, I don't, I'm not saying like, oh, poor Seth, poor Seth Jones, like you're making almost $10 million a year for another five years and you're living in Chicago, like, poor you. I wish I was a millionaire living in Chicago. That's a great city. But I think

maybe like when he signed that deal, they were like, woohoo, we're rebuilding. Everything's going to be on the up and up. And like, it's four years later and the team still stinks. And he said, he told the athletic, I've been here the last four years through probably, the darkest times the Blackhawks have seen for a while. I think things are moving up. They're moving forward, but my timeline might be different than Kyle Davidson's and Norms. He's the associate GM. Nothing against anyone. We're not holding against anybody what they decided to do here, but sometimes it's not in everyone's plans. So I think what he was sold on is different than what things have looked like in Chicago. And I think it's fair to be annoyed and frustrated and be like, okay, this is not what I

anymore. But then there's the other side of it is like, well, like you haven't been good enough to justify your contract and that's going to make it harder to get you out of here. Like, if you want out, Seth Jones, you got to play your way out, like show people that you're worth the assets and the money. I guess I'm credit to them too because that is like the most well said diplomatic like get me the hell out of here request that I've ever heard in my life. So I guess that's what happens. Whatever. I'm into it.

That's kind of what I mean. Like, Trayem. Do it for him. I'm with you, Seth Jones. Send Popeye Jones' son back to American Airlines Arena. Let's go. Do you don't know this?

Is his name? His dad's name, Popeye? He's a hooper. He played for the Mavs. That's why Seth says from Dallas because his dad played for the Mavericks. Oh. Yeah. Let's do it.

I'm into it. Oh. Yeah, that's great. Love that. Go Seth Jones. So those are our five trades. You could learn something every day. Okay, to recap quickly.

Someone big to Winnipeg. I'm Team Razmus Ristalinen, but I would take an Alexiac-McChan blockbuster, if you will. Ryan O'Reilly was also a fun kind of spicy option that Marat brought up. Yeah, that's Marat. I love that for Marat. Ryan O'Reilly to Winnipeg. Let's just override everything.

Could be kind of fun. However, Maraude did kind of say, like, this might not be like the under the radar, like, trade that shovel day up likes to make. Like,

shovel day up likes to just, like, pop off with a little something and maybe Ryan O'Reilly's too mainstream. I think that's like a little bit different than him. That's a little bit different than him trading for Paul Stasney or whatever a couple years ago. Yeah, it's not quite the same thing. So we want.

a big splash for the Winnipeg Jets. We would like to see Eric Carlson to the Florida Panthers, Jake Evans or Brock Nelson to the Washington Capitals, Jordan Bennington to the Oilers, and Seth Jones to the Dallas Stars or Florida Panthers. Just get Seth Jones out of there. That's it. And I guess we maybe were trading Bennington to the Red Wings

and also Connor McDavid to the Red Wings by mistake. but I would do that for Max. I just hope Max is happy. Yeah, I think so. Congratulations, Max. You get to talk to Jordan Bennington every day. No, I said, David. Oh, my God, absolutely.

Yes. Do it for Max. There was also another trade. There was another trade I saw out there. This is from Greg Wyshinsky, and I know he's like a Devils fan, so whatever. But he was trying, he's trying, get Brad Marchand to the Devils. And I don't know if that's just Greg being a devil's fan or him being

like, well, you know, like talking himself into this. But it got into McIndoo's head too. And McIndoo put it in his story as well. Why, I woke up this morning, my dog, I'm giving my dog as medication. I'm stressed, prepping for the show. And I see everyone's trying to trade Brad Marchon all of a sudden. And I'm just wondering what happened in the last week. Everyone just remember that he's a pending UFA and he's 37 years old or whatever. Yeah, they're looking at the playoffs. And I was like, wait a second. Wait a second.

The Bruins aren't very good. Maybe they should trade this guy. Looks like Trent Frederick is injured as well. That just popped up. He's considered week to week. He would be a- After leaving the Bruins game. He would be a guy who you would imagine teams looking for a bottom six center

would have some interest in for sure. The sense is that it won't change any plans ahead of the deadline. The pending UFA could still be moved, but he's week to week. Also, Michael Bunting just had his appendix removed. And he's sidelined indefinitely. So. Bunting now in his time in Pittsburgh has gotten into a fender bender before a game and had his appendix removed. So is he okay? Another horrible bad luck minor injuries can a guy have. Yeah. It looks like Joel Hoffer is starting for the blues today, which means Ovechkin's probably going to get another hat trick. Should we start a rumor on the pod that Bennington's being sat for trade related reasons? No, we should not.

All right. That's it. Those are our five trades. There's a bunch more we could have made, but these are the ones I'm most passionate about. And it's my podcast. I also just don't know if I, care enough to find a trade destination for Trevor's egress. We've forgotten all about him. Trevor's, who is Trevor's Eagris? Dixie D'emilios' boyfriend. All right. I think that's still true. I'm not that up to date on my TikTokers.

Anyways, thanks everyone for listening. Jeff's the guy on the cover of NHL 23 with Sereners. All right. That's it for the show. Eight days away from the NHL trade deadline. Sean and I are going to be back around next Thursday. That's one day ahead of the NHL trade deadline. We'll see if anything happens by then.

Hopefully we have some news. Hopefully it's Seth Jones, the Dallas Stars. Max Bultman and Mark Lazarus will be on the next show on Monday. And then you can hear from Sean and I Thursday. Woot, Woot. That's what Jeff wrote in the script for me. Goodbye, everyone. Woot, wooed.