The Athletic Hockey Show - Who are the top teams to watch on NHL trade deadline day?

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

With the trade deadline less than two days away, Hailey and Sean tackle a busy news cycle for the NHL, including Alex Ovechkin sitting 10 goals away from NHL history, a devastating season ending injury for Jack Hughes, and an active trade day, for the Lightning, Predators, Kraken and Penguins. Plus, they look at what other teams to watch, who we expect to be very active, leading up to the Friday 3pm ET deadline.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. What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show presented by E-Trade from Morgan Stanley. It's Haley Salvean and Sean Gentilly here with you. And the NHL trade deadline is just one day away. And we actually have a lot of news around the NHL to get to before we even take a look at the final round of trade boards. It's probably the second last round of trade boards because we know there's going to be new ones out. Friday morning.

How many trade boards can be published in the, let's see, 12, we'll say 16 hours between now and the deadline. Let's see. Will we see tradeboard 12.0? I was going to say 12.0. Tradeboard 17.0. Maybe. Depends on how many times Brock Nelson and Miko Ranton swap being the number one asset available on the board. We will get to some of the teams or names that we're watching ahead of Friday. But like I said, we do have a lot of news that have happened. That happened on Wednesday that the Wednesday show with Sean, Sean and Frank didn't get a chance to get to.

First, let's start with this, Sean, because you were watching the game and you wrote about this last night. You're our Alex Ovechkin beat writer at this point. He scores goal number 885. The Capitals beat the Rangers in overtime. and now Alex Ovechkin is only 10 goals away from passing Wayne Gretzky's goal scoring record. So nine to tie, 10 to pass. Earlier in the game, there was like a one-trick pony comment from the commentators on the American broadcast and the Washington Capitol's social team had a great time with that.

We all know that Alex Oveskin's been a bit of a one-trick pony throughout his NHL career. I think calling Ovechkin a one-trick pony in his 20th NHL season when he's about to break a longstanding record, nobody thought was ever going to fall in a year in which he broke his leg and came back is really funny. It's really funny. You have to laugh. You certainly do. And we love Darren Pang. He's a delightful dude and has been a... I was trying not to name draw.

Whatever. We're alluding to stuff that happens on the broadcast. He made a choice. I'm sure it's one. I can imagine it's one he would potentially one back, you know, maybe phrase it a little differently or whatever. Alex Ovechkin, one trick pony, that's true. You know who else is a one trick pony? Is a pony that runs faster than all the other ponies? The trick is scoring goals at a historic rate. I tweeted that last night. That was very funny. Secretariat, one-trick pony.

Sea Biscuit, one-trick pony. That's enough. Yeah, I don't know. Alex Ovechkin. I don't know anything about horses. They scare me. I'm, you know what? I'm actually quite afraid of horses.

I think their mouths are way too big. You can break into that some other time. Explore that one. Yeah, Alex Ovechkin is his, Rick is doing the most important thing in the sport and that's scoring goals. And we saw that. We saw that last night. I also thought it was really funny what we heard from Spencer Carberry after the game.

I do I think that anybody maybe appraised him of what Darren Peng said during the broadcast. I don't think so. But I thought it was interesting that after the game, Spencer Carberry comes out and basically says, because the goal that Alex Ovechkin scored was on a loose puck that squirted out to him at the, at the, bottom of the circles and he pounced on it and you know it was greasy right it well this wasn't him with the one the one timer from the top of the circles this wasn't him you know on the rush back in back in 2007 this was a garbage man goal and he took care he took care of business and spencer carberry made that point so yeah he's he's he smells i think that was kind of my takeaway from

watching that game last. Do you just say he smells? He smells it. He smells the record specifically. He's getting closer. We're almost at single digits. He's got just he's got 10 goals and 12 games 6 and 6. His odds are up to around 50% according to dom's calculations after being all the way down to you know, the teens not that not all that long ago. So he's on a run. It's one of those ovechkin binges that we've gotten so accustomed seeing over the last 20 years. And it's happening at a at a pretty opportune time. Yeah. 32 goals in 46 games. Again, this is a man who broke his leg and came back and is scoring at this clip. He's been great since Four Nations, 10 goals in his last 12. He's also one point away from 1,600 points. So just a pretty remarkable run for Alex Ovechkin right now.

the other bit of news that we need to get to here, Jack Hughes is going to miss the remainder of the 20, 24, 25 season, including the playoffs if the Devils qualify. I think that's a little bit more of an asterisk at this point, more than it has been at any other point in the season for the New Jersey Devils. Jack got injured on March 2nd against the Vegas. Golden Knights had shoulder surgery on Wednesday, a couple days later. He missed the end of last season with shoulder surgery as well.

It sounds like Dougie Hamilton is now week to week. I saw that from Elliot Friedman. How do you think this is going to impact New Jersey's plans ahead of Friday afternoon? Do you think they should be kicking the can down the road or buying just to try to make the playoffs and make a run without their Star Center? Jonas Siegenthallor out as well. Like there's injuries happening all over that roster. They are 10, 13, and 3 since the Christmas break. They have been outscored 67 to 65 overall.

Their expected goals at 5 on 5 are down in the 20s, which doesn't speak all that well to the process. This is a team that's struggled, not just in the last week, not just in the last few weeks. This is a team that's been in some degree of credit. since December the 27th. They've lost a ton of games. So do I think that they should go out in trade for a big ticket rental?

Should they be in the Miko Ranton in disguise? I don't think so. But I can also see because of how they're getting chased by the Rangers and a couple other teams in the Eastern Conference, I can see them going after. an acquisition that can help them hit the finish line this season and then also maybe help a little bit down the road like go find a guy with term i don't know i have i've i've ricard rquel on the brain right now because you know he's at the top of the trade board and in all that stuff but someone like ricard rquel who's you know got a couple years left who who can maybe help you now but

more importantly help help down the line i'm trying to see why we're talking about the devil's as buyers. That's that's mainly what I'm doing here. Because if I'm them, if I'm Thomas Jared, I'm like, let's let's maybe keep our powder dry for the for the summer. Because especially in a year like this. Like, why would you, you like we just saw what Yanni Gourd and. Yep. Oliver Bjork Strand went for, um, great trade for the Seattle Cracken. Big price for the Tampa Lightning. We'll talk about that in the second segment. That's a pretty huge, um, trade by the Tampa Lightning. We know Julian Breezebaugh doesn't really care about draft picks, as he shouldn't when when you're trying to win championships, frankly.

But if I'm the New Jersey Devils, I'm probably saying like I'm going to save some of my assets to use for something bigger, kick the can down the road. Like, do you really want to spend a bunch of draft capital on Ricard Raquel? Like, is that really who we're talking about right now? You want to go and spend a bunch of draft capital on Brock Nelson right now? Like, other than Miko Ranton, there's not a top. ton of big ticket guys on the market right now. And Miko Randon's probably not even a great option for the New Jersey Devils because sure,

they can exceed the salary cap by Hughes's $8 million cap hit with him on LTIR. But then what are you going to do next year? You're not going to get Miko Ranan as a rental without Jack Hughes. So Pierre LeBron's reported this. Peter Baugh's reported this. It seems like the Devils are still going to buy. They're certainly not going to sell, it sounds like. Pierre LeBron reported yesterday that Tom Fitzgerald is working the phones and intent on finding help before the deadline.

There's no white flag there despite the key injuries. And I just, I could see Tom Fitzgerald working the phones hearing the prices and being like, never mind. See it in July. And then you can say you tried. Like I wouldn't blame them. That's good GMing. Sometimes the best move is not answering the phone or hanging up the phone. I think it helps everyone in that organization for the perception to be like, okay, we're still trying to do it.

Like, this is actually isn't a last season. We're not having a similar discussion to the one that we had last year where we run out of gas and Jackie uses hurt and whatever. This is actually different. We're still, we're still trying to go for it, even though it doesn't seem like the situation really dictates it. And it doesn't seem like the market dictates it. And it doesn't frankly seem like their play even when Jack Hughes, good as he's been, because he's had a, he's up over 30 goals. Like he's, he had a, you know, a productive year.

Even with him in the lineup, like I said, this is a below 500 team over the course of the last eight weeks. Like this, they're, they're not very good. So, yeah, I think, I think it helps for it to be out there that they're, that they're trying to buy. but it's also very, very difficult to find fits, especially if you start talking about Reynolds, because then it's like, what are we, what's your L. Army, what's your O'L.R.M.A. what's the O'L.R.M.A.

going to do for the New Jersey Devils in 2025. What makes this interesting is the way that the Metropolitan Division could shift. And like we said, I feel like the devils are in a place where, instead of buying to be true contenders, they are going to need to buy to just keep their spot in the metro race or even in the wild card right now, the Columbus Blue Jackets are only four points back of third in the metro. Ottawa Senators and the New York Rangers have 26 points.

So they're only five points back. The Detroit Wed Wing, I can never say Red Wing. What is that? This happens to be all the time. The Detroit Red Wings, maybe that's why Friedman says Detroit. Maybe he's doing that so he doesn't say wed wings all the time like me.

I'd rather say wed wings than Detroit. Anyways, that's a, that's a, that's Detroit. That is a regional accent, I believe. Uh, no. Mm-hmm. No. Um, the Red Wings aren't too far off either. They're at 66 points.

So, um, the Metro, the East Wildcard gets really interesting with this Jac Hughes injury. So that's the thing is, are they going to go and say we need to go and buy someone so we can just make the playoffs? I think we, we said, weeks ago now that we are a team. CBJ. We love the

blue jackets. Who doesn't? For the first time in six years, the blue jackets are heading into trade deadline day with the for sale sign in the garage. They've taken it down.

GM, Don Waddell is telling rival GMs. He's looking to buy. That's according to our guy Aaron Portsline. Not going to be a high roll. probably not he's made it clear he's not in like all in mode he's got no interest in trading first round picks for rentals we know that about don waddell at this point in his GM career but they want to add a top nine forward someone who could add offense um they're looking to add around the edges and i think that's really interesting i think i don't know how many people came into the season expecting

to be having this conversation about the Columbus blue jackets i think everyone thought they were going to be in sell all their UFA mode. So it's just nice to see that the jackets are are kind of in and around it and looking to add some window dressing at this point in this season. Yeah, I like that. So first off, they extend Matthew Oliver, Olivier, Matthew Oliver. He's from Quebec. Matthew Olivier. They're not going to trade.

I've been Proverov. That's established at this point. They're not telling. that's one thing that's a team where if there's someone out there to be had for haley like you said not some kind of crazy act we're not talking first round picks we're not moving you know their their prospect pool is pretty strong we're not moving anything from that but if there's someone who can help now and maybe in the future at the right price like columb has there ever been a team where you want to see them rewarded around this time of year more than the columbus blue jackets like we we we hear it across the Across sports, we hear it in the, in the NHL, we hear it in MLB, or especially around the trade deadline, where when a team outperforms its expectations, you say like, all right, they've they've shown me something. They deserve asset X. Yeah. And to meet, the blue jackets are that defined, right? The tragedy of the summer with Johnny Goddrow is certainly at the top of the list, but this is also a team that's dealt with injuries to. How many, like, Sean Monaghan gets hurt.

Boon Jenner, Erica Branson. It's incredible. And Don Waddell is acutely aware of that. There's a, there's a great quote from him to Portie. Yeah. That this popped up in the last day or two. Like, he knows what his team has overcome. Even if you're only talking about in the last six weeks,

the last few months from an injury standpoint, it's a team that won't go away. And I think Don Waddell knows it. And I think he maybe more than any other GM also realizes, you know, what it can mean for a team like that to have someone fresh come in and have some reinforcements arrive, even though it doesn't have to be Miko Ranting or whatever. It can be someone else. I can read a part of this quote because it really is great. And I think, as Portie said when he posted this, when you realize that Don Hodel's worked 40 years in pro hockey, like the words do carry a lot of weight. So he says, I'm incredibly proud of this group.

I kept waiting for the bubble to burst during the season. But every time somebody else went out, Sean Monaghan goes out, Adam Van Tilly steps up. Kent Johnson steps up. It's been remarkable how these guys have hung in there, stuck together on and off the ice. They do a lot of stuff together off the ice, which I think really helps them on the ice. Through all my years, this is by far the proudest I've ever been of a team with all the situations, the tragedy, all the injuries that have happened to this team and how they've responded to it. It's one of those things where GMs always kind of say I take my cue from my team.

And I think Don Waddell is very clearly saying like I'm going to do something for this group. I'm going to do what I can. But he's got his parameters, right? He doesn't want a high price rental. Ideally, they want somebody who's got some term left on their contract. So a couple of options that Portie went through. As you just mentioned, Sean Ricard Raquel, he's got some term left. Penguins don't have to move him, but maybe they're looking to strike here.

he's got two years remaining with a $5 million salary cap hit. That could be like a top nine right winger for the Columbus Blue Jackets for the next couple seasons. Alex Tuck is another option. Did the Buffalo Sabers want to move Alex Tuck? I don't know. I don't know what the Sabres want to do ever. But he's an option.

He's got a little bit of term left. He's a UFA in 2026. And then Jared McCann's another option. He's got a couple years left, two years remaining before he hits UFA in 2027. these are some good options that 40 went through in his recent story. Actually, for the first time, the blue jackets aren't really looking for a center either. They're looking for top nine wingers.

They've got Monaghan, Fantilli, Sylinger. Centers usually are a bit more of a premium. And I don't think you'd want to bump Monaghan or Fantilli to the third line or cylinder to the fourth line. So when the blue jackets are healthy, they look all right with their center depth right now. Yeah, and all those wingers, whether McHan, Tucker, like, those guys are going to be expensive. We should fit.

We should preface all this with that, right? Yeah, but that's not an expensive. He doesn't want to spend a lot on a rental player. These are guys with term. Yeah, they're going to cost you a first round picks. But it's a lot easier to give up a first round pick when you're like, okay, we get another full season of Alex Tucker. We get two more, or two more years of Ricardo, or whatever.

It's a lot more palatable. I'd rather give up a first rounder for. Alex Tuck for the next year and a half and a first for Kyle Pomerary or something. Let's take a quick break. We want to get into the news, but also the teams that we're watching on Friday. And certainly the Columbus Blue Jackets are one of them.

But we've got some trades that we haven't even gotten to yet. We haven't talked about the big blockbuster yet. And I'm talking about the Michael Bunting trade to the National Predators. We can get into Tampa's big trade too. What's coming up next on the Athletic Hockey Show? All right, welcome back to the athletic hockey show. We're one day away from the NHL trade deadline. The big question, is anybody going to be left because I don't want to freak you out,

but Luke Shenz off the board. Luke's troops. Redeployed to Western Pennsylvania. I don't live in Western Pennsylvania, but I will be a fan from afar. As a 12-year-old in 2006, Luke Sheplead. is very important to me. So this is a great move. Anyway, the actual trade.

Penguins get forward Tommy Novak and defender. Luke Shen from the Nashville Predators in exchange for Michael Bunting in a fourth round pick in 2026. I think everyone agrees that the Penguins got the best player in this deal in Tommy Novak. Yes. I've already said I like Luke Shen. But why do the Penguins or the Preds do this? do this.

Because the penguins aren't going to tank. But I thought we all, everyone's been tweeting for days that Kyle Dubus is tanking and they're in a rebuild, you idiots. Were we were people who called us dumb?

They might be they might be rebuilding. They are not tanking. These are people who like, I think Dubus has made his plan or the tenets of his plan a little bit more clear over the last, over the last couple years. He's been running on dual tracks.

I should say. Tommy Novak's 27. He's the best third center they've had, I don't know, five, seven years. Right? Like he's, he's a, we should, we should, let's say this about Tommy Novak too. He's not a, he's not a first line center.

not a second line center on a good team Nashville put a little bit too much dip on his chip ahead of this season by banking on him to be the guy behind Ryan O'Reilly start him on a line with March so and Stephen Stamcoast like he clearly was not capable of that what Tommy Novak can do is crush relatively easy minutes on a third line with some half decent skill around him he's just he was he's been a scoring chance machine

for the last couple years, really productive in his minutes. He's just one of those guys where like that's his ceiling. Sometimes, right? Sometimes that's just who they are. And I think Pittsburgh sees that and recognizes it as a potentially valuable asset for the next couple of years. He's signed for some term, $3.5 million. He's also a player that if they decide to do it, they can flip them at some point in the next year or so. I get it.

But I think, I also think it's a dose of reality for people who are thinking that Dubus was just ready to punt on this season and ready to punt on next season. Like he wants young players who can help that team be half decent right now. And Tommy Novak, well, argue with the logic if you want, but that's what he's doing. And it's what he's been doing. I think when you cut through that, it's pretty clear. Kyle Dubus has made his commitment to the future pretty obvious. but he's also doing that without a full scale tear down because you can't tear down when you've got Sidney Crosby

and Gennie Malkin and Chris LaTang and to a certain extent Eric Carlson on your roster, right? But we're mostly talking about the big three. Tommy Novak is that future asset. And Luke Shen is just the like, all right, like come along. You can trade him if you want. If someone says, hey, I would actually love that like size and grit on my roster at the deadline.

like Kyle Dubus can flip Luke Shen if they want, or they can keep him to be a veteran guy with a younger, not great blue line and say like, who cares? And say, who cares about your cap hit? Nobody cared about Kevin Hay's cap hit. They cared about the second round pick and that deal, right? That's the prize.

That's the focal point. Everything else is just filler because, like, who cares? I think Josh Yoey wrote this really well in his story. never mind his salary or that he's on the books for an additional season. Do you think the penguins are going to win the cup in 2026? Me neither. It's irrelevant. Who cares?

It's all about Tommy Novak. It's all about the second round pick. So I think when you cut through some of that, I think the initial reaction to that trade was like, what the heck is anyone doing? What's going on? And now it's like, okay, yeah, whatever.

The other question maybe is like, what's Barry Trots doing? Like, why are you? I'm less clear. What happened here? I'm less clear. clear on that. Maybe they just decided that they had no use for Tom Novak anymore, which seems strange because he'd been a really, he'd been a productive player for the end to some, he's not 13 goals this

season. Like he's, he's been fine. And he makes three and a half million dollars a year. I, I have, I'll take Tommy Novak on my, on, on my bottom six. Like, that's fine. Barry Trots clearly felt differently. Michael Bunting is what he is. You know, he's a, he's a, he's a third line winger who can, who can, who can play up if you need him to. But I'm not really sure. He's got term left as well. I don't really understand it. I mean, Tommy Novak is younger and probably better.

Younger and better, not probably. Younger and better. And he plays a more important position. That is, that is pretty tidy work by Kyle Dubas. He also traded Vincent Day or Ney for a fifth round pick in 2028. And I'm sure the penguins aren't done. They're one of the teams that.

that we'd watch. So we already talked about Ricard Raquel. They don't have to trade him, but he is maybe one of the, if a team is looking for a top nine scale, the lineup, natural right shot, Ricard Raquel is one of the better ones on the trade board.

Do you think there could be more to come for Kyle Dubus? Also, if you want Ricard or Cal, you better be prepared to pay. Well, obviously. I'm, I think, I think Kyle Dubus is,

is asking. Imagine what the ask is and then escalate it a little more. And I think you're probably, I think you're probably there. It sounds like he's asking a lot. But as far as whether of course, like yeah, absolutely. Like, you want Matt Grislich? You can have them.

You want Nolichari. You can have them. Like there's plenty of guys who are useful enough on that roster that certainly Pittsburgh would be willing to flip. It's just a matter of whether, you know, If people getting fired up about Matt Griswick in 2020, they're like, okay,

here's a, here's a fourth rounder. He can, he can play on, on your, on your third pair. Go for it. He can still move the puck a little bit.

He's still very short. It's Matt Rizlick. So I, I don't know how many super interesting pieces they have. Once you, once you take, say, Eric Carlson out of the equation,

but it's definitely a bunch of guys who they're, who they're willing to move. I think all the interest revolves around Raquel. Because I, like, for my money, Outside of maybe Alex Tuck, he's the best winger that's consistently been on the market. And also, you throw in the fact that he's got term, the caps going up,

and that Pittsburgh seems like they're asking a lot for him. I think that's very, very interesting. Yeah. I think if you're Kyle Dubos and you see the market right now, teams are giving away high draft picks for pretty good NHL players. He's just sitting there being like, Ah, yes. Like, he's just waiting for people to call him about Ricard Raquel probably at this point.

I think when you look at- The price tag on Raquel to your point, Sean, according to a source of the organization, this is from Josh Yoey, is a king's ransom. What a world we live in. What a world we live in when Ricard Raquel gets a king's ransom. But like if you look at some of the other deals, specifically another one that's happened over the last couple days, you can kind of see it. I get it.

Ask a lot. People are going to get desperate in the next 24 hours. I'd see if I could bait someone into a mistake, too. 100%. Let Kyle Cook, is what I said. Something like that. One of the trades that is kind of setting this market up is the lightning swing for Yanni Gordon, Oliver Bjork, Strand,

in a package that included two first round picks. So Tampa is sending Seattle, their 2026 and 27 first rounders, in a 2025 second round pick as well as forward Michael Isamont. The Cracken are also sending the Lightning a 2026 fifth rounder. Huge package. It's kind of a like if you could make a breezebois trade in a lab, it's like it spits something like this out, you know, like good middle six players who could be valuable.

Like spit out Yanni Gordon, Blake Coleman, third line, give away our trade assets. Here's this trade and get one of those Yanni Gord. How convenient. Gord is 33 now, but he played for the Lightning from 2015 to 2021. One back-to-back Stanley Cups was one of the guys on that third line that was huge in one of those cup races. He just came back from missing time due to surgery to fix a sports hernia. Bjork Strain had a good season for the Cracken last year.

Like I said, this is just a classic. Tampa trade. This is a very good team. I don't know if people, I always say, I don't know if people are talking about them enough. I'm the people too. The Lightning have been a contender. They've been very good this season. It's not surprising. Jake Gensel's been great. Braden Point, Brandon Hagel. Vasilefsky is incredibly good again to no surprise. This is a, it's not a sneaky good team. If you don't think the Lightning are a contender, you probably haven't been paying. attention. Yeah, congrats of Sean McIndoo for willing this trade into existence yesterday because we had a

whole run about the light about the lightning. Nine to ten they're crushing everybody Vasilleski's been the best goal in the league. Da da da da da da da. We're like,

go get somebody else. And I ended up talking about Alex Tuck, of course, and McIndoo was like, just go get Gianni Gord. And within like, you know, an hour and a half

for whatever it was, it turned into reality. It's a lot to pay for two, for, you know, two, uh, not capital G guys. Yaddy Gorge's valuable. They know what, he's, he's versatile. They, they know what they have in him. Oliver Bjorkstrand, whatever.

He scores 20 goals a season. Like, that's who he is. And those are the kind of guys that they needed. They needed strong middle six options to augment what's a, what's a pretty strong top of the lineup. They paid a price for it. I love this for the Seattle Cracken. two first round picks

and Mikey Asimont, who's a legitimate NHL player in return, like double thumbs up for Ron Francis for recognizing that. But man, I just love seeing teams go for it. We say it a lot.

Julianne Breiswold knows what he has. And like you said, to Pierre LeBron, in a very long text message, it would appear, basically saying like the risk of not trying, is greater than the risk of failing. And I think that's, I think that's it.

And what, what are you going to do? Not go for it. When you have a team that's playing better than any other, certainly in the Eastern Conference and maybe league-wide, 100%. Go get them. Go get them. Go do it.

They are number seven in Dom's Stanley Cup chances, graphic that he dropped today. And that's seven behind the number six Maple Leaf. can basically just say the Tampa Bay Lightning are sixth. That's a joke for you, Jeff. I like it for the Tampa Bay Lightning. I don't feel as, like I don't, I'm not fearful that this is going to be the Genoa trade because that, that trade was bad. But I think this one looks, this looks pretty good.

We'll see how it goes. I don't know. I just, I like that Breezebock goes out and, and try it. It makes it way more interesting. And I like the trade for the Cracken too. I don't know if we can call it a win-win. We probably have to see what those two guys do in the postseason and down the stretch for the Tampa Bay Lightning,

but in terms of the intended impact and the vision, I love it right now. Let's take a break. When we come back, there's a couple more teams that we're watching ahead of Friday's deadline. And one of them's the kids, Carolina Hurricanes because there's maybe a chance that Miko Raining

gets traded again by Friday afternoon. Maybe. Growing chance, possibly. Growing chance. We'll talk about it next. Before we get to Miko Ranton, the Carolina Hurricanes and kind of stalking the rest of the trade deadline, Big Gorge, Sean, you have a couple of lines you want to take us through from BEDMGM?

I mean, Miko Rantin's top of mind. I see the hurricanes are a one and a half goal favorite on Boston today. Ruins are in tough. They're won five and two in their last eight. Then outscore 26 to 18. Carolina is still Carolina, despite whatever drama is going on with the trade situation there.

I don't mind them. I don't mind them covering against Boston. I think that's the one that sticks out most for me right now. Also, Dallas against Calgary. Dallas is crushing it at the moment. Tons of production from their best players. the flames, God bless them for being in the mix, but I don't think I would,

I don't think I would pick them under any circumstance. So Dallas is, Dallas to cover a goal and a half and Carolina to cover a goal and a half. I think I like both those. Blue jackets to cover a goal and a half against the Panthers. Got to put my money where my mouth is on, on how much, on how much we gas up Columbus around here.

Am I willing to pick them against, against Florida? Good luck. Good luck to both teams, I say. All right. you, Sean. Those are some lines from Bet MGM. Now on to the Carolina Hurricanes and Miko Ranton

because there is still a chance he gets traded again by Friday afternoon, according to Elliott Friedman from SportsNet on Wednesday. The Carolina Hurricanes are doing their due diligence, checking out potential returns among the teams to be interested, Toronto, Dallas, L.A.,

way more than that, Miko Rantin's, one of the best winger in the NHL. And if the Keynes were Salaure on another trade here Rantan could be had for as low as $2.3 million dollars. I think the big question with Miko Rantan is do you think the Carolina hurricane should keep him and make a run and say who cares if he leaves or should they trade him for the best offer right now? Man, if he'd been a little bit better since that trade, I think it would be it would be a no-brainer. I would say, yeah, put it all on black.

Let's see what, let's see what happens here. But, man, 12 games, six points, two goals. There was, he looked, he had some, you know, Miko Renton-esque jump, I think, coming back from Four Nations, but, you know, the production hasn't been there either, hasn't been there over the last couple games, at least. I think I would seriously consider flipping him again. And when we talk about them retaining another 50%, maybe that's how you recoup some of the value that you lose because it seems clear that Miko Ranton is not going to sign an extension in 10 days or two weeks or whatever.

So you're not going to be able to flip him to a team and have him say, okay, Dallas, I'm down with that. LA, I'm down with that in the next six hours. There's going to be some degree of uncertainty there. So maybe if you retain and, you know, have them count that little against a salary cap, that's how you, if you're Carolina, you recoup some of which have lost. And Pierre LeBron, our colleague just reported this a couple minutes ago to kind of reiterating or kind of reaffirming Friedman's report, probably as expected, league sources confirm

that Carolina has received clarity. from Miko Ranton's camp as far as not being ready to make a decision on the team's contract offer by Friday's deadline. Hence Carolina is talking to teams and seeing for real what the trade market is for him comes down to weighing best trade offers on the table versus keeping Rantan as a rental. Let's see how this goes. I do think one of the things we always talk about with guys who've been traded in blockbusters or rentals, da da da da da da. Sometimes it can take them a while to get their game back just because like the way that it personally shakes them up. And I think Miko Ranin was like very open about the fact that he was like disappointed or shocked saying like we were trying,

we were willing to take way less. We were negotiating a contract. Like he had no idea this was coming, at least in the ways that he was speaking about this trade. So I think there's maybe a real fear of like this guy's just checked out. He doesn't want to be here. He wanted to be in Colorado. So now what do you do if you're the cane? And then what do you do if you're the Leafs or the Stars or the Kings and you're interested in Miko Ranan, but also kind of worried about him walking, about him not being as productive? Like what Miko Ranan are you paying for and how long are you getting him and how does that impact what the Keynes might get in return? Because they did pay a pretty hefty amount for him in the first place. So this is very interesting.

When the trade went down, I don't think any of us were thinking we're going to be talking about him getting flipped. in a couple weeks here. Definitely not. So Miko Ranton is still number one on the trade board. Still the biggest topic around the trade deadline right now. There's some fluidity to Brock Nelson as well. He's the number two player on the board. Does Lou Lamarillo trade him?

Does he keep him? Does he re-sign? I think option number three is very funny. It would be so funny. After three months of talking about how great Brock Nelson is, now everybody's going to want Brock Nelson. I think one of the other teams that we had on here that we can talk about quickly here to, Sean, is the Vancouver Canucks. Two of the top six players on the trade board are from Vancouver, and we're talking about Brock Besser.

He's number three on CJ's big board, 9.0, soon to be 12.0 by Friday morning. And Carson Suzy is number six as well. So a couple of Canucks players in and around this, guys who are unrestricted free agents. Sue season, UFA in 2026, Brock Bessor's UFA in 2025, that's this summer. So I think the connects are a team to watch tomorrow. Totally. Bester's interesting.

You know, he's shooting the puck certainly much less than he did last year. The shooting percentage hasn't cratered or anything, but I think it's fair to say that, you know, 40 goals for him isn't going to be the norm moving forward, but he's a middle six-winger who can score goals. I think the question becomes, though,

if you're a team that's interested in him as an expiring contract, as a rental, now you're like, oh, maybe you can just try to go get Miko Ranton instead. If you're, like,

if you're the L.A. Kings, that's a team where Brock Besser would fit, you know, very well. L.A. Kings, L.A., super strong defensively.

They're going to end up playing Edmonton again. They need more goals. So how do, how do they get there? Brock Besser would be a great choice. But the idea, of them going out and getting rant in instead potentially and then turn it into a much more legit, a more, a more legit choice to beat Edmonton maybe in the first round. I think it gets a lot

more interesting. But yeah, there's, you know, you want a scoring winger. They're out there all of a sudden. Are the Kings one of the teams to watch for you right now? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think they were in on Rantin'in' early, it sounded like. And all they've done since then is won a bunch more games and put themselves, you know, in a pretty solid position out in the Western Conference. But like I said, man, Edmonton Looms. They've lost them three times already. That's just a tough. As an empath, I'm so sad for them.

You should trade for Connor McDavid. In my opinion, I think that would be the smartest thing they could do. trade Brant Clark for Connor McDavid. The deal is one. I don't know, man. You might have to throw in something if you're Edmonton. Who says no. Conditional,

Connor McDavid in a conditional second for Brandt Clark. I like the king. Do you think Kings should be in on Rinton then? 100%. I would, to me, if I had to pick, you know, a team where he ends up just for entertainment,

I think that might be it. It's some combination of them in Dallas. I love the idea of the Kings being like, you know what? Fine. Let's go. See you in the first round. Connor.

Leon will be catching you down the line. Like, just try to make it happen. That's a really good team. And all they've done is win hockey games and do it in a pretty, a pretty sustainable, pretty impressive fashion. But they need some firepower.

And I think rent and like obviously, obviously, obviously would give that to them. The Kings are interesting because of the buyer factor, but there's also some reports out there. And I think this is why I half joking about Brandt Clark, is that he's kind of available. Internal discussions have teams wondering

if he'll be able to reach a ceiling or end up as a power play specialist. This is from Cam Robinson with elite prospects. I feel like it would be a mistake to trade him right now. He's still got a year of control. He's not even a restricted free agent. yet. He's played pretty well. He's been he was really good when when Doughty was out of the line. Yeah. And put him with Drew Doughty if you want. I don't know. I think trading Brent

Clark would be hockey big brain stuff. That question is that question has always been there with him. Right. Yeah. Right. And but like why would you why would you rush that before he's an RFA? Wait for one more year, see what he can do. But in saying that, I wonder if Bramian, Grant Clark is like the perfect Kyle Dubus piece. Like if Dubus is like making trades for future assets, could there be a Ricard Raquel to L.A. deal with Brandt Clark heading back to Pittsburgh. I'm just trying to be Sean Mack and do it and manifest something here.

I want everyone to say that I'm smart on Friday afternoon. Did you just like create that out of, out of thin air? I did. That's perfect. That's like that that's like, can you put the Julia Fox? Yeah. I actually did it myself.

I made it myself. Imagine a player that Kyle Dubus would ask for. Brent Clark. It's Brent Clark. Oh, man. Yeah, because it's going to be Brant Clark in a first round pick and then a conditional second or whatever for Rickard McGar. This is the stuff that pops in my head as somebody who spent time on the West Coast,

like in the Western Conference, and covered Kyle Dubus run teams. Hey. I'm talking about the Toronto Marley's. Yeah. Were you on the on the beat in the suit that I've, that I missed that too? No, London Knights. Get it right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's one London Knights came. Brandt Clark, offensive defenseman, young NHL player, still a ton of bloom left on the road as far as, as far as his future prospects, that's got dubus written all over him. I like it. Somebody do it.

This is the first time I'm hearing anything of this. All right. Ailey McIndoo, we're calling her. It was just inspired. So we've got the Kings. I think the Oilers are obviously somebody to watch. Are they going to add? What are they going to do?

Bruins could sell. Yeah. But I think we're all kind of waiting. I think, unfortunately, we're now back to waiting for the domino that is Miko Ranton into fall. That seems like that's what's happened over the last 24 hours, 18 hours. We're back in, we're back in Miko Ranton and watch. Hey, sorry, Danny Breer.

I'm going to have to call you back about Scott Lawton. I'm trying to get Miko Ranton right now. Yeah, I was about to bring up, I was about to bring up Gustav Niquist, but he's already been traded. He's like, he's like the ideal, Gustav Nijckiq, is like the ideal like yeah yeah we got to i think we got to do something here like fine it's it's it's two o'clock and nothing's worked out for you oh man luke shen was 13 on the tradeboard 9.0 he's off the board ryan donato where's where's ryan tanato gonna end up riley smith that's tough i think it'll still be a pretty good day the connor oh i wrote i almost said Connor grisly

I was thinking of Connor Murphy and Matt Griswick. Close enough. Whichever, pick your, choose your own adventure there. The Connor Grislic sweepstakes will begin on Friday. Connor Murphy, Mac Grisleck, I apologize. Maybe the Penguins will trade Anthony Bovillier. This is what we're going to be doing at 245 or whatever. I, that's the exact name I joked about with Sean yesterday.

I was like, we're doing an emergency Anthony Pavilionate trade podcast. Let's go. Very funny. That was, uh, that was our three minutes of live scrolling through the trade board 9.0. You can take a look at that at the athletic. There are a ton of names. I do think Friday is going to be interesting, but Miko Ranin is that big domino. Thanks everyone for listening to this episode of the athletic hockey show.

The athletic NHL is going to have you covered for every. everything tomorrow during the NHL trade deadline. You'll hear from us, from different podcasters on this network tomorrow with instant reaction. All the big trades. We'll have a wrap-up show after 3 p.m. With the recap of all the moves, the winners, the losers, where did Anthony Beauvillier land? Is it still in Pittsburgh? You can find that out tomorrow on the athletic hockey show.