5 NHL Trades That Could Still Happen This Offseason
With Erik Karlsson (Pittsburgh) and Alex DeBrincat (Detroit) moving over the past few weeks, we've finally seen most of the NHL's big rumored offseason trades happen.
However, they might not be the last of the moves before teams report to training camp next month and begin the preseason.
There are other names who could be poised for a switch, while some teams have a logjam of players they need to clear up.
There are also some teams—contending teams, for that matter—that still have some big holes to fill.
Let's take a look at what could still be out there.
Capitals Trading Evgeny Kuznetsov
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Evgeny Kuznetsov has been mentioned in trade rumors for a couple of years now, but he remains in Washington.
The speculation has kept rolling along this offseason following a report from Capitals writer Mike Vogel in July that the 31-year-old had requested a move last year.
Kuznetsov finally addressed those reports and told the Hockey on Kinopoisk podcast (h/t Jared Serre of Washington Hockey Now) they "weren't entirely true," but he didn't totally dismiss that it had happened, which means it could still be on the table.
The Capitals have a couple of problems here regarding the Russian and their roster.
For starters, they are pressed to the upper limits of the league's salary cap and have zero flexibility to make in-season moves or add to the roster before the season.
Kuznetsov also accounts for $7.8 million against the cap over the next two years and saw his play take a major step backward this past season.
Looking at his advanced metrics, via Natural Stat Trick, he isn't much of a factor during 5-on-5 play and has become a liability defensively. It's not the best use of salary-cap space for a team that is still trying to remain competitive in the last remaining years of Alex Ovechkin's career when it still has so many other needs.
That contract and those shortcomings would certainly limit the number of potential trade partners, but there are a handful of teams that could make it work. One of the most intriguing might be the Nashville Predators. They have salary-cap flexibility, they still have a need at center even after signing Ryan O'Reilly in free agency, and new general manager Barry Trotz has a history with Kuznetsov after winning the Stanley Cup together in Washington in 2018.
The Predators probably need a full-scale rebuild, but they don't seem ready to go in that direction. Kuznetsov would bring some potential scoring punch in the short term and probably not cost a ton in regards to assets.
Bruins Trading for Another Center
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The Bruins have lost a lot this offseason, and there aren't many easy answers on how they replace what walked out the door.
So far, they haven't done much.
The salary cap already cost them Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno in a salary-dump trade to Chicago, while trade-deadline rentals Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitry Orlov both left in free agency.
The most damaging departures, however, are the retirements of top centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí.
The pair will be nearly impossible to replace. Bergeron was still one of the best two-way players in the league when he hung up his skates, while Krejčí's return helped reopen the Bruins' championship window for a season.
And now they're gone.
Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha are the internal options to move up the lineup and fill those spots. And for as good as they were in depth roles last season, they're probably not what you want in your top two spots if you have any serious plans on winning a championship.
The Bruins could make a bold move and try to land somebody like Elias Lindholm from the Calgary Flames or Mark Scheifele from the Winnipeg Jets.
The problem the Bruins will have in any trade talks is that along with the lack of salary-cap space, they don't have a ton of assets that would entice a team like Calgary or Winnipeg. They don't have a particularly deep or strong farm system, they don't have a 2024 draft pick until the fourth round, and they don't have a 2025 second-round draft pick.
Jake DeBrusk might be a trade option, as could one of their goalies, Linus Ullmark or Jeremy Swayman.
Could Winnipeg Still Make Another Major Move?
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The Winnipeg Jets have needed to make major changes to their core for a couple of years but remain hesitant to do so, even as they have seemingly reached their ceiling with this group.
They did make two significant moves this offseason when they bought out veteran Blake Wheeler and sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings. But is that enough to dramatically change the roster in a meaningful way?
Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele remain the two most intriguing names here because they are a part of that core leadership group that hasn't won anything and will be unrestricted free agents after this season.
Re-signing them is not going to be easy, especially if the Jets try to rebuild. They are also two players who could bring back a somewhat decent return while also offering a significant—and much-needed—change to the core.
There are still a handful of potential playoff teams with major goaltending questions (Los Angeles, New Jersey, Buffalo), and Hellebuyck would make any of them a top Stanley Cup contender.
While the possibility of a Hellebuyck or Scheifele trade this offseason seems intriguing, the reality is that if the Jets were going to make these sorts of dramatic changes, they probably would have already done it this summer.
They received mostly established players in the Dubois trade (Gabriel Vilardi and Alex Iafallo) and still seem to believe they can be somewhat competitive this season. Maybe they can sneak into a wild-card spot and play a round in the playoffs before being eliminated.
However, the likelier outcome is Hellebuyck and Scheifele get sent to the highest bidder at the trade deadline for mostly underwhelming returns as quarter-season rentals.
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Canadiens Trading a Goalie
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The Montreal Canadiens have three NHL goalies under contract for the 2023-24 season, with Jake Allen, Sam Montembeault and recently acquired Casey DeSmith all on the roster.
Each of them accounts for more than $1 million against the salary cap on their own, further complicating an already tight salary-cap situation.
The Canadiens have no real use for all three and still need to shed some salary.
DeSmith, 32, seems to be the most logical to be traded, and general manager Kent Hughes has asked him to remain patient as a deal could still be made.
The Canadiens acquired DeSmith, along with Jeff Petry, Nathan Legare and a second-round draft pick, from the Pittsburgh Penguins for their role in the Erik Karlsson trade.
Petry has already been traded to Detroit for Gustav Lindström and a fourth-round draft pick.
DeSmith doesn't have a ton of value as he is best suited for a backup role, and even then he can be wildly inconsistent with his performance.
Inserting Montreal into the Karlsson trade has turned out to be some strong work by Hughes to add a few assets at a pretty minimal cost.
The Canadiens already have Legare and a future second-round pick as long-term lottery tickets, and they added Lindström and another pick for Petry. If they can find a way to move DeSmith, they could easily add another draft pick to the cupboard.
Sabres Trading a Defenseman
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The Sabres' blue line is the definition of a positional log jam.
They have nine NHL players under contract for the 2023-24 season after adding veterans Erik Johnson and Connor Clifton this offseason, joining a group that already has a young core of Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson.
While every team wants depth and plenty of options, especially on defense, there just isn't enough room for nine players at that position on this roster.
Somebody is going to have to be the odd man out, and one of the most likely candidates might be Ilya Lyubushkin.
The additions of Johnson and Clifton to the right side of Buffalo's defense might make the Russian expendable, especially when Henri Jokiharju also plays on the right and showed a lot more progress last season—and garnered a lot more trust from the coaching staff—than Lyubushkin did.
The Sabres might also like to shed the 29-year-old's $2.75 million salary-cap hit to give themselves more flexibility for the trade deadline when they should have intentions of being buyers.
Along with needing to clear cap space and lessen the log jam on defense, moving one of their blueliners could also be a means of adding some much-needed goaltending depth. That was the one big Achilles heel for Buffalo during the 2022-23 season.
Devon Levi is the future of the position and might even find himself taking over the starting job this season, but the Sabres cannot count on the 21-year-old entirely as a rookie.
Eric Comrie and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen are still on the roster, but how much confidence can the team have in them after the way they performed a year ago? It shouldn't be much.
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