Early Look at Rental Players Most Likely to Be Available at NHL Trade Deadline
Every spring at the NHL trade deadline, players on expiring contracts are dealt away from teams with no chance of making the playoffs to clubs gearing up for championship runs.
We're still pretty early in the year to identify the full 14-team list of teams that won't be competing in the postseason, but we aren't too early to look at some of the laggards around the NHL. We identified six teams that already need to have tremendous runs just to equal the record of the final playoff seeds in their respective conferences last season.
Those six teams are as follows, along with the record each would need in order to equal the lowest-seeded playoff club in their conference last season:
- Philadelphia Flyers: 38-19-9
- Columbus Blue Jackets: 38-15-12
- Colorado Avalanche: 39-21-6
- Toronto Maple Leafs: 39-19-8
- Edmonton Oilers: 39-19-7
- Calgary Flames: 39-19-6
It's not impossible, of course, that one of those six teams will defy probability and go on a hot run. Columbus has done if before; other clubs on this list might surprise. But it's likely all six will be sellers at the deadline, so it's not a bad idea to take a look at their rosters for players on expiring contracts who might be of interest to better teams loading up for the playoffs. This is particularly true given many of the players on this list are likely already available in trade for the right price.
In each of the 10 player profiles that follow, we've provided stats and contract details, as well as some background on the player and a key number that says something about that player's value. Read on to see which players clubs in need of help can turn to.
Brad Boyes, Toronto Maple Leafs
1 of 10
Stats line: 13GP, 1G-5A-6PTS, 53.7% Corsi rating
Contract: $700,000 cap hit
The player: Brad Boyes is a limited player, but for a team looking for some cheap scoring punch he'd be a pretty decent option. Boyes is a regular second-unit power-play guy; he's a right shot and a pretty good finisher, and that gives him value on the man advantage. He's also a pretty reliable even-strength scorer who's best suited to a middle-six role with light defensive responsibilities.
Key number: His career 11.8 shooting percentage. Boyes has converted on just one of the 20 shots he's taken this season. Historically, he's a pretty good finisher, so we should expect an uptick in the goals department the rest of the way.
Sam Gagner, Philadelphia Flyers
2 of 10
Stats line: 13GP , 2G-3A-5PTS, 45.4% Corsi rating
Contract: $3.2 million cap hit
The player: Sam Gagner is a similar player to Boyes in a lot of ways. Like Boyes, he's a reasonable second-unit power-play option. He's more of a passer than shooter but again is a right shot with offensive skills. Also like Boyes, he's best suited to a role on a middle-six line without a lot of defensive responsibility. One item that makes him stand out from the pack is he's a natural centre; he's spent time at right wing in recent years, but his best offensive seasons saw him play down the middle.
Key number: His 41 points last season. This is a player with real defensive problems, but he's very capable of providing the kind of secondary scoring every team needs at some point in the playoffs.
Eric Gryba, Edmonton Oilers
3 of 10
Stats line: 17GP, 0G-2A-2PTS, 47.3% Corsi rating
Contract: $1.25 million cap hit
The player: Eric Gryba is a limited player in some ways, but for a team looking for a third-pair warrior, he'd be a nice fit. At 6'4" and 228 pounds, he adds size to the blue line, as well as the ability to break up opposition cycles and manhandle opponents in the crease. He's a right shot and best paired with a mobile, left-shooting puck-mover.
Key number: His 34 hits in 17 games. Gryba isn't shy about throwing his weight around; he plays the kind of gritty game that has value in both the regular and the postseason.
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Jiri Hudler, Calgary Flames
4 of 10
Stats line: 18GP, 4G-9A-13PTS, 46.3% Corsi rating
Contract: $4.0 million cap hit
The player: An undersized forward who can play all positions up front—though he's probably best at left wing—Jiri Hudler uses speed and guile to compensate for his modest stature and slight build. He scored 31 goals last season and finished two points shy of the point-per-game mark. He's a lethal finisher with a career 15.0 shooting percentage, though he's more of a playmaker than volume shooter.
Key number: His 2.5 points/hour at five-on-five last season. Hudler will help the power play, but he's a wizard at even strength. He's averaged 1.9 points/hour or better (first-line numbers) in eight of his nine NHL campaigns.
Shawn Matthias, Toronto Maple Leafs
5 of 10
Stats line: 15GP, 1G-3A-4PTS, 46.3% Corsi rating
Contract: $2.3 million cap hit
The player: Shawn Matthias never evolved into a top-flight offensive weapon, but he has carved out a career as a pretty good utility forward, a centre/left wing who can fill in on a scoring line or go to work on a checking unit. The 6'4", 223-pound winger has scored 20-plus points in four consecutive seasons.
Key number: His 1:32 per game on the penalty kill. Matthias contributes on both sides of the puck and has been a penalty-kill regular for years now. He has value beyond his modest scoring totals.
Roman Polak, Toronto Maple Leafs
6 of 10
Stats line: 14GP, 0G-2A-2PTS, 47.7% Corsi rating
Contract: $2.75 million cap hit
The player: Roman Polak is a limited player, but the 6', 236-pound defenceman is closing in on 500 career NHL games because he contributes things major league teams want. He plays a simple, intelligent game in the defensive zone and adds a physical element to the back end. He's also a right-shooting rearguard, which has value in a league where left shots are the majority.
Key number: His 42 hits in 14 games. The playoffs tend to be a grueling, physical marathon and referees are often reluctant to call penalties. That means teams often place a premium on physical players, knowing they'll be allowed to do more in the postseason.
Karri Ramo, Calgary Flames
7 of 10
Stats line: 10GP, 4-6-0 record, 0.894 save percentage
Contract: $3.657 million cap hit
The player: After an ugly start to the season, one that saw Karri Ramo placed on waivers and go unclaimed, things have turned around a little. Ramo stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced in Calgary's win over the Washington Capitals on Friday night and now has three wins in his last five games; in each of those victories, he managed a 0.920 save percentage or better. He may be back on track.
Key number: His 0.912 save percentage last year. Over the last two seasons with the Flames, Ramo has looked like a 1A/1B goaltender, the kind of guy teams often turn to either as insurance for a starter with health issues or as a straight-up No. 1 goalie because there aren't better options on the market.
James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs
8 of 10
Stats line: 10GP, 4-2-3 record, 0.920 save percentage
Contract: $2.3 million cap hit
The player: James Reimer's lone season as Toronto's starting goaltender came in 2012-13, when he played 33 games, went 19-8-5 and managed a 0.924 save percentage. The Leafs brought in Jonathan Bernier the following year, so oddly Reimer has never played 40 games in a season. Still, he's held down the No. 1 job for stretches and generally done fairly well.
Key number: His career 0.913 save percentage. Reimer's a quality goalie, the kind of guy who might yet end up as a No. 1 somewhere. He could well be the best available option on the trade market this spring.
Kris Russell, Calgary Flames
9 of 10
Stats line: 18GP, 1G-1A-2PTS, 43.7% Corsi rating
Contract: $2.6 million cap hit
The player: An undersized puck-moving defenceman, Kris Russell hit a career high last season with 34 points for the Flames, with 14 of those coming on the man advantage. He's highly competitive and logs minutes in all situations, though his possession metrics haven't been particularly good in the past few seasons. He also puts up fairly poor points/hour numbers at even strength.
Key number: His 24:03 average per-game ice time. Whatever anyone else thinks, head coach Bob Hartley believes Russell is one of his team's best options on the back end, and he hasn't been afraid to give him plenty of minutes.
Luke Schenn, Philadelphia Flyers
10 of 10
Stats line: 12GP, 1G-3A-4PTS, 53.9% Corsi rating
Contract: $3.6 million cap hit
The player: It's easy to forget how young Luke Schenn is. Although he's played more than 500 NHL games, Schenn just turned 26 earlier in November, and there's a risk in looking at what he's done as a young player and writing him off. Schenn is primarily known as a defensive defenceman, and he's blessed with good size (6'2", 229 pounds) and strength.
Key number: His 56.9% successful exits with possession last year. That number, from Jess Schmidt at Pattison Ave, is a massive increase over 2013-14 when Schenn exited the zone with possession just 40.9 percent of the time. What does that mean? Basically, it means that his first pass was a disaster but that at some point last season he started competently moving the puck out of his own end of the rink.
With his size and strength, if he can make a strong first pass, Schenn's NHL career might just have a much more successful second act.
Statistics courtesy of war-on-ice.com and NHL.com. Salary information via NHLNumbers.com.
Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.
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