NHL Trade Deadline 2019: Breaking Down Latest League Buzz

As the NHL trade season has intensified, Artemi Panarin of the Columbus Blue Jackets has been viewed as the top prize for teams in the market for a high-scoring winger.

Panarin will be a free agent July 1, and he has shown he can put the puck in the net with his lightning-quick and accurate wrist shot. Panarin has scored 24 goals and leads the Blue Jackets with 67 points in 57 games.

Panarin could also help Columbus make its own postseason run this year, with the team third in the Metropolitan Division and having just acquired high-scoring forward Matt Duchene in a trade with the Ottawa Senators. 

Bringing in Duchene indicates the Blue Jackets believe they can make a run in the postseason, but their playoff position is tenuous, with division rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins level on points with them in the wild-card spots and the ninth-place Carolina Hurricanes just a point behind them.

The Duchene move indicates the team has belief in itself, and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen would likely have to receive a blockbuster offer to move Panarin.

The Senators have two potential free agents this summer in forwards Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel. Both players are putting the puck in the net with regularity, with 28 goals for Stone and 22 for Dzingel.

The Senators have already moved Duchene, and Hockey Night in Canada insider Elliotte Friedman tweeted Friday that Stone and Dzingel have been put on the market.

The Senators are in last place in the Eastern Conference with 49 points and have already picked up a 2019 first-round draft choice in the Duchene trade (and a conditional first-round choice in 2020). General manager Pierre Dorion could get another first-round pick for Stone, while Dzingel is more likely to bring in a second-round draft pick.

Power forward Wayne Simmonds has been the subject of speculation since the start of the NHL's trade season. While they are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, the Flyers are still eight points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and have lost their last two games.

NHL insider Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweeted Thursday that the Flyers were looking at Thursday's game with the Montreal Canadiens and Saturday night's game with the Pittsburgh Penguins (outdoors at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia) before making their final decision on Simmonds.

The Flyers dropped a 5-1 decision to Montreal, and while a victory over Pittsburgh would help their cause, they would still be quite a distance from the final playoff spot.

Even reaching that final playoff position would put them on track to play the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have been the best regular-season team by a wide margin and are unlikely to be troubled by an eighth seed. 

LeBrun had identified the Lightning, Boston Bruins, Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators as the teams interested in Simmonds in early February.

Mike Hoffman of the Florida Panthers, Gustav Nyquist of the Detroit Red Wings and Mats Zuccarello of the New York Rangers have also been mentioned as possible trade candidates. Craig Custance of The Athletic had that trio in the top 10 of players most likely to be moved prior to the deadline.