B/R NHL Roundtable: Teams That Should Panic Buy at the 2022 Trade Deadline

It's crunch time now.

A few NHL GMs have just a few days to change their fortunes—and possibly save their jobs—by making the deals that put their Stanley Cup-contending teams in position to win it all come June.

Other teams who sit just outside of the playoff periphery will be looking to crash the postseason party and keep their windows for contention open for as long as possible.

Could it be a team like the Oilers, with Connor McDavid impatiently waiting for a chance to play in the biggest games during the postseason? Or will it be a team like the Rangers that have loads of cap room available and want to strike while the iron is hot?

With that in mind, we called together another B/R NHL Roundtable to discuss and debate the teams that desperately need to make a trade.

Disagree with the team? Submit your critiques in the comments and sound off on what your team needs to do ahead of the deadline.

Why the Leafs Need to Get a Goalie

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas must pursue a goaltender by the March 21 trade deadline if he still believes his team is a Stanley Cup contender.

The current tandem of Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek has failed to provide the Leafs with the goaltending expected of a title contender. On March 13, The Athletic's Jonas Siegel tweeted that the duo was among the six NHL goalies with the worst save percentages since Jan. 1 with at least 10 starts. Campbell's was .882, while Mrazek's was .885.

Campbell won 16 of his first 24 games with a save percentage of .939, but the 30-year-old netminder subsequently went 8-4-2 in his next 16 contests with a .876 SP. A rib injury contributed to his decline, as the Leafs announced on March 10 he would be sidelined for a minimum of two weeks.

Mrazek, meanwhile, has struggled throughout this season. He has a 1-2-0 record in his last four starts and a save percentage of .852.

Dubas could remain patient and hope Campbell regains his dominant first-half form upon his return, but there's no certainty that will happen. Even if he does bounce back, they must at least find a suitable backup as insurance.

So who's available in the goaltender trade market?

The Chicago Blackhawks' Marc-Andre Fleury and the New York Islanders' Semyon Varlamov are the only decent starting goalie options. Acquiring either guy would be difficult for the cap-strapped Leafs, who have $3.8 million in accrued trade deadline cap space with defenseman Jake Muzzin on long-term injury reserve.

Fleury carries a $7 million cap hit and is slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Varlamov has a $5 million annual average value but is signed through 2022-23. Both goaltenders also carry modified no-trade clauses giving them some say over where they could end up.

Therefore, Dubas might have to consider more affordable alternatives. The Ottawa Senators Anton Forsberg has a respectable .916 save percentage on the rebuilding Senators. An unrestricted free agent at season's end with an affordable $900,000 cap hit, he could be available if he and Ottawa fail to reach an agreement on a new contract.

If Fleury or Varlamov agree to go to Toronto, Dubas will have to make an enticing offer. The same goes for Forsberg. That could involve parting with the Leafs' first-round pick as part of the return. The Leafs GM will also have to move out Mrazek in the deal, perhaps by absorbing half of his $3.8 million annual cap hit through 2023-24, assuming the Blackhawks, Islanders or Senators aren't on his 10-team no-trade clause.

Given the Leafs cap constraints, the limited trade options and the difficulty of moving out Mrazek, Dubas could be stuck with his current tandem for the rest of the season. It will take considerable creativity on his part to find an upgrade between the pipes. Still, he has to at least try. Otherwise, he and his club could face another first-round playoff exit.

—Lyle Richardson

Time to Get Trade Wild in Minnesota

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

The pressure is on for the Minnesota Wild to make a few moves for a variety of reasons. At one point, this club looked like a lock to be the second-best in the Central Division behind the mighty Colorado Avalanche.

They've cooled off considerably as of late, going 3-6-1 in their last 10, allowing the St. Louis Blues to pull ahead of them in the standings and for the Nashville Predators to catch up with them.

They are still a virtual lock to make the playoffs. MoneyPuck.com gives them more than a 97 percent chance of making that cut. But they are now almost just as likely to finish second in the Central (40.1 percent) as they are to finish third (38.6 percent), and falling into a wild-card spot isn't out of the question either (11.4 percent).

With the Avalanche already trading for defenseman Josh Manson—a move that nudges them closer to the likelihood of winning the Stanley Cup—and the Blues reportedly in on difference makers like Jakob Chychrun, Wild general manager Bill Guerin finds himself in a bit of an arms race in the Western Conference.

Minnesota won't make moves just to make them. Yet this is a team that is in dire need of help. Longtime Wild scribe Michael Russo put it like this after the Wild lost to divisional rival Dallas Stars earlier this month:

"This once-confident, deep, precision-like, entertaining team is anything but right now and showing telltale signs of fragility at every position to the point that its once-locked playoff spot has become as delicate as its overall game.

It doesn't matter how well they start, how fast they skate, how hard they hit or what button Evason pushes, the moment one thing goes wrong, the Wild disintegrate into a hundred pieces like ice on a lake as springtime nears."

That's a scathing take from a pair of eyes that have probably watched more Wild hockey than anyone.

They still need a center; there's little reason to buy the idea of Ryan Hartman as a legit No. 1 pivot on a Stanley Cup contender at this point. The 27-year-old has been good—he's already set a career-high in points—but he hasn't been making the same impact as he did earlier in the campaign.

The need for help in goal has also become clear cut over the last month or so. Neither Cam Talbot or Kaapo Kahkonen has given Minnesota reason to believe they can hang tough during a seven-game playoff series. Marc-Andre Fleury has been floated as a potential stopgap here, and it isn't difficult to get on board with that idea.

Guerin should also be in the market to add a bit of sandpaper on the blue line—an element his current defensive core is sorely lacking. There are a few players who fit the bill, such as Travis Sanheim of the Philadelphia Flyers. He wouldn't move the needle alone, but adding a handful of players to help slow this free fall would send an important message to the locker room.

With a long list of needs and a brutal cap crunch coming over the next few years, the time is now for the Wild to be bold as the trade deadline approaches.

— Franklin Steele

An 'Oilers' Change in Edmonton

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Few fanbases need a hug like the Edmonton Oilers.

The franchise is steeped in championship tradition established by guys surnamed Gretzky and Messier, and the team's hometown refers to itself as the "City of Champions."

The last Stanley Cup was 32 years ago, though, and both Gretzky and Messier are 61.

These days, it's a seventh-year superstar named Connor McDavid, a No. 1 overall pick from 2015 who's already won three scoring titles and two MVPs. He's paired up with a fellow MVP and Art Ross winner in Leon Draisaitl, who entered Tuesday's games ranked second in the NHL in goals and third in points.

They're 25 and 26, respectively, and appear to be at or near the heights of their powers.

And, given their talents and accomplishments, they ought to be running roughshod through the league the way their legacy teammates did at that age.

But they're not. Not even close.

The Oilers have won a grand total of one playoff series since the pair became full-time players in 2015-16, and even that was five seasons ago in 2016-17. Since then, it's been two tournament misses, an inglorious qualifying loss to the 12th-seeded Chicago Blackhawks in 2019-20 and a desultory four-game sweep by the Winnipeg Jets in 2020-21 after Edmonton had won the season series 7-2.

So, while other cities may be feeling deadline angst, in Northern Alberta, it's full-on night terrors.

Problem is, there's no simple fix to turn McDavid and Draisaitl into Cup hoisters.

Goaltending has been a recurring issue all season, but with Mikko Koskinen in the midst of a 9-1-2 heater across his last 12 starts—including a 31-save defeat of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday—there'd be plenty who'd suggest salving wounds elsewhere is the better play.

That would presumably be the defensive corps, where Darnell Nurse is a mainstay but is joined in the top pair by Evan Bouchard, a promising playmaker in his first full season with zero playoff experience.

The second pair of Cody Ceci and Duncan Keith has tournament street cred to spare—thanks to Keith's three Cups and a Conn Smythe Trophy in Chicago—but neither are shutdown defenders capable of reliably logging minutes in the high 20s during the postseason.

As for the third pair, it's been an amalgam of veterans, prospects and space-fillers all season long, with nary a player who looks likely to make a memorable positive impact when meaningful games begin.

It's a rock-and-a-hard-place scenario for GM Ken Holland. He can't afford to hoard future assets while selling another playoff flop, but he would have an equally hard time justifying the unload of No. 1 draft picks for players who'll have another work address by next fall.

That sort of pressure is the recipe for a knee-jerk move in any direction. Holland could make a play for a goalie (Braden Holtby or Anton Khudobin from Dallas, perhaps) who'll consistently clean up messes left by the blueliners or lunge for a defenseman (Ben Chiarot in Montreal, perhaps) who'll turn Koskinen into the sort of goalie who backstops a deep run.

Either way, it'll be far more surprising if Holland stands pat than if he doesn't.

—Lyle Fitzsimmons

Blueshirts Need to Get Wheeling and Dealing

Andy Clayton-King/Associated Press

The New York Rangers aren't trying to rescue a sinking ship nor prevent any firings. GM Chris Drury and head coach Gerard Gallant have the Blueshirts in a fight with Pittsburgh for second place in the Metropolitan Division, and the team is a virtual lock to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017 (2020 COVID play-in series not included).

Rather, the impetus for making multiple moves prior to the trade deadline will be to maximize a window of opportunity. The polarization of the NHL standings means there are more sellers than buyers. Many of the teams in contention have little cap space to work with. The Rangers—with roughly $32.1 million in deadline cap space and an arsenal of prospects and draft picks—are in a position to take advantage of a favorable market. 

And they must. All the flexibility the Rangers have this season disappears once summer hits. Huge extensions for Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox kick in next season. The team will have other shots at contention, but this is the Rangers' only chance for the near future to make significant additions with no questions asked. 

The team's top players are performing brilliantly, the power play is lethal and Igor Shesterkin could be the first goaltender to win the Hart Trophy since 2015. There is room to add a defenseman, but rookie Braden Schneider's midseason emergence has stabilized the defense.

The trade priorities should be at forward. Especially if Kaapo Kakko's injury lingers, the Rangers need to find a capable winger for Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin on the second line. Dryden Hunt and Barclay Goodrow have been overextended in the role.

That alone is not good enough, as the Rangers' forward depth has been hurting them for most of the season. Kevin Rooney, Greg McKegg, and Ryan Reaves have struggled mightily, and the team's top handful of players have been forced to carry the group.

If this group is going to go on a deep playoff run, they'll need to take some pressure off the core forwards and have the four-line depth necessary to match up against the best teams.

To get there, multiple acquisitions are necessary in the coming days. The situation is prime for Drury to be active in a way that he won't be next summer and beyond. This is the time to strike.

—Adam Herman