Last-Minute NHL Trade Predictions 2 Days from the Deadline

Trade rumors are the NHL's most vibrant cottage industry.

Nearly every hockey-watcher with a keyboard and a Wi-Fi connection weighs in on the would-be blockbusters of the day all year round. And with the annual deadline for deals just two days away—and general managers working overtime on the phones to add a missing piece or simply save their jobs—it's positively frantic.

Deals of all shapes and sizes are especially possible between now and Monday's deadline, and, true to form, the B/R hockey writing team tilted at the rumor mill and came up with a buy/sell designation on some of the notable conjecture. Click through to see our thoughts and drop a viewpoint or two of your own in the comments.

Claude Giroux Leaving Philly for Florida

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

OK, it's not exactly a secret.

The rumor mill has been churning out material on Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux nearly from the moment he entered the final season of an eight-year deal worth better than $66 million.

The noise has gotten louder as the trade deadline approached, and it reached a crescendo on Thursday night when the Flyers hosted the Predators and honored Giroux beforehand for reaching his 1,000th NHL game.

The 34-year-old skated a lap around the Wells Fargo Center ice to acknowledge the fans while looking for all intents and purposes like a man on the verge of a significant career transition.

Meanwhile, in a lower-profile setting, the Florida Panthers held one of their blue-chip prospects—23-year-old winger Owen Tippett—out of an AHL game with Providence on Thursday, creating the awfully strong impression that he could be on the move as part of a deal.

Just two nights earlier, in fact, defenseman Ben Chiarot was held out of an NHL game by the Montreal Canadiens and found himself traded to Florida within hours for a combination of players and draft picks.

Tippett was selected 10th overall by the Panthers in 2017, has 14 goals in 94 NHL games and could be a future-focused centerpiece for an imminent transaction between organizations with differing title arcs.

That's enough smoke for us to believe there's fire. This one's as good as done.

Edmonton Getting a Goalie? Not Likely

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Avert your eyes, Oilers fans.

Though Edmonton has a pair of guys on its roster who've won both an MVP and a scoring title, the team has somehow managed to not win a playoff series since 2017 and again finds itself walking a thin line this season between earning a tournament berth and getting early golf course reservations.

A 16-5 start ultimately gave way to a 2-11-2 stretch and a coaching change, and while new bench boss Jay Woodcroft has the Oilers playing at an 11-5-1 clip since his arrival (third-best in the league since February 11) it won't amount to much if the momentum stops when the regular season ends.

Much of the concern around the team during the pre-Woodcroft skid centered on goaltending, or lack thereof, from the holdover tandem of Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen. The cracks in their foundation allowed for the arrival of Stuart Skinner from the AHL as well, but his stats over 13 games—6-6 record, 2.62 goals-against average, .913 save percentage—don't prompt visions of downtown parades.

So, it seemed, GM Ken Holland would have to make a move. Or would he?

The price for Marc-Andre Fleury will be huge, and he and Semyon Varlamov both have no-trade clauses, and it's by no means a sure thing they would accept a move to the Oilers. The goalie glut in Dallas was also reduced by one when Anton Khudobin was shelved by hip surgery. And all of a sudden, Koskinen began playing like a guy who might just be able to shoulder the load when April hockey turns to May.

The big Finn is 6-1-1 in nine games since Woodcroft arrived, and while Smith wasn't severely tested in a Thursday rout of the visiting Buffalo Sabres—27 saves in a 6-1 Oilers win—the optics of his performance were much better than they've been for most of a season in which he'd won just five of 15 previous starts.

Recent success plus rental reticence equals Edmonton standing pat between the pipes.

Toronto Luring a Vezina Winner

John Locher/Associated Press

It's the most wonderful time of the year in Toronto. 

Or, well...maybe not.

Make no mistake, the Maple Leafs will almost certainly reach the playoffs and they'll do so with one of the league's most potent offenses. It's a unit that boasts the league's top goal scorer in center Auston Matthews, a top-20 assist man in defenseman Morgan Rielly and three more players—Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander—within its 50 leading point-getters.

In fact, the team's clip of 3.67 goals per game trails only Florida, Colorado and Minnesota among 31 rivals.

But that's not why Southern Ontario hockey fans are nervous these days.

Rather, it's the other end of the ice.

The end where an amalgam of Jack Campbell, Petr Mrazek, Joseph Woll, Erik Kallgren and Michael Hutchinson have seen time so far, combining for a goals-against average that's 17th in the NHL.

And that's for the whole season. Lately, it's not been as good.

Toronto's 3.60 goals-against average since February 1 is 23rd in the league. And with starter Campbell on injured reserve since earlier this month, the load has been carried ineffectively by Mrazek, who's allowed eight goals on 49 shots (.854 save percentage) in his last two starts.

The skid has fueled chatter about a fix, and none seem more attractive than the aforementioned Fleury, who won three Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh, took the Vezina last season with Vegas and has four shutouts, a sub-3.00 goals-against average and a plus-.900 save percentage with a seventh-place team in 2021-22.

The would-be haul of a first-round pick and another pick or prospect looks steep on the surface, but far less difficult for GM Kyle Dubas than the prospect of coming to work after another goaltender-driven flameout that would extend a Toronto title drought to an unsightly 55 years.

In other words, he's really got no choice. 

Boston Doesn't Get Chychrun

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

It's playoff time.

And the Boston Bruins are looking for a defenseman.

They said farewell to free-agent veteran Zdeno Chara before the season began and, now that they appear ready to roll into the tournament with youngster Jeremy Swayman in goal, there's a premium on blue-line stability to help get the 23-year-old through his first extended springtime experience.

But the field of high-profile options is beginning to thin.

Josh Manson was on the market until he was snatched up by the Colorado Avalanche in a deal with Anaheim, and Montreal's Chiarot was connected to all sorts of teams before the Canadiens finally pulled the trigger on a transaction with Florida.

The makes 23-year-old Jakob Chychrun the unofficial leader in the clubhouse.

The current Arizona Coyote is 6'2" and 220 pounds, is already in his sixth season as a full-time NHLer and is still under contract for three seasons beyond 2021-22 at a manageable $4.6 million per year.

All of which make him an attractive target for the Bruins. But the issue at hand is whether the Coyotes want to plunder Boston's prospect pool for return assets, or perhaps look elsewhere for a better payoff.

That could mean Chychrun either stays put until an offseason package is assembled, or perhaps finds himself dealt to a place like Los Angeles, where the Kings boast one of the league's best prospect pipelines.

No offense to GM Don Sweeney, but he simply doesn't have the weaponry to compete here.

Domi Is a Penguin at Last

Paul Vernon/Associated Press

The Pittsburgh Penguins have always had a thing for Max Domi.

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported they were in the running to get him before he was ultimately dealt from Arizona to Montreal in 2018 (h/t Pensburgh) and had another chance foiled when he went from the Canadiens to the Blue Jackets two years later.

And whaddya know? With the Columbus 13 points out of a wild-card berth and Domi nearing the end of a two-year, $10.6 million deal, it seems the 27-year-old forward might be on the move again.

He's been an intermittently effective force this season, scoring nine goals and 32 points in 52 games, but not approaching the form that saw him top out at 28 goals and 72 points with Montreal in 2018-19.

But if you think Ron Hextall might see potential for a resurgence as part of a roster dotted with established names like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jeff Carter and Jake Guentzel, we think you're right.

The Penguins aren't exactly loaded with high-profile prospects these days, but they do have a nearly full complement of draft picks for the next three seasons—including both first- and second-rounders through 2024—so it's no stretch to think Hextall and Blue Jackets counterpart Jarmo Kekalainen can work something out.

It's been a Pittsburgh tradition to add big-name players at the deadline to fuel Cup runs, and while Domi doesn't quite carry the same weight as Carter, Jarome Iginla or Marian Hossa, he'd certainly find a place in coach Mike Sullivan's lineup as the Penguins strive to prove the window isn't closed.

The specifics need some finalizing, but the concept on this one is all buy.