NHL Trade Deadline: Best Deals for Central Division Teams
NHL Trade Deadline: With the March 1st Deadline Just 12 Days Away, We Turn Our Focus to the Central Division. We’ll Take a Look at All 7 Teams With Some Hypothetical Deals for Each One.
With the March 1st NHL Trade Deadline less than two weeks away, we continue with our divisional previews. In today’s edition, we take a look at the Central Division, offering a quick glance at all seven teams, including a hypothetical deal for each club.
Minnesota leads the way with 82 points in 57 games. Chicago sits 2nd with 75 points in 57 games. St. Louis is holding onto that third spot with 67 points in 58 games. Sitting 4th (in a Wild-Card spot) is Nashville with 62 points in 56 games. Behind them is the Winnipeg Jets, who have 57 points in 60 games. In sixth sits the Dallas Stars with 54 points in 59 games. Then, we’ve got the Avalanche who sit alone in the NHL’s basement with 32 points in 55 games.
Central Division At a Glance
The Central division is in trouble. The last few years since realignment, the Central has had two wild card teams. As of right now, the Central is in jeopardy of having none. The number of wild cards typically shows the strength of that division. With 5 teams making it out of 7, the Central was the strongest.
The Central has a lot of talent still, and the teams headed towards the playoffs could be some of the best. The sellers in the division have a ton of talent they could move, and there could be massive changes in the division as we approach the deadline. Hey, they could be the Atlantic.
Minnesota Wild
Honestly, the Wild should have been seen coming. Last year, they weren’t a bad team. They had some blunders, but they were able to make the playoffs, and Devan Dubnyk took another step towards his current form.
The addition of Bruce Boudreau just made the Wild even better, and it turns out Eric Staal had juice left. That combination of additions has made them one of the biggest regular season threats, but we’ll see if that can translate to the playoffs. What would help with that? Hmm. Let me think.
Wild Give Up: Matt Dumba, D; Darcy Kuemper, G
Wild Get: Patrick Sharp, LW; Dallas 1st
The Wild will lose either Matt Dumba or Jonas Brodin to the expansion draft. Why allow that possibility to come to fruition when the Wild can improve their team?
At the same time, Dallas desperately needs talent on defense, and Matt Dumba would provide that. Plus, it allows the Stars to expose older defensemen, and to continue getting younger at their weakest position. Matt Dumba is an actually tangible asset – the Stars don’t know what would happen with their first. Plus, Dumba is a restricted free agent at the end of his current, very reasonable contract.
The Wild get added offensive talent with Patrick Sharp, who can come in and play with Staal on the first line. Sharp also provides an asset Minnesota desperately needs – offensive explosiveness. Plus, that first looks nice.