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NHL trade rumors: Top 3 players teams should avoid

By Dave Stevenson

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 12: Wayne Simmonds #17 of the New Jersey Devils during warmups prior to the start of the game against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on October 12, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 12: Wayne Simmonds #17 of the New Jersey Devils during warmups prior to the start of the game against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on October 12, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images) /
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Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images /

Every season, teams make big mistakes at the NHL trade deadline by giving up too much for overpriced players. Here are the three players involved in NHL trade rumors that teams should be wary of.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. That time of the year NHL general managers love to overpay for players. There’s no better time for it than the trade deadline, except maybe free agency. This season, there are some very interesting options being thrown around in NHL trade rumors. That said, a lot of the options just aren’t that good.

Sure, there are players like Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Chris Kreider. But for every one of those guys, there’s an overrated, overpaid player just waiting for a contender to believe too hard in them. Now, these players aren’t even bad. You have to be good just to play in the NHL. However, the price for them is going to be a bit high and probably not worth it.

Which players should teams avoid? Here’s a look at my top three.

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Wayne Simmonds

There was a time when Wayne Simmonds was an underrated forward. He could do just about everything. Simmonds delivered momentum-shifting hits, defended his teammates, scored goals, planted his posterior around the crease, and was a pain in the butt to move.

Those days are beyond him. Simmonds is still a decent player, but his production has been sharply declining. He never was a great player at five-on-five, but he was still above average and he produced more than enough on the power play to mask that deficiency.

Simmonds has regressed and is no longer useful at 5v5. While he could still be a contributor on the power play, he’s essentially a special teams specialist at this point. If there was a DH in the NHL who could just play on the power play or special teams, Simmonds would still have some value. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

His off the ice value is worth mentioning, but if you have to start talking about someone’s intangibles to build up their value, that’s not a good sign.

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