NHL trade rumors: Top 4 teams who should trade for Johnny Gaudreau

According to the latest NHL trade rumors, Johnny Gaudreau’s probably getting traded. Here are 4 teams who should be very interested in him.

After yet another early exit from the postseason, it’s likely the Calgary Flames are going to be making a move to shake up their core. Their core has won a whopping two series in five years. That’s not acceptable. According to the latest NHL trade rumors, star forward Johnny Gaudreau could be the odd man out.

This report comes from Eric Francis of Sportsnet.

"GM Brad Treliving will have no choice but to put in motion significant personnel changes. And that starts with Johnny Gaudreau. He’s likely played his last game as a Calgary Flame."

Gaudreau is no stranger to the trade market, as the Flames pondered a shakeup after last season’s disappointing ending, a first-round loss to the Colorado Avalanche. After this season, it’s not likely the Flames are going to stand pat. They’re going to try to make a big move, and all signs point to it being Gaudreau.

Most of the blame for the Flames lack of postseason success has fallen on Gaudreau, who has 19 postseason points in 30 games. He was virtually invisible against the Avalanche (though to be fair, so were many of the Flames players). Though Gaudreau had seven points in 10 postseason games this year, that wasn’t enough.

Also, the best time for the Flames to trade Johnny Gaudreau is right now because after next season, his no-trade clause kicks in. This would allow him to submit a list of five teams he’d accept a trade to. That would significantly kill the Flames leverage and likely hurt their return.

Gaudreau is hardly the only one at fault for the Flames postseason failures, but he’s likely the easiest one to blame and his modified NTC makes trading him now a tempting thought. Should Johnny Hockey get traded this offseason, and it sure seems like he will be traded this offseason, here are four teams who should be very interested in him.