Teams that should buy, sell, and watch at the NHL Trade Deadline

Who should buy, who should sell and who might be in the middle at the NHL Trade Deadline?

We are a day away from the NHL Trade Deadline, and things are beginning to heat up. While decisions that will be finalized in the next day or so will impact the sort-term, the long-term is also on the line as the Deadline approaches.

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Before I dive into teams that should be buyers, teams that should be sellers, and teams that should let the Trade Deadline come and go, let’s recap the major moves that have occurred already.

The first is Eric Staal‘s move to the Montreal Canadiens as he was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres for Third and Fifth Round picks in the 2021 NHL Draft. This move is a great start for Buffalo in terms of a rebuild (more on that in a moment), and it is a solid low-risk, high-reward move by the Habs, who seem destined for the Stanley Cup Playoffs

The other major move was the New York Islanders’ acquisition of Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac from the New Jersey Devils for a First-Round pick in 2021, a conditional Fourth-Round pick in 2021, and two players. The Isles play a terrific brand of defensive hockey, and that’s great, but what happens if the defense has a bad game? New York can only win one way with any consistency, and that is why this is a great move for the team.

With captain Anders Lee out of the lineup for the year, it felt like the Islanders needed to not only replace him, but bring in another scorer on top of that in order to compete this year. New York still has some cap flexibility, and I think it would be wise to make another move to bolster the offense, perhaps one that is more long-term than the players added from New Jersey.

Then, before we move on, we saw some real movement on Saturday as the Tampa Bay Lightning swung a huge deal for Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard in a three-team trade that also involved the Detroit Red Wings, the Florida Panthers acquired blueliner Brandon Montour from the Sabres and the Colorado Avalanche traded for veteran netminder Devan Dubnyk from the San Jose Sharks in order to add some goalie insurance.

With some big names still available, including Buffalo Sabres forward Taylor Hall, let’s take a look at the teams who will be active over the next couple of days, and those who should probably stand pat for now…

Teams that should and should not be active at the NHL Trade Deadline

With the Trade Deadline now only a few days away, teams will have to make decisions on several players. For some teams, the Deadline could bring a minor trade or two, but for others, this can be the time of year where a decision is made regarding the future of the team.

Making a big move is not and should not be on the cards for all 31 franchises, but between now and Monday we will watch some organizations decide to be buyers and go for a championship in 2021, while others will be sellers, setting their sights on the future. Here are some of the teams that should be big buyers, big sellers, and non-factors as the 2021 NHL Trade Deadline approaches.

Boston Bruins

The talent at the top of the lineup for the Bruins is undeniable. Unfortunately, the points don’t exactly stream in from the rest of the team. Only four players have tallied double digit goals on the year for Boston, and only nine have posted double digit points. As currently constructed, I don’t think the B’s have enough depth to win the Stanley Cup.

With that said, this team needs to do everything in its power to bring in pieces that do allow for a Stanley Cup run. The championship window will only be open for so long in Boston. Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand, and Tuukka Rask are all at least 32 years of age, so the time to act is now. The Bruins are certainly good enough to qualify for the postseason with the current roster, but if they want to compete in one of the best divisions in hockey, this Deadline will be very important.

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers are a lot like the Bruins: the scoring at the top of the lineup is electric, but by the time you get to the tenth-leading scorer on the team, you’re looking at someone in the 9-10 point range. It doesn’t matter to me how good Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are, this team will not compete in the Playoffs unless it finds players that can compliment its superstars.

I must say, I am pleasantly surprised to see Edmonton sitting firmly in a postseason position. The issue I still have, though, is that since McDavid and Draisaitl arrived, this team has failed to take steps forward, and I’m not sure that anything has happened this year from a personnel standpoint that will change that.

Darnell Nurse and Tyson Barrie have had great seasons on the backend, and Mike Smith has had some strong moments between the pipes throughout the season, but the Oilers’ defense is statistically the worst of any North Division team that is slated to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Offensively, this squad has the top two scorers in the league (it’s not close), yet in a division driven by offense, the Toronto Maple Leafs score more goals than the Oilers, and the Winnipeg Jets are close behind. Edmonton needs to use the deadline to become a deeper hockey team.

Winnipeg Jets

Speaking of the Jets, this group has had a lethal offense for years, and it has continued to produce again in 2021. In a division where offense is king, Winnipeg has the firepower to keep pace with both Toronto and Edmonton. In addition, Connor Hellebuyck provides incredible stability in the crease. The issue, however, is the group of defensemen that the Jets put on the ice each night.

A couple of offseasons ago, Winnipeg watched its blue line evaporate, and replacements for the players that departed have yet to be acquired. The Jets need to change that at this Trade Deadline.

It seems to me that the play of Hellebuyck masks some shortcomings on the blueline, but even if we say that the defensive unit is not a weakness, isn’t it fair to say that it’s weaker than any other position of players? The forwards are productive and the goaltending is fantastic, so why not upgrade on defense and try to earn an advantage over the opposition?

Honorable Mention: Philadelphia Flyers

This team has essentially wasted the last decade. After a trip to the Stanley Cup Final back in 2010, this team was able to maintain/build a great core group of players, but it failed to provide the support necessary in goal and throughout the lineup. As a result, the Flyers have been unable to return to the Eastern Conference Final, let alone the Stanley Cup Final.

I think Philadelphia needs to go all-in to try to really build a championship threat while this veteran core, led by Claude Giroux, is still playing at a high level. The reason, however, that I don’t necessarily see the Flyers as a buyer here, is because there are too many holes to fix at the Deadline. Defense and goaltending need to be revamped, as Philly has the worst defense in the East division. The Trade Deadline could be a start, but the best fix is probably an offseason revitalization project.

Buffalo Sabres

Sell everything. Earlier in the season, I said that the Sabres needed to launch a full rebuild, and since that time, the club has tied an NHL record for the longest losing streak in league history. Needless to say, I stand by my point to blow things up in Buffalo and build a new foundation that can hopefully right the ship for this franchise.

As mentioned before, Eric Staal‘s move to Montreal was the first domino to fall, and it was a very solid start to the process. The Sabres added two mid-round picks in this year’s Draft, which is good value for a player that is aging, underperforming, and set to pursue a new opportunity when his contract expires after this season, while they also got a Third-Round pick this year for defenseman Brandon Montour who was dealt to the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

It seems inevitable that Taylor Hall will also be on the move. When that happens, Buffalo’s roster on paper will begin to more accurately resemble the on-ice product. It seems very likely that the Sabres, the worst team in the NHL before these trades, will move on from their key offseason acquisitions. The only thing that could scream rebuild louder is trading Jack Eichel.

Calgary Flames

It’s time for the Flames to make some changes. A full rebuild doesn’t need to be the answer, but it seems wise to sell high level talent in some type of a player-for-player trade. This club is full of great players, but no one is at a point-per-game and at 37 points in 41 games played, the Flames are squarely in fifth place in the North Division.

Johnny Gaudreau seems like the perfect player to sell. This is his seventh full season with Calgary, and the team has yet to take a step forward. In addition, he has only recorded 29 points (14 G, 15 A) on the year despite being two years removed from a 99 point campaign. The Flames’ failures are not on Gaudreau alone, but as one of the premier players on the roster, seeing both he and the Flames regress is problematic. At the very least, it’s time for a change of scenery for some of Calgary’s top guys.

Los Angeles Kings

It looked for a while as though the Kings might be able to rekindle some 2012-type magic, but reality has set in. This is not a Playoff team, and if it did happen to squeak in, it is no match for any of the elite teams in the West Division. While players like Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter, and Drew Doughty may not be finding the level of success that they found early in the campaign, I think they have proven that they can still be useful to a contending team.

This would not exactly be selling high for Los Angeles (that would have been the case back in February), but it is probably as close as it gets. Brown and Carter feel like easy choices, while Doughty and Anze Kopitar would be much more difficult to part with. At the end of the day, though, the Kings are not going to win a Stanley Cup with these guys again, so make the moves now before that championship core carries no more value.

Honorable Mention: Nashville Predators

Nashville peaked when it reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2017. Since that postseason run, the Predators have really not replicated that success or proven to be among the elite of the Western Conference, or now the Central Division. It’s great that the Preds have been surging a bit recently, but if they get into the Playoffs as the fourth seed in the Central, are they truly threats to take down two of those top teams en-route to a championship?

To me, the answer is clearly no, so if Nashville’s peak came four years ago, then why would it do anything besides establish itself as a seller now? Much like the LA Kings, the Predators can offer several pieces with a lot of value. That, combined with the fact that some of the players that the Preds have acquired never played up to their potential, tells me that selling now could accelerate a Nashville rebuild.