Four teams in need of shakeup trades early on in the 2023–24 season

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
Four teams in need of shakeup trades early on in the 2023–24 season
Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

We’re just about at the point in the 2023–24 regular season where it’s no longer “early.”

Nearly every team in the National Hockey League has played at least 15 games. We’re a little over a week from U.S. Thanksgiving, typically a critical marker point for teams vying to make the playoffs — if you’re not in a spot (or within a point or two) by then, you’re in tough.

As such, teams around the league are starting to make some preliminary calls on their top potential trade chips. Whether they’re pending UFAs or players with team control, it’s just about time to make those big decisions.

Let’s start out in the Western Conference, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where all kinds of trade smoke is beginning to emanate from a particular Saddle-shaped arena.

Calgary Flames

Nikita Zadorov’s trade request is almost certainly just the beginning for a Flames team in desperate need of a reset. Beyond ‘Big Z,’ the Flames’ list of potential trade assets extends all the way from fellow pending UFAs Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin to goaltenders Jacob Markstrom and Dan Vladar.

The Flames are notorious for their reluctance to embrace a full rebuild — as their CEO John Bean half-jokingly said over the summer, he’s not even allowed to say that word. But they might be forced into one if their tepid start continues. With just 12 points in 15 games, the Flames are tied with the Minnesota Wild for the sixth-worst record in the league. If they elect to sell some pieces, Calgary might be in line to make a top-three draft pick for the first time … ever. Yes, that’s not a typo.

Chris Tanev is reportedly on the market. Nazem Kadri might be, too, even with five years left after this one on his contract. If the Flames go about this properly, they could set themselves up to turn things around in a meaningful way only a few years down the road. And with Tij Iginla newly draft-eligible, this might just be the time to embrace the future.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Brad Treliving has never been known as an inactive executive. During his time with the Flames, he was known as a general manager who was in on pretty much everything — although he also developed a reputation for seldom being able to close deals (see: Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Jason Zucker, et al). Of course, he capped off his tenure with a pair of deals that Flames fans probably wish in retrospect he hadn’t been able to close.

Now with the Leafs, Treliving isn’t necessarily in danger of losing all his star players — although William Nylander’s clock is ticking — but he certainly could stand to make a move to address his defensive group. John Klingberg has been nothing short of a disaster through his first month in Toronto, and even with Jake McCabe in the lineup, it feels like the team is still short a pure shutdown guy.

Could one of Tanev and Zadorov be the move? Treliving is obviously intimately familiar with both players dating back to his time in Calgary and they’re by far the two most appealing blueline targets on the trade market. And if rookie Joseph Woll continues on his recent slide, maybe the Leafs could make a move for a goalie, too. With Klingberg, Max Domi, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Ilya Samsonov all on one-year deals, the Leafs have some additional flexibility to equalize money in and money out in any trade.

Columbus Blue Jackets

What, exactly, is the plan in Columbus? Sure, they have up-and-comers like Adam Fantilli, Kirill Marchenko, and David Jiricek populating the lineup. But what about Johnny Gaudreau, who has one goal and six points in 16 games this season while making a team-high $9.75 million? How about high-priced veteran defensemen Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson? And when will Kent Johnson ever come back up from AHL Cleveland?

The Blue Jackets feel a little like a team trying to build two cores at once, and it hasn’t exactly worked out for them. They’ve won just four out of 16 games to start the season. Who knows what the future holds for Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen — the Mike Babcock fiasco wasn’t that long ago — but it’s hard to imagine him cutting bait with his prized acquisitions this soon. For now, Gaudreau, Provorov and Severson are likely safe.

But that doesn’t mean the Jackets won’t tinker around the edges of their lineup, and their focus might even expand beyond that. They’ve been rumored to have some of their depth defensemen on the market, with 25-year-old RHD Andrew Peeke being at the forefront of that discussion. Ohio product Jack Roslovic is a pending UFA, as is buried forward Eric Robinson. One thing is apparent: Columbus needs some big changes.

Edmonton Oilers

Finally, we’ve arrived back in Alberta. The Oilers have won back-to-back games, but they’re still all the way down in 31st place in the league with just nine points in 14 games. For a team with championship aspirations, that’s not nearly good enough.

The Oilers have already made one big change, firing head coach Jay Woodcroft and replacing him with former Hartford Wolf Pack bench boss Kris Knoblauch. That move reunited Knoblauch with his old OHL stars Connor McDavid, whose former agent Jeff Jackson is also the Oilers’ CEO, and Connor Brown, who played two seasons with McDavid in Erie.

As much as he’ll try to deny it, this Oilers team has clearly been constructed at least in part with McDavid in mind. But things haven’t really clicked for him to this point. Unlike the Flames and Blue Jackets, the Oilers team isn’t likely to be a seller at any point this season, so the question shifts to what — or, more specifically, who — they might be interested in buying.

How about a goalie? Even after his consecutive wins over the Seattle Kraken and New York Islanders, Stuart Skinner’s numbers this season remain among the worst in the league. Jack Campbell feels worlds away from a return to the NHL and Calvin Pickard can’t be a long-term option at the backup position. Here’s something to consider: if Minnesota continues to struggle, what about Marc-Andre Fleury as a potential tandem partner for Skinner?

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