Seravalli: Trade Deadline War Room – Atlantic Division Objectives

The NHL’s 32 War Rooms have been active in the early part of 2022. The initial high-level meetings have been conducted between executives and their pro and amateur scouting staffs, charting a path toward the March 21 trade deadline, which is now less than six weeks away.

Marching orders are being formulated. With help from team and league sources, here is a look at the top deadline objectives for each of the eight Atlantic Division teams:

Boston Bruins

Primary Objective: Mobile, left-shooting defenseman
Secondary Objective: Scoring winger with bite
Briefing: The Bruins have more or less locked up their 13th playoff appearance of the Patrice Bergeron Era. It’s time to make hay with the 36-year-old pending UFA, while Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak are still on bargain contracts. The left side of Boston’s defense has been a black hole during GM Don Sweeney’s tenure. He has committed nearly $32 million to Mike Reilly, Derek Forbort and John Moore, and none have produced the desired result. With three years left, Jakob Chychrun would be a fantastic fit on so many fronts, but the B’s don’t have a deep prospect pipeline. Could Tyler Toffoli or hometown kid Conor Garland be targets for their secondary objective? They could always attempt to bring back Czech Olympian David Krejci, too.
Pieces potentially on the move: Jake DeBrusk, 2022 1st Round Pick

Buffalo Sabres

Primary Objective: Reliable goaltender
Secondary Objective: NHL-ready, right-shooting defensemen
Briefing: It’s been the Season of Six Goalies for the Sabres, who seemingly can’t find a healthy body to run with the ball for a while. We probably could have seen that coming, though, with 40-year-old Craig Anderson and Aaron Dell both inked to twin league-minimum salaries to start the season. There wasn’t much investment made in the position. For the Sabres to be competitive next year and beyond, they’ll need a netminder who can hold down the fort until Devon Levi is ready to take over. They’ll also need some capable help on the right side of their blue line. The proper support that Alex Tuch has provided for Tage Thompson should be a reminder that it’s never too early to start improving.
Pieces potentially on the move: Victor Olofsson, Colin Miller, Mark Pysyk, Robert Hagg

Detroit Red Wings

Primary Objective: Second line center
Briefing: One by one, GM Steve Yzerman has checked the positional boxes in his methodical rebuild of the Red Wings. He has a franchise defenseman blossoming in Moritz Seider, another Calder candidate on the wing in Lucas Raymond, and Alex Nedeljkovic is the perfect goaltender of the present to ultimately pass the torch to goaltender of the future Sebastian Cossa. The Wings desperately need a second line center, the one-two punch to go with Dylan Larkin down the middle. Because right now, it’s a big drop off from Larkin to Pius Suter. Whether it’s now or this summer, that has to be the top priority. Other than that, don’t expect a ton from the Wings at the deadline, unless a decent return can be fetched for their pending UFAs. Yzerman made it clear last year that he’d rather keep a competitive environment.
Pieces potentially on the move: Nick Leddy, Troy Stecher, Marc Staal (NMC), Vladislav Namestnikov

Florida Panthers

Primary Objective: Dynamic, top-end defenseman
Briefing: Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour called the Panthers a “juggernaut” at All-Star weekend – and he coaches the team in first place in the conference in points percentage. Whether it’s gamesmanship or propers, it was tall praise for the Cats, who score like nobody’s business and can play any which style. GM Bill Zito is on the prowl for a top-flight defenseman. Ideally, he’d play the right side (John Klingberg), so that Radko Gudas can be bumped down to the third pair. But the left would work, too, because MacKenzie Weegar can go back to the right side and anchor the second pair. Either way, the Panthers are hungry, their cap situation gets more difficult with new deals for Aleksander Barkov (and eventually Jonathan Huberdeau) and they have plenty of tradeable assets.
Pieces potentially on the move: 2023 1st Round Pick, Owen Tippett, Frank Vatrano, Grigori Denisenko, Cole Schwindt

Montréal Canadiens

Primary Objective: Full-send mode
Secondary Objective: Decision on Dominique Ducharme
Briefing: If there is an insight to glean from Jeff Gorton’s playbook in 2018, it’s that he sold off everything he could to kickstart the rebuild. Rick Nash, Michael Grabner and Nick Holden were pending UFAs, yes, but J.T. Miller and Ryan McDonagh were not. Those transactions laid the groundwork for Ryan Strome and K’Andre Miller. This may not be a complete rebuild – it may not be able to be a complete rebuild with the term on some of the Canadiens’ contracts – but the assets harvested at this deadline, notably for Ben Chiarot and Artturi Lehkonen, could also be used as springboards later this spring for significant offseason transactions that can get Montreal moving in the right direction again.
Pieces potentially on the move: Ben Chiarot, Artturi Lehkonen, Jeff Petry, Brett Kulak
Traded: Tyler Toffoli (Feb. 14)

Ottawa Senators

Primary Objective: Get set for next season
Briefing: GM Pierre Dorion said during the All-Star break that his goal is to have a close facsimile to next season’s opening night roster in place after the trade deadline, that he felt a lack of continuity might have been a contributing factor to his team’s slow starts the last two years. The Sens will engage in conversation with pending UFAs Nick Paul and Anton Forsberg, but no guarantee they get done. Word is the Senators offered Paul a three-year, $6 million deal – and that wasn’t enough to get it done. Teams value Paul’s compete, and Forsberg has had a sneaky good season in net in a league without enough goaltenders. Mete could be available as he’ll be due a bigger arbitration number and it will be cheaper to retain money on Del Zotto, who is stashed in Belleville, than to buy him out this summer.
Pieces potentially on the move: Anton Forsberg, Nick Paul, Victor Mete, Artem Zub, Zach Sanford, Michael Del Zotto, Chris Tierney, Tyler Ennis

Tampa Bay Lightning

Primary Objective: Three-peat for Lord Stanley
Briefing: Some thought he might be bluffing a few weeks ago when GM Julien BriseBois attempted to set trade deadline expectations by saying: “We legitimately have no cap space.” It’s true. Sure, the Bolts could move their first-round pick again, or maybe some younger pieces like Taylor Raddysh or Boris Katchouk – but they provide real value. BriseBois said: “It’s unlikely we’re going to find a player we can acquire that brings more value for cap hit than whatever player we would be moving out.” In other words, don’t expect much. But that’s fine. This Lightning team is as capable as any of hoisting the Stanley Cup. There are no holes on the roster. And after two straight years without drafting in the first round, it would be valuable to begin restocking the pipeline again – even if it’s late in the round again.
Pieces potentially on the move: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Toronto Maple Leafs

Primary Objective: Partner for Jake Muzzin
Briefing: GM Kyle Dubas said on Sunday that he wants to wait to find out “exactly” what the Maple Leafs need, but just shy of six weeks to the deadline, it appears clear from here. The Leafs need a right-shooting defenseman to partner with Jake Muzzin and shore up Toronto’s second pair. That unit has been the Leafs’ most uneven this season, including the forward lines. Dubas’ preference appears to be players with term, but that likely will not exclude Toronto from dipping its toe in the water on a bigger pending free agent target, like John Klingberg. But even players with term could be difficult because the Leafs have an eye towards this summer’s business. They have approximately $8 million in space, but will need to pay Jack Campbell and fill third line left wing and fourth line center roles. And, as Dubas pointed out, the Leafs don’t have many bullets in the chamber. They can’t afford to misfire again like last year with Nick Foligno.
Pieces potentially on the move: 2022 1st Round Pick, Rodion Amirov, Matt Knies, Nick Abruzzese, Topi Niemela, Roni Hirvonen