Capitals, Senators among Eastern Conference teams who should make big moves ahead of NHL Trade Deadline
As the March 7 NHL trade deadline approaches, teams with a chance at hoisting Lord Stanley or simply punching their ticket to the dance could be among the most active when it comes to reinforcing their rosters.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Matt Larkin and Tyler Yaremchuk highlighted the Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators as two clubs that should look to go all-in prior to the playoffs.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s move along to the East where I did have a longer list of teams that check both boxes of my criteria. I had Washington. This is the last year they have those two goalies on bargain contracts. If you’re only spending $2.5 million on your goaltending, and you have a ton of draft picks and assets, which they do, Washington should recognize what is in front of them and add to this team. Carolina has clear needs and the ability to go and address them. New Jersey, I have them in the same boat. We know what they need and they have a clear surplus on the right side of their blue line. In a complicated trade market, to have an NHL-ready surplus at such an important position, you can do damage. And then I had Ottawa. And you had Ottawa too. I love that we both have them here. They are not a Stanley Cup contender and not a traditional all-in team in the sense of going to get those finishing pieces, but you have an opportunity to make the playoffs. You need to, if you’re Steve Staios, show this young core that you are serious about competing.
Matt Larkin: I’m with you. To address Ottawa first, you have to show your young core what’s it like to play in the playoffs. Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson, Drake Batherson, none of these guys have seen a single playoff game. You can’t be seven years into Brady Tkachuk’s career with no playoff games. It’s a crime for the fans too. This guy is built for wars in the playoffs, and to not have him out there, I just hate that we haven’t gotten to witness ‘Playoff Brady Tkachuk’, and you have to take your shot. It was 2017, that double overtime loss to Pittsburgh and one goal away from the Stanley Cup Final, this team has not been back since then, so Ottawa, you have to take your swing. I’m with you on Washington. I do think they should be a little more cautious, at least with their current prospects. They are kind of reloading on the fly. They’re competitive, but guys like Ryan Leonard and Andrew Cristall, this team is getting good, but in terms of the pipeline, I don’t think you want to give those guys away, but maybe picks.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here: