Which Western Conferences teams should be all-in at the NHL Trade Deadline?
The NHL’s trade deadline is set for March 7, and GM’s across the league are starting to get a good sense if they’re going to be buyers or sellers. The buyers market will be fun to watch, especially in the Western Conference, with several contenders likely to make splashes ahead of the deadline.
Entering Thursday’s action, the Winnipeg Jets sit atop the Central Division, seven points clear of the Minnesota Wild. The Vegas Golden Knights are in top spot in the Pacific Division, carrying a one-point lead on the Edmonton Oilers. Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche sit comfortably in the first wild-card position, with the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, and St. Louis Blues bunched together, hovering around the second wild-card spot, separated by just one point.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk was joined by Matt Larkin to discuss who they felt would be going all-in among Western Conference teams ahead of the trade deadline.
Yaremchuk: Let’s start with the Western Conference, Matt. Where look, I took this and looked at all-in, and wanted to give, at least for my list, teams that I think should be all-in, but also have the ability to.
So, I looked at teams like Edmonton and Colorado. Landeskog is out, we know Evander Kane is out, they have the ability to use LTIR space, if they want to use it. But, neither of them really have the A-plus assets you need to go get a big fish. Edmonton doesn’t have their first-round pick this year, neither does Colorado. A team like Vegas doesn’t have their first-round pick this year, although when has that ever stopped them? They always seem to find ways to get deals done, if they want to.
I looked at a team like Winnipeg, who have a clear cut need, they went pretty all-in last year, so I left them off my list. So, basically, I walked my way into only the Dallas Stars. And, listen, they have the LTIR space if they want to, because of the Tyler Seguin injury.
On top of that, GM Jim Nill has done a great job holding onto assets. He basically never trades first-round picks, he’s got each of his first-rounders for the next three drafts…you have young players on your roster, I think you should be moving on from firsts and prospects. I had Dallas as my lone all-in club in the West, but your list was a little longer.
Larkin: Yeah, it’s a little different, and I approached it slightly differently philosophically. I was thinking less about the assets to get a deal done, and more about where they are in their window.
The Dallas Stars, I didn’t put on my all-in list, because I think they’re still set up to contend for years to come. So, when you’re a relatively conservative GM like Jim Nill, yes – you have the LTIR space from Seguin, but, it’s not like – oh my god, we need to go deep, we have to win the Stanley Cup this year or my job’s in jeopardy. We know that team is set up because they have wave after wave of young talent coming in.
Where as Colorado for me, I look at a team like the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Colorado is becoming what Tampa Bay was a couple of years ago. In your life cycle, you have your superstars, you win your Stanley Cup, or Cups if you’re Tampa Bay, and then you start to peak, your superstars get into their late 20’s and you start to enter a window where you’re competitive, but you’re not in the top-tier of contenders anymore.
Colorado has Mikko Rantanen to re-sign, that’s going to be a monster cap hit next year. So, I think this is the year you have to take your swing. If you look at the Winnipeg Jets, I think they surprised all of us by being good again this year. They still have good prospect assets and picks, so they can still make a move. And, Edmonton, Tyler, I think you could argue they already have what they need to win the Stanley Cup, but, I still think they’re so close that you have to do whatever it takes to get over that hump.
For more on all-in teams in the Western and Eastern Conferences, and all the very latest from around the NHL, watch the full episode below.