NHL trade deadline bold predictions: Who brings biggest return?

The NHL’s trade deadline is just under one week away. This time last year, several trades were made in the week leading up to the deadline, including the Florida Panthers‘ acquisition of Seth Jones, who helped them earn a second consecutive Stanley Cup.

With the potential of multiple trades being facilitated in the next few days or so, here are some interesting predictions regarding teams looking to buy or sell, and the biggest fish on the trade market.

Calgary Flames’ Nazem Kadri, St. Louis Blues‘ Justin Faulk net biggest return

Many teams are looking for talent at the deadline, and with the league’s current parity, there aren’t many selling teams.

But two teams that have next-to-no-chance to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, the St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames, are going to be the biggest sellers. And one player from each team will bring the biggest return in this final trading period.

Calgary will likely move multiple roster players like Blake Coleman and MacKenzie Weegar. But there’s a huge demand out there for a center who plays with snarl, and that’s Kadri.

Flames GM Craig Conroy will be swinging for the fences, and teams like the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche have good reason to try to acquire Kadri. Unless some other veteran pivot becomes available, Kadri will get the most in any trade we’ll see by the deadline.

Meanwhile, teams seeking help on the back end are likely to pursue Blues defenseman Justin Faulk. With all due respect to New Jersey Devils blueliner Dougie Hamilton, Faulk is the best option for a team looking for an experienced defenseman who has a Stanley Cup on his resume.

As is the case with Kadri, there are very few players with Faulk’s resume who are available, so Blues GM Doug Armstrong will be able to command a massive price in any Faulk trade. 

The Blues also potentially have goalie Jordan Binnington and center Brayden Schenn on the trade block, so they’re going to be right there with the Flames as the team most likely to get a huge trade haul at the deadline.

While star centers such as the Blues’ Robert Thomas or the Vancouver Canucks‘ Elias Pettersson have floated around the rumor mill, it seems unlikely that players of that magnitude would be traded during the season.

However, if either of them got moved, they’d take the title of biggest deadline return.

The Los Angeles Kings are trying to overcome a subpar season thus far this year and go on a long playoff run in captain Anze Kopitar’s final season. 

Holland’s Kings have already made a huge splash this season by acquiring star winger Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers, but L.A. still has a whopping $15.6 million in salary cap space to use at the deadline, according to puckpedia.com.

With that money, a respectful prospect pool, and the implications of Panarin’s arrival and Kopitar’s farewell campaign, it’s hard to see other teams outbidding Los Angeles.

The Kings need a dynamic offensive presence to cover for what L.A. has lost with the injury to star left wing Kevin Fiala, who is out for the rest of the regular season. So, a forward of note will probably be what GM Ken Holland is looking for. 

Either way, we believe Los Angeles will be a team to keep an eye on in the next week. The stakes are high, and adding another hand will almost certainly help the Kings achieve something notable this season.

Nashville Predators trade Stamkos or O’Reilly, not both

The Nashville Predators have shown some guts this season as they try to earn a wild-card berth in the highly-competitive Central Division.

However, Preds GM Barry Trotz needs to balance his team’s needs both now and in the future, and the Predators’ brass has shared its unwillingness to see the team whittled down to its base before. That could mean Trotz is going to hang on to some of his veterans, even if he does choose to trade one of them for draft picks and prospects.

Steven Stamkos would get more on the trade front than Ryan O’Reilly, but Stamkos also has a no-move clause that O’Reilly doesn’t have. Stamkos said there was “zero” chance he’d waive his clause.

Even if Stamkos does decide he wants to be dealt, it will be very difficult for Trotz to leverage his team’s position. Therefore, the return in a Stamkos trade may not be as good for Nashville as Trotz would like.

Either way, if the Preds believe they can get something meaningful for either O’Reilly or Stamkos, Nashville will probably hang on to one of the two forwards. If the Predators are intent on a retool-on-the-fly, they’re going to need a veteran presence to balance out their lineup.

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