5 Playoff Pretenders That Should Blow It Up at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline

5 Playoff Pretenders That Should Blow It Up at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline0 of 5

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The NHL’s March 8 trade deadline is fast approaching. Fans can expect plenty of activity in the trade market between playoff contenders trying to bolster their rosters and non-contenders shipping out players who no longer fit into their plans beyond this season.

While the race for the two wild-card spots in both conferences remains tight, a handful of playoff hopefuls should seriously consider becoming sellers by the deadline.

Three of those teams are former Stanley Cup champions whose best seasons are well behind them. Another is a Western Canadian club that once seemed poised to become a Stanley Cup contender only to be undone by the departures of some key players.

Here’s a look at the five teams we feel need to stop pretending they’re playoff contenders and start the painful process of rebuilding their rosters. We’ll explain the reasons why they can no longer put off the inevitable and which players could (or should) become trade candidates before March 8.

Do you agree or disagree with our listing? Is there a team that you believe we’ve missed? Let us know in the app comments below.

Calgary Flames1 of 5

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It appears the Calgary Flames are already in the process of blowing things up at the trade deadline. On Jan.
31, they shipped center Elias Lindholm to the Vancouver Canucks.
Meanwhile, goaltender Jacob Markström and defensemen Noah Hanifin and
Chris Tanev have been frequent fodder for trade rumors.

The Calgary Herald’s Wes Gilbertson believes the Lindholm trade indicates general manager Craig Conroy’s
seriousness in retooling the roster. He also anticipated that
Hanifin and Tanev would be next to be shipped out. Perhaps Markström
will join them if Conroy receives a serious offer that doesn’t
involve retaining part of his $6 million average annual value.

Since 2014-15, the Flames have been an
inconsistent club. In some seasons they seemed poised to break out as
Stanley Cup contenders and in others, they’ve regressed and missed the playoffs. They’ve never really recovered from the departures of core forwards
Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau in the summer of 2022.

One reason Conroy is retooling is he’s carrying veterans such as Markstrom,
Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar on expensive
long-term contracts. Moving them could prove to be a difficult
undertaking in a season with so many teams carrying limited
salary-cap space.

However, recent trade rumors about
Markström suggest it might not be impossible to move him. Meanwhile,
The Denver Post’s Sean Keeler made the case last month for the
Colorado Avalanche to bring back Kadri. While that could be tough for
the Avs to do, maybe Conroy could at least gauge Kadri’s value in the
trade market.

Markström and Kadri could fetch
significant returns for the Flames that could be put toward
rebuilding their roster now as well as in the future. That means
adding young NHL players, first-round draft picks and prospects to
restock their prospect pipeline as youngsters like Connor Zary and Dustin Wolf continue to move
in their roster.

New York Islanders2 of 5

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After decades of mediocrity, the New York Islanders finally seemed to turn the corner in 2018-19. They finished second in the Metropolitan Division that season, followed by reaching the Eastern Conference Final during the 2020 COVID bubble playoffs and the Stanley Cup semifinal during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign.

Since then, however, the Islanders have looked nothing like Cup contenders. They missed the playoffs in 2021-22. Last season, they were seventh overall in the Eastern Conference before being eliminated from the opening round of the playoffs.

This season, the Islanders find themselves struggling to remain in the playoff race. Despite replacing head coach Lane Lambert with Patrick Roy in January, they’re among the league’s lowest-scoring clubs with a 2.93 goals-per-game average and a league-worst penalty-killing percentage of 71.5.

General manager Lou Lamoriello has a well-earned reputation for playing his cards close to the vest regarding his intentions. His clubs tend to favor tight-checking defensive hockey, and he’s built the Islanders around that model. With the team showing no sign of real improvement under Roy, it may be time for him to accept the inevitable and rebuild.

That would include trying to find new homes for older veterans with two years or less remaining on their contracts such as Brock Nelson, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Anders Lee and Kyle Palmieri. With a farm system ranked dead last by The Athletic, the Islanders badly need to stock up on prospects and young players.

Doing so won’t be easy. Nelson and Pageau should have good value in the trade market but Lee and Palmieri are in decline. Trying to move players on longer-term contracts could prove too difficult to attempt in-season but might be possible in the offseason, especially with the salary cap rising by a projected $4.2 million for 2024-25.

Pittsburgh Penguins3 of 5

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The Pittsburgh Penguins missed the playoffs last season for the first time since team captain Sidney Crosby’s rookie campaign of 2005-06. Looking for a quick turnaround, they acquired defenseman Erik Karlsson in a blockbuster three-team trade last summer. The Penguins also added winger Reilly Smith, defenseman Ryan Graves and Lars Eller.

Those moves, however, failed to reverse the Penguins’ fortunes. They’re struggling to remain within range of a wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference standings.

Since their last championship in 2017, the Penguins have been in a slow but steady decline that’s become more obvious with each season. According to Left Wing Lock, the average age of their roster is 31.5, making them the oldest team in the league. They’re 23rd in scoring (2.91 goals per game) while their 13.9 power play percentage ranks 30th.

Crosby, 36, is still performing at an elite level, while fellow 36-year-old Kris Letang continues putting up good numbers. However, 37-year-old Evgeni Malkin is showing his age. Smith, Eller and Rickard Rakell are in their early 30s and also enduring a decline in their respective performances.

On Feb. 21, general manager Kyle Dubas spoke of the Penguins’ need to bring in younger players. His predecessors depleted their prospect pool, leaving him little choice but to start restocking with promising young players who can one day blossom into stars. Doing that means trading some veterans for draft picks and prospects.

Blowing up the roster, however, could prove difficult with 13 players carrying some form of no-movement or no-trade protection. Crosby, Malkin and Letang won’t be going anywhere, but Dubas must try and convince some of the others to waive their clauses to accept getting moved to real playoff contenders.

Their best trade chip is scoring winger Jake Guentzel. Eligible to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, the 29-year-old is currently sidelined until after the trade deadline but should still draw plenty of interest in the trade market. Smith, Eller and Rakell could also garner some attention from contenders

St. Louis Blues4 of 5

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Four seasons after the St. Louis Blues won their first-ever Stanley Cup, they failed to qualify for the 2023 playoffs. With his club struggling through most of that season, general manager Doug Armstrong traded away core forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko leading up to the 2023 trade deadline.

Armstrong, however, wasn’t engaged in a rebuild but rather a retooling of his roster. Last May, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported the Blues GM was after a player or players in their mid-twenties with term remaining on their contracts who could help reboot the team.

The Blues are currently jockeying for the final wild-card berth in the Western Conference. However, it might be time for Armstrong to attempt more of a rebuild to become a Cup contender in a few years rather than simply attempting a quick turnaround.

Young forwards Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Jake Neighbours give the Blues part of a promising young core to build around for the long term. Armstrong could peddle pending unrestricted free-agent role players like Kasperi Kapanen, Sammy Blais, Oskar Sundqvist and Marco Scandella, but they won’t fetch much in return.

Pavel Buchnevich is Armstrong’s best trade chip. The 28-year-old scoring winger is a year away from UFA eligibility and is drawing interest in the trade market.

Armstrong could also test the trade market on veterans such as Brayden Schenn, Brandon Saad, Torey Krug, Justin Faulk and Colton Parayko. Their no-trade clauses, however, complicate things. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to broach the subject with any of them if there’s interest from rival clubs.

Washington Capitals 5 of 5

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Six years after winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, the Washington Capitals are at risk of missing the playoffs for the second successive year. They’ve been in decline since their championship year and are no longer the powerhouse that finished first in the Metropolitan Division for five straight seasons from 2015-16 to 2019-20.

The Capitals carry an aging roster. Led by 38-year-old captain Alex Ovechkin, 37-year-old winger T.J. Oshie and 34-year-old defenseman John Carlson, they’re the NHL’s fourth-oldest club (29.6) according to Left Wing Lock. Even if they reach the 2024 playoffs, they’ll be hard-pressed to advance beyond the first round.

The Capitals have started incorporating younger players into their roster over the past couple of years, such as Aliaksei Protas, Connor McMichael and Rasmus Sandin. It’s a trend they should accelerate by becoming sellers at the March 8 trade deadline.

Ovechkin, Oshie and Carlson each have 10-team no-trade clauses in their contracts. However, management won’t move any of them given how much they’ve meant to the franchise. That’s especially true of Ovechkin as he continues his quest to break Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894 career goals.

With that trio of core players now past their prime, general manager Brian McLellan must attempt to rebuild around them. That means shopping veterans to build for the future by stocking up a prospect pool that’s ranked 20th by The Athletic.

Some of those veterans are pending unrestricted free agents such as Anthony Mantha, Max Pacioretty and Joel Edmundson. They shouldn’t be too difficult to peddle by March 8.

Veteran center Nic Dowd with his affordable $1.3 million cap hit should also be easy to move. Given the lack of starting goalies in this year’s trade market, McLellan should look into the market value of Darcy Kuemper.