Snapshots: Gudbranson, Cammalleri, Jagr

Once you get past the obvious, such as Colorado’s Matt Duchene and the entire Vegas Golden Knights’ roster, The Hockey News’ Matt Larkin has several interesting players who he lists as Top 10 trade candidates for the upcoming season, including Vancouver’s Erik Gudbranson, Los Angeles’ Mike Cammalleri and New Jersey’s Drew Stafford to name a few.

Gudbranson is a perfect trade candidate for the Canucks at the trade deadline. With young defensemen like Ben Hutton and Troy Stecher already on board to go with veteran Chris Tanev, he is not as critical of a keeper for a team looking to rebuild over the next few years. Add in the influx of young defensive prospects in their system, including Olli Juolevi (fifth overall pick in 2016), Guillaume Brisebois (third-rounder in 2015), Jordan Subban (fourth-rounder in 2013) and Jalen Chatfield, the team won’t miss Gudbranson too badly.

Cammalleri is a solid candidate. Larkin does not believe the Kings are going to succeed at making a playoff run and the 35-year-old wing could be that veteran “glue guy” for a team needing one piece for a Stanley Cup run, if Cammalleri can stay healthy, which is not something he has done often lately. Stafford would also make sense as a rental player at the deadline. After being traded at the deadline from Winnipeg to Boston last March and just signing a one-year deal with New Jersey this year, it’s very likely he’ll be on the move again if he can put up some points as a Devil.

To see the full list of 10 candidates, go here.

• The Athletic’s Scott Powers tweets that Chicago Blackhawks prospect Andrei Altybarmakyan made his KHL debut today with St. Petersburg SKA. At just 19 years old, Powers writes, that’s a big deal and should develop into a promising prospect. The wing was a third-round pick in the 2017 draft two months ago.
• San Francisco Examiner’s Paul Ladewski writes that the San Jose Sharks really need to sign a veteran to help out general manager Doug Wilson. Citing Wilson’s non-interest in being patient with young players, he points to 45-year-old Jaromir Jagr as an excellent player who could fill the void of Patrick Marleau. He cites Jagr’s work ethic, which could help light a fire under an aging team that’s running out of time. Jagr had 16 goals and 30 assists last year for Florida. The scribe suggests a one-year, $4MM deal would be perfect. NBC Sports Kevin Kurz tweets that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Sharks sign one veteran before camp starts, but doesn’t name Jagr.