The playoffs are in full swing, but that won’t stop folks from looking at moves that could be made before the NHL Entry Draft next month. Plenty of names will be available this summer, but this list will look exclusively at the ones with a high probability of being moved before or at the Draft.
Let’s start with Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson, who feels like he has been on the trading block since the beginning of the decade. Gibson had a bounce-back season this year, and the Ducks must be eager to move on while his stock is higher than it has been in recent years. Anaheim should be able to extract some value this year for Gibson, especially with many teams looking for help in net, and a free agent market void of adequate goaltending.
A caveat with Gibson is that his rebound this year happened while he had a significantly reduced workload compared to recent seasons. The 31-year-old made 29 appearances this season, posting an 11-11-2 record with a 2.77 GAA and a .911 SV%. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native has two years left on his contract at $6.4MM per season, and with a modified no-trade clause, he still won’t be the easiest player to move. The writing is on the wall, though, for Gibson, who has been relegated to a backup behind youngster Lukáš Dostál. Teams looking for goaltending will try to get out in front of the market, making Gibson appealing since he shouldn’t cost much for assets, given the money he is owed.
Another name that will almost certainly be moved this summer is Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson. The three-time Norris Trophy winner has never fit into the Penguins’ lineup, and it simply feels like a matter of time before he finds himself donning a different jersey. Karlsson has made it known publicly that he wants to win a Stanley Cup, and that simply isn’t going to happen in Pittsburgh during Karlsson’s current contract.
The 34-year-old has two years left on his deal with a $10MM cap hit and the Penguins will be hungry to turn the page on the failed experiment and might be hoping to clear some of his money off the books if they intend to use the same strategy they utilized last summer to take on undesirable contracts along with draft capital as a sweetener. Last summer, GM Kyle Dubas swung deals to take on Kevin Hayes and Cody Glass along with draft picks to help build up the Penguins’ futures and will most certainly look to the well once again as they try and fast-track a retool.
Karlsson does precious little to help the Penguins in the long term and would be better served by being flipped for futures, even if the return is minimal. The Penguins could look to retain Karlsson’s cap hit, increasing the number of interested parties who could get a top-four offensive defenseman at a reduced cap hit.
A team that desperately needs a good summer is the Detroit Red Wings, who again missed the playoffs. Detroit will likely look to shed defenseman Justin Holl and the one year remaining on his deal at $3.4MM. The Red Wings will likely need to add a sweetener to get rid of his contract, and who better to offer that deal to than the Penguins above? Pittsburgh GM Dubas is familiar with Holl, and it almost makes too much sense for both teams to work out an agreement for the 33-year-old that gives the Penguins a warm body to replace Karlsson and a future draft pick, while the Red Wings would have some cap relief to improve their team. Holl has been a disaster in Detroit, but the Penguins would be more enamored with the sweetener and could try to flip him at next year’s Trade Deadline if he plays well, not unlike they did with Glass this past season.
Sticking with the Eastern Conference, the Buffalo Sabres desperately need to make something happen this summer. The team hasn’t made the playoffs in almost 15 years and missed by a considerable margin again this year. The Sabres need some degree of success and have a strong trade chip in defenseman Bowen Byram. If Buffalo makes him available, there will be a ton of inquiries, as evidenced by Josh Yohe of The Athletic, who believes that the Penguins have interest in the 23-year-old, given their sizable hole on the left side of the defence core.
The Sabres don’t have a lot of strengths, but their left-side defence is loaded with Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power in tow. They could deal Bowen for a haul to address some of the other needs in their lineup and begin to try and break through in the Eastern Conference and get back into the playoff picture. Buffalo desperately needs help at center, and they also need to slot a top-four right-shooting defenseman into their lineup to allow Connor Clifton to drop to the bottom pairing. Byram would go a long way to accomplishing that and making the Sabres a better team overall.
Sticking with the theme of younger players, much has been written about forward Lukas Reichel of the Chicago Blackhawks and his struggles early in his professional career. Reichel could not seize the Blackhawks’ second-line center role last season and was eventually demoted to Rockford of the AHL. This past year, he managed to nail down a spot on the fourth line, but didn’t exactly turn heads.
Chicago once viewed Reichel as a key piece of their future and probably didn’t envision him playing 12 minutes a night on the fourth line some four years into his NHL career. However, not every player develops at the same pace, and Reichel still has plenty of upside. That being said, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported back in January that other clubs were calling Chicago about Reichel’s availability and mentioned that other teams might see something that hasn’t been clicking for the 22-year-old former first-round pick.
Many teams would be interested in a younger player with pedigree, such as Reichel, who has not yet figured things out professionally. Reichel has a lot of untapped potential and no doubt plenty of GMs around the league see a player with upside who just hasn’t found his way in the NHL.
Photo by Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Karlsson was going to be a bad trade no matter who picked him up, I still think it’s a bloody miracle Grier was able to shed that contract at all, let alone with barely any salary retained. Honestly one of the smartest trades in recent NHL history.
Grier was good at smelling the desperation in the air :)
After a 101-point season, it wasn’t difficult. The question was who would get him, what would be the return and retention.
The question was whether anyone would be stupid enough to bite at it, as well as whether anyone was stupid enough to give San Jose anything BACK for him.
In a piece here titled “Poll: Who Won The Erik Karlsson Trade?” (August 8, 2023 at 9:58 am CDT | by Brennan McClain) the results of the poll were as follows:
Pittsburgh Penguins 59.75% (1,642 votes)
Montreal Canadiens 27.98% (769 votes)
San Jose Sharks 12.26% (337 votes)
Yeah, and 12.26% of voters were correct. What’s your point? We vote in terrible governments thanks to uninformed voters all the time.
Yeah, I voted for San Jose. Getting Karlsson was POINTLESS for Pittsburgh: they weren’t going anywhere, they should have started the teardown in 2022, and what could Karlsson bring that Letang wasn’t already bringing?
Meanwhile, everyone in hockey was sure San Jose would have that anchor around their neck until the contract expired. Instead, they moved an untradeable deal for a 1st rounder AND Granlund AND only $1.5 MM retention? That’s the deal of the decade.
Just retake that poll now. You will get your answer
My point is that what’s obvious now wasn’t obvious at the time of the trade.
Talking with the benefit of the hindsight is easy. At the time, most people thought that Dubas won the trade.
Therefore saying “Karlsson was going to be a bad trade no matter who picked him up” is incorrect. Saying that it was obvious TO YOU may be correct. We just have to take your word for it.
Two sides of the coin.
What was considered unpopular is now popular. Regardless, it was the opinion of few at the time and they may or may not have received flak for having said opinion.
Receiving flak now for what was considered a popular opinion is just “correction” in my mind.
We took it a step further by insinuating the return was not only above par; it was a ridiculous haul for the asset.
No, you really don’t. Just scroll back far enough on the site with ‘Erik Karlsson’ or ‘Pittsburgh Penguins’ rumors, and the words of me and others are right damn there. You did for that poll, after all.
As for “most people,” I agree that a whole bunch of people were voting for Pittsburgh to win, every hour on the hour. (You’re not *seriously* claiming that the site has three thousand unique participants, are you?)
Now fair enough, I get it. You’re not enthusiastic about eating crow, and admitting that you were wrong. No one is. It’s much easier on the old ego to say “Well, we were right at the time, and lots of people agreed with us!”
I didn’t like the trade for the Penguins at the time. In fact, I agreed with every comment you personally made to that same poll article. We pretty much agree on everything!
Therefore you are missing the point. My initial post here said “After a 101-point season, it wasn’t difficult” (to trade Karlson).
You are picking a fight where there’s no point of contention!
There’s no fight here. Nobody is making personal attacks.
There just seems to be a lack of traction on the main point and so we seem to be repeating ourselves.
We don’t agree that he was en easy asset to move, and thus, never agreed on anything.
Sniping one statistic like total points without looking at contract, health or fit is ridiculous.
If you want to only look at total points than I can see why people felt Pittsburgh won the trade.
EK isn’t the player he once was in Ottawa. Ankle/leg injuries take their toll. A player that used that speed to put himself in a better spot defensively has seemingly become a liability. It doesn’t help that he’s been forced into lineups that don’t work. Unfortunately, this fall from grace doesn’t stem only from his injuries and I hope he can put it together somewhere else.
If Canucks are truly in the market for a 1B centre, Hronek might have to be moved. Teams smell desperation & you’re not going to get a sniff on Vilardi or Zegras with a mid-15th pick or Willander…
Buffalo should make Dahlin . Power and Byram available . Which everyone has the best offer move.
I’d agree with moving Power. Dahlins your dude.
The Sabres would be stupid to lose Dahlin. He is the only one who can be some sort of a leader on a team that desperately needs one.
3-way trade:
To Van: Byram, Seamus Casey, NJ 1st, Dawson Mercer
To Buff: Nemec, Van’s 2026 2nd,
To NJ: Quin Hughes
My only issue with this trade is that I’d imagine Vancouver demanding to get Nemec instead of Byram, so it feels like Buffalo is a bit of a throw-in third wheel for the sake of it being a 3 way trade.
Vancouver will trade with whomever gives them the best package, but I do understand the appeal of uniting the brothers from NJs side.
No, they would need a proven LD to replace some of Quin’s production. They have Mancini to be on the 3rd pair with Hronek and Myers ahead of him and Casey would be in Abbotsford or the Nucks 7th D.
Dylan Larkin