Pro Hockey Rumors

Since the trade deadline has passed and the focus across the NHL has shifted to teams preparing to make a playoff push, the rumor mill surrounding the NHL trade market began to die down.

A few trades have still occurred since the deadline, but they have been of the min0r-league variety since trades of NHL consequence are not allowed until after the playoffs. As many teams outside the playoff picture begin preparations for their offseasons, though, the trade market rumor mill has similarly seen some new activity.

TSN’s Pierre LeBrun offered some new developments on today’s Insider Trading program, developments specifically regarding the priorities of three teams in possession of multiple 2023 first-round picks: the Columbus Blue Jackets, St. Louis Blues, and Montreal Canadiens.

LeBrun references an interview he conducted with The Athletic for a piece running later this week wherein Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said he was “100 percent” open to trading away the first-round pick he acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in the trade that sent Vladislav Gavrikov and Joonas Korpisalo to California.

Since the Kings are headed to the playoffs and appear to be a legitimate contender in the Western Conference, there is a relatively strong likelihood that their spare first-round pick is relatively late. But since the quality and depth of talent available in this year’s draft class has drawn praise from many evaluators in the media, it’s possible that a late first-rounder in this year’s class holds more value on the trade market than a similar pick might hold in another year.

LeBrun adds that the Blue Jackets are looking for a plug-and-play top-four defenseman in exchange for the pick, someone who can step in and fill the void left by Gavrikov’s departure. This report reveals something larger about the Blue Jackets’ approach to their offseason:  their priorities are not rebuild-focused, the way the priorities of a team two points away from last place might typically be.

It seems that after signing top free agent Johnny Gaudreau last summer and with the emergence of key rookies such as Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko, Kekalainen is aiming to pull off a quick turnaround for his franchise. And based on LeBrun’s report, finding the right trade partner to cash in his extra first-round pick might be Kekalainen’s preferred way of jump-starting that quick revival.

Another team reported to be listening to trade offers for spare first-round picks is the St. Louis Blues, who own the New York Rangers* and Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2023 first-rounders from the Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly trades, respectively. Since the Blues have over $16MM in contract extensions kicking in this summer for core players and key veterans such as Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk, Brayden Schenn, and Torey Krug (among others) still under contract for a few more years, a full rebuild may not be on the table for GM Doug Armstrong.

So since a prospect drafted late in the first round may not make an impact for the Blues until the second half of the 2020s, it’s definitely reasonable for the Blues’ front office to prioritize dealing those late first-rounders for up-and-coming players who are closer to NHL-ready.

The final team LeBrun referenced in his report is the Montreal Canadiens, who own the Florida Panthers’ unprotected first-round pick thanks to last year’s Ben Chiarot trade. LeBrun believes that the Canadiens “would listen” to offers to move the Panthers’ pick if offered the type of “hockey trade” like the one they completed at the 2022 draft, when they acquired Kirby Dach from the Chicago Blackhawks for the 13th and 66th overall picks. (Which they had acquired from the New York Islanders in exchange for young defenseman Alexander Romanov, serving as another example of a club dealing a mid-to-late first-rounder for young established NHL-ready talent)

The Dach acquisition worked out quite well for the Canadiens, with the 2019 third-overall pick revamping his game under coach Martin St. Louis and scoring a career-high 38 points in 58 games.

It’s understandable, then, that Montreal’s front office might be attracted to the idea of using their extra first-rounder to acquire another player they feel can break out as Dach has.

The one complication to that possibility could be the fact that the Panthers still need to clinch a playoff spot, and with the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of them in the standings, it’s still possible that the Panthers’ pick ends up in the lottery.

While the new NHL rules prevent the Panthers’ draft pick from jumping more than ten slots in the draft order, (meaning if the Panthers pick begins, say, 14th place in the lottery drawing the pick cannot jump to first overall and be used to select Connor Bedard) it’s likely that a lottery win vaulting the pick into the top-10 would significantly complicate another team’s ability to pry away the pick in a “hockey trade.”

With three teams currently reported to be considering trading their spare 2023 first-rounders, NHL fans could see more movement at the back half of this year’s first-round than most drafts typically feature. Although that’s no guarantee that any of these rumors lead to an actual finalized trade, it is an indication of some of the excitement in store for when the season comes to an end.

*Note: the 2023 first-rounder the Blues acquired from New York in the Tarasenko deal is actually conditional, meaning the Blues could technically receive the Dallas Stars’ first-rounder (owned by the Rangers due to the Nils Lundkvist trade) if the Stars’ first-rounder ends up later in the draft order than the Rangers’ pick.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images