What’s Next For The Philadelphia Flyers?
On December 15th, exactly one month ago, the Philadelphia Flyers woke up on a ten-game winning streak and safely headed for the playoffs. All the talk around the league was how both Eastern Conference wildcard spots had already been locked up, the Metropolitan division having five teams that were guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.
Now, on January 15th as they lose 5-0 at the hands of the Washington Capitals, the story is very different. Since that 10th win in a row on December 14th, the Flyers have gone 3-8-3 and find themselves in real trouble of falling out of the wildcard spot. Carolina, Ottawa, Toronto and Florida are all within two points of the Flyers, with everyone having games in hand (the Leafs and Senators have 5 each).
As the Flyers head into their mandated bye-week – the team won’t play until next Saturday – they must find an answer to their recent problems. The question for this team isn’t up front, as they have scored 132 goals, good for 5th in the conference. It’s the back end that has so many question marks.
Their goaltending tandem of Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth that started so well have both taken huge steps backwards, highlighted by the four goals in five minutes allowed by Mason today against the Capitals before he was pulled from the net. Both netminders have a save percentage under .900, which is unacceptable in the NHL.
On defense, the team scratched last year’s rookie of the year candidate Shayne Gostisbehere yesterday for the second time this year, upset with his play in his own end. While that might be a development tactic, other blueliners like Andrew MacDonald and Michael Del Zotto haven’t played well enough for the team this year either.
The team has some excellent young players; Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny are both playing well as rookies, but disappear periodically (as rookies tend to do) and are still an unknown as the season stretches out.
If the front office believes this team could compete in the playoffs should they make a move or two, expect it to come on the back end and in net. With Mark Streit, Del Zotto and Nick Schultz all unrestricted free agents this summer, the team could also decide to sell off some expiring assets and give younger players more freedom.
In goal, acquiring a real NHL netminder is paramount, except it leaves the problem of Anthony Stolarz. The young netminder is almost ready to make an impact at the NHL level, and is exposed at the upcoming expansion draft. If the team were to acquire a goalie to help long term, they’d be at risk of losing him or Stolarz. This, by the way already may happen – the team currently must leave Stolarz exposed as he’s the only netminder under contract past this year.
It will be an interesting week for the Flyers front office, who need to start making decisions on this roster now. If they go another few games without turning this ship around, it might be too late. For now, they’ll crawl home and lick their wounds, hoping the unofficial second half brings more fruitful rewards.
Lineup Notes: Neal, Gostisbehere, Predators
News and notes from around the NHL this afternoon:
- The Nashville Predators have activated forward James Neal from the injured reserve, reports the Tennesean’s Adam Vingan. Neal has been out since January 3rd with an upper body injury. So far this season Neal has 14G and 6A in 33 games for Nashville, but went pointless in his last five games before his injury. Neal’s return is good news for the Predators as they continue to battle injuries elsewhere. P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, and Colin Wilson are all out right now as the Predators struggle to stay afloat in the NHL’s Central Division
- Philadelphia Flyers scratched defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere once again this season, as first reported by the Courier-Post’s Dave Isaac. This is the sophomore’s second healthy scratch this season, but it comes off of a decent performance against the Vancouver Canucks. Points-wise Gostisbehere performs fine—4G and 15A in 42 games—but his defensive play leaves coach Dave Hakstol wanting more.
- The Nashville Predators announced that they called up defenseman Petter Granberg and reassigned forward Pontus Aberg to the AHL Milwaukee Admirals. The move makes room for the returning James Neal, and also shores up Nashville’s bleeding blue line. Nashville plays the Colorado Avalanche tonight riding a two game winning streak.
- The San Jose Sharks have recalled Ryan Carpenter prior to their game tonight against the St. Louis Blues. Carpenter has 18 points in 28 AHL games this season. Kevin Kurz of CSN thinks that it’s a sign that Joonas Donskoi, who missed yesterday’s practice, will be out for tonight.
Waivers: Terry, Gordon
The Montreal Canadiens placed Chris Terry on waivers this morning. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Flyers’ forward Boyd Gordon clears waivers. Both were first reported by ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun. Gordon was subsequently assigned to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
The Flyers forward Boyd Gordon has struggled to make a mark in Philadelphia this year. He has only one goal in 13 games, and is on track for his second straight season without achieving double-digit points. Last season Boyd scored 2G and 2A in 65 games for the Arizona Coyotes. The move coincides with the Flyers officially activating defenseman Mark Streit from the long-term injured reserve list.
The Canadiens forward Chris Terry has fared better. In 14 games with the big club, Terry has tallied 2G and 2A, alongside 26 points in 20 AHL games. Terry is merely a victim of scarce roster sports as both Alex Galchenyuk and Andrew Shaw return to the Canadiens lineup tonight. Because of Terry’s excellent AHL numbers, expect to see him back in Montreal soon.
Flyers Waive Boyd Gordon
The Philadelphia Flyers have placed center Boyd Gordon on waivers, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link).
Gordon is in his first season in Philadelphia after signing a one year, $950K contract on the first day of free agency. However, he has struggled with the Flyers and has played in just 13 games this year due to an upper body injury that cost him 18 games while he also spent considerable time as a healthy scratch. This season, he has just a single goal while averaging only 8:11 of ice time per night.
The 33 year old is in his 13th NHL campaign, having spent time previously with the Capitals, Coyotes (twice), and Oilers. He has 161 career points under his belt (56-105-161).
While those offensive numbers don’t stand out, Gordon has carved out a niche for himself as a faceoff specialist. He has a career 56.9% success rate at the dot and there are typically teams who are comfortable with carrying a high end faceoff player on their fourth line.
The Flyers needed to clear up some cap space in order to activate defenseman Mark Streit off LTIR. GM Ron Hextall confirmed to CSN Philly’s Tim Panaccio (Twitter link) that Streit has been activated and that removing Gordon off the roster (either by a waiver claim tomorrow or being sent to the minors) is the only roster move required to get back into compliance on the salary cap.
Biggest One-For-One Trades Of The Past 10 Years
For the first time since his shocking trade last June, Taylor Hall is facing off in Edmonton on Thursday night.
The Oilers-Devils trade was one of two major one-for-one trades that took place that day, the other being P.K. Subban for Shea Weber just 17 minutes later. Despite the evidence of June 29, one-for-one trades are exceedingly rare in today’s NHL.
In honor of Hall’s return to Edmonton, let’s take a look at some of the more notable one-for-one swaps of the past decade:
February 26, 2008 – Andrew Ladd for Tuomo Ruutu — The Chicago Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes swapped former top-ten picks at the 2007-08 trade deadline. Nearly nine years later, the trade can be classified as a win for the Blackhawks: Ruutu did score 216 points in 378 games with the Hurricanes but the team only made the playoffs once in his tenure there. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks were just two years away from winning the first Stanley Cup of their modern dynasty; with a Stanley Cup already under his belt, Ladd played a key role in helping the young Hawks learn how to win. Ladd scored 99 points 184 games in Chicago before being sacrificed to the Salary Cap Gods after their 2010 championship.
July 3, 2011 – Dany Heatley for Martin Havlat — Heatley and Havlat were both superstars of the early 21st-century, but neither player was at that level in 2011 when the Sharks and Wild made this trade. The Sharks were looking to improve their roster with hopes of getting to the Stanley Cup Finals after yet another playoff disappointment, but Havlat appeared in just eight playoff games over three years in San Jose. He never played more than 48 games in a season, or scored more than 27 points. Heatley had 82 and 64 points in his two years in San Jose, but was unable to consistently score in Minnesota, finishing his three-year stint with a 28-point season, his last full season in the NHL. Heatley also caused salary cap troubles, as he was unable to be bought-out after his second season due to injury, costing the Wild their last chance to use a compliance buyout on the declining Heatley.
June 23, 2012 – James Van Riemsdyk for Luke Schenn — Maple Leafs fans hoping for their team to trade Van Riemsdyk for a top defenseman may want to look at the trade that brought the power winger to Toronto. Then-GM Brian Burke traded Schenn, a right-handed third-pairing defenseman just four seasons removed from being the fifth-overall selection. Both players were coming off down seasons, as Schenn struggled in a third-pairing role while Van Riemsdyk scored 24 points in 43 games after a 40-point sophomore season. The trade was a clear win for Toronto, as Van Riemsdyk has 211 points in 289 games as a first-line winger while Schenn scored 42 points in 213 games in Philadelphia as a below-average possession player. Schenn was traded last season and signed a cheap show-me deal with Arizona as a UFA. The trade is yet another example of the trade values of average defensemen and scoring wingers.
January 6, 2016 – Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen — The major trade was the first big one-for-one trade in nearly four years, and was a sign of things yet to come in 2016. While it’s too early to declare a definitive winner, as both teams look like they got what they needed with the swap, the early results put Columbus slightly ahead. Jones has 38 points in 75 games so far with the surprising Blue Jackets, who currently sit in first place in NHL standings. The Predators haven’t been as successful as they would have hoped, though Johansen has 63 points in 83 games in Music City. He’s growing into a legitimate first-line center on a contending team, which is what the Predators hoped for when they made the swap. Nashville GM David Poile was initially criticized for trading his young defenseman as Shea Weber showed signs of regression, but that was addressed by on of the below trades.
June 29, 2016 – Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson — The decision to trade Hall was not popular at the time, and is still the most talked-about trade in Edmonton since Chris Pronger asked for a trade in 2006. The Oilers have finally turned the corner and currently sit in third in the Pacific Division. Larsson is a big part of the much-improved defense core, but has just seven points in 43 games. Hall is leading the Devils in scoring with 25 points in 32 games, but the Devils’ offense has not been able to outscore their defensive issues. It must be frustratingly familiar for Hall, who was in a similar situation in Edmonton for six seasons. While the Oilers gave up value, it could be argued that the Devils miss Larsson’s defensive ability more than Edmonton misses Hall’s offence.
June 29, 2016 — Shea Weber for P.K. Subban — After a tough 2015-16, changes were expected in Montreal. But few expected Subban to be the one to go. Like the Hall-Larsson trade made 17 minutes earlier, the Canadian team was panned initially. However, Weber is on pace for a career-high in points while the Canadiens have rebounded to lead the Atlantic Division at the half-way point. Unfortunately for Subban, he’s been injured for much of the season and may require surgery. The Canadiens are the winners of this trade six months in, but considering the four years Weber has on Subban, the verdict will slowly change over the next few years. If either one of these teams win a Stanley Cup in the next few years, that would likely be the deciding factor in naming a winner.
Hextall: No Shakeup Trades On The Horizon
After going on a ten game winning streak earlier this year, the Flyers now find themselves mired in a similarly-sized slump, dropping nine of their last 11 games as they get set to host Vancouver tonight. That has had many wondering if GM Ron Hextall would be willing to make a trade to shake things up but he told Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post that it’s not something he plans to consider:
“I’m not gonna make a trade to send a message. I’m (only) going to make a trade to make us better. ”
“… We’re staying on course. I don’t care if we win every game for the rest of the year or lose every game. We’re staying on course. We set out a course two and a half years ago and we’re not deviating from what we planned.”
Historically, Hextall has done most of his trading in the offseason. Since taking over from Paul Holmgren in May of 2014, he has only made three in-season trades. Of those, only one was of particular significance, when he acquired Radko Gudas for a pending UFA in Braydon Coburn, who later re-signed in Tampa. The other two trades were to shed part of Vincent Lecavalier’s contract to the Kings last season and giving Kimmo Timonen one last shot at a Stanley Cup before he would have to retire due to blood clots, dealing him to Chicago back in 2015. In other words, history suggests he’s not about to make a core-changing reactionary move. That hasn’t stopped him from voicing his frustration with their recent play, however:
“It’s driving me nuts. I hope it is everybody else, too. In saying that, it’s a close league. Every night, you have to be on top of your game. You don’t play good, you don’t win. We’re not playing well enough right now. You can’t accept losing.”
With no trades on the horizon, head coach Dave Hakstol acknowledged that he will continue to tweak their lines in an effort to get some more players going. One of those moves is switching rookie Travis Konecny over to the right wing, a position he played for most of his junior career. He’s expected to play alongside Claude Giroux on the top line beginning tonight against the Canucks. The 19 year old got off to a quick start this year but has been much quieter of late, scoring just twice in his last 27 games.
Snapshots: Ovechkin, Malgin, Flyers
News and notes from around the NHL this evening:
- Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin chases two important milestones tonight: 29th most career NHL goals and 1000 career NHL points. Ovechkin entered the game tonight against the Montreal Canadiens with 543 goals and 996 points. One more goal ties him with Canadiens’ legend Maurice Richard for 29th most goals. As of writing, Ovechkin has one assist so far in his game tonight, leaving him 3 points short of 1000.
- Florida Panthers forward Denis Malgin left tonight’s game against the New Jersey Devils with an upper-body injury. Malgin sustained the injury when Devils forward Pavel Zacha hit him into the boards midway through the first period. Zacha received a 5-minute boarding major on the play. The NHL Department of Player Safety may review this play for further discipline. N.J. Record writer Andrew Gross reports that Malgin will not return to the game.
- Philadelphia Flyers prospect German Rubstov terminated his contract with the KHL’s Vityaz Podolsk to join the Chicoutimi Saugueneens of the QMJHL, reports RDS (source in French). As Tony Androckitis of Highland Park Hockey points out, Rubstov is eligible to play in AHL despite being under 20 because Rubstov played professionally in Europe before being drafted. It is the same exception to the CHL transfer rules that current Buffalo Sabres prospect Alexander Nylander uses to play for the AHL’s Rochester Americans at 18 years old. Rubstov played for Russia in the World Junior Championships this year but went pointless in five games.
Sunday Evening Snapshots: Panarin, Mason, Simmonds, Kane
Super sophomore Artemi Panarin recently inked a two-year extension that will tie him to the Blackhawks through his restricted free agent years. Upon the expiration of the pact, one that carries an AAV of $6MM, Panarin will be a UFA and at 28 should be positioned to land a lucrative long-term deal in free agency. The structure is ideal for Panarin, as it allows him to max out his earnings over the next two years while still allowing him to reach free agency while still young enough to command a max-term deal. As Chris Kuc and Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune write, the deal overcame a late and unexpected obstacle in order to reach the finish line.
Panarin decided to change representation from Tom Lynn to Dan Milstein just before the agreement was finalized but the former stayed on to help the new agent complete the negotiations. Lynn, a former assistant GM with the Wild, has a strong relationship with Chicago assistant GM Norm MacIver and that helped grease the wheels on the arrangement. Milstein credits Lynn for his professionalism in difficult circumstances.
“After Artemi told him about the change, (Lynn) offered to stay on to help in any way he could,” Milstein told the Tribune. “He had called me and offered to pass on any and all things he had worked on previously. He and I consulted closely … (and) the whole thing came together in 48 hours.
“(Lynn) was very instrumental and he’s a class act. Ninety-nine percent of people would have hung up the phone and never spoke to you again. I can’t say anything bad about Tom and I know Artemi can’t say anything (bad) either.”
Panarin, who doesn’t speak English well, made the move because of the language barrier.
“As somebody who doesn’t really speak English fluently, it was a little bit of a hassle to bring everything to a translator first, have meetings and have to go through a translation at some point,” Panarin said via an interpreter. “I felt more comfortable getting somebody who speaks Russian.”
Kuc and Hine report that a source conveyed that despite what Milstein said, the relationship he shared with Lynn “was not as amicable as Milstein portrayed.” Regardless, Chicago and Panarin were ultimately able to find common ground and work out a deal both sides were happy with.
Elsewhere around the NHL tonight:
- Sam Carchidi of Philly.com wonders whether the Flyers should re-sign goaltender Steve Mason to serve as a bridge to the team’s prospects at the position. According to Carchidi, the plan at the beginning of the campaign was to allow Mason and Michal Neuvirth, both pending free agents, to compete to see which one would earn an extension but injuries to Neuvirth have allowed Mason to take the lead in that competition by default. Ultimately the scribe feels Neuvirth is simply too injury-prone to be counted on as an undisputed #1 goalie. Carchidi believes a strong second half would nearly guarantee that the Flyers would look to re-up Mason. As it stands, should the team extend Mason, the team would have to expose young net minder Anthony Stolarz, who Carchidi feels has potential. The best bet, in the opinion of Carchidi, might be to deal Neuvirth and add another goaltender under contract for 2017-18 and whom they can leave exposed for the expansion draft.
- Sticking with the Flyers, the Department of Player Safety will not have a hearing with Wayne Simmonds for his hit that knocked Lightning forward J.T. Brown out of yesterday’s game, tweets Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. Smith adds that Brown has been placed on IR requiring him to sit out at least seven days as a result.
- With Buffalo hosting Winnipeg last night, John Vogl of The Buffalo News revisits the blockbuster trade the two clubs made nearly two years ago. On February 11, 2015, Buffalo acquired winger Evender Kane, defenseman Zach Bogosian, and young goaltender Jason Kasdorf in exchange for defenseman Tyler Myers, winger Drew Stafford, forward prospects Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux and a 1st round draft pick. While Kane has struggled to produce up to his talent level, he did hit the 20-goal plateau last season and is on an 82-game pace for 26 goals this season. Myers, meanwhile, has missed all but 11 games this season but did contribute 27 points in 73 contests last season. Stafford had a 21-goal campaign a year ago but has slumped to just three this season. Vogl considers it too early to declare a winner, though with the 20-year-old Lemieux and Jack Roslovic – the player chosen with that first round pick – still developing, the Jets have a good chance of ultimately coming out ahead in the swap.
Goalie Extensions And The Expansion Draft
In-season extensions in the NHL are not all that common. In-season extensions of pedestrian back-up goalies are even more rare. So the recent re-signings of Al Montoya by the Montreal Canadiens and Dustin Tokarski by the Anaheim Ducks likely stuck out to many as being strange, especially when they occurred within days of each other. While the Habs may talk about their desire for a “quality backup” to Carey Price and the Ducks say they need depth in net behind John Gibson with Jonathan Bernier headed to free agency, the teams and players know what the reality of these extensions are and fans should too. Montoya and Tokarski earned extensions not because of their play, but simply because of their mere existence as goalies on their respective teams. They won’t be the last either, as the impending NHL Expansion Draft will force a few other teams to make a move in net before it’s too late.
When the NHL laid out rules for this June’s Expansion Draft, they required that each team leave at least one eligible goalie exposed. For the majority of teams, this wasn’t a difficult criteria to meet. They could protect their starter as long as they had any other goalie with two years of pro experience and term on their contract. For a select few though, it remained a problem that needed to be solved in-season. Montreal and Anaheim were two such teams. Heading into 2016-17, the Candiens has a goalie stable of Price, Montoya, who they signed to a one-year deal this summer, and impending unrestricted free agent Mike Condon. Without any extension or acquisition, Montreal would have been forced to expose the best goalie in the world as their other two keepers held no further term on their contracts. After Condon failed to clear waivers earlier this season, it left the Habs with just two options: extend the veteran Montoya or trade for a third goaltender with term. Since many other teams are depending on their under-contract backups for expansion protection, it was a much easier task to extend Montoya, and given his early-season success, it became an even more obvious decision. While the journeyman goalie is happy to have a “permanent” home into his mid-30’s and the best deal of his career, the true intention of the Canadiens is to offer him up to the Vegas Golden Knights instead of their MVP, Price. Meanwhile in Anaheim, the league’s deepest goalie group also would not be able to protect their starter. The Ducks have five good-to-decent goalies signed, but the best of the bunch, Gibson, was the only one signed beyond 2017. The 23-year-old is coming off the best season of his young career and looking good again in 2016-17. There was no way that they could leave him exposed, but NHL backup Bernier was headed to unrestricted free agency, as were AHLers Tokarski and Matt Hackett and former college standout Kevin Boyle was ineligible for selection. With trading for yet another goalie not much of an option, Anaheim was left with three choices for extension. Bernier would be the most expensive to re-sign, and has also had a disappointing season, so it came down to a choice between San Diego Gulls’ keepers. Neither has impressed this season, but the Ducks chose to keep the more seasoned Tokarski around as depth. Tokarski stands almost no chance of being selected by Las Vegas, but will serve to protect Gibson and will stay employed in pro hockey a while longer.
Two more teams have similar decisions to make in 2017. As soon as the Expansion Draft rules came down, the Philadelphia Flyers knew that they were in somewhat of a pickle. Both Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth were impending free agents and only the then-unproven Anthony Stolarz was an eligible goalie to be exposed. The Flyers’ situation has become only more difficult as both Mason and Neuvirth have struggled this season, while Stolarz made his NHL debut and looked good in a short stint as Mason’s backup. A young, promising goalie would almost surely be picked up by the Knights, so Stolarz now needs to be protected. However, are Mason or Neuvirth worthy of an extension? Maybe not, but the Flyers may look to simply use one or the other to bridge the gap to their talented goalie prospects. Mason may even be good enough that he is looked at by Las Vegas, but only time will tell. Expect the Flyers to extend Mason, or possibly Neuvirth, or else make a trade prior to the NHL Trade Deadline. The Minnesota Wild are also in this predicament, but their situation seems more cut-and-dry. Devan Dubnyk is the only goaltender on the roster who is eligible for exposure, but he has been a revelations since arriving in Minnesota, transforming into one of the best goalies in the NHL. The Wild won’t leave him exposed, but have the option of simply handing out an affordable extension to backup Darcy Kuemper or AHL starter Alex Stalock. Kuemper has seen a bit of a drop-off in 2016-17, but has been solid during his career in Minnesota. It seems likely that the Wild reward him with an extension, even if it carries a risk of him being selected in the Expansion Draft.
Should either team instead opt to make a trade, either just for the purposes of expansion or for added depth in the postseason, there are a few teams who could be sellers. The Columbus Blue Jackets could look to move one of their talented young goalies rather than risk losing them for nothing in the draft, and could afford to do so with all three of Joonas Korpisalo, Anton Forsberg, and Oscar Dansk being eligible for selection. The New York Islanders have moved on from Jaroslav Halak and could move him without repercussions. Similar acquisitions on the more expensive side could be Dallas’ Antti Niemi or Kari Lehtonen. The St. Louis Blues may be looking to add another high-end goalie to share the net with Jake Allen, in which case Carter Hutton could also become available. However, trading will be more difficult and more expensive for Philadelphia and Minnesota, especially if they end up competing with each other or with teams in need of a goalie for non-expansion reasons. The simple solution to the problems posed by the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft are more easily solved by extension, as Montreal and Anaheim have shown, so expect to hear about Mason, Kuemper, Neuvirth, or Stalock in the not too distant future.
Lightning Notes: Brown, Yzerman, Trades
Jets star rookie Patrik Laine wasn’t the only player forced to depart his game after taking a big hit during the day’s early action. Checking winger J.T. Brown left Tampa Bay’s contest against Philadelphia in the third period after taking a shoulder/upper arm to the head courtesy of Wayne Simmonds. Simmonds wasn’t penalized on the play as the officials evidently deemed the hit to be inadvertent.
The two came together along the Tampa Bay blue line with Simmonds cutting in front of Brown, presumably making an effort to remain onside prior to going off the ice on a change as a Flyers teammate dumped the puck into the offensive zone. The Lightning winger, who has just four points in 36 games this season, didn’t see Simmonds coming and stayed on the ice for a couple of minutes after the hit.
Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times tweeted that Lightning head coach Jon Cooper didn’t offer anything specific as to Brown’s condition after the game, saying just that it “didn’t look good to me.” Cooper also declined to comment on the hit itself, instead deferring to the league.
The Department of Player Safety reviews all plays of this nature and it’s conceivable Simmonds could face discipline. Replays do seem to show the Flyers leading goal scorer leaning in towards Brown just prior to contact. However, it doesn’t appear Simmonds has ever been fined by the DoPS, much less suspended; a fact which will likely work in his favor.
In other Lightning related news:
- With the Lightning currently on the outside looking in at a playoff spot, it’s time for Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman to do something to shake up a roster that all too often appears uninspired, opines Smith in a post for the Tampa Bay Times. However, like every other team looking to address their shortcomings via trade, Yzerman has found it difficult to find a deal to his liking: “If there was something I could have done to this point that would make our team better, I would have done it,” Yzerman said. “We’ll keep trying.” Smith argues the Lightning desperately need a top-four defenseman though that also seems to be high on the list for several other clubs, consequently adding to the challenge of finding a good fit. In Yzerman’s experience, it’s been tougher than ever to make a trade as teams are cognizant of the upcoming expansion draft as well as careful of taking on contracts with term remaining given the expectation of the salary cap remaining flat next season. Yzerman also cites the presence of so few obvious sellers as another factor it’s been so quiet on the trade front.