NHL trade deadline: Metropolitan Division buyers and sellers
Eye On Hockey gets you ready for the NHL trade deadline with a division-by-division primer. Who is buying, who is selling, and who is staying the same. Today we look at the Eastern Conference's Metropolitan Division.
By
Adam Gretz
•
12 min read
Eye On Hockey gets you ready for the NHL trade deadline with a division-by-division primer. Who is buying, who is selling, and who is staying the same. Today we look at the Eastern Conference's Metropolitan Division.
The Metropolitan Division is going to have four playoff teams this season, and all of them are in contention for the top spot in the division: The New York Islanders and Rangers, the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
What order those four teams finish in remains to be seen, and whichever teams do not claim the top spot (right now the Islanders are in the driver's seat) are going to have to play a miserable first-round matchup against a really, really good hockey team. Just imagine a team like Pittburgh having to play the Rangers in Round 1. Heck, imagine anybody having to play the Rangers in Round 1. Or an improved Capitals team that has an improved defense, Braden Holtby playing great hockey in net, and Alex Ovechkin scoring a goal pretty much every game.
All of these teams have strengths that can carry them a long way. And like most every team in the league, they all have flaws that they need to address that can hold them back.
What can they do to address them? We examine all of that and more in our look at the Metropolitan Division buyers and sellers.
Are they going to the playoffs? The only prize the Hurricanes have a chance to win this season is the NHL Draft lottery. The playoffs have been out of the question for some time now as a season that started with significant injuries has never really been on the right track.
Buy, sell or stay the same: Sell.
The most attractive rental option the Hurricanes have to offer up around the league is defenseman Andrej Sekera, and he will be a player that is in demand, especially as other defenseman come off the market (whether by trade, like Cody Franson going from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Nashville Predators, or in the case of Ottawa's Marc Methot, a contract extension with his own team).
Jiri Tlusty, Jay McClement and Patrick Dwyer are the other key players currently in a contract year who could be moved out, which is probably the extent of what the Hurricanes do as it's unlikely they move one of their bigger players at this time (like either of the Staal brothers, Jordan or Eric, or Jeff Skinner).
Though, that is always possible in the offseason.
Are they going to the playoffs? After a promising 2013-14 campaign that saw the team make the playoffs for the second time in franchise history (and win its first ever playoff game) Columbus took a bit of a step back this season. A never-ending run of significant injuries helped put the Jackets in an early hole they could never climb out of.
Buy, sell, stay the same: Sell, but not too much.
There is still a lot to like about this team long-term, so a total rebuild is not really necessary and they do not need to tear everything down. This team was just never able to consistently put an NHL team on the ice due to injuries, especially over the first month or two of the season, and it was simply never able to get off the ground. With Ryan Johansen, Ryan Murray, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov and Sergei Bobrovsky there is a pretty solid core in place and there is simply no need to break that up.
Instead, smaller pieces should be on the move.
Veteran forward Mark Letestu figures to be an attractive option as a depth player for a contending team, while Cam Atkinson's name has recently found its way into trade speculation.
Atkinson, a restricted free agent after this season, has 13 goals in 51 games but is still probably the type of player the Blue Jackets might want to hold on to. He's not a superstar, but he'll score 20 goals and do a little bit of everything on the ice.
Are they going to the playoffs? It seemed that with just a little bit of luck in the shootout and the improvement that Cory Schneider would offer in net over Martin Brodeur that the playoffs were a very reachable goal for the Devils this season. But an aging forward group that is incapable of scoring led to a pretty significant regression across the board, costing coach Peter DeBoer his job midway through the season. They still have not returned to the playoffs since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2011-12.
Buy, sell or stay the same: Sell.
Assuming, of course, there is anything here anybody wants to buy.
There really shouldn't be an untouchable player anywhere on this roster, outside of maybe Schneider. The forward group needs the most work as they are not only one of the worst offensive teams in the NHL, but they also have several players on the wrong side of 30 on some less-than-ideal contracts.
The problem, of course, is there anything anybody here wants?
The rental options, for the most part, just aren't that attractive, and nobody is going to touch one of the guys signed long-term unless New Jersey eats a portion of the contract.
Obviously Jaromir Jagr is the biggest name here and he seems ready to move on. And for the benefit of hockey fans everywhere that want to see one of the NHL's greatest players play in at least one more playoff run, that simply has to happen.
Are they going to the playoffs? General manager Garth Snow had one of the best offseasons of any executive around the NHL, landing Jaroslav Halak, Nick Leddy, Johnny Boychuk, Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolay Kulemin to help get the Islanders back into the postseason. They now have a real shot to win the Metropolitan Division.
Buy, sell or stay the same: Buy.
As exciting as this team is, and as dangerous as it is offensively, there should be some concern as to how far this team can go in the playoffs as currently constructed, especially when you see them ranked 22th in the NHL in goals against, 29th on the penalty kill (ahead of only the Buffalo Sabres -- 74.2 percent to 73.8 percent), and having an alarming number of blown leads throughout the season. Those are areas in which Stanley Cup teams always excel, and it's a problem for the Islanders that they not only do not, but are near the bottom of the league.
Halak is set in net as the starter, and he has had success in the playoffs before, but if anything should happen to him injury wise Chad Johnson does not seem to be the solution based on the way he has played this season (to put it mildly, he has been terrible). Is it enough of a concern to give up an asset to improve the backup goalie position for maybe five starts in the regular season and to serve as an insurance policy in the playoffs?
Either way, the focus needs to be on goal prevention.
Some depth on the back end of the defense could also be useful, as could anybody at any position that can help kill penalties (Toronto's Daniel Winnik comes to mind).
Are they going to the playoffs? Their overall record may not tell the whole story, but this team has the look of a true Stanley Cup threat, especially when Henrik Lundqvist, arguably the best goalie in the NHL, returns to the lineup. The Rangers have scoring depth, including an NHL MVP candidate in Rick Nash, a solid defense, great goaltending and as of Thursday are 23-6-1 in their past 30 games. This is exactly what they did last season -- so-so start followed by several months of nearly unbeatable play that carried them to the Stanley Cup Final.
Buy, sell or stay the same: Buy, but don't go crazy.
This team does not need a lot as they are pretty solid in every area, but if there is one weakness on this team it might be a need for an upgrade on their fourth line, especially where Tanner Glass is concerned.
Look at it this way: With Glass' line on the ice during five-on-five play the Rangers have been outscored 19-3. When his line is not on the ice, the Rangers are outscoring their opponents 126-79, which is as dominant as any team in the NHL can possibly be right now. That pretty much makes this a three-line team. Any sort of upgrade to the fourth line could make this a terrifying team in the East.
Are they going to the playoffs? A recent nine-game point streak, including six wins, seemed to get them closer to the pack in the Eastern Conference, but it was nothing more than dressing up a pig of a season. Too little, too late.
Buy, sell or stay the same: Sell.
The Flyers are always a fascinating team because you never have any idea as to what they are going to do.
But the question is, what are you going to sell if you are the Flyers?
There really are not any rental options here as most of the roster is signed beyond this season, and there is no way core players like Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek or Wayne Simmonds are going anywhere (nor should they). Veterans like R.J. Umberger and Vincent Lecavalier have the bad combination of being on the decline and signed for multiple years at more than $4.5 million per season.
On defense, they seem more interested in keeping the subpar players that have helped put them into their current position as they keep re-signing guys like Andrew MacDonald and Nick Schultz.
Perhaps the most interesting name on this roster is Kimmo Timonen. He hasn't played a game after a blood clot issue that was discovered just before the start of the season, but he has worked his way back to practice and could be on the verge of making his season debut. Assuming he gets back on the ice with no issues and shows he can play it's not out of the question that somebody around the league could make a play for him.
Are they going to the playoffs? It's just a matter of where they finish. On top of the Metropolitan? As part of the No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup? Or even as a wild card? This is a team that still has high-level talent in some areas, but also still has the same flaw that has held them back in recent years -- depth.
Buy, sell or stay the same: Buy.
Part of me wants to say stay the same, because with limited cap space and not a ton of assets to offer in return (no first-round pick, no third-round pick, a very thin farm system) it is going to be awfully difficult to do much without some creativity. But another part of me says that as long as you have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin you must always be trying to win the Stanley Cup. This team has some flaws and is not going to win in the playoffs as currently constructed.
Whatever you want to say about the production and play of Crosby and Malkin this season, their lines are still the ones doing all of the scoring, and when they are not scoring ... who else is going to do it? The answer right now is the same one it was a year ago: Nobody.
David Perron, an in-season acquisition from Edmonton, has been great on the top line with Crosby, but they still need some additional forward help.
Pascal Dupuis is out with a blood clot issue, while veteran forward Chris Kunitz is starting to show his age a little this season and Patric Hornqvist hasn't really experienced the sizable boost in his production that was expected when he came over from the Predators during the offseason. Brandon Sutter has really struggled in his third-line center role for two years now, the fourth line consistently gets outplayed, and the power play, with all of its talent, can't score.
And then you get to the defense, where they might actually have their biggest overall need when it comes to another top-four defenseman. They have a great top pairing with Kris Letang and Paul Martin, and when Christian Ehrhoff returns from injury they will be halfway to a really solid second pairing. The problem is with Olli Maatta out for the season they have a pretty big hole in their top four. Robert Bortuzzo, Simon Despres or Rob Scuderi are not the answer. Do you trust rookie Derrick Pouliot? Or do you try to get into the bidding for a Jeff Petry or Andrej Sekera?
Are they going to the playoffs? As mentioned above, this is a really solid team. Barry Trotz, in his first year in DC, has the Capitals playing strong hockey in their own zone, they have one of the best duos in the league on their top line with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, a great third line for some nice depth, and Braden Holtby playing some of the best hockey of his career in net.
Buy, sell or stay the same: Buy.
Let's start with this.
The one thing the Capitals should not do is trade defenseman Mike Green, something that has been kicked around given his contract situation. You are a top team in the Eastern Conference -- a very winnable conference, by the way -- and Green is a fantastic player. If your goal is to win the Stanley Cup, you do not trade a player like that, contract be damned.
If he walks in free agency, you get $5 million in cap space back in return and gave yourself your best chance to win, which is what you owe to yourself when you've put together a strong team and have the best goal-scorer of his generation having another great season. You add to that team. You do not subtract from it.
So what do the Capitals add?
One name that is intriguing here, for multiple reasons, is Jaromir Jagr.
Jagr, of course, already spent some time in Washington earlier in his career and to say that it was a disappointment would be a bit of an understatement (other than his current season in New Jersey, they were probably his worst years in the NHL -- still great, but not at his normal level of production). But that was more than a decade ago. Jagr is a different player today. The Capitals are a different team with different coaches and different players. And could you imagine him on the same power play unit with Ovechkin and Backstrom? Could you imagine the Capitals, with Jaromir Jagr, playing a playoff series against Pittsburgh and the madness that would surely be involved in that?
If you are a fan of moves that cause the most chaos, that is the one you should be pulling for.
