Only two more days till what I'm sure will soon will be declared a National holiday in Canada: trade deadline day. Probably a good time to suss out the sellers, buyers and what's on the market.
Matt has the Standings up over at Battle of Alberta, which is a good place to start. While the final play-off spot is very much still in contention in the West, I think we can safely write-off NSH, STL, PHX and COL, all of whom would need the combination of a ungodly good run and a fall from grace by those above in order squeek in. So, they'll be sellers.
It's a little more clear cut in the East: anyone below PIT currently is looking towards next year. That list includes TOR, OTT, TBL, ATL and NYI.
Altogether, that's 9 obvious "sellers". Here's a list of their relevant trade pieces:
ATL
- Marty Reasoner, C (1M, UFA) - *bet you he goes to CBJ*
- Niclas Havelid, D (2.9M, UFA)
- Kari Lehtonen, G (3.0M, RFA)
COL
- Tyler Arnason *wretch*, C (1.675M, UFA)
- Ian Laperriere, C (1.15M, UFA)
- Jordan Leopold, D (1.5M, UFA)
- Andrew Raycroft *snicker*, G (800k, UFA)
NSH
- Steve Sullivan, RW (3.2M, UFA)
- Radek Bonk, C (1.475M, UFA)
- Greg DeVries, D (2.5M, UFA)
- Greg Zanon, D (725k, UFA)
- Ville Koistinen, D (700k, UFA)
NYI
- Bill Guerin, RW (4.5M, UFA)
- Doug Weight, C (4.3M, UFA)
- Mike Sillinger, C (2.2M, UFA)
- Andy Hilbert, C (675k, UFA)
OTT
- Mike Comrie, C (1.118M, UFA) *I'd laugh my ass off if they traded him*
- Chris Neil, RW (1.1M, UFA)
- Filip Kuba, D (3.0M, UFA)
PHX
- Steve Reinprecht, C (2.0M, UFA)
- Derek Morris, D (3.917, UFA)
- Olli Jokinen, C (5.25M, signed till 9/10)
- Ken Klee, D, (561k, UFA)
STL
- Keith Tkachuk, C/W (4.0M, UFA)
- Manny Legace, G (1.399M, UFA)
TBL
- Gary Roberts, LW (2.07M, UFA)
- Mark Recchi, RW (1.5M, UFA)
- Matt Pettinger, LW (468k, UFA)
- Marek Malik, D (1.156M, UFA)
- Cory Murphy, D (186k, UFA)
TOR
- Nik Antropov, C (2.05M, UFA)
- Dominic Moore, C (900k, UFA)
- Brad May, LW (310k, UFA)
- Curtis Joseph, G (700k, UFA)
34 players altogether, most of whom I figure will be in play on March 4. From a Flames perspective, I would guess Guerin, Leopold, Roberts, Recchi, Reinprecht, Sullivan and Zanon would all potentially be of interest. I included Jokinen here even though he's signed for one more season due to persistent rumors that he might be available at the deadline.
What this doesn't include, of course, is potential rentals or salary dumps from teams currently in the running. I'll add those in no particular order here:
- Scott Niedermayer, D
- Jay Bouwmeester, D
- Brendan Morrison, C
- Todd Marchant, C
- Steve Montador, D
- Patrice Bergeron, C
- Manny Fernandez, G
- Maxim Afinogenov, RW
- Tim Connolly, C
- Ales Kotalik, RW
- Teppo Numminen, D
- Todd Bertuzzi, RW (wishful thinking on my part)
- Cory Sarich, D
- Nikolai Khabibulin, G
- Christian Backman, D
- Darryl Sydor, D
- Mikael Samuelsson, RW
- Ty Conklin, G
- Erik Cole, LW
- Dwayne Roloson, G
- Karlis Skrastins, D
- Richard Zednik, D
- Craig Anderson, G
- Kyle Calder, LW
- Tom Preissing, D (on waivers today)
- Marian Gabork, RW
- Martin Skoula, D
- MA Bergeron, D
- Niklas Backstrom, G
- Alex Tanguay, LW
- Saku Koivu, C
- Alex Kovalev, RW
- Brian Gionta, RW
- John Madden, C
- Bobby Holik, C
- Scott Gomez, C
- Chris Drury, C
- Wade Redden, D
- Paul Mara, D
- Dmitri Kalinin, D
- Daniel Brier, C
- Mike Knuble, RW
- Martin Biron, G
- Miro Satan, RW
- Peter Sykora, RW
- Ruslan Fedotenko, LW
- Hal Gill, D
- Mike Grier, RW
- Matthias Ohlund, D
- Taylor Pyatt, LW
- Kyle Wellwood, C
- Michael Nylander, C
That's an additional 51 players, and the list isn't exhaustive. I left off guys like Mike Cammalleri who, despite being a pending UFA, are likely to be kept by their clubs for the stretch drive and play-off run. Obviously a lot of these guys won't actually be in play either and a lot of them will be pricier than just a mere pick or prospect.
All in all I think this pretty much comprises the GM's shopping list heading into the deadline. Anyone there catch your fancy? What would you be willing to move for him?
