Will any team make an early season trade?
As the NHL season wades into its second month, most teams are still trying to figure out just how good they are. Sure, there are a couple teams that have made it pretty clear already. The Colorado Avalanche? Yeah, they’re good. The Calgary Flames? Maybe try typing “Gavin McKenna highlights” into YouTube. But the majority of the league is clumped together in the middle, still on their paths of self-discovery.
This type of parity begs the question; will we see any early-season trades? Without yet a robust market of established buyers and sellers, it’s hard to say for sure. Teams who think they’ll be sellers should be motivated to sell as soon as possible, as players traded earlier in the season theoretically net a larger return. And there’s always the chance of an old-school “hockey trade”, in which two teams looking to change the composition of their rosters agree to swap parts.
On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed which teams, if any, are the likeliest candidates to make an early-season deal.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Is there a team in the league who you are looking at to make an early-season trade? If you’re someone who loves trades and transactions, here’s why I’ll throw cold water on that. There are some teams, Anaheim has a ton of cap space, Pittsburgh could do something if they wanted to bolster that forward group and continue this hot start to the year. Two problems. One, everyone in the East is so close. It takes two to tango. If you’re a team that’s looking to add something, you need to find a team that’s looking to sell something. Outside of, I guess Calgary, I don’t think there’s anyone out there.
Carter Hutton: Yeah, I guess Calgary would be the team that’s maybe looking to be a seller. It’s just so early. You look at the standings in the East and you have the Florida Panthers at 6-6-1 and in last place with Washington, and you’re two wins away from being in the playoffs. It is a weird dynamic. Teams for me to watch are going to be Buffalo. What are they going to do in the next little bit, as we look at (Alex) Tuch and some players that are expiring there. Are those players that move on? I feel like it’s a little bit early, but I think this next month will really tell you. American Thanksgiving, we’ll see what you’ve got at that point.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…