Buyers And Sellers Guide For The NHL Trade Deadline – Metropolitan Division – Pt II

The trade that sent winger Tyler Toffoli from Montreal to Calgary last week is the first of what is expected to be many deals in the NHL leading up to the March 21st trade deadline. The race for playoff spots in the Eastern Conference is virtually non-existent with half of the regular season remaining, while only three clubs are realistically out of the race in the West.

The market leading up to the deadline will mostly be made up of rentals; players with expiring contracts that teams not battling for the postseason will want to get something in return for before they become free agents this summer. With most of the contenders right up against the $81.5 million salary cap, teams with available cap space and the ability to retain salary will also be in a position to acquire assets for the future.

Here is a look at teams from the Metropolitan Division and how they are situated leading up to the deadline:

Around FPC

NHL: NHL Rumors: Florida Panthers, Chicago Blackhawks, Arizona Coyotes

NHL: Buyers and Sellers Guide For The NHL Trade Deadline – Atlantic Division – Pt I

NHL:  NHL Hard Salary Cap Has Forced Teams To Exploit LTIR

NFL: NFL Community Pays Tribute To Tom Brady Following Retirement Announcement

Wrestling: NXT Black and Gold Shine In Loss To NXT 2.0 in War Games Match

PODCAST: Full Press NHL Podcast Ep 20: Jack Eichel is Back, The Montreal Canadiens Free Fall, and USA vs Canada

New York Rangers

Buyer/Seller – Buyer

Cap Space – $6,700,262

Need – Center, Defenseman

Assets to trade

F Vitali Kravtsov
D Nils Lundkvist
D Zachary Jones
D Braden Schneider
2022 draft choices round 1, 2(2), 4(2), 5 & 6
2023 draft choices round 1 – 7

The Rangers are one of the few contenders that have the assets to acquire players at the deadline and enough cap space to accommodate those additions. GM Chris Drury may be leaning towards rentals over players with term remaining, since the extensions of Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad kick in next season, San Jose’s Tomas Hertl is reportedly a Rangers target, as well as Habs blueliner Ben Chiarot.

Philadelphia Flyers

Buyer/Seller – Seller

Cap Space – $4.84 million

Salary retention slots – 3

Rentals available

G Martin Jones
D Rasmus Ristolainen
D Justin Braun
F Claude Giroux

Players Available
F Scott Laughton

Giroux could be the most sought-after rental forward on the market, but Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher will likely have to retain 50% of his over $8 million cap hit to get a better return. Philadelphia’s hierarchy has hinted that they are not interested in a rebuild, but if they cannot get the pending free agent re-signed before March 21, they will move him along with rentals Jones and Braun.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Buyer/Seller – Buyer

Cap Space – $4 million

Need – Defenseman

Assets to trade
F Samuel Poulin
F Filip Hallander
D Pierre-Olivier Joseph
2022 draft choices round 1, 2, 4 – 7
2023 draft choices round 1 – 3, 5 – 7

The clock is ticking on the Penguins with their championship core group of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang. GM Ron Hextall was brought in to replenish an organization nearly bereft of prospects (who have selected in the first round once since 2015). Pittsburgh will be limited to depth adds based on what little cap space they have, but also because they cannot continue to deal future assets,

Washington Capitals

Buyer/Seller – Buyer

Cap Space – $2.75 million

Need – Goaltender

Assets to trade
F Hendrix Lapierre
F Brett Leason
D Alexander Alexeyev
2022 draft choices round 1 – 7
2023 draft choices round 1 – 7

The Capitals Achilles heel is between the pipes. Even though Vitek Vanecek will be back from injury before the deadline, neither he nor tandem partner Ilya Samsonov has played well enough to prevent GM Brian MacLellan from checking out the goalie market in the next month for potential upgrades. Rental options like Marc-Andre Fleury and Braden Holtby could be on their radar.