With the Trade deadline officially three weeks away from today - Friday, March 3, 2023 at 3pm ET- I was wondering who goes next in the trade market and which team pulls the trigger.

I wanted also to take a look at how our UFAs fare in comparison to the names who are available on the market per different sources throughout the NHL Vs how much space contenders and teams fighting for the playoffs have

Cap space:

CAR 10m$

WPG: 9,9m$

COL 7,2m$

WSH 5m$

CGY, 4,4m$

LAK 4,723m$

FLA: 3,3m$

DAL 2,7m$

BOS; 2,37m$

NJ 2m$

EDM: 1,125m$

VGK: 1,1m$

TBL 719k$

PIT 450k$

TOR: Fuck the leafs and their 296k$

Are Canes really in on Meier, Kane or Reilly?

So I feel they will move for a forward , they even have to cap space to pick up Kane and Meier with 50 retained if they wanted to! Or a high impact forward along with a Defenseman.

Didn't expect to see WPG here, they need the space for PLD unless they go all in... they can make a splash by acquiring one of 3 PMDs available

COL has space but Landeskog and his 7m$ cap is expected to return shortly ( 12 weeks from Oct 20th).

Dallas could use a second line center but only have 2,7m$ available, what would a trade look like for them?

NJ has been reporterdly on on Forwards and Defenseman with 2m$ available they will have to give up somthing but they have a deep pool of prospects and 1st round pick to make a move.

UFAs and trade bait: If you break it down by position you have:

Centers

Jonathan Toews 10,5m$ or 5,25m$ 50% retained

Ryan O'Reilley 7,5m$ or 3,75m$ retained

Sean Monohan 6,375m$ or 3,187m$ retained

Dylan Larkin 6,1m$ or 3,05m$ retained

Not a lot of options for contenders...the pickings are slim after Horvat got traded.

Is Larkin available? we'll see if DET signs him

Towes is a big cap hit even at 50% only I guess it comes down to who is healthy as ROR and Monahan are injured. Monahan is one of the top 3 options for contenders IMO, hence a high likelihood he gets traded if healthy enough to do so.

Wingers

Patrick Kane RW 10,5m$ or 5,25m$ 50% retained

JVR LW/RW 7m$ or 3,5m$ retained

Meier RFA 6m$ or 3m$ retained

Lucic LW 6m$ or 3m$ retained

Okposo 6m$ or 3m$ retained

Drouin 5,5m$ or 2,75m$ retained

Tatar 5,4m$ or 2,7m$ retained

Dadonov 5m$ or 2,5m retained

Apparently NYR chose Taransenko over Kane because of cap hit, hip issues uncertainty and not wanting to wait on him... which set the ball in motion for the next trades.

So Meier is the best option and with 51pts in 52 games, 6m$ or 3m$ retained. A PPG high impact winger who can help right away, even if you don't sign him long term, i think he will go next.

I put our beloved Ufa's here to show that there is an option to move them, but looking at pts

Kane, JVR, Meier, Okposo and Tatar get more bang for the buck and Lucic brings the toughness ( along with slowness) element. If the market heats up we might have a chance, but I think these players will go ahead of them ( this is the part where Hugo proves me wrong and does his magic).

Defencemen

Chrychrun LD 3 years at 4,6m$

Klingberg RD 7m$ or 3,5m$ retained

Dumba RD 6m$ or 3m$ retained

Erik Johnson RD 6m$ or 3m$ retained

Gostisbehere LD 4,5m$ or 2,75m$ retained

Shattenkirk LD RD 3,9m$ or 1,95m$ retained

Edmundson LD 2 years at 3,5m$ or 1,75m$ retained

So not a lot of options , if you are looking for a PMD.. then you have Chrychrun ,Klingberg or Gost

For toughness you have Dumba or Eddy really but Eddy brings a lot more leadership ( and an awesome playlist apparently) and has a cup ring and finals run recently at 1,75m$ retained I think he is the best bang for the buck . A lot of teams need this kind of D as a second pairing, EDM and LAK come to mind or even the leafs (sorry just pucked for a second) .

At the end of the day as long as Monahan and Eddy are healthy ( they did practice yesterday)

we should get a good return. Realistically Monahan is the third best center available after Towes and ROR, injuries will dictate if that changes.

If the market does heat up as the indications show, we might have a shot at getting rid of the rest of our UFA's for at least something ( insert random pick here).

Who do you think goes next?