With the news that Don Waddell informed Ilya Kovalchuk that he will be traded, it’s set off speculation all over the NHL internet. It’s like the trade deadline has come a month early for NHL fans.
Per Bob McKenzie of TSN, the potential bidders for the Russian sniper’s services are: the Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings. At some point, just about every one of these teams has been both “the front-runner” of the Kovalchuk sweepstakes—and also deemed “out of the running.” Apparently with fresh blood in the water, everyone has a shot again.
Most Wanted
Of course, each one of these teams is in a different situation. Some have cap room and others are already up against the cap. Some have more depth at the NHL level that they could part with and others have better depth in their prospect ranks. Then again, there are some teams that are looking to move contracts of their own!
With this in mind—and NOT trying to create rumors, these are the players that will be MOST desirable from each of the teams involved. I’m not saying they’re available. I’m not saying that Don Waddell has inquired about their availability. I’m just offering this up as a little education for the fans out there that aren’t as familiar with all 30 teams around the league.
Aside from the best prospects from each team, a few names that are currently at the NHL level are also mentioned. Some of the players are going to be restricted free agents at the end of the season, some are extremely young with high upside and some are players that have contracts that would have to be moved to take on Kovalchuk’s salary. Again, these are just names to think about when looking at a potential trade.
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Boston Bruins: Rumored to be one of the front runners for Kovalchuk, Ryder would almost certainly part of the package.
NHLers: Tuukka Rask (G), Blake Wheeler (RW), Mark Stuart (D), David Krejci (C), Michael Ryder (RW)
Prospects: Yuri Alexandrov (D), Jordan Caron (C), Joe Colborne (C), Zach Hamill (C), Brad Marchand (RW)
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New Jersey Devils: The Devils have a very interesting mix of both young players and young, blue chip prospects. Unfortunately, if the Thrashers decide that they want bona fide NHL players right now, then they’d be getting into Zajac/Zubrus territory (both have long term contracts with the Devils). I wonder what the chances of Patrice Cormier interest would be.
NHLers: Nicklas Bergfors (RW), David Clarkson (RW), Travis Zajac (C), Vladimir Zharkov (RW), Dainius Zubrus (RW)
Prospects: Matt Corrente (D), Tyler Eckford (D), Jacob Josefson (C), Mattias Tedenby (LW),
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New York Rangers: Who would have guessed this 2 years ago, but the Rangers actually have a lot to offer in terms of young talent. If the Thrashers wanted to go with young NHL talent, the Rangers would be a trade partner. If they wanted to go with prospects, the Rangers would still be a potential trade partner. But if they went with NHLers, some serious contract numbers would have to head to Atlanta as well.
NHLers: Artem Anisimov (C), Michael Del Zotto (D), Matt Gilroy (D), Vinny Prospal (C), Ryan Callahan (RW), Brandon Dubinsky (C)
Prospects: Ryan Bourque (C), Evgeny Grachev (C), Chris Kreider (LW), Ryan McDonagh (D), Bobby Sanguinetti (D), Derek Stepan (C)
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Calgary Flames: Any trade with the Flames would predominately revolve around NHL talent. Part of the reason is because they have about 100 wingers on their current roster (and they’d be adding another) and part of the reason is that the Flames don’t have a ton of top end talent in the pipeline. By the way, trading Keith Aulie was letting ANOTHER one of their best prospects walk out the door. Honestly, with Jarome Iginla and Robyn Regehr having no-trade clauses, I don’t know how this would work unless they traded some of the players that just got to Alberta.
NHLers: Daymond Langkow (C), Niklas Hagman (LW), Ales Kotalik (RW), Eric Nystrom (LW), Rene Bourque (LW), Christopher Higgins (LW), Matt Stajan (C)
Prospects: Mikael Backlund (C), Tim Erixon (D), Greg Nemisz (RW)
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Philadelphia Flyers: Like the Flames, any trade will likely revolve around NHLers rather than prospects. This is partly because the Flyers’ prospect depth isn’t as good as some of the other contenders; partly because they would need to shed cap space to make any deal feasible.
NHLers: James vanRiemsdyk (LW), Claude Giroux (RW), Jeff Carter (C), Braydon Coburn (D)
Prospects: Andreas Nodl (RW), Marc-Andrew Bourdon (D), Kevin Marshall (D), Patrick Maroon (LW)
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Chicago Blackhawks: Much has been made of the fact that the Blackhawks are going to have to drop a couple of players in the offseason. The most often heard are (2 of these 3): Sharp, Versteeg and Byfuglien. This might be a way to turn their future cap problems into an immediate asset.
NHLers: Patrick Sharp (LW), Kris Versteeg (LW), Troy Brouwer (RW), Cam Barker (D), Dustin Byfuglien (RW)
Prospects: Akim Aliu (RW), Kyle Beach (LW), Shawn Lalonde (D), Jack Skille (RW)
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Los Angeles Kings: The Kings prospects make them an interesting trading partner. Any one of the following prospects could be the #1 prospect for another organization. However, if the Thrashers are hell bent on getting NHL players, these wouldn’t matter.
NHLers: Alexander Frolov (LW), Jack Johnson (D), Oscar Moller (C), Ted Purcell (LW), Wayne Simmonds (RW),
Prospects: Jonathan Bernier (G), Thomas Hickey (D), Andrew Loktionov (C),
Brayden Schenn (C), Colten Teubert (D), Vyacheslav Voynov (D)
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