Fresh Blood at the NHL Trade Deadline as New Contenders Emerge

As the NHL marches along to the March 6 trade deadline, the candidates to be on the move consists of the usual suspects seen annually.

The twist, it would appear, is the clubs that will be burning up the phone batteries trying to add players to improve their Stanley Cup hopes.

With the likes of Artemi Panarin of the under-achieving New York Rangers the headliner for pending unrestricted free agents, a litany of players on floundering clubs in the rumor mill while having contracts beyond this season (such as Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks, Blake Coleman of the Calgary Flames and Jordan Kyrou from the St. Louis Blues) and a plethora of depth skaters being shopped, there should be plenty of wheeling and dealing over the next six weeks, save for the Olympic break trade freeze.

Adding intrigue will be the slew of teams who have not been part of the buyers club the past handful of seasons joining the fray.

The Detroit Red Wings last made the playoffs in 2016, but are not only looking strong to snap their drought but also in the mix for the Atlantic Division title. The Red Wings have done a strong job of building with veterans alongside several up-and-coming players. They have oodles of salary cap space, draft capital and prospects to dangle, and would surprise nobody if they put all kinds of chips on the table to add a top-six winger and second-pairing defenseman.

Sticking with the division, the Buffalo Sabres have the longest playoff drought in NHL history, last reaching the second season in 2011. Yet, as we close in the final third of the campaign, the Sabres control their own destiny, holding a wild-card spot and only a couple of points behind the Montreal Canadiens for third spot.

Like the Red Wings, Buffalo could use a scorer to improve the attack. Adding to the intrigue is the status of pending UFA Alex Tuch, who is second on the club in both goals (17) and points (41). The Sabres can ill afford to lose Tuch for nothing but must make a legitimate push to ignite the excitement of a playoff spot for their faithful.

Another team gunning for the playoffs after years of being an also-ran is the Utah Mammoth. OK, technically, this became a new franchise after departing Arizona, but the reality is this is the club that only made the playoffs once since 2012, and that was strictly because of the play-in format of the Covid-19 campaign of 2019-20 that gave extra clubs an opportunity.

The Mammoth have a bunch of players dearly needing playoff experience, an ownership that has proven it wants to pull out all the stops to make Salt Lake City a success, and all the elements to acquire. Utah currently hold six draft picks for first three rounds of this year’s draft, three of them in the second round. Utah should be able to reel a scoring forward and upgrade the back-up goaltender position.

Add the other bottom feeders of the past who are in the mix, such as the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks, and be prepared to discover how aggressive all of these clubs will be now that they are legitimately in the playoff battle.

They may have quite the say while the clubs with fewer assets from years of mortgaging the future (think of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs) try to add the pieces they want.