Talking trades
Thin line exists between buyers, sellers as deadline nears
Posted: Wednesday March 05, 2003 1:06 PM
The dog days of the NHL season hit after the All-Star break, but teams need to trudge through the dark, gray February days to make it into the home stretch of the playoff race in March.
A hot run through February can turn an also-ran into a playoff contender -- or vice versa -- creating confusion about how to approach the trade deadline. Several teams have entered this land of the great unknown and aren't sure whether to fish or cut bait with the deadline approaching on Tuesday.
Over the past several weeks, the Coyotes, Kings, Panthers and Predators have gone from likely sellers to possible buyers, while the Blackhawks, Blue Jackets and Penguins have done just the opposite.
All of these teams remain in the dreaded middle ground. If they make a deal and don't qualify for the postseason, it could set them back in the future. If they clean house while still not too far out of the eighth spot, their fans could revolt and start to wonder if the team wants to win.
Certain sellers
The Blackhawks have dropped seven games in a row and 10 of the past 11 to spoil their great 21-13-8-3 start. Chicago's collapse means many of its veterans are available, but general manager Mike Smith might not find a ton of interest. Theo Fleury, Phil Housley, Lyle Odelein and Chris Simon all could be moved, but no one wants to take on Fleury's character risk or salary, and Simon is barely holding on to his place in the lineup.
"We still have a good chance to make the playoffs," captain Alex Zhamnov told the Chicago Tribune. "If we continue to play at the level we played at the last few games, we still have a chance."
Zhamnov can put a positive spin on it if he wants to in an attempt to keep the guys in the locker room interested, but Chicago is done. The 'Hawks have been hard-luck losers in the last two games, falling in overtime in each, and now sit seven points behind the Oilers for the eighth spot in the West with just 16 games remaining.
Columbus was just four games below .500 on Feb. 13 at 22-26-6-2, but a 1-7-1 record since has the Blue Jackets on the verge of shipping out some of their veterans. The Devils' Scott Gomez is apparently the target around which Jackets general manager Doug MacLean would like to build, and MacLean has veterans Andrew Cassels, Geoff Sanderson and Ray Whitney, as well as unsigned former second-round pick Kiel McLeod on the table in offers to the Devils.
Other than the three aforementioned veterans, the Jackets don't have a lot that would interest other teams. Maybe tough guy Jody Shelley could help round out a team's roster with some depth, but he is popular in Columbus and the Jackets will probably hang on to him.
Acquiring Gomez would give them a second good offensive piece to build around along with Rick Nash. The Panthers have the right to swap first-round picks in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft with the Jackets from the Nash deal, so Columbus probably won't have another high draft pick looming to add a third skilled forward to their potential Gomez-Nash tandem.
Pittsburgh began its sell-off before it embarked on its current six-game slide, and more action is likely to come out of Steel City before Tuesday. The Penguins are just 3-9 since sending Alexei Kovalev to the Rangers on Feb. 10.
"I know I have to make some tough decisions here in the next few weeks and especially this summer," owner and captain Mario Lemieux told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "These decisions have to be made, and I'm going to be the one to make them. I have no problem with that. [General manager] Craig Patrick knows what he has to do with the personnel for the rest of the season, and at the end of the year I'll sit down with everybody and see where the organization is going and make the right decision according to that."
The Penguins have lost six in a row to fall to 10 points behind the eighth-place Bruins, so their playoff hopes are all but gone. As a result, players likely to be relocating soon include Jan Hrdina, Ville Nieminen and Martin Straka.
Know when to hold 'em
As recently as three weeks ago, Kelly Buchberger, Sean Burke, Brad May, Teppo Numminen and Brian Savage were all being discussed as trade fodder in the desert. The Coyotes could yet deal some of them away, but a 7-2-1 record in the past 10 games has them back to within one game of the .500 mark.
More than any other team, the Coyotes are stuck in the middle. Though just six points out of a playoff spot, Phoenix probably doesn't have the finances to add any big names. But if they beat St. Louis on Thursday and San Jose on Saturday, the Coyotes could decide to try to add a piece or two to make a serious run at the postseason.
The Red Wings are highly interested in Numminen, but the Coyotes' captain isn't certain yet if he wants to waive his no-trade clause because his wife is pregnant. It would seem that rugged winger May would be the best bet to leave the Valley of the Sun, but if Phoenix drops a couple of games this week, then Burke might go, too.
The Panthers have apparently developed a phobia of the Office Depot Center, with wins hard to come by at home of late. But on the road they have been excellent, winning five of their past seven. Florida has some valuable commodities on the trade market, but needs to decide which side of the game to play.
The Panthers already are the youngest team in the league, so they probably don't want to contradict their youth movement and add a rental veteran just for a long-shot playoff run. Kristian Huselius and Igor Ulanov are their most valued trade bait, and Valeri Bure has been discussed in deals with the Bruins, Islanders and Maple Leafs. I expect Ulanov and Bure -- two players who haven't played big roles this season -- will be dealt, but that Florida will hang onto Huselius since its has preached a long-term building plan since the Rick Dudley/Mike Keenan regime took over.
"We still think we have a shot, no doubt about it," Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo said Monday after stopping 31 shots in a 2-1 road victory over the Maple Leafs. "This was an important game for us. They're all important. If we play well like this, we still have a chance."
Florida will actually need to pick up its pace significantly, since it is currently 20-25-12-9 and in 11th place in the East, eight points behind the eighth-place Bruins. The Panthers have 16 games left and likely will have to go 12-4 the rest of the way to finish with 85 points if they have any hopes of making the playoffs.
Buy, buy, buy
Ziggy Palffy heard his name being dropped in all sorts of trade rumors, so he decided to do something about, namely step up his play. Palffy has been one of the hottest players in the NHL recently and the Kings seem to want to keep him around now. Funny how that works.
Los Angeles also was considering shipping out some of its looming unrestricted free agents (Craig Johnson, Aaron Miller, Felix Potvin and Bryan Smolinski) but it now seems likely the Kings will be doing some adding rather than subtracting before next Tuesday.
"Dave Taylor has been given the green light to go acquire another piece that would help us in the stretch run and he's out looking," Kings president Tim Leiweke told the Los Angeles Times. "We've told him, 'Whatever it takes.' We're in the hunt here, and we feel good about being in the hunt."
Los Angeles certainly could use help up front to take pressure off Palffy and Smolinski, who have been carrying the load with Jason Allison and Adam Deadmarsh out with injuries. Should the Kings get Allison, Deadmarsh and Potvin back in the final five weeks of the regular season, they could then be a team to be reckoned with in the playoffs.
The Predators made a play to add a top-nine forward Monday by acquiring Oleg Petrov from the Canadiens for a fourth-round pick, but general manager David Poile hints he might be done wheeling and dealing.
"We'll sit back and see how this works out for the next few games, then we'll see if we need to do something else," Poile told The Tennessean.
After losing to the Blues in overtime on Tuesday, 15 of Nashville's 29 losses have been by one goal, so additional scoring punch might be sought to help out until Andreas Johansson and David Legwand return. The Preds have a reported interest in Sabres center Chris Gratton, a big two-way center who would be a huge addition as they try to close the four-point gap on the eighth-place Oilers.
Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for SI.com.
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