Trade Deadline Countdown Discussion Thread - What Does Your Team Need?

[RGM81]

Since we are just 3 weeks away from the NHL's trade deadline of February 28th, let's have some fun and discuss where our teams are at, what their needs are, and whether they'll be able to engineer any big deals to push their team over the top.

As I look at the Canadiens today, they will definitely be buyers going in to deadline day.

With the injuries to Gorges & Markov they've got some obvious needs on the blue line. Wisniewski has done a good job filling in but I worry a little bit about the geezers Hamrlik & Spacek as well as the young guys (mostly Weber) getting burned out. Kevin Bieksa is a guy whose name has been coming up all year long. I wouldn't mind having a Robyn Regehr type player either.

Up front, someone that can bring some scoring punch and size & strength would be a welcome addition. They'll have Cammalleri back in the line-up soon, and that will be a huge help if he can find his form, but I still believe that one more top-6 is necessary. Dustin Penner would be a good addition, but his name has been even more frequent than Bieksa's, and Gauthier has a tendency to pull off deals that nobody sees coming.

They do have enough cap space to aborb a contract for a guy making just under $5M for the full year. There's a lot of contracts coming off the books after this season for the Habs, and a few of those guys probably won't be coming back, so they may be able to add players that are under contract beyond the rest of this season. I don't know if they'll go for the big splash, but they certainly have the dollars available to make it happen if Gauthier thinks that this team can ride Carey Price to a long playoff run.

[mugatu471]

Wings need some backup goaltending for sure. Howard is struggling and MacDonald sucks and Ozzie won't be back for awhile now. I doubt the Wings will do anything though.

[mr ozzie]

Leafs are going to be sellers of course. However, it would be bad for them if Burke moves Giguere and/or Kaberle - both of whom have NTCs. No elite player will want to play for a team that dishonours NTCs. Frankly, the team needs a solid goaltender...again. As a patient Leafs fan, I don't mind the combo of Gustavsson and Reimer for next season. However, Burke might get pressured to do something about that - hopefully not though. The next biggest hole is a franchise centre. Obviously a playmaker that can feed Kessel. Another problem the Leafs face is too much cap space committed to dmen - Beauchemin, Komisarek, Phaneuf, and technically Kaberle. Schenn needs to be resigned as well.

[CMpunk13]

Ducks can go either way being buyers or sellers. I can see them trying to move visnovsky for a high return since his stock is so high right now. But if we keep him that's alright too. Or they will try and ship out Blake or lupul to try and clear out cap space.

If we do buy it will be a defense man who can shut down the opposing players or pass the puck without constantly passing it to the other team. They will probably get someone from Ottawa, Columbus, Toronto, Atlanta or Calgary.

[oilfan10]

Experience, development, and health.

And does anybody want either Hemsky or Penner? I'm not in favor of moving both of them, but the Oilers need to see what they can get.

[CMpunk13]

Experience, development, and health.

And does anybody want either Hemsky or Penner? I'm not in favor of moving both of them, but the Oilers need to see what they can get.

I don't know if the oilers would want anyone from the ducks but I would like for them to try and get penner it would be nice to have a 1st line of penner getzlaf perry. Since Bobby ryan is going to have his own line now I believe.

[wild4life]

The Wild could be potentially buyers and sellers. It all depends on how quick G-Lat, Zidlicky and Harding can get back on the ice. If Harding gets back on the ice before the end of the season, they're going to have a dilema in net. Harding's a good enough netminder that he needs to be in one of two positions: either backup or starter, they can't just send him down to Houston. So...either they trade Theodore, or they trade Harding.

Who they trade them for is another matter. We've had problems on the blue line all year, especially with Zidlicky on IR with shoulder problems. We've had to rely on callups countless times this year, which isn't as bad as it seems because it means these young guys are getting some experience under their belts, but we need to find a permanent solution to the problem. So if we can get a solid defenseman from either Houston (Prosser or Falk ideally, I'm biased about Prosser considering he's the former captain of the local USHL team and my main PC guy) or via trade or even a high draft pick that would be ideal.

[Footnote75]

Florida? Decent players?

[thesnake87]

Wings: SIGN EMERY! That's all I will say about their back up issue... lol I've said that for a while too.

Phoenix: IF the ownership issue is resolved by then, bring in some offense.

[Wickabee]

I think Vancouver needs a new puck-bag.