5 NHL teams who need to be busy in the trade market to make a playoff push

By Ryan Gagne

Modified Feb 23, 2024 01:34 GMT

The NHL trade deadline is March 8, and the regular season ends April 18. Ultimately, that means there are only 57 days left for the pretenders to become contenders and for the playoff matchups to sort themselves.

Although all 32 NHL teams should be active at the trade deadline, a handful of teams must get deals to save their season or risk upsetting their fanbase for another year.

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5 NHL teams who need to be busy in the trade market to make a playoff push

#1. Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers have the best odds of winning the Stanley Cup despite ranking third in the Pacific Division, just two points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings, who occupy the top NHL wildcard spot.

Of course, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the lineup, any team would considered contenders, but when they go on a 16-game undefeated streak together, the odds go through the roof.

However, the Oilers are an average team, with an overworked goalie and suspect defense outside Evan Bouchard and Mathias Ekholm. By the end of the season, Stuart Skinner will most likely dress over 60 games and could be burnt out for the grueling playoff drive.

Although many believe the Oilers should upgrade the bottom six and acquire another defender, their goalie is bound to let them down again, leaving McDavid and Draisaitl to score many points to win high-scoring hockey games. Despite the odds being in their favor, many factors are stacked against them.

#2. New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils are four points out of the NHL playoffs and are slowly returning to full health, although they are still missing one of their top defenseman Dougie Hamilton. As another team with high expectations, this season could be disappointing with 27 games remaining.

One of the significant concerns regarding the Devils and their ability to make the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup is goaltending. For the past several months, the team has been entrenched in the rumor mill, attached to any goalie who may become available at the NHL trade deadline, whether it's Jacob Markstrom, John Gibson, Juuse Saros, or someone else.

Given the abundance of youth in the lineup, New Jersey would be wise to find someone they can retain for a few seasons while the team continues building toward a championship with Jake Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt.

Unfortunately, without any upgrades, the Devils risk another year outside of the NHL playoffs, which would disappoint the fanbase, who are used to lengthy drives from the turn of the century.

#3. New York Islanders

The New York Islanders have been subpar all season, so much so that they fired Lane Lambert as head coach and hired Hall of Famer Patrick Roy to become their new bench boss.

Unsurprisingly, the team has yet to bolt up the standings with a 4-3-3 record since the hiring. So, if the problem isn't coaching, does it have to be something else? Right now, New York is hamstrung by the NHL salary cap, thanks to poor long-term investments in a handful of players.

Besides skaters underperforming, this year has also been a disaster for Ilya Sorokin, who is used to Vezina Trophy-caliber numbers. Although he's facing the most shots every night, leading the league in the category, no one is helping him, so his numbers have ballooned.

As a long-term signee, he's not going anywhere, but since the team seems stagnant with their performance, it may be time to move out some players like Brock Nelson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau to get some fresh blood in the lineup.

#4. Nashville Predators

Two years ago, Nashville Predators goalie Saros was a Vezina Trophy finalist, and now he's the subject of every trade rumor out of Music City. After the first general manager change in franchise history, former head coach Barry Trotz is running the show now and is trying to build a Stanley Cup contender.

After franchise icon Pekka Rinne retired, the baton was passed to Saros, who hasn't disappointed until this season. Now that prospect Kevin Lankinen has shown he could be the team's future starter; Saros appears to be the odd man out with another year on his contract.

Even though the Predators went out recently and acquired former Stanley Cup champions Ryan O'Reilly and Ryan McDonagh over the past two NHL seasons, their presence in the lineup hasn't helped the team improve in the standings.

Ryan O'Reilly, Nashville Predators

Overall, Nashville has a goal differential of minus-10 while ranking 13th in goals against and 16th in goals scored. Despite never having good odds to win the Stanley Cup, the franchise is celebrating 25 seasons and has no championships to show for.

This team is on pace to miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season unless they make a move and improve the lineup in an ultra-competitive Western Conference.

#5. Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild haven't been out of the first round since 2015 and employ one of the most gifted scorers in the NHL, Kirill Kaprizov. After a 108-point season in 2021-22, the Wild has done nothing in the postseason to show their star player they want to be serious contenders.

Now, they are just 26-24-6 and remain outside the playoff picture by two points. They have the ninth worst goal-differential, minus-10, in the NHL, partly due to the poor performance of Filip Gustavsson, who spiraled from his best season in 2022-23.

If this year's team expects to qualify for the playoffs or even go on a successful playoff run, something must change in Minnesota. Future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury may be on the trade block, but given he's just months away from potentially retiring, he wouldn't net a valuable return to help the Wild this year.

Moreover, Minnesota has no cap space and only a few pending unrestricted free agents to flip to acquire impact players. Despite being so close, they may be better off taking a mulligan this season and sell off assets to prepare for a better run in 2024-25.