While the standings in the NHL are very close in each conference, there are teams that have separated themselves in the wrong way. In the West, there are three in particular that had higher hopes and are at the point of gearing up to make moves.
Chris Johnston said, “It goes Vancouver, Nashville, and Calgary in that order for most likely to start making some moves.”
These are the last three placed teams in the NHL at the moment. The Vancouver Canucks are in last place with a record of 10-14-3 (23 points), followed closely by the Calgary Flames, 10-15-4 (24 points) and the Nashville Predators, 10-13-4 (24 points).
The Canucks expected to compete this season after bringing back Brock Boeser, acquiring Evander Kane, and being healthy at the start of the season, but that quickly fell apart with injuries. Now the conversation is When does Quinn Hughes get traded? Other players on expiring deals or otherwise will likely go first, but this isn’t a team built to even make the playoffs, never mind compete.
The Flames have struggled since the start of the season and Dustin Wolf isn’t playing the way he did last season to save them and deflect a lot of bad play. They can’t score and have a makeshift team that tried and failed to retool. Now, they are at the bottom of the standings and reportedly don’t want to go into a full rebuild But that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to sell off some pieces and look to next season with the young players they have to be moved into larger roles. There are plenty of trade options in Calgary and some, like Nazem Kadri, Rasmus Andersson, and Blake Coleman, who have gotten a lot of attention.
The Predators are nowhere better than last season and some of the veterans have to be moved out to change the core or culture. At this point, the team might just dive into a full rebuild that was only staved off because of Juuse Saros, Roman Josi, and Filip Forsberg. But the big-money veterans brought in last summer changed too much and exposed that the Predators just had a one-and-done run to the playoffs two years ago and aren’t that good at their core. Almost everyone could realistically go if Nashville decides to rebuild.
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