The NHL draft kicked off on Friday night and there were certainly some speculation about players that could be moved. With no decisive impact players in the draft that can alter a teams’ season, most franchises will need to rely on free agency and the trade market in order to improve their Stanley Cup chances in 2014-15.
The rumblings and rumors were rampant heading into the weekend with some speculation leftover from last season’s trade deadline coming back to the forefront. With the significant draft picks taking place on Friday there were definitely some deals to talk about. As the draft resumes on Saturday, there are plenty of players left with their suitcases packed ready to pull on the sweater of their next team.
Here are five trades involving players that will be changing zip codes this weekend. Of course, these are purely speculative, but make sense for all parties involved.
Ryan Kesler, C, Vancouver Canucks to Anaheim Ducks for Nick Bonino, C Luca Sbisa, D and 2014 1st round pick/24th overall(Jared McCann, C).
Kesler finally got out of Vancouver in a trade that was seven months in the making. It begs to wonder what else might have been on the table if the Canucks were resigned to moving him within the division. Kesler immediately makes the Ducks better, while it looks like Vancouver is slowly starting to rebuild by clearing out some big contracts. The Canucks also moved defenseman Jason Garrison to Tampa Bay in a much smaller move. The two deals combined to open up almost $10 million in salary cap room.
Jason Spezza, C, Ottawa Senators to Anyone
The trade of Jason Spezza has turned into a big pain in the rear for GM Bryan Murray. He claims that a trade to Nashville was all but done, but Spezza nixed it with his no movement clause. It was thought that the addition of James Neal to the Preds would help sway the mind of the outgoing Ottawa captain, but things didn't work out that way. As it stands it looks more and more likely that the disgruntled center will be staying in Ottawa considering that the interest in a 30-plus year old with declining skills hasn't exactly set the market on fire.
James Reimer, G, Toronto Maple Leafs to Winnipeg Jets for Michael Frolik,
It’s no secret that Reimer is a pariah in Toronto and in order to salvage what could be a decent career he needs to get out of hockey purgatory. The Leafs are positioning to sign Martin Brodeur for a farewell tour and will have to bump a goaltender that isn’t named Jonathan Bernier. Frolik is a nice young talent who is currently a restricted free agent. A possible sign and trade deal could happen here, but Winnipeg needs a goaltender to push Ondrej Pavelec and Reimer could be that guy.
Johan Franzen, RW and Jakub Kindl, D and a 2014 second round pick to Arizona for Keith Yandle, D and Antoine Vermette, C
This is a trade that I propose every year and hopefully this will be the year that Ken Holland actually takes my advice and makes it happen. Franzen has a silly contract and perpetually disappoints. He still has a big upside with the potential to be an elite power forward. Kindl might never become the Red Wings’ defenseman that he was projected to be. Yandle immediately becomes the quarterback of a stumbling Red Wings power play and Vermette is a quality center that wins almost 60% of his faceoffs and is a defensive stud.However, with the desert dogs buyout of Mike Ribeiro, Arizona would almost certainly be looking for a center (or two)if they would even consider moving one of their own.
Evander Kane, RW to Philadelphia for Matt Read, RW And Braydon Coburn, D
Kane has been rumored to be on his way out of Winnipeg for some time and almost every GM in the NHL covets the physical winger. The Flyers need to dump salary and would love to have another big, physical wing that can score and throw fists. He won’t come cheap, but Philly will look to dump some salary to acquire him. Coburn is a big defenseman that would immediately join Winnipeg’s top pair and Read has shown that he can score at the NHL level and could be a top six forward for the Jets.