Welcome to another edition of the hotstove.
In this one we'll be predicting the Eastern Conference player most likely to be traded by the deadline. This could be a player long rumored to be traded, someone caught in a numbers game or a player who plays on a bottom feeder and could be moved to speed up a rebuild.
Todd Cordell: Damien Brunner This is a pretty easy one for me. The Devils have 14 forwards on one-way deals, a couple prospects making legitimate pushes for roster spots, and three unsigned players at camp who have all played well in Jordin Tootoo, Ryan Carter and Scott Gomez. Even if none of them sign, the Devils still need to move a body or two.
Brunner has regularly been practicing on the 4th scoring line, per se, with Tuomo Ruutu and hasn't really played with quality linemates in his preseason contests.
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun had thrown his name around a couple weeks back and mentioned him as a potential target for the Sens, who are rumored to be looking for a top-9 forward.
I'd be pretty surprised if Brunner isn't moved by the deadline, and think it's quite possible he's moved before the season begins.
Honorable mention: Chris Stewart. His name has popped up in rumors since he was acquired by the Sabres, and with them expected to be one of the league's worst teams it may make sense to move him to a contender.
Tim Chiasson: Eric Staal There were rumblings of an Eric Staal deal last year and now with Jordan Staal out for a good chunk of the regular season the ‘Canes are poised to challenge Buffalo for the title of worst team in the league. A trade involving Eric Staal puts Carolina in the driver seat for Connor McDavid in my opinion, and who wouldn’t want that? McDavid is going to be a franchise player that can turn an organization around very quickly. Carolina is already going to be horrendous this year so I fully expect to hear Staal’s name early and often when rumors come up. A huge return, a major cap reduction and a chance at a player with Crosby/Stamkos/Tavares/MacKinnon hype. It’s a chance for Carolina to hit the reset button.
Ryan Wilson: Paul Martin Well, I had Bobby Ryan as my choice before the big news came out. I still feel as though a trade would have made more sense as I wrote here.
Paul Martin is great. Why would Pittsburgh trade him? Asset management. They have Ehrhoff now and it's likely they extend him. They also have a lot of NHL ready defense prospects (Despres, Harrington, Dumoulin, and perhaps Pouliot). They have a hole in their top 6 forward grouping even if Bennett is healthy. You have to give to get in trades and trading Martin is operating from a position of strength. It has also been rumored that Martin will be testing the market at the end of the year. Losing Niskanen and Martin in back to back years for nothing isn't something I see the Penguins doing.
Honorable mention: Cam Ward. It's Anton Khudobin's net now.
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