Weekly Western Leaders (to April 4th, 2021) – in bold leads the NHL

Goals – 22 – Connor McDavid – Edmonton (25 – Auston Matthews)

Assists – 42 – McDavid – Edmonton

Points – 64 – McDavid – Edmonton

PPP – 24 – McDavid – Edmonton

Shots on Goal – 141 – McDavid – Edmonton (154 – Brady Tkachuk)

Shooting % (min 38 SOG) – 27.3 – Joonas Donskoi – Colorado

PIM – 55 – Kurtis Gabriel – San Jose (59 – Brendan Lemieux)

Best plus/minus – plus 21 – Leon Draisaitl – Edmonton, Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado (plus 30 – Joel Edmundson)

Worst plus/minus – minus 17 – Quinn Hughes – Vancouver (minus 34 – Rasmus Dahlin)

Hits – 161 – Jani Hakanpaa – Anaheim (182 – Radko Gudas)

Blocked shots – 116 – Alec Martinez – Vegas

FOW – 496 – Ryan O’Reilly – St. Louis

FOL – 387 – Bo Horvat – Vancouver

FO% (min 185 FO) – 62.0 – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Colorado (63.9 Luke Glendening)

Giveaways – 44 –Draisaitl – Edmonton (67 – Thomas Chabot)

Takeaways – 39 – Mark Stone – Vegas

Highest Skater GAR (goals above replacement) – 17.2 – McDavid – Edmonton

Lowest Skater GAR – minus 5.4 – Jacob Larsson – Anaheim (minus 6.2 – Nikita Gusev – New Jersey)

Highest xGAR (expected goals above replacement) – 16.3 – McDavid – Edmonton

Lowest xGAR – minus 7.1 – Duncan Keith – Chicago

Highest CF% (min 22 GP) – 63.3 – Jacob Macdonald – Colorado

Lowest CF% (min 22 GP) – 36.9 –Devin Shore – Edmonton

Highest PDO (min 22 GP) – 107.4 – Marcus Foligno – Minnesota (109.5 – Daniel Sprong)

Lowest PDO (min 22 GP) – 93.2 – Sam Bennett – Calgary (90.6 – Nolan Patrick)

Goalie wins – 23 – Philipp Grubauer – Colorado (23 – Andrei Vasilevskiy)

Save percentage (min 15 starts) – 92.9 – Grubauer (93.2 – Vasilevskiy)

Quality starts – 21 – Grubauer – Colorado

Quality start % (min 15 starts) – 73.7 – Cam Talbot (76.5 – Chris Driedger)

Highest Goalie GAR – 20.5 – Thatcher Demko – Vancouver (28.3 – Vasilevskiy)

Lowest Goalie GAR – minus 8.2 – Ryan Miller – Anaheim (minus 18.9 – Carter Hart)

Shutouts – 5 – Grubauer – Colorado

With almost a week before the NHL trade deadline, we will look at the teams in the West and see what players on each roster might be moved from the sellers and what positions the buyers will look to upgrade.

This season is like none before and with the different Covid protocols in each city and different quarantine periods, this deadline will be unique. Add in the fact that most buyers have little or no cap space and this deadline might be very quiet.

Anaheim Ducks – Sellers

Ryan Getzlaf has been with the Ducks for 16 seasons and has been their Captain since the beginning of the 2010-11 season. He has an NMC (no-movement clause) and is in the last season of his current contract. Will he move to a contender and waive? Teams like Colorado or Minnesota might be a good fit for him for perhaps a 3rd round draft pick in 2021, then Getzlaf could re-sign back with the Ducks for one more season.

Danton Heinen and Ben Hutton are other players that might be moved, but the suitors for their service might be fewer. I'm sure the team will look to move Adam Henrique but his salary more than likely prevents that. Jakob Silfverberg and Josh Manson are two others that are in decline, but both have M-NTCs and higher salaries so it might be difficult to move them as well. Look for 2nd to 5th round picks heading back to the Ducks with some retained salaries heading out if any of these players are dealt.

Arizona Coyotes – On the Fence

The Coyotes will be looking to get back some higher draft picks and will be hoping to move Derick Brassard, Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers, Jordan Oesterle and perhaps Ilya Lyubushkin who are all free agents at the end of the season. I'm sure the team would love to get out from under the Phil Kessel contract but he has an N-MTC that allows him to submit a list of eight teams he can be traded to (not ideal in the current climate), plus he has one more season with $6.8 million of salary remaining. With St. Louis struggling so much, it has put the Coyotes into an unlikely playoff spot, but I doubt very much they will become buyers.

Calgary Flames – Sellers

With Darryl Sutter coming in to replace Geoff Ward, it appears that it was a desperate move to kickstart the current roster to make a move to get into the playoffs this season. It doesn't appear to have worked and the Flames will be sellers more than likely. But how big will they go? Will they pawn off their impending free agents, or will players like Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan or even Mark Giordano be on the radar? I don't think they will move those three if at all until the summer, but they will more than likely look to move Derek Ryan, Brett Ritchie and David Rittich to get something in return. Rittich might get the most value as some top teams are desperate for a quality backup because of injuries.

Chicago Blackhawks – Sellers

Any hopes of a playoff appearance might be starting to fade in Chicago with only three wins in their past 10 games. As a result, the team should look to move impending free agents Mattias Janmark and Carl Soderberg for some value in return. Both players are inexpensive and these types of players might be more targeted than expensive bigger names. Even though Chicago is only two points out of the race, I just don't see them pushing their way past all of Nashville, Columbus or Dallas for that final spot in their division. Obviously, they aren't giving up as they brought back impending UFA Vinnie Hinostroza, but technically he could be flipped again. 

Colorado Avalanche – Buyers

The Avalanche have a chance to make a deep run this season and they do have a little bit of cap space which not many other teams in their position have. Their needs are a backup in net and depth in their bottom-six and a number six or seven defenceman. The team only has a 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th round draft pick in 2021, so Martin Kaut or Connor Timmins might be expendable this year.

Dallas Stars – Bubble Buyers

The Stars are five points out of the playoffs with three games in hand. An ageing, salary top-heavy team that made it to the Stanley Cup finals last season doesn't get to become sellers that easy. They have no salary room whatsoever and would need to move one or all of their impending UFAs Andrew Cogliano, Blake Comeau and/or Jamie Oleksiak and the combined $7.7 million in salary. It's unlikely they make any moves at all.

Edmonton Oilers – Buyers

The Oilers appear to be playoff-bound with a 12-point cushion with only 18 games left in the season. They have no cap room, have more depth than most teams in the bottom six and might only need a 6th or 7th depth defenceman. They are trusting in Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen as well in the playoffs and we all know how that went last season. Ken Holland is not going to bring in a white knight goalie.

Los Angeles Kings – Sellers

The Kings have something more valuable than selling players to upgrade playoff-bound teams, they have cap space (almost $8 million) and if they don't come out with some value as a result, Rob Blake is not doing as good a job as he should. It sounds like the team is looking to re-sign Alex Iafallo and other than that perhaps they move Andreas Athanasiou before he becomes an RFA. The team owes a great deal to both Jeff Carter and Jonathan Quick, but this might be an opportunity to get out from under both contracts, unlikely as it is.

Minnesota Wild – Buyers

The Wild have a little more than $3 million in cap space, an extra first-round draft pick in 2021 and a need for an improved bottom six and a top-six forward. Perhaps Taylor Hall would be a good fit with Kirill Kaprizov or Kevin Fiala. The roster seems fine on defence and in goal at the moment and the team has been playing well, so why tinker?

Nashville Predators – Buyers

The Predators can't afford to not be buyers this season. They have over $10 million in cap space and their window is closing. The team requires an offensive spark, so adding Taylor Hall or Kyle Palmieri would make a little sense with Matt Duchene out. The team needs depth in the forwards and defense as they have been hit pretty hard with injuries.

St. Louis Blues – Bubble Buyers/Sellers

The return of Vladimir Tarasenko was supposed to propel the Blues to the playoffs but instead, they have two victories in their past 12 games and are sitting just outside of the playoffs by three points. Mike Hoffman has three points in his past 11 games and Jaden Schwartz has two goals in 21 games this season. Could both unrestricted free agents be moved by the deadline? The Blues are only two seasons removed from their Stanley Cup victory but the train is starting to move in the wrong direction. The team has no cap space to make any moves.

San Jose Sharks – On the Fence

The Sharks have made their way back into the playoff race and sit three points behind Arizona with one game in hand. They appeared to be sellers for most of the season, but better play from Martin Jones, Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns recently have changed things around a little.

Surprisingly they have almost $10 million in cap space and could add roster players to improve the team or add salary to weaponize their space. I think they will go with the latter of those options and still look to move Marcus Sorensen or Devan Dubnyk if a deal comes their way.

Vancouver Canucks – Sellers

With 16 players on the Covid list, this might all be for naught as the Canucks are unlikely to even play a game in the next two weeks and there is a chance that their season might be done. In an ideal world, the Canucks would look to move Tanner Pearson, Brandon Sutter, Travis Boyd, Jimmy Vesey and Jordie Benn for value picks or prospects they could get in return. Alex Edler and Travis Hamonic weren't going to waive their NMC regardless.

Before things went to Covid hell, it sounded like Adam Gaudette and Jake Virtanen's names were still at the forefront of any trade talks. Let's just hope all of the Canucks players, coaches, staff and families are healthy when all is said and done.

Vegas Golden Knights – Buyers

Vegas has little to no cap space but could use their extra 2nd round draft pick in 2021 or extra 3rd round pick in 2022 to add some depth at center in the bottom six or perhaps a 6th or 7th defenseman that would be an upgrade on the existing players. The chances are slim for the Golden Knights to do much as they would have to move salary out to bring salary in.

Winnipeg Jets – Buyers

The Jets are much like Vegas in that they have no cap space but they are probably a little better off in terms of needs. Winnipeg's biggest need is defensive depth as they have lost Nathan Beaulieu for the season and if they lose anyone else will need to rely on their youngsters Sami Niku or Ville Heinola on defense. Their top-nine is one of the best in the NHL and their only need would be depth. Expect very little movement.

Thank you very much for reading and if you have any comments or suggestions please message me or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15.