Welcome back my cap-friendlies! I remember being a kid in Chicagoland during Christmas, it was always a special time of year and in Chicago one department store was king around this time of the year and that was Marshall Fields (now Macy's). You could stand in line with your parents and siblings to see Santa but there was also this mailbox that you could write your wish list and it was sent to wait for it, the North Pole itself. That's right, from Chicago Ridge, IL express mail all the way to the top of globe! So, what if NHL clubs had this? No not waiting in line at the mall, a wish list of what they each might need going forward this season. I present to you all a cheap Hallmark movie for the ages, "A holiday roster freeze" (working title).

Minnesota Wild – Whoever that was on NHL Network that called them the Minnesota Mild two weeks ago I just need to salute you, that was right there in front of me and somehow, I missed it. The Wild, or Mild, whichever we're going with, are dead last in the NHL in scoring. With that in mind we need to find the Wild some scoring and that's going to be hard to do with just how cap strapped they are right now. I started to look at different wingers to potentially add but then had a thought, this Wild club does have plenty of moving parts, what if we brought in a center to help move players out to a wing? Plus, I'm in the camp that you can never have too many centers. So, what do we do when we're looking for players? Visit the tanking pool of course! Started with San Jose and Luke Kunin's name sounded interesting to me which is probably because he's already been a member of the Wild already, but I think that's a name that could be moved onto Minnesota. If I'm Minnesota I'm probably not ready to part with a defenseman with just how pieced together that unit has been thus far, but if they were to move either Connor Dewar and a player or Vinni Lettieri and a player, then the money does work for both sides. For San Jose they continue down the path of the tank and for Minnesota you can now move Marco Rossi over to a wing or throw Kunin on the fourth line with Frederick Gaudreau as your third line center. They've done everything to try and get the goals to start racking up for this team, so maybe a depth line that can control pace to spread out the ice time is an answer here.

Detroit Red Wings – Their wish list has to start and end with goaltending. I can't see them being confident in going into a round one with either Ville Husso, James Reimer, or Alex Lyon tending net for sure, so they need something here. The problem that I keep running into is who would be available and why would half these clubs help Detroit? Like take Montreal for example, I could see them parting ways with Jake Allen but if we're all being honest here it's the Habs goaltending that has kept them afloat…like almost in a wild card spot afloat. I thought maybe a Petr Mrazek reunion, now we're getting somewhere. Mrazek has been playing fantastic this year and all things considered might be one of the top-10 or 12 goaltenders right now as crazy as that sounds. For Detroit they could probably make the money work out but bringing over $3.8M but it will undoubtedly cost them a pick, they don't have their own this season but do have a Boston first that they could unload. I think for Detroit it may just be a case of making this move sooner rather than later but I could see the Hawks taking their time and really raising the pot on what it's going to cost to get Mrazek off their roster.

Buffalo – The Sabres need what I think they've always needed: a vet or someone that is just a sandpaper player. I watch a fair amount of this club and there's games they play where I think I could see them in an East finals game but there's also been plenty of times where I think they could be right there in the lottery. The Sabres didn't do as much spending in the summer as I thought that they would and that helps here with a little over $7M available to them in cap space. I looked around the league and kept coming back to Philadelphia. They are hands down the surprise of the league right now, but does that mean that they continue on the path that they're on? The name I kept coming back to was Travis Konecny who I'm sure the Flyers love, hell, I love that player too but could the trade work? Buffalo has three goaltenders on roster right now and as much as I'm sure the Flyers love rolling out Samuel Ersson right now, they could pick up either Eric Comrie or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in this deal or maybe if it was sweet enough at least have a conversation about Devon Levi. For the Flyers they could potentially get a prospect or two, another first bringing them to three in this year's draft, and goaltending insurance while for Buffalo they get a player that I really feel like they need on this roster, a decent two-way player with great size and offense to his game. Plus, for Sabres fans that have been watching this season it helps bring consistency and that maybe means protecting leads. Something that's been difficult for this club so far this season. This is one deal that I think is a long shot here but if one side called the other on it, I at least think there's a meeting that takes place.

Calgary – Is moving Elias Lindholm on the Calgary wish list? I'm going to be straight with all of you my cap-friendlies out there that I think this is a player that is going to get a haul back for and I just don't see why. I don't usually use the term "overrated" when it comes to players but two season ago when Lindholm was nominated for a Selke when he wasn't even the second, maybe third, best defensive forward on that team made me question everything. Someday I'll share my Mikko Koivu should have won that award rant with the world but today is not that day…any-who, Elias Lindholm. I went through each club and tried to figure a trade for him and thought for fun let's throw out Colorado. I already know what the trade would likely be and that's Bowen Byram (22 years old $3.8M two years remaining), a 2024 first round pick, and likely a prospect or lower AAV player. For Calgary they get assets in return for a player that is 50/50 to resign and for the Avalanche maybe we can talk ourselves into this. There might be four, maybe five, "good" teams in the western conference and if Colorado believes that they can make it into playoffs with what they have now and potentially get Gabriel Landeskog and Artturi Lehkonen back in time for round one or two, then maybe this roster is all of a sudden good enough to get a couple easier matchups and make a deep playoff run. Let's just be honest with ourselves though, this is the Avalanche we're talking about. If this trade were come to fruition the Avs would use whatever magic they have, and the deal would be something like Jonathan Drouin and a 2025 3^rd rounder for Lindholm.

Pittsburgh – Anyone who has lost 60 minutes of their life watching this Penguins club this season can tell you right now what they need. No, it's not a redo on the Erik Karlsson trade…or well, maybe it is, but they need bottom six help, and they needed it last season as well. I took a look in the tanking directory and figure we give Chicago a ring.

"Hey Chicago? Pittsburgh. Nick Foligno for Ty Smith and a Vinnie Hinostroza reunion? Even kick in a late round pick or player to be named…great! We'll fax it into the league, thanks!"
I could see the conversation going something along those lines but what I left out was the Penguins asking first if they would take the Rickard Rakell contract and the Hawks saying no thanks to that. I do think though if the Penguins threw a decent pick in there the Hawks at least listen to their offer and for Pittburgh they would have to throw something into the deal to not reach the upper cap limit. As far as the make-believe trades we've thrown out there I do think there's some merit to this one and if (when) Nick Foligno is moved I think the deal would resemble something like this. I do realize also just who the Pens GM is and that we're talking about Nick Foligno here. It's 2023 and I still don't know how/why that Columbus deal took place.

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