Welcome back my CapFriendlies! Sing it with me everyone, "It's the mooost wonderful tiiime of the yeeaar!" We're around a month away from the NHL trade deadline which means that the NHL trade machine Picasso (or da Vinci maybe), is ready to throw fake trades out there. Some may stick to the wall, some may not, but when I started writing Capped this was the time of the year that I was most excited about as I'm usually the one in my group chat throwing trades around…even with 65% of them being either Blackhawks related or a pipedream. Okay, oaky, you got me. 70%.

There are a few things to go over before we dive in here and these are trends that usually occur right before or around the deadline:

*Every season there's usually a goaltender that gets hurt around deadline on a contending club that goes down with injury. Without fail, this is just the way things have gone recently.
*Beware the 'getting hot at the right time' club. There's going to be a club that we're not talking about now that goes something like 7-0-3 here that talks themselves into a deep playoff run.
*There are upgrades and there's needs. New Jersey needs goaltending, Vegas could use an upgrade at LW.
*Picks are not the end all be all. If you're trading with Toronto, yes you could get a first back in return but keep in mind that pick will likely fall in high 20's. There's nothing wrong with high picks but sometimes the value of them may be slightlyt exaggerated.

I'm sure there's more rules that I have that aren't coming to mind at the moment and I'm sure we'll get there but for now let's stand by the phone and be ready to fax the league in our trades. And yes, I do believe they still fax in these trades.

Lightning grab a defenseman

If there's one thing that this Bolts team could maybe use here it's another defenseman and if I'm them maybe I try and pick up the phone early here? For this one I considered Montreal as they'll surely be sellers if the right offer comes across. Maybe there's some juice behind this? Sure, the names don't move the needle as much but a potental to help out both sides.

Tampa recieves – David Savard
Montreal recieves – Alex Barre-Boulet, Jack Thompson, 2025 2^nd round pick (TBL)

Okay let's talk this out here, we know what Tampa gets here. They'll get a top-six defensemen that can help them go deep in playoffs for what could possibly be the last itteration of this Bolts club before they inevitably re-invent themselves.

For the Habs though I wonder if this is enough to pull the trigger? They can't get a first or second rounder back in return this season because Tampa doesn't have one that is either their own or someone else's, so the earliest they can receive at least a second rounder would be Tampa's own in 2025. For the players coming back Barrie-Boulet has at times been a top six winger and they'll aslo get back Jack Thompson (D) who on most prospect lists ranks at the organization's third best prospect as things stand right now. I think if there's one reason that they might say yes is they can move Savard who is already 33 years old and, in this trade, would not have to retain any of his salary whereas if they were to move him to a number of other clubs out there, they would have to eat some salary in order to make the trade work. Again, might not be a blockbuster here, but could be a trade that makes sense for each side. If there's any side that declines, I could see Montreal shopping around a little more if this Tampa deal were to be the best that's on the table.

Edmonton gets help at LW

We'll get to some real spice here in the future but for now let's just find ourselves a trade that makes each club better now and potentially in the future, this one involves the Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators. I have to preface this by saying that the Edmonton goaltending scares me come playoffs as I can't remember seeing Stuart Skinner be that domanant goaltender they may need in a four week stretch so I tried to find a way to get Marc Andre-Fleury over to Edmonton. Not only does the money not really work but every trade I came up with I couldn't see a world where Minnesota would say yes. So, if not goaltending maybe we upgrade left wing? I've thought at times this season that Warren Foegele has been a good substitue at second line LW, putting Evander Kane down to the third line and I think now with Corey Perry on the club there's a way that Kane could move from second or third line, with LW help and that's where Nashville comes into play.

I do think when the dust settles here that the Predators stand-pat as they're still very much in the playoff picture but let's say they decide to add for the future or in two weeks find themselves looking further and further up in the wild card position. That got me to thinking that maybe they send Tommy Novak to Edmonton? The trade wouldn't have to be that elaborate either.

Edmonton recieves – Tommy Novak
Nashville recieves – 2024 2^nd round pick (EDM)

For Edmonton it's help at the wing if they either want to try and spread the scoring out beteween three lines and it's also help when they inveitably stack their top line.  

For the Preds, they get back a 2024 second round pick giving them four picks in the second round in this year's draft and with the Novak becoming a UFA, they could gain an asset back if they weren't looking to offer a contract.

Do I think that this trade happens? Only if Nashville both finds themselves out of the playoff race in the coming weeks as well as if they want to stockpile picks in this year's draft. They could always bundle picks in order to move up with how much draft capital that they have but I do think if they just wanted to keep Novak, signing him at a lower price point to stay under their cap for next season wouldn't be difficult to do at all. It's a 50/50 trade but I do think if I'm Nashville I at least have a meeting here if something like this was offered.

Leafs blockbuster part 1

I say part one here because as we go, I'm sure I'll have more here for Toronto. I'll never forget last season listening to Sportsnet live when they aquired Jake McCabe…it was like the air was let out of a balloon. I know those out there probably want a Chris Tanev trade but that's original, let's get spicey here. The one thing Toronto will likely trade for is for a defenseman even though there's times I watch this club and think that they could double-down for a real good two-way winger…we'll get their next time. For now, let's break NHL Twitter and call Ottawa.

Toronto recieves – Mathieu Joseph, Artem Zub
Ottawa recieves – David Kampf, Max Domi, Connor Timmons, Topi Niemela, 2024 1^st round pick (TOR), 2024 5^th round pick (CGY)

Oh yeah, let's get wild here everyone! I'm not just getting back a solid defenseman in Artem Zub, let's see if we can't get a winger with top-six potential back here as well. We know why Toronto does this deal. This the organization putting all the chips in the middle of the table and going for it now.

So why would Ottawa do this? Why help the Leafs? Well first off, they would get Toronto's first coming back and although that's going to be a pick in the mid to late-20's when it's all said and done, that would give the Senators three first rounders in this year's draft, along with what else they could potentially stock pile as well. They receive a Leafs defensive prospect in Niemela coming back in the trade as well, along with bottoming out now to try and put the puzzle pieces back together for next season.

So does this one go through? Well, probably not and I think first and foremost it's because I can't see Ottawa throwing in Joseph but adding him into the trade was the one way that I could make the money work on each side of the deal. Another reason we have more red tape here is that Ottawa would have to retain 15% of Zub's $3.9M effective cap hit along with 15% of Joseph. For Toronto you're looking at Max Domi and David Kampf who each have a ten-team no-trade. If Ottawa is on either list, we have to go back to the drawing board here. Don't get me wrong, I think I could have gotten to this trade with just Zub in the deal with enough money coming back from the Leafs to make this work but what's fake trade talk every now and again without seeing what all we can make work?

 New Jersey gets help in net

You didn't think I'd leave you all without one trade involving Chicago, right? Unlike the Toronto trade that I went hog-wild in the trade machine on I think this trade might actually make sense and that we see something like this take place?

New Jersey recieves – Petr Mrazek
Chicago recieves – Nico Dawes, 2024 1^st rounder (NJD)

Outside of winning the draft lottery and now playing host to another Winter Classic, what all has gone right for Chicago in the past calendar year? If there is one thing it's that the front office signed extensions to Nick Foligno and Petr Mrazek, because of the pending Cup run of course. No, it was because now if you're a club looking to trade for either of them, you don't need to worry at all about coming to the table to negotiate come July 1^st. It was a smart move by Chicago and if they can add another first rounder to his year's draft, along with a player that I like in Nico Daws, then I think there's something here.

For New Jersey I could see the bar being raised higher and higher for Mrazek, so maybe Dawes and a first isn't enough but would anyone be surprised if this was the return? Sometimes with goaltenders, we get close to the 11^th hour and then all of a sudden, the trade goes through that is seemingly less than we all anticipated. Maybe the asking price is too high to where it's too much for clubs to match and ultimately the last offer becomes the best? I wouldn't be shocked if this trade were to take place that it's a 2025 second round piuck (NJD does not have a second this year) plus Daws.

*Salary Cap data from CapFriendly

For continued fantasy news and notes, follow me on Twitter @ndySanz.