There\u2019s no shortage of buzz around the NHL trade market, though it hasn\u2019t led to a whole lot of action as of yet.<\/p>\n
The injury-plagued Vancouver Canucks<\/a> swung a deal to acquire Lukas Reichel<\/a> from the Chicago Blackhawks<\/a> last week for a fourth-round pick, but it appears most teams are looking to settle into their seasons before considering any significant moves.<\/p>\n The struggling Calgary Flames<\/a> and Boston Bruins<\/a> are in the spotlight with the futures of centres Nazem Kadri<\/a> and Pavel Zacha<\/a> in question. Tuesday\u2019s edition of Insider Trading has served to cool the rumour mill around both players, with a Zacha trade potentially being off the table for good. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no question, and sources confirm, that the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> did indeed reach out to the Boston Bruins<\/a> over the summer to gauge interest and to see if (Zacha) was available,\u201c TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun explained. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019m being told is that the Boston Bruins<\/a> view Pavel Zacha<\/a> as a long-term fit. He has another year on his deal after this year but don\u2019t be surprised if they try to extend him this summer. At 28 years old, they look at him as being age-appropriate for this roster transition, and they feel he fits in very well and would like to keep him around.\u201c<\/p>\n The 28-year-old Zacha has two goals and 10 points in 12 games with the Bruins this season while carrying a cap hit of $4.75 million through next season. He had a down year last season, finishing with 14 goals and 47 points in 82 games after topping 20 goals and 56 points in each of the previous two years. <\/p>\n Despite Zacha\u2019s strong start to the campaign, the Bruins hold a 5-7-0 record and sit tied for last in the competitive Atlantic Division, with two more games played than the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> and Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a>, who also have 10 points. <\/p>\n Kadri, 35, is also off to a promising start to the season with two goals and eight points in 11 games. The Flames, however, have struggled mightily out of the gate, owning the league\u2019s worst record at 2-8-1. <\/p>\n The pressure may be turning up in Calgary, but neither the team or Kadri is looking for a change as of now. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot of talk and a lot of speculation driven by the media,\u201d TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger said. \u201cThe reality is it comes from a place where the Calgary Flames<\/a> are playing well below expectations and there are other Canadian markets – namely the Montreal Canadiens<\/a>, Vancouver Canucks<\/a>, and maybe the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> – that could absolutely envision a No. 2, experienced centre like Nazem Kadri<\/a> in their lineup.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is that Nazem Kadri<\/a> loves Calgary and unless the Flames decide that their roster needs reconstruction, and that could happen through the rest of the regular season leading up to the trade deadline, then at least for the moment, it is premature.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s tons of interest. Don\u2019t get me wrong. But the timing isn\u2019t right yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Kadri, who is four games away from playing his 1,000th in the NHL, remains signed through the 2028-29 season at a cap hit of $7 million. That deal was signed by then-Flames general manager Brad Treliving, who is now with Kadri\u2019s first NHL team, the Maple Leafs. <\/p>\n Treliving has spoken openly since the summer about the Maple Leafs\u2019 desire to add a top-six forward to help replace Mitch Marner, but has been unable to find a deal. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not been from a lack of trying,\u201d Treliving said in September of entering training camp without a top-six addition. \u201cThere\u2019s just not a lot of them out there that everybody\u2019s willing to hand over to you, right? So, I think today is no different than yesterday and the day before. It\u2019s going to be tomorrow. You\u2019re always looking to try to improve your team.\u201d<\/p>\n The 35-year-old Kadri scored 35 goals last season, topping the 30-goal mark for the first time since he was with Toronto in 2017-18. He offers Stanley Cup pedigree to any potential suitor, having won a championship with the Colorado Avalanche<\/a> in 2022, just over a month before joining the Flames.<\/p>\n While it remains early in the season, it will be no small task for Calgary to dig out of their early hole. The team fell painfully shy of the playoffs last season, missing out via a tiebreaker with the St. Louis Blues<\/a>.<\/p>\n General managers around the league are trying to resist the urge to hit the panic button amid slow starts. Minnesota Wild<\/a> general manager Bill Guerin<\/a> is concerned over his team\u2019s 3-5-3 record, but told The Athletic over the weekend<\/a> that he\u2019s not ready to tinker with his roster yet. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is just hard when it\u2019s not even 10 games in,\u201d Guerin said. \u201cThat\u2019s not really a great runway for not just our team, but the other teams to really know what you have. So it doesn\u2019t seem like everybody\u2019s really willing to make deals now, me included, because I haven\u2019t seen us play at our best yet so I don\u2019t want to overreact. But this is, I guess historically, not a time where a lot of trades have been made.\u201d<\/p>\n Just over four months remain until the March 6 trade deadline, leaving plenty of time for teams to chart their course before making any big moves. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no shortage of buzz around the NHL trade market, though it hasn\u2019t led to a whole lot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[712,96269,49,80260,48,79561,115924,448,115925,82,74650],"class_list":["post-247983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-apple-news","tag-boston-bruins-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-6","tag-ca","tag-calgary-flames-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-20","tag-canada","tag-minnesota-wild-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-30","tag-nazem-kadri-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8475172","tag-nhl","tag-pavel-zacha-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8478401","tag-sports","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}