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When you hear about a team going all in at the Trade Deadline, you think of a team that’s a piece or two away from winning the Stanley Cup and willing to sell the farm to make a big swing and bring in one of the top names on the market. Whether that’s the 2015 Chicago Blackhawks trading a first-round pick for Antoine Vermette or the 2019 Columbus Blue Jackets giving up basically all their draft picks for Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, and Adam McQuaid among others, it comes in many different forms and it doesn’t always work out.

What you don’t think about with the term “all in” are the sellers. After all, what are they going all in for? They aren’t close to a championship, so there’s nothing to go all in for.

But, we forget that there is a gamble that you take with selling at the deadline, and more importantly tanking, as well. Sure, you want to get as many assets as possible, but if you sell off too much of the team, you won’t have anyone to teach the new guys how to win in the NHL, or you’ll struggle to turn over the roster to a competitive team with a lack of depth. Some teams do need a full cultural reset, but for the rest, it’s what separates the 2015 Buffalo Sabres and 2015 Arizona Coyotes tank jobs, where both clubs are still struggling to make noise in the playoffs, from the 2016 Toronto Maple Leafs, 2017 Colorado Avalanche, and 2018 New York Rangers, who kept players like Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner, Erik Johnson, and Chris Kreider around to avoid a stripped-down losing culture.

So we’re going to look at all of the teams looking to sell at the deadline, and figure out if they should be going all in for a tank job, or just collect a few assets on some expiring deals.

Anaheim Ducks

Trade Target(s): John Klingberg (RD)
What’s the Game Plan?: New GM, New Rebuild

The Ducks were a tough team to nail down, because on one hand, we saw that this team could be on the verge of competitiveness with the start of last season, and they do have those pieces, like Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish, Troy Terry, Cam Fowler, Jamie Drysdale, and John Gibson. But on the other hand, they sold off big at last year’s deadline, moving on from Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson, and Rickard Rakell, and seem to be all in on tanking this season.

Eventually what sold me on going all in was the fact that they have new management in Anaheim. Pat Verbeek took over partway through last season, and it was clear from the deadline that he wants to commit to a rebuild. They may have already been uncompetitive for a few seasons prior, but it was under Bob Murray’s half-attempt at one, so with no real attachment to most of the current roster, it makes sense for Verbeek to strip it apart and give him a chance to rebuild it.

With Klingberg, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Dmitry Kulikov on expiring deals this year, and Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg set to expire next season, they certainly have some options, although none quite as big as last year’s rentals, and they still have a solid young core that’s shown it can start to be competitive, along with a couple of more experienced pieces in Fowler and Dylan Strome signed long term to stick around. The big question mark is whether you move on from John Gibson – if a team is willing to commit to a struggling goalie on a big contract for another four seasons. At 29, he likely won’t be of much value when the team is set to contend.

Arizona Coyotes

Trade Target(s): Jakob Chychrun (LD), Shayne Gostisbehere (LD)
What’s the Game Plan?: Half-tank

This may come as a surprise to a lot of people, but I think the Coyotes are much closer to being competitive than a lot of teams on this list, especially the other teams with them near the bottom of the standings. They have a very nice prospect pool headlined by Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley, and Matias Maccelli, some solid players up front in Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, and Lawson Crouse, and they even might have a potential goaltender in Karel Vejmelka. If they get one more big piece, especially if it’s a Connor Bedard, and color outside the lines a bit with their depth options, and they could potentially make some noise in a few seasons.

Which is why I think it might be smart to hold off on selling any major pieces at this deadline, and instead just sell a few smaller pieces for assets, but don’t completely strip the franchise just to tank again. This team hasn’t been consistently competitive since 2012, and if they keep getting into the cycle of moving on from players who seem to be outside of their window, they’ll never take that next step. Sure, moving on from pieces like Gostisbehere makes sense, but moving players like Vejmelka and Crouse just because they’re productive and preventing a tank keeps them in that same trap with no way out.

I’d say the same about Chychrun, but it’s obviously a different situation with the trade request. In that case, just follow the Joe Sakic blueprint with Matt Duchene where you wait it out to get the kind of return you want. Best case scenario, you get that return and it gives you several pieces to build around. Worst case scenario, you keep Chychrun around long enough for the team to get competitive with him and maybe he changes his mind.

Chicago Blackhawks

Trade Target(s): Patrick Kane (RW), Jonathan Toews (C), Max Domi (C/LW), Jake McCabe (LD), Andreas Athanasiou (LW)
What’s the Game Plan?: You’re already this far, might as well go all the way

If this were before the 2022 offseason, I would have maybe said to not go full teardown, as there were some potential pieces in place that made for good middle of the lineup depth, they just needed some more stars. You already took the loss on the Seth Jones trade, so it might just be best to eat the year and see what happens next year when you have a draft pick.

However, that isn’t what the Blackhawks did. Moving on from Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach made some sense, as they managed to fetch you two top 15 draft picks after they had none, and they either weren’t working out in the organization, or weren’t going to when the team was competitive. But, letting Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome go for nothing felt like a bit of a wasted opportunity. You can either keep them around as solid talent to work with when you get a Bedard-esque talent, or at the very least, build them up to give them trade value and get actual assets.

But since they’re already in deep, and plan to be for several seasons, it makes perfect sense to strip it all the way down. Moving on from Kane and Toews made sense anyways considering the return they’ll fetch and their age, but you might as well get everything you can, even with smaller pieces like Domi, Athanasiou, and McCabe. They still have some guys sticking around like Tyler Johnson, Seth Jones, and Connor Murphy, so it won’t be completely barren, but considering the recent history of this Blackhawks franchise, there isn’t a team that needs a cultural reset more than them.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Trade Target(s): Vladislav Gavrikov (LD), Gustav Nyquist (LW), Jack Roslovic (C)
What’s the Game Plan?: Half-tank

Columbus is another tough team to nail down, because they haven’t quite started a legitimate rebuild, but they also made moves to get better in the offseason by signing Johnny Gaudreau and Erik Gudbranson, along with extending Patrik Laine long-term. They were also closer than most non-playoff Eastern Conference teams to that playoff bubble, and have had terrible injury luck, so maybe there is a competitive team within this group, and they just end up having a cursed enough year to fall backwards into Connor Bedard and make noise next year.

For that reason, it feels like for this year it makes more sense that the Blue Jackets just move on from players that don’t have a long-term future and see what happens in the next year. This year’s already down the tube, and you have enough injuries that those talented pieces can’t win you out of the lottery too much. If you get Bedard and suddenly you’re close to competitive again next season, then it makes sense to go from there since all your other big pieces are in that 24-29 age range. And then if you’re in the same position next season, you probably try to move on and commit to a full rebuild. It sucks considering that they just added Gaudreau, but the team is in such a weird state that it might be the best move if they can’t take a step in the next couple years.

Detroit Red Wings

Trade Target(s): Possibly Dylan Larkin (C)
What’s the Game Plan?: Going all-in will do more bad than good

After several patient years of the Yzerplan getting put to motion, the Wings have started to make some noise the past couple of seasons. Not quite to the level of making the playoffs, but far from sitting at the bottom like they did for several seasons beforehand. Add in the fact that they made some big deals in free agency to bring in David Perron, Andrew Copp, and Ville Husso to surround the young core of Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, and Dylan Larkin, and suddenly they’re a top six forward and top four defenseman or two away from being serious.

Which leaves me wondering why they’re even remotely considering moving Dylan Larkin at the deadline. If he just straight up doesn’t want to re-sign, then yeah, it makes sense to get what you can for him on an expiring deal. But he’s a capable top-line center, and at worst, a strong second line center, and there aren’t many options beyond him on the team. Moving on from him sets the team back several years with the hole it leaves down the middle, arguably the toughest position to build up, and with the team nowhere close to Bedard contention, it’s not like they have a big replacement waiting in the wings.

It just feels like a confusing move for Steve Yzerman to make when he handed out the contracts he did in the offseason, especially the riskier ones like Copp or Ben Chiarot, only to then take a step back. The one thing Detroit didn’t quite get during their rebuild was a franchise talent up front, so I get why there may be some inclination to think the rebuild is far from done, but it just feels like a waste of time unless the plan was to tank for Bedard at the start of the season, which it clearly wasn’t.

Florida Panthers

Trade Target(s): Anthony Duclair (LW), Sam Reinhart (C), Sam Bennett (C)
What’s the Game Plan?: Get some good deals when you can, but look to be competitive next year

It doesn’t take a lot of soul-searching to find what went wrong for the Florida Panthers this season. Despite improvements in all of their offensive underlying numbers, they were bound to regress after last season, the goaltending was probably going to take a step back, and being up against the cap meant they had significant depth problems, especially with their defense core taking a big hit from the Matthew Tkachuk trade (which was still a good trade for Florida, it just came with some short-term risks).

Thankfully for them, some of those problems will be solved next season. That regression holding them back this year won’t be there next year, so that alone will make them a playoff team, but they also have plenty of unneeded cap space coming off the books with Keith Yandle’s buyout and Patric Hornqvist’s contract, so they’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve their depth from that.

They don’t even need to move on from their Trade Targets, with the only reason for them being there is due to a lack of cap space when the team is fully healthy. Maybe look to move on from Bobrovsky if you can, but otherwise just jump on selling pieces in deals that feel like steals and move on to next season. They don’t even have their first round pick for the next three seasons anyways, so there’s no point in tanking, it just means they won’t have an easy asset to use to fix their current mess.

Montreal Canadiens

Trade Target(s): Joel Edmundson (LD), Sean Monahan (C)
What’s the Game Plan?: Half-tank

It’s weird to say this for a team that was in the Stanley Cup Final just two seasons ago, but the Canadiens have been in this half-tank state for several seasons. They have two top three picks in the past five years, and while one is out of the system, Juraj Slafkovsky is still just in his first NHL season and has loads of potential. On top of that, they still have plenty of pieces to build around, with both Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki looking to be great up front, and while their young blueline hasn’t been amazing, it’s a strong first step for that group to build around.

So, while this team still needs a bit of work, and another top pick wouldn’t hurt, I wouldn’t quite put them in a state where they need to sell off every piece. Heck, those extra pieces might already be on the way with their own pick this year and Florida’s pick looking like it could also be a top 10-15 selection. And they got another one in the next couple seasons for taking on Monahan (I still don’t know the conditions to that trade), and who knows what else they could get for him or other short-term players like Edmundson and Evgeny Dadonov. I wouldn’t go full teardown and move on from veterans like Brendan Gallagher and David Savard, who aren’t bad to keep around with this group, but they do have a potential to make big improvements at the deadline and the draft without having to move out anything major.

Nashville Predators

Trade Target(s): Mattias Ekholm (LD)
What’s the Game Plan?: Start selling off pieces and look to tank down the road

Ever since their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017, the Predators have been roaming around in mediocrity. With a second-round exit, first-round exit, qualifying-round exit, first-round exit, and first-round exit during that span, it’s not exactly a recipe for success. You aren’t competing for a Cup, but you’re also hurting the team in the long run by not getting a bit worse to get a lot better. And with no significant hope on the way to give them that adrenaline shot and make them better (think Kirill Kaprizov in Minnesota), it’s time for the Predators to commit to getting some elite talent in the draft.

Now, their biggest issue is that their current cap situation is loaded with guys either in the final years of their primes or past their primes on expensive long-term deals. They aren’t quite in San Jose territory with it holding them back at the moment, but it means it’s a bit awkward to start a rebuild with those around, especially when you just signed some of those like Ekholm or Filip Forsberg, or just brought them in like with Ryan McDonagh.

And yet, recent rumors have shown that won’t stop them. They’re already looking to move on from Ekholm, so who knows what other contracts they’d be more willing to move if they get worse? And while it is awkward, it’s also the perfect time to do so. If you commit now, then by the time you’ve acquired all your assets and they are near the end of their ELCs, those contracts are almost done, and you still have some talented veterans there to not completely destroy your culture. How much you’re committed will depend on if you move on from a guy like Juuse Saros, but I think working towards going all in is the key to much brighter future in Music City.

Philadelphia Flyers

Trade Target(s): James van Riemsdyk (LW)
What’s the Game Plan?: Start selling off pieces and look to tank down the road

The question with the Flyers isn’t whether or not they should go all-in, it’s “why haven’t they already?”. They started to commit to it by trading Claude Giroux last season, but then they extended Rasmus Ristolainen and Travis Sanheim, traded for Tony DeAngelo’s rights, signed Nicolas Deslauriers to a four-year deal, and hired John Tortorella to coach the team, who you know isn’t going to be on board with a tank.

They could have already been at the point where they’ve stripped off all the short-term pieces and start to integrate that youth into the lineup. Instead, they went all in on trying to be good, locked themselves into a plethora of deals they don’t need, and they’re still in the place in the standings that they would have been anyways.

So while they can’t necessarily go all in at this deadline, they can still start the process. Van Riemsdyk is on the block, Justin Braun could probably fetch a return at the deadline for a second straight season, and maybe you even look to move on from Travis Konecny or Ivan Provorov while they can still fetch a big return. They still have some veterans sticking around on their deals anyways like Sean Couturier, so they won’t destroy the culture, and besides, Torts won’t let that culture go away even if it wanted to.

San Jose Sharks

Trade Target(s): Timo Meier (LW), Erik Karlsson (RD), James Reimer (G), Ryan Merkley (RD)
What’s the Game Plan?: Start selling off pieces and look to tank down the road

Normally, I’d think a team was insane for moving on from a young talent like Timo Meier, but the Sharks might be one of the few teams where it makes sense. It feels like they should already be through the dark days of the rebuild now that they’re in their fourth year outside the playoffs, but they do not have that much waiting in the wings in San Jose. In fact, in their three seasons playing well below mediocrity, they have just one top 10 pick, losing one to the Erik Karlsson trade and the other falling in the 11 spot, which they decided to trade down for.

Combine that with the fact that they have four contracts above $7 million locked until at least 2026, with Tomas Hertl being the youngest of those at the ripe age of 29, and you can see why Meier might be on the move. Not only is he the only player at the moment that can get them the assets they need to rebuild, but his $10 million qualifying offer would mess up their cap situation even more. And with the Sharks several years out before they can likely even start going all in on a rebuild because of their cap situation, Meier is not going to be the player he is when this team is finally competitive.

It’s why the Sharks should have moved on from Hertl last deadline, got some assets, and started that process, but instead they didn’t get any assets, and made the process even longer. It’s also why the Sharks should be wary of moving Erik Karlsson if it requires them to give up assets to get out from his contract. Retain salary all day, it won’t make a difference for the Sharks anyways, but if teams are looking for assets to offset taking him on, it’s not worth it if the team will be mediocre anyways. Not because Karlsson is worth not moving on from (although he is this season), but because losing picks and prospects aren’t worth moving on from him. All this to say, I’m sorry Sharks fans, you’re in for a long and painful process.

St. Louis Blues

Trade Target(s): Ryan O’Reilly (C), Vladimir Tarasenko (RW), Ivan Barbashev (RW)
What’s the Game Plan?: Sell off some expiring contracts and see what happens down the road

The Blues are another tough team to nail down, as they do have what it takes to be a competitive team, but they also are not a good team this season. Their biggest issue is their blueline, which isn’t one to write home about, and has a lot of term and money tied into it. The Blues still have some great pieces, particularly Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, but that hasn’t stopped them from struggling this year.

So, why not just ride out the year and see what happens? You might move up a few picks in the lottery and get another talented player to add to a good group, and you can also move on from players that don’t have much of a future with the Blues and get some solid assets to add to that. And then maybe next season, you’re still in that window of competitiveness while having retooled a bit. It’s not like Doug Armstrong is a stranger to making deadline seller deals while his team is good, particularly Kevin Shattenkirk in 2017 and Paul Stastny in 2018, so this is nothing out of the ordinary for the Blues.

Vancouver Canucks

Trade Target(s): Bo Horvat (C), Brock Boeser (RW)
What’s the Game Plan?: Should have been tanking already

Even though the Canucks have only made the playoffs twice in the last nine seasons, and are poised to miss again this season, they still haven’t committed to a rebuild throughout any point of it, and instead keep trying to cheat their way around it. Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, Tyler Myers, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, the Canucks have time and time again tried to take a short cut to competitiveness, and that’s why even with a great core of Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, and Thatcher Demko, they still haven’t made any significant progress.

It’s because of that that they now have to move on from two pieces that would have been great to keep around in Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser. By the time the Canucks are ready for postseason contention, both players are going to be past their primes, so it makes sense to move on from both. It’s also why they should have moved on from J.T. Miller instead of extending him to a contract that he’ll age out of quickly, and then this process could have been in a much better spot.

It really is tough to figure out what they should do, because if they commit to a full rebuild, they might as well move on from Pettersson, Hughes, and Demko, because their best years will likely be behind them when it’s over, and the team isn’t in a state where it can be fixed quickly either (unless they quit winning and get Bedard). But then again, it’s smarter to hang on to those pieces regardless, because you will need that talent once the team gets better, and they at least have some experience of winning thanks to that brief run in the bubble. Then again, with all the recent shenanigans going down in Vancouver, they might be one of the few candidates that could benefit from a full cultural wipe.

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