The National Hockey League's Trade Deadline is on Monday, April 12 and teams will be making decisions on whether to buy or sell and decide which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Check out the latest trade rumours and speculation from around the NHL beat.


On the Watch List?

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said Tuesday he has been focusing on adding a forward ahead of the trade deadline and would prefer to make a trade sooner rather than later.

Dubas also noted that adding a pending unrestricted free agent likely made the most sense for Maple Leafs, but kept the door open for a bigger move if it could be made.

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun listed five potential targets for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Tuesday's edition of Insider Trading.

"As for the Leafs, whether it’s a rental like Kyle Palmieri or Nick Foligno or Mikael Granlund or it’s a hockey deal for a Filip Forsberg or Rickard Rakell, which is a lot harder to do, I think all options are on the table for Kyle Dubas."

Palmieri has four goals and 12 points in 25 games with the New Jersey Devils this season after topping the 20-goal mark in each of the previous five seasons. The 30-year-old carries a cap hit of $4.6 million.

Foligno, who serves as captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets, has five goals and 12 points in 30 games this season. He has a $5.5 million cap hit in the final season of a six-year deal signed with Columbus in 2014.

Granlund joined the Nashville Predators as a free agent in December on a one-year, $3.75 million deal. He has five goals and 10 points in 26 games this season. Granlund is listed at No. 6 on the TSN Trade Bait board, one spot below Foligno.

Forsberg, Granlund's teammate in Nashville, carries a $6 million cap hit through next season. The 26-year-old is the highest-producing player of those listed by LeBrun this season with 10 goals and 27 points in 29 games. A first-round pick of the Washington Capitals in 2012, the Swedish winger is a two-time 30-goal scorer. 

Rakell, who LeBrun also linked to the Leafs last week, is signed through next season at a cap hit of $3.79 million. Also a two-time 30-goal scorer, Rakell has six goals and 19 points in 30 games this season with the Anaheim Ducks.
 


Back in Carolina?

LeBrun mentioned last week that the Carolina Hurricanes have discussed the possibility of bringing back their former captain Eric Staal, who's open to a move to a contender over the coming weeks.

Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour weighed in on the possibility with The Athletic, noting that he's not interested in seeing the team make any significant changes ahead of April 12.

“That’s a question that’s probably further up the chain than me, but I think we know he’s an awesome person,” Brind'Amour said. “I haven’t watched his game much this year, so I don’t really know where he’s fitting in, but we’ll have to address some things, I’m sure, at some point, potentially.

"But I like our team right now. I don’t know why we would be looking at too much. But everybody would want to have that guy around.”

Staal has three goals and 10 points in 27 games with the Buffalo Sabres this season, his first with the team after an off-season trade from the Minnesota Wild.

The 36-year-old, who's listed at No. 7 on the TSN Trade Bait Board, is a pending free agent, carrying a cap hit of $3.25 million this season. He spent the first 12 seasons of his career with Carolina, where his brother Jordan Staal is currently captain. 

Selected second overall by the Hurricanes in 2003, Staal won the Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006 and served as captain from 2009-2016.

 


Standing Pat?

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said Tuesday the focus for his club is to make the playoffs, but with the team up against the salary cap, Bergevin said he was not eager to make a move.

The general manager ruled out using LTIR space with Ben Chiarot since he expects the defenceman to return before the end of the season and said there aren't any contracts he's looking to move out.

“I like the players we have,” said Bergevin. “They’re all useful players. For me to give up a pick, [for someone else to] take on a player we do like and get another asset, you’re going sideways. We don’t have any dead money on our roster that we’d like to move.”

That's Hockey discussed Bergevin's comments and weighed in on whether standing pat was the right move for the Canadiens: