Countdown to TradeCentre: Soucy's future with Canucks up in the air
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The NHL's March 7 Trade Deadline is approaching, and teams are making decisions on whether to buy or sell, and on which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Check out today's trade rumours and speculation from around the NHL beat.
Canucks Watch Continues
The Vancouver Canucks are tied for the final wild-card spot after picking up a 3-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, but trade rumours continue to surround the team.
After adding defenceman Marcus Pettersson in a major trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins last week, it appears Carson Soucy is on the trade block with his role diminished.
TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports that while Soucy is available, the sense is Soucy wants to try and make it work with the Canucks.
"Still, his camp and Canucks have talked about working together on a potential trade if that’s the end result before March 7," LeBrun said on X.
Soucy saw 13:45 of ice time in Tuesday's win, part of a continuing downward trend after he averaged 21:15 of ice time in the month of December.
The 31-year-old blueliner is in the second season of a three-year, $9.75 million contract, featuring an average annual value of $3.25 million. He has a full no-trade clause for this season.
Soucy has tallied two goals and six assists over 52 games with the Canucks in 2024-25, his second season with the organization.
Over 342 career games with the Minnesota Wild, Seattle Kraken and Canucks, the native of Viking, Alta., has recorded 25 goals and 57 assists.
Staying with the Canucks, LeBrun notes the team would love to find a top-six centre as soon as possible, but that will likely have to wait until the off-season after trading J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers last week.
"This is in the category of 'easier said than done,' and the moment they lose J.T. Miller they want to try to go out and replace him," LeBrun explained on Insider Trading. "Obviously they got a very good young player in Filip Chytil but the priority for the Canucks is to go find help at centre.
"If that happens before March 7, that would be a great bonus because they're still in a playoff race, but the reality is, bigger picture, they're going to try to get that done between now and next fall.
"And to Dylan Cozens... he is among the type of players that Vancouver is interested in, we know they've had discussions with Buffalo.
"That had to do more with Elias Pettersson, and we know the Canucks have taken Pettersson off the market for now, they want to see how he responds after the Miller trade so let's see if Vancouver can pick that up in a different form when it comes to Buffalo."
Cozens appears to be a popular name on the trade market, with TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger stating that "about two thirds of the league has checked in" on the Sabres forward. The Calgary Flames are among those teams, but Dreger notes the Sabres would only consider a hockey deal to move the 23-year-old centre, who's signed through 2029-30 at a cap hit of $7.1 million.
Cozens has 10 goals and 26 points in 53 games with the Sabres this season, his fifth with the team after being selected seventh overall in the 2019 draft.
Will Dallas replace Heiskanen?
The Dallas Stars were dealt a major blow Tuesday when the team announced that star blueliner Miro Heiskanen is considered month-to-month after undergoing knee surgery.
Heiskanen has five goals and 25 points in 40 games this season and leads the Stars in average ice time at 25:10 per game. It's unclear at the present whether the blueliner will be able to suit up in the postseason.
"The initial hope is to have Heiskanen back before the playoffs but Stars will have a better idea of the timeline after initial healing and once he begins rehab," TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reported after the surgery was announced.
With Heiskanen ailing, the Stars acquired defenceman Cody Ceci along with forward Mikael Granlund over the weekend, eating into the LTIR cap space provided by Tyler Seguin, who underwent hip surgery in December and could also be sidelined into the playoffs.
Placing Heiskanen on long-term injured reserve would give the Stars an additional $8.45 million in cap space, bringing their deadline availability to $13 million, according to PuckPedia.
While cap space is unlikely to be an issue for the Stars at the deadline, assets may be. Dallas parted with a 2025 first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick in their deal with the San Jose Sharks to add Ceci and Granlund. The third-rounder in the deal will drop to the fourth round if Dallas fails to make the Stanley Cup Final, but either way, the team will have just one pick in the first four rounds of this year's draft.
No roster freeze coming
TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston notes in The Athletic that there will not be a roster freeze in place during the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, which will see a break in play from Feb. 10-21.
While teams are therefore free to make deals and get a jump on the trade deadline, Johnston believes seeing much by way of activity is unlikely.
"In speaking with multiple team executives, the general expectation seems to be that any moves discussed during the 4 Nations break aren’t likely to be officially consummated until after the tournament is over," Johnston wrote.
Johnston points to not wanting to take the spotlight away from the event and the desire for teams to continue accruing cap space as two main reasons the market will be quiet.
The return of NHL games on Feb. 22 will leave teams with just over two weeks to make deals before the deadline.