Countdown to TradeCentre: Red Wings taking calls on Bertuzzi, Meier race heating up

The NHL's March 3 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.

Red Wings taking calls on Bertuzzi 

Could Tyler Bertuzzi's time with the Detroit Red Wings be coming to an end?

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports the Red Wings are receiving interest on the pending unrestricted free agent, but a final decision on whether to move him has not yet been made.

"The Red Wings are taking calls on Tyler Bertuzzi and we shouldn't be surprised by that based on his contract status," Dreger said on Insider Trading. "He's 27 years of age. He's having a tough year with [the] Red Wings. Now that's coming off scoring 30 (goals) last year. So the interest is there, but it's no different than any of the other pending unrestricted free agents.

"You've got [Red Wings general manager] Steve Yzerman also trying to weigh his options and make educated comparisons. So he's also having conversations with Todd Reynolds, the agent for Tyler Bertuzzi, just to see which is better moving forward here for the Red Wings: the return that you might get on an intriguing forward in Tyler Bertuzzi versus signing him to an extension. To be determined with Bertuzzi."

Bertuzzi has two goals and six points while playing in just 19 games this season due to various injuries. A three-time 20 goal scorer, he had a career year in 2021-22, posting 30 goals and 62 points in 68 games.

He carries a cap hit of $4.75 million in the final year of his current deal.

After defeating the Calgary Flames on Thursday, the Red Wings are seven points back of a playoff spot, with four teams sandwiched between them and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who hold the final wild-card spot. Detroit last made the playoffs in 2016.
 

Hurricanes, Devils chasing Meier?

Trade action picked up again Thursday with the New York Rangers acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko, but the race remains on Trade Bait's No. 1 player Timo Meier.

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports that Meier could also be dealt well ahead of the March 3 deadline in order to give his acquiring team time to work on a contract extension. 

After the Rangers made their move, LeBrun points to the other two top contenders in the Metropolitan Division, the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils, as suitors for the winger.

"Yeah, decent chance of that," LeBrun said of Meier being dealt sooner rather than later. "Listen, the amount of interest in Timo Meier continues to escalate. And that's just going to continue now with Tarasenko off the board. And the sense from talking to people around the league today was that the Sharks don't necessarily have to wait to March 3 to get this done here and there's a couple reasons for that. One is that if an extension has to be part of this, and (Meier's) agent Claude Lemieux has to be part of this, you want to do this a few days before March 3. But the other reason is there is so much interest in Timo Meier that the Sharks have a pretty good gauge of the market.

"Among the teams that were reported before: New Jersey [Devils] and Carolina [Hurricanes], they remain very interested. But there are several teams that have shown interest. Bottom line here with Timo Meier is that I don't think this is a March 3 trade. I think this is going to happen before then."

The 26-year-old has 30 goals and 51 points in 53 games this season - marking the third time he's crossed the 30-goal mark in the past five years.

While he is scheduled to be a restricted free agent this summer, signing Meier to an extension would eliminate the $10 million qualifying offer which would currently be required to retain his rights this summer. 

The Hurricanes currently sit atop the Metropolitan Division and could use the cap space freed by Max Pacioretty's injury to add Meier's $6 million salary.

The Devils, meanwhile, are four points back of Carolina - and six points ahead of the Rangers - and could be looking to boost their lineup after losing star forward Jack Hughes to injury this week. Hughes, the team's leading scorer with 35 goals and 67 points this season, is currently ruled week-to-week with an upper-body injury.

All eyes on Blues as sellers

The St. Louis Blues appeared to make their deadline strategy clear on Thursday in trading Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola to the New York Rangers for a conditional 2023 first- and 2024 fourth-round picks, forward Sammy Blais and prospect Hunter Skinner.

The Blues, however, still have decisions to make regarding the futures on fellow pending unrestricted free agents Ryan O'Reilly and Ivan Barbashev ahead of the deadline.

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports the market for Barbashev appears to robust, while the Blues appear less sure on whether to deal their captain O'Reilly over the next month. 

"We know that there's an excellent market for Ivan Barbashev and that market is heating up," Dreger said on Insider Trading. "There's a number of teams that have expressed interest in Barbashev, so we'll keep an eye on that. Ryan O'Reilly is getting closer to returning to the Blues lineup. So his good health is going to, perhaps warm things up.

"But we also can't overlook the possibility that the St. Louis Blues are going to continue to have discussions with the agent [O'Reilly's agent] to see if there could be a fit via an extension. So a lot of activity around [Blues general manager] Doug Armstrong's office and the St. Louis Blues."

Barbashev, who carries a $2.25 million cap hit, has nine goals and 24 points in 51 games this season. He had a career-best 26 goals and 60 points in 81 games a year ago.

O'Reilly is closing on a return from a broken foot suffered at the tail end of 2022. Carrying a cap hit of $7.5 million, he has 10 goals and 16 points in 37 games this season.