We are about a week away from the great talking head cavalcade that is the Trade Deadline, which means two kinds of content populate sports talk and sports news websites. There's the rankings and trade boards, highlighting multiple teams and multiple players in one foul swoop. Then there's the individual rumor stuff centered around a single player. This week is...a little of both.
It's hard to go through hockey news lately without seeing one post after another connecting the Vegas Golden Knights to Mikko Rantanen. On one level, as I said in the Takeaways after last Saturday night's win against the Canucks, it's undeniably juicy. Getting a guy with 26 goals and 67 points this season in hockey's equivalent of a bargain bin? It's like finding a five-leaf clover, or four-day passes to San Diego Comic-Con on the ground.
On the flip side though, I can't help but feel a bit of Mitch Marner deja vu seeing it all go down. For months during the offseason, we saw multiple reports of rumors that Vegas was going to or close to dealing for the star Maple Leafs forward. Yet nothing came of it. Also, there's the growing buzz that Toronto might use their deep prospect pool to make a run at Rantanen. We saw that with Noah Hanifin last season. If Kelly McCrimmon thinks he has a shot at signing him long-term in the summer, he'll make a deal happen.
On the chance this pans down just like Marner, however, there are a couple of names who would also be superb fits for this team. Starting with...
Brock Nelson
The long-time Islanders center doesn't get much publicity, mainly because the Islanders more often than not are a tough watch. But since 2020-21, he's top-five on the team in goals, assists, points, and (though he's struggling this season) power play points. He's only spent more than 10 games on the injured list once back in 2021-22 thanks to Covid. That kind of dependable stability on a bottom six that has been lacking for the Golden Knights this season...has a lovely ring to it.
Will it take work to make his $6 million salary work under the Cap? Of course it will. But it's worth the work to get a guy with I think a good deal left in the tank and the allure of possibly his best chance to reach a Stanley Cup final.
Brad Marchand
This one isn't as highly publicized as either the Rantanen or even the Brock Nelson ones, but I think it merits a little attention to it. It came yesterday from Shayna Goldman at the Atlantic, highlighting possible destinations for the Bruins captain. There's the intangible, "Pest-y" stuff that's become an ongoing myth for Marchand that floats around the different corners of the hockey Internet. Exhibit A:
There's also an on-ice logic to a deal like this. Since 2020-21, Marchand is behind only David Pastrnak on the team in every offensive category. Yes, he's in a down season by his standards (21 G, 26 A, -8). But it's not that dissimilar to what either Tomas Hertl or Pavel Dorofeyev have put so far this season; the latter of which presents the big question: are you willing to give up Dorofeyev for Marchand, which is probably what a hypothetical deal would look like? Personally, I wouldn't. But I'm not getting paid the big GM bucks. We'll see how it all pans out next week...
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