NHL Power Rankings: Where each team stands with trade season approaching

One look at the pieces in play and it’s easy to get excited about the 2022-23 trade season.

With the March 3 deadline now less than two months away, it’s officially time to start dreaming about who could be moved where. Guys on the market include a centre on a 62-goal pace, a defencemen with two Norris Trophies having his best year ever and a guy so accomplished he’d be the first player with multiple titles and a Hart Trophy on his resume to be dealt since Peter Forsberg in 2007.

But it’s not just the possibility of Bo Horvat, Erik Karlsson and Patrick Kane being moved that’s adding so much spice to the equation. With the defending-champion Colorado Avalanche currently in a playoff battle and Tampa Bay — which has made three straight finals — having played so much second-season hockey since 2020, there has to be a sense the 2023 Cup is a true jump ball.

You’ve got great teams like the Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs desperate to prove they’re more than regular-season winners; you’ve got the Rangers gunning for their first Cup in nearly 30 years, to say nothing of recent champs like the Penguins and Capitals looking for one more dance in the sun.

In the West, you’ve got teams like Dallas, Vegas and Winnipeg with a clear path to the No. 1 seed. Hey, if you still ultimately have to go through the Avs, you might as well do all you can to have Game 7 in your building. Los Angeles — also in the top-seed mix — is trying to prove last year’s surprise playoff showing was no mirage; Seattle can announce its arrival with a post-season berth and the Alberta teams are in a dogfight just to make sure they grab a playoff spot when missing in either city is just not an option.

Yes, we have go-for-it teams every year, but this season we are especially loaded with clubs incentivized to do some shopping. And, to be sure, there are some wonderful players on the shelves.

Oh yeah; and if you’re at the other end of the spectrum and thinking about selling, what more motivation do you need than watching Connor Bedard at the World Junior Championship?

With all that in mind, this week’s power rankings examine where all 32 squads stand as we enter one of the most fun times of the hockey calendar.

1. Boston Bruins (29-4-4) There are no gaping holes on this stellar outfit, but given the age of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, you wonder if there might even be a long-term fit with Horvat in the mold of what the B’s did with Hampus Lindholm — who signed an eight-year extension to stay — last year at the deadline.

2. Carolina Hurricanes (25-7-6) Max Pacioretty will come into the fold off IR at some point, but Kane would provide such an offensive jolt to this team that’s had troubles scoring when it needs it most in the past few playoffs.

3. Toronto Maple Leafs (23-8-7) It’s an all-in year for the Leafs. Every avenue to explore acquiring a game-changer will be explored.

4. Tampa Bay Lighting (24-12-1) Blake Coleman; Barclay Goodrow; David Savard; Nick Paul; Brandon Hagel: They’ve all been significant deadline additions for the Bolts in the past few years and you know Tampa will be looking to add again this time out, perhaps on the blue line.

5. Vegas Golden Knights (26-12-2) One year after missing the playoffs, you wonder if GM Kelly McCrimmon will go with a light touch here given how well things have gone.

6. Dallas Stars (23-11-6) It’s easy to forget this club is actually only a couple years removed from appearing in the Cup final. Jamie Benn’s resurgence has been huge, as has the emergence of youngster Wyatt Johnston, but Dallas could likely use some support for the sublime first line of Roope Hintz between Jason Robertson and Joe Pavelski.

7. Winnipeg Jets (24-13-1) Winnipeg was a seller last year, but has to be at least a soft buyer this time out. Don’t forget in-house addition Nikolaj Ehlers, who’s played just two games this year but should return from sports hernia surgery this month.

8. New York Rangers (21-12-6) Long linked to Kane, No. 88 would be a perfect fit in Madison Square Garden.

9. Minnesota Wild (22-13-2) The goalies have completely turned it around from the beginning of the season, when the crease was Minny’s Achilles’ heel. The Wild are still a bottom-half club in terms of goals-per-game and centre has been the hole on this club for a while.

10. New Jersey Devils (24-11-3) It’s a mug’s game assuming your time is coming down the road; sometimes it feels like championship windows close before they even really open in pro sports. That said, don’t the Devils just let it ride unless something completely falls into their lap?

11. Washington Capitals (21-13-6) John Carlson’s injury just before Christmas was obviously very tough all around. The Caps are likely just hoping he, Tom Wilson and Nick Backstrom are all back and hitting their stride for the stretch drive in March and April.

12. Los Angeles Kings (22-13-6) Pheonix Copley is doing the job right now, but you have to believe the Kings will kick tires on goalie help. L.A. has also long been connected to Chychrun.

13. New York Islanders (22-15-2) We thought this team might land a big fish in the summer and it didn’t happen. Could the Isles be a stealth big-game hunter leading up to the deadline?

14. Seattle Kraken (20-12-4) As desperately as Seattle would like to make the playoffs, it’s hard to imagine a second-year franchise going out and sacrificing real futures to win now. Can the Kraken nibble around the edges to find some blue line help or maybe even another tender?

15. Colorado Avalanche (19-14-3) The defending champs seem to be linked to every centre out there, from Horvat to Sean Monahan to Jonathan Toews.

16. Buffalo Sabres (19-15-2) Sometimes you add because you think you can win it all and sometimes you add because you haven’t made the playoffs in a decade and want to reward your current group of players and long-tortured fans. The way it is playing, Buffalo has to be examining ways to get the goals-against down and make a post-season push.

17. Pittsburgh Penguins (19-12-6) It’s been a real up-and-down year and the Pens are on another slide presently. Defencemen and support scoring have to be the targets, as the injuries pile up for this squad.

18. Calgary Flames (18-14-7) This team’s big moves came in the summer; the second half should be about letting the dust settle and hoping the real Jacob Markstrom shows up at the right time.

19. Edmonton Oilers (20-17-2) Will Jesse Puljujarvi’s time with the Oilers finally end in the next couple months? Can Edmonton land a steadying influence on the blue line?

20. Nashville Predators (16-14-6) Scoring, please. Unless the Preds promise to keep popping four goals per game like they have over their past seven outings.

21. Ottawa Senators (18-17-3) Ottawa has been after help on the blue line since the summer and likely before.

22. Detroit Red Wings (16-13-7) Realistically, Detroit is probably in a middle ground where, even if the Wings fall way back of the pace, selling sends the wrong message and buying doesn’t make any sense given how unlikely making the playoffs actually is.

23. St. Louis Blues (18-17-3) A suddenly riveting possible seller, wouldn’t it be something if 2019 Conn Smythe winner Ryan O’Reilly — or sniper Vladimir Tarasenko — were moved in advance of becoming UFAs in the summer? Both are injured, but should be back in February. Of course, the way the Blues’ year has gone they could be on a 10-game winning streak when those guys return.

24. Florida Panthers (17-18-4) Ugh. Florida is already living with the fact its 2023 unprotected first is in the hands of Montreal thanks to last year’s Ben Chiarot trade. Can the Cats really push in more chips to try and claw back into the playoff picture? It just might be on the players there to figure it out.

25. Philadelphia Flyers (14-17-7) It feels like pretty much everyone could be available for the right price. Certainly pending-UFA James van Riemsdyk will go; the real question, though, is how serious the Flyers will get about trading mid-20s guys like Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov.

26. Arizona Coyotes (13-18-5) The Chychrun situation has to resolve soon, for everyone’s sake. How many teams will make a play for goalie Karel Vejmelka?

27. Vancouver Canucks (16-18-3) This could get wild if the Canucks decide to really go after the best odds of drafting Bedard (who is a Vancouver boy, of course). We expect Horvat and Brock Boeser to go, but what about pending-UFA Andrei Kuzmenko and basically every member of the defence not named Quinn Hughes or the too-expensive Oliver Ekman-Larsson?

28. San Jose Sharks (12-20-7) There’s nothing easy about trading an $11.5-million defencemen with four years left on his deal, but Karlsson is on pace for 112 points. At some point, somebody has to find a way to make it happen.

29. Montreal Canadiens (15-20-3) Remember what Nick Bonino was to the Cup-winning Penguins teams five years ago? Sean Monahan can be that kind of third-line presence on a great team. We’ll see if anybody meets Montreal’s high asking price for battle-tested defenceman Joel Edmundson.

30. Columbus Blue Jackets (11-23-2) You can call about defenceman Vladislav Gavrikov, but Columbus is in no rush to move him and will be asking for more than you want to hear.

31. Anaheim Ducks (10-24-4) We all knew when John Klingberg inked a one-year deal it was likely he wouldn’t last the year in Anaheim. Even in a miserable season, you expect the six-foot-three, right-shot defenceman is going to attract significant interest.

32. Chicago Blackhawks (8-25-4) Should both Kane and Toews go, you know it’s going to be the kind of situation where, even though you expected it to happen, it will still be so odd to see them in different uniforms