Mailbag: Chances of Klingberg trade by Maple Leafs; Wild must overcome slow start

Here is the Nov. 21 edition of the weekly NHL.com mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on X. Send your questions to @drosennhl and @NHLdotcom and tag it with #OvertheBoards.

Think John Klingberg has trade value even if the Maple Leafs ate half his cap hit? When is Adam Fox scheduled to be back playing? Who is the leading Norris Trophy candidate or is it too early yet to say? -- @mbbrennan

I'll take these one at a time:

There can be no speculation on Klingberg being traded until the Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman gets healthy. He's not right now. Klingberg practiced Saturday in Sweden but came off the ice before it was over and did not play in Toronto's 3-2 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday. Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said there is concern that the still undisclosed injury that is limiting Klingberg could linger longer than expected. If it does, it'll call into question how long Klingberg will be out, if long-term injured reserve is in his future, and even if his season could be in jeopardy. That's taking it maybe two or three steps too far given what we know now, but trading him is not an option until we know more about his health, and when or if he will be playing again this season. If he can, the Maple Leafs will want Klingberg to find his game and make an impact. They signed him to a one-year, $4.15 million contract to help their power play and contribute from the back end. It hasn't happened yet. If his health is compromised it may never happen, but trading him isn’t an option.

As for Fox, the New York Rangers defenseman is still on LTIR with a lower-body injury he sustained against the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 2. He's not eligible to be activated until Nov. 29, when the Rangers host the Detroit Red Wings. He has to miss 10 games and 24 days while on LTIR. But there was positive news on Sunday, when Fox practiced with the team for the first time since sustaining his injury. He was wearing a red non-contract jersey. He had been skating on his own. Rangers coach Peter Laviolette hasn't provided a timeline update on when Fox could be back, but if he's practicing with them 10 days before he's eligible to come off LTIR, then there's a good chance that Nov. 29 game looks promising provided he has no setbacks. We likely won't know for another week.

Quinn Hughes is my favorite at this point for the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman this season. It's enough that Hughes leads the League lead in scoring with 30 points (eight goals, 22 assists), but his play with and without the puck has been equally impressive. He defends by getting the puck back and pushing offense. The best defense is, after all, a good offense. I'm not by any means suggesting Hughes isn't a good stick-on-puck defender in the defensive zone -- he is. But he doesn't have to do it a lot because he's excellent at getting the puck and spending a good portion of each shift pushing the Canucks forward rather than just defending. And his shot, which he worked on a lot during the offseason, is much better too.

Play hockey God and tell me if there’s a team flying too high at the moment and who will fall to earth like Ikarus. Conversely, is there a team doing poorly at the moment who will rise from the ashes like Phoenix? -- @ TrishTheMiddle

The Philadelphia Flyers have won five in a row and they're dangerous, but it wasn't long ago when they were muddling through a rough patch after a strong start. They were 4-2-1 through seven games, then went 1-5-0 in their next six. And they've won five straight since becoming the first team to lose to the San Jose Sharks this season, 2-1 at SAP Center on Nov. 7. I think it's going to be like this all the way through the season for the Flyers. They'll have stretches where they look like a playoff team, like the one they're currently in. They'll have stretches where they look like a rebuilding team, like the one they went through before going to Southern California after losing in San Jose. They're right smack in the middle, which in most cases is not where you want to be. For Philadelphia, though, it's a good spot this season. The Flyera are a hard team to play against and they are getting contributions from players who might have a long future in Philadelphia like Owen Tippett, Bobby Brink, Cam York and Sean Walker. They're better with Cam Atkinson and Sean Couturier back; both missed last season with injuries. Travis Konecny, Joel Farabee and Travis Sanheim are proving reliable again, and Carter Hart is showing that maybe he truly is the goalie of the present and future for the Flyers. I don't think they'll crash and burn like Ikarus, but they'll probably run hot and cold all season because consistency is hard to come by and Philadelphia isn’t quite there yet.

Conversely, I'm 100 percent convinced the Carolina Hurricanes will find their consistently high level of play, which has eluded them this season. Coach Rod Brind'Amour and captain Jordan Staal spoke about it after a 3-1 loss to the Flyers on Nov. 15. They responded with a 4-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. "I loved our game," is what Brind'Amour said when it was over. That should tell you something. He's brutally honest in his assessments of the Hurricanes’ play and if Brind'Amour loved what he saw, that's a great sign for his team. They're 10-7-0, including 7-3-0 in their past 10, so it's not exactly like they're middling, but the Hurricanes expect better. There have been too many defensive breakdowns this season. That will change. This is a veteran team that knows its identity. The Hurricanes know what it looks and feels like when they're on their game. Their structure and pressure suffocates opponents. When it's leaky, it's obvious. I firmly believe Carolina will find its consistency and challenge for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

At what point does Craig Leipold begin wondering if he was right to fully trust Bill Guerin on the buyout decisions and are we at that point? -- @nashman92

That doesn't matter anymore. The Minnesota Wild can't take back the buyouts of Zach Parise's and Ryan Suter's contracts. They knew what they were doing when they did it on July 13, 2021, and they knew the dead money on their salary cap, more than $14.7 million this season and next after approximately $12.7 million last season, would be an issue they would have to encounter. All that matters for Leipold, the owner of the Wild, is if he trusts Guerin to continue to make decisions as Minnesota's general manager, a position he has held since Aug. 21, 2019. I've heard nothing to the contrary at this point to suggest Leipold doesn't trust Guerin. And why wouldn't he? The Wild have been a playoff team for four straight seasons. You could argue they should be better than they have been this season, just 5-8-4 after losing both games they played in Stockholm at the 2023 NHL Global Series Sweden presented by Fastenal, 2-1 in a shootout to the Ottawa Senators and 4-3 in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They've lost five in a row (0-3-2). They have trailed going into the third period in 11 of their 17 games (2-7-2). Unlike the Flyers, who I said in an above answer should be OK with being a middle-of-the-pack team this season because that's a step in the right direction, the Wild should not be OK with being a middling team this season because it's a step in the wrong direction.

Minnesota is still lacking a No. 1 center. That's been the one issue Guerin has not been able to solve. The Wild have talent on the wings, and Joel Eriksson Ek is a strong two-way middle-six center. Marco Rossi is probably best suited now for where he is positioned as the No. 2 center, but Ryan Hartman isn't a No. 1. He can play the position and he's solid, but a No. 1 he is not. But with so much dead money on their cap the Wild can't afford a No. 1 center, who don't exactly become available all the time either. It's irrelevant anyway because that dead money from the Parise and Suter buyouts is real, and the Wild have to live with it. They figured out how to become a playoff team in spite of it last season. They did it by defending well and getting excellent goaltending. Both have been issues this season. That's what they have to fix.

What are the odds Juuse Saros is dealt before the trade deadline? -- @GopredsnhlSeth

Somebody will have to explain to me why this is even a topic of discussion? Or is it? Because it's not one I talk about or hear talked about much. The idea of the Nashville Predators even exploring trade talk with Saros, their No. 1 goalie, is somewhere between ridiculous and ludicrous (Spaceballs reference). He's a franchise goalie. He's signed through next season at a very reasonable $5 million average annual value. The Predators are not in a salary cap bind. They have cap space. They have draft picks; nine in the first four rounds of the 2024 NHL Draft, three first-round picks in the next two drafts. Saros is 28 years old. He played his 300th game Monday, so he has plenty of more mileage left before he's even close to being on the back nine of his career. Saros is Nashville’s best player and most important player. The Predators will likely try to re-sign him July 1 or after. That is 100 percent what they should be doing. Yes, they have Yaroslav Askarov and he may one day be a No. 1 goalie in the NHL, but he's 21 years old and he's not even in the NHL, so trading Saros because you have him is nonsensical.