NHL Trade Buzz: Flyers may try to add goaltender with Elliott out

Welcome to the NHL Trade Buzz. There are 13 days remaining until the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline (3 p.m. ET; Feb. 26). Are the New York Rangers really going to sell before the deadline? Here's a look around the League at the latest deadline doings:

Philadelphia Flyers

Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said he isn't ruling out trying to acquire a goaltender before the deadline now that he knows Brian Elliott will be out 5-6 weeks following surgery to repair a core muscle injury Tuesday.
Hextall, though, also expressed confidence in Michal Neuvirth, who will become the Flyers' No. 1 goalie, and said he likely wouldn't consider acquiring a goalie whose contract runs beyond this season.
"I can't say I'll go with the 23 guys on our roster right now," Hextall said before the Flyers played the New Jersey Devils in Philadelphia on Tuesday. "You don't know what's going to come up. I'll repeat what I always say, if we can make our team better at any position we'll look at it."
Five weeks from Tuesday is March 20, when the Flyers play at the Detroit Red Wings; they will have nine games remaining.
Hextall said for now the Flyers will give Neuvirth the opportunity to be the No. 1 and Alex Lyon, who was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Sunday, will be the backup.
Neuvirth was 7-7-2 with a 2.50 goals-against average and .917 save percentage this season before starting against the Devils. Lyon was 0-1-0 with a 3.93 GAA and .860 save percentage in three games with the Flyers and is 15-8-2 with a 2.83 GAA and .911 save percentage in 26 games with Lehigh Valley.
Philadelphia entered Tuesday in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 65 points, three more than the fourth-place Devils, four more than the fifth-place Carolina Hurricanes and five more than the sixth-place Columbus Blue Jackets.
"The deadline is two weeks away and I guess things can change between now and then, but we like our team and we like what we've done," Hextall said. "In saying that, we've got to keep going here, got to keep pushing. [Neuvirth] is very capable. He's played some real good games for us this year and some other ones that haven't been that great, but if he can get on a roll, get some consistency and do a good job for us we'll be fine."
Possible options for the Flyers outside the organization are Robin Lehner of the Buffalo Sabres and Petr Mrazek of the Red Wings. Each can become a restricted free agent after the season.
Sabres goalie Chad Johnson and Montreal Canadiens goalie Antti Niemi each can become an unrestricted free agent after the season.
Hextall also said Lehigh Valley goalie Dustin Tokarski is an option. Tokarski entered Tuesday 12-5-4 with a 3.09 GAA and .899 save percentage in 26 games. He is 10-12-5 with a a 2.84 GAA and .904 save percentage in 34 career NHL games.

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers sent a letter to fans last week saying they were turning the page on this season and will likely be selling at the deadline.
Minnesota Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, whose team plays the Rangers at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FSN+, MSG, NHL.TV) isn't completely buying that notion.
"If anybody's gonna take [New York] lightly, it's certainly not me. I think [general manager] Jeff Gorton is either a genius and knew that that was going to happen, or the players said … 'we're gonna show you that we don't need to abandon,'" Boudreau said Tuesday at the Wild's morning skate.
"Since that letter came out they've played awful good, and that's the team I expect to be playing tonight."
The Rangers are 2-0-0 since the letter came out; they defeated the Calgary Flames 4-3 at home on Friday and won 3-1 at the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.
New York (27-24-5) entered Tuesday two points out of the second wild card from the Eastern Conference but is 2-4-0 since the All-Star break and last in the Metropolitan Division.
The Rangers have four pending unrestricted free agents: forwards Rick Nash, Michael Grabner and David Desharnais, as well as defenseman Nick Holden.

Meanwhile, injuries to their defense continue to accumulate. The Rangers announced Monday that Steven Kampfer will miss 4-6 weeks with a broken hand. They were already without Ryan McDonagh (upper body), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery) and Marc Staal (cervical strain).
Beginning Tuesday, the Rangers play four games in six days; two (New York Islanders on Thursday, Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday) are against teams they are fighting for a playoff position.
It's unlikely they will change their mind about selling, but don't tell that to Boudreau.

Calgary Flames

Had goaltender Mike Smith's lower-body injury, sustained in the final seconds of a 3-2 win against the New York Islanders on Sunday, been more serious, the Flames might have had to ponder dipping into the trade waters to get a reinforcement in goal.
But coach Glen Gulutzan said Tuesday that Smith will miss the next two games and is day to day after that.
Smith, 35, has played 47 of the Flames' 56 games this season, and Calgary's hope was to give him some time off in the stretch run. The Flames (29-19-8) are third in the Pacific Division; they lead the Los Angeles Kings, who are out of a playoff position, by one point entering Tuesday.
That is where David Rittich, their 25-year-old backup, comes in.

Rittich is 5-1-2 with a 2.20 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in nine appearances this season.
The only reason the Flames could confidently avoid the secondary goaltending market was because they've developed enough faith that Rittich can come in and help win games during Smith's absence. Indeed, this has the side benefit of giving Smith a breather, something his competitiveness may not have allowed them to do.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Forward Tyler Bozak has become an expert at dealing with trade rumors leading up to the deadline.
This year is no different than any of the other times he's had to answer questions about his status.
Bozak, 31, is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He has 28 points (eight goals, 20 assists) in 57 games.
"I personally don't think about it," Bozak said Tuesday. "It's probably my sixth year of people saying I'm getting traded, but I don't really think about it too much.
"I never really have. I kind of just go out there and play and whatever happens, happens. It's out of your control. It's fun around here this time around and we're playing really good hockey, so it would be fun to be a part of that."
The Maple Leafs (34-19-5) have won eight of their past nine games, including four in a row. They are three points behind the second-place Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division.
"It doesn't matter what I say if they're going to listen to speculation," Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. "Most of it is speculation because the people who think they're in the know aren't in the know.
"The only people who are, are the general managers and the general managers don't know what's going to happen. You can speculate until you're blue in the face, but I've been through a ton of them and even when you think you know what's going on, you don't know what's going on. The reality is for these guys, just play hard. You play hard and you do a good job for yourself and the team, everything works out."
Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk, three years younger than Bozak, is in a similar situation; he's approaching unrestricted free agency. He's also taking a pragmatic view of the deadline and the potential for distractions. Van Riemsdyk has 35 points (23 goals, 12 assists) in 57 games.
"You've seen different trades over the years and you realize nobody's safe no matter what," he said. "With that in mind, it kind of eases your mind a little bit knowing that it's outside of your control.
"You just try to put your best foot forward every day and enjoy being around this group of guys that we have here."
He has come to realize there is little control when it comes to the process.
"You just keep showing up where they tell you to show up and put your best foot forward and go from there," he said. "That's kind of the approach I take on it."