NHL Trade Buzz: Flyers likely to target goaltending

Welcome to the NHL Trade Buzz. There are eight days remaining until the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline (3 p.m. ET; Feb. 26). Are the Philadelphia Flyers in the market for goaltending? Would the Vancouver Canucks trade defenseman Chris Tanev? And with the return of Nathan MacKinnon, what does that mean for the Colorado Avalanche before the deadline?
Here's a look around the League at the latest deadline doings:

Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers are squarely in the market for a goaltender with the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline rapidly approaching after Michal Neuvirth
left the game
against the New York Rangers on Sunday with a lower-body injury.
Starting goalie Brian Elliott is sidelined 5-6 weeks after core muscle surgery. And depending on how severe the injury is to Neuvirth, it could put significant pressure the Flyers to make a trade with eight days remaining.
Goalies Robin Lehner (Buffalo Sabres) and Petr Mrazek (Detroit Red Wings) are available, and there is also interest in veteran Jimmy Howard. The Red Wings
offered Mrazek to the Flyers
for a third-round draft pick and the Flyers declined, according to the Detroit Free Press, but that might look better to the Flyers today in light of the injuries to Elliott and Neuvirth.
Other options on the goalie market could be Aaron Dell (San Jose Sharks) and Jon Gillies (Calgary Flames).
The Flyers are third in the Metropolitan Division with 70 points, two behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, with a game in hand after a 7-4 win against the Rangers. They have three games remaining before the trade deadline.

Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev is drawing some interest with little more than a week remaining until the deadline, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
"He's hurt right now, which could potentially complicate matters, but what I've been told is that the Canucks have told teams -- including, I believe, Toronto -- 'if you're serious, it's going to take a special offer to do this,'" Friedman said during the Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday.
"I think the Canucks realize still that even though they are rebuilding, you want to give your young players a chance. And you've got to be serious, really serious, if you want to get Tanev out [of Vancouver]."
Multiple teams are looking for defenseman on the trade market, including all three teams leading the Atlantic Division, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. Mike Green (Red Wings) is one of the more sought-after defensemen during a season when he made the 2018 NHL All-Star Game.
Tanev, 28, is on injured reserve with a small fracture in his leg. He wouldn't be a rental, unlike Green, because he has two more seasons remaining on his contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent. The right-shot defenseman has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 38 games. He has been injury-prone over his NHL career, but could be an asset as a defensive-minded defenseman and on the penalty kill.
The Canucks have some skilled pieces, especially with the emergence of forward Brock Boeser this season, and they are looking toward the future. The question is whether Tanev is more of an asset to that future or as a trade chip.

Colorado Avalanche

Though not a deadline acquisition, the return of forward Nathan MacKinnon against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; ALT, SNW, NHL.TV) will give the Colorado Avalanche a better sense of where they are and what they might do before the deadline.
Since MacKinnon (upper body) was injured, the Avalanche have gone 4-4-0 and are sit three points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs the Western Conference with one game in hand.
The Avalanche have been a surprising contender in the Western Conference. With the return of MacKinnon, they have their full lineup intact for the first time since Dec. 23, with the exception of goalie Jonathan Bernier, who is going through concussion protocol after he was injured in a 6-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.
After missing eight games, MacKinnon has fallen back in the points race, where he ranked second at the time of his injury. He's tied for 16th in the NHL with Taylor Hall (61 points; 24 goals, 37 assists).
"You get your best player back, it's positive, no question," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "He drives our offense in a lot of ways, 5-on-5, power play. We need him back, but we can't just rely on Nate. It's not just going to magically turn around here in our favor just because he's back in our lineup."
But having MacKinnon back will no doubt make things interesting for the Avalanche in their four games remaining before the deadline.
With 66 points, the Avalanche have already surpassed their 48-point total from the 2016-17 season.

Calgary Flames

The Calgary Flames already made one move ahead of the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline, signing center Mikael Backlund
to a six-year contract extension
with an average annual value of $5.35 million on Friday.
It not only provides cost certainty for the Flames going forward, but helps them determine their approach to the Trade Deadline.
"It makes a big difference," Flames general manager Brad Treliving said. "It allows you to be able to say, 'Okay, what holes do you want to address,' and it gives you a financial picture of your team and we all hear the same reports, the expectation the cap's going to rise, but when you can have cost-certainty at the top end of your roster it allows you some flexibility and takes a little bit of the guesswork out in situations where you want to add or change. It's helpful."
The Flames sit just outside of a playoff spot, one point behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Western Division of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They have slipped a bit of late, going 5-5-0 in their past 10 games.
That would indicate they could use a boost heading into the final two months of the season.
"I know everybody gets juiced up going into the deadline, but our biggest question was Mikael," Treliving said. "That's our biggest piece of business coming up to the deadline. You never want to get into a situation where players leave and you get nothing in return. Getting that done was important.
"Now you say, 'Okay, we've got some pieces where they fit - can we add to it? Can we add to the group? And at a price that makes sense?' As you build your team, your object is to keep your good players and add to them. When you get into a situation where you lose those players, now you're trying to replace them before adding to them. It makes the team-building portion harder. It's a big piece of work for a number of reasons, out of the way, and now we can look to see what we may be able to do to ourselves here in the next week to help us."
Calgary has five games remaining before the deadline, starting with a big matchup with the Boston Bruins on Monday (4 p.m. ET; NHLN-US, SNW, NESN, NHL.TV). The Bruins beat the Flames on Tuesday, 5-2.
For now, that's the most important thing, Treliving said. They can't slip any further back, especially with a number of teams bunched around that second wild card spot.
"If we can add to it, and something that makes sense not just from a rental basis," Treliving said. "The deadline is the last time to add to your team. You look and see if there's a way to help us, we'll do it. We've looked at a bunch of different scenarios and how do we be creative with it.
There's one area, according to Treliving, where the Flames could use some help.
"If we can add some more scoring, that's something to look at," he said. "The encouraging thing is we're growing our own depth right now. I think we're building our own depth. Now, is it NHL experience depth? No. We're also going to get a couple guys back here before too long. I kind of like where we are depth wise. If we can help ourselves a little, in whatever capacity, we'd look at it."