NHL Trade Buzz: Surging Penguins trying to make more moves

Welcome to the NHL Trade Buzz. There are five days remaining until the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline (3 p.m. ET; Feb. 26). Will the two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins add another piece or two? Will the Toronto Maple Leafs keep James van Riemsdyk? Will the Nashville Predators be able to add the leading scorer at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics?
Here's a look around the League at the latest deadline doings:

Pittsburgh Penguins

Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford acquired center Riley Sheahan from the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 21 and got defenseman Jamie Oleksiak from the Dallas Stars on Dec. 19. He told The Athletic on Tuesday he tried to do something else but couldn't make it work. He will keep trying.
"It depends on what's available, what the prices are, if we can find another team that wants to make something happen," Rutherford said. "A deal that we make this week or by Monday may not be the impact deal we might have made in December, but we're still talking to people to see what possibilities are there."
Rutherford might not need an impact deal, though, just a piece like a third- or fourth-line center.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions look like themselves again. They have gone 15-3-1 since Jan. 5, best in the NHL in that period in point percentage (.815). They're 35-22-4, one point behind the Washington Capitals for first in the Metropolitan Division.

Toronto Maple Leafs

It will be an easy decision for Maple Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello to keep forward James van Riemsdyk even though he's a pending unrestricted free agent, right?
He has 25 goals, second on the team to center Auston Matthews' 27. The Maple Leafs (37-20-5) are third in the Atlantic Division, 21 points ahead of the fourth-place Florida Panthers and all but assured of a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I don't think anything is an easy decision," coach Mike Babcock said after van Riemsdyk scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win against the Florida Panthers at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday. "We've talked about this a bunch: You always have this plan, but your plan can always change.
"It depends on what people want. There's lots of times you're going through and not planning on doing anything, and you end up doing something. We don't really know, in the end, what's available and what we could pursue, either.
"The way I look at it is, instead of worrying about that stuff, you just keep playing good and give ourselves the best opportunity. Then, whatever is best for our team, Lou will do."

If that goes for van Riemsdyk, the same is likely true for Toronto's other pending UFAs: forwards Tyler Bozak, Leo Komarov and Dominic Moore, and defenseman Roman Polak.
"What we want to do is, we want to try to improve our team with an eye on improving it this year but also not hurting it for the next two or three years," Babcock said.

Nashville Predators

The Predators expect to add the leading scorer of the men's tournament at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics for the stretch run and the Stanley Cup Playoffs without giving up an asset.
Forward Eeli Tolvanen, selected by Nashville in the first round (No. 30) of the 2017 NHL Draft, had nine points (three goals, six assists) in five games for Finland, which was eliminated with a 1-0 loss to Canada in the quarterfinals Wednesday. No one else in the tournament has more than seven points entering the semifinals.
The 18-year-old will return to Jokerit of the Kontinental Hockey League, with whom he has 34 points (17 goals, 17 assists) in 47 games. The Predators plan to sign him after Jokerit's season ends. The KHL playoffs start March 3 with eight best-of-7 series; Jokerit is third in the league with 100 points. Depending on how well Jokerit fares in the postseason, Tolvanen could be signed as early as mid-March or as late as early May.
"That's the plan," assistant general manager Paul Fenton told The Athletic on Wednesday. "Funnier things have happened. I don't want to say 100 percent. I never do that in our business. Yes, our plan is to have him."
The Predators (36-14-9), first in the Central Division, one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights for first in the Western Conference, already are adding another piece without giving up an asset.
Former captain Mike Fisher, 37, is coming out of retirement to play third- or fourth-line center. Fisher told The Athletic he plans to sign Sunday or Monday, depending on what GM David Poile does leading up to the deadline.

Buffalo Sabres

Forward Evander Kane knows he likely will be traded before the deadline. He's a pending unrestricted free agent who can score, with 39 points (19 goals, 20 assists) in 60 games, and the Sabres (17-32-11) are last in the Eastern Conference.
He joked Wednesday that he was constantly refreshing his social media feeds. He might not be checking to that extent, but he's aware of the chatter and, more importantly, in touch with his agent.
"Obviously your agent knows what's being talked about and what's been said," Kane said, according to the Buffalo News. "It's a little tougher when it comes to a trade, especially at the trade deadline, because there's so many different things that can happen. It's a little different from free agency, per se, where you have pretty much all the control.
"I have a feel of what teams might be interested and what teams aren't interested, but I really have no idea. I'm going to find out just like you guys do."
Kane said he didn't pack more than usual for a two-game trip to play the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, MSG-B, NHL.TV) and the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
"Once the move is made, then we can reflect for that day," Kane said. "But [until] then, I've got a job to do."

Ottawa Senators

The Senators know the deal. They're 21-28-9 and 14 points out of the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. With the trade deadline approaching, the players know changes are coming.
"Part of this business is knowing when you have a season like we do that sometimes changes are made," forward Mike Hoffman said. "Us as players understand that. You try to block it out as much as you can and focus on your on-ice performance, but at the end of the day, a bunch of friends, family and stuff ask questions. 'Are you getting traded? Are you going here or there?'"
Hoffman has been the subject of a lot of chatter.
"The toughest points are once the rumors first come out," he said. "Then everybody starts talking about it. The last week or so before the deadline is usually when things do happen. But it's part of the game, part of hockey. If we didn't want to take part in situations like this, we could've picked a different business to go into."

Defenseman Cody Ceci has been trying to stay off social media.
"If it happens, it happens," he said. "If not, great. I love being in Ottawa, and I love playing for Ottawa."

Washington Capitals

Coach Barry Trotz wants plenty of depth on defense as his team tries to hold onto first place in the Metropolitan Division and prepare for the playoffs, so for the second time in three days the Capitals added a defenseman, acquiring 26-year-old rookie Jakub Jerabek
in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens
. They gave up a fifth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
Jerabek, a native of the Czech Republish playing his first season in North America, has four points (one goal, three assists) in 25 games with Montreal. The trade came shortly after Washington lost defenseman Taylor Chorney to the Columbus Blue Jackets on waivers.
On Monday, the Capitals acquired defenseman Michal Kempny from the Chicago Blackhawks for a third-round choice in the 2018 NHL Draft.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues need a spark offensively.
They're 0-3-1 in their past four, their longest losing streak of the season, and in danger of falling out of a playoff spot. The Blues (34-23-4) hold the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference but are one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks, three ahead of the Calgary Flames and four ahead of the Colorado Avalanche.
Though they've been guilty of defensive lapses, their biggest issue has been scoring. They've averaged 31.8 shots per game but just 1.75 goals during their four-game losing streak. They've averaged 33.2 shots per game this season, eighth in the NHL, but are 20th in scoring at 2.79 goals per game.
Several scorers could be available, but general manager Doug Armstrong seems unlikely to pay a high price for one.
"We're not a top two or three [team] in the NHL now," Armstrong told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Feb. 18. "I don't think any one player takes a team that's in the top 10 and pushes them to No. 1. I don't know if that makes any sense to you."