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Sports Editor: Tom Dunford

Email: tdunford@umassd.edu 

The goal at the beginning of every season is to win a Stanley Cup, but of course, only one team can hoist that 34.5-pound silver trophy at the end of the year. 

For some teams, that chance becomes slimmer and slimmer each passing game, and for others, it feels like they are close but need that little extra depth or star power to push through. 

So, without further ado, here are three teams that should be selling at the deadline and three who should be buying.

Sell: Calgary Flames

This core is the most consistent in terms of inconsistency. 

Sitting with a record of 30-25-5, the Calgary Flames epitomize doing less with more. Key players like Noah Hanafin, Jacob Markstrom, Nazem Kadri, and Jonathan Huberdeau have been hot and cold throughout the sixty-game stretch. With players on expiring contracts, the time to get anything is now. 

If the Flames are smart, they’ll look to ship off some of these contracts for future draft picks and young talent. 

Buy: Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are in a weird position, and they’ve seemingly been in it all season. 

After starting the season 20-5-6, the Kings lost eight games in a row, not acquiring their first win in 2024 until January 15th, three weeks into the new year. Since then, they’ve fought mightily and sit in the first wild card spot with a record of 31-19-10.

With that said, they need to add more offensive scoring. After throwing major assets for the NHL’s most incomplete athlete, Pierre-Luc Dubois, the Kings have failed to surround him with any offensive talent. 

A few names come to mind, but the Kings should mainly be focusing on acquiring disgruntled Penguins star Jake Guentzle. Sliding him next to PLD and Anze Kopitar could elevate this Kings squad and push them over the edge. 

Sell: Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators are once again in the basement. 

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who has watched this team play over the season, but for the people who would rather spend their time not getting a headache, let’s just say this team is nowhere near contention.

On paper, they have a phenomenal team. Top talents like Brady Tkachuck, Claude Giroux, Jake Sanderson, and Thomas Chabot are rounding out a scary team. On paper. On the ice, this team doesn’t seem to have an identity. In one game, they want to play defensively; in another game, they want to play aggressively, and then, the next, they forget that the game even started until the third period. 

The Senators have too much talent to tank, and if they want to get a high draft pick, shedding off that talent for futures is a necessity. 

Buy: Boston Bruins

Hey Boston, you awake?

It’s okay to forget how to win a game in regulation or close out a game in general. It’s fine, really. But if you are going to choke consistently, please, for the love of everyone in Massachusetts, do it before the playoffs.

This team is…well, that’s the major problem. We don’t know what this team is. Every year, top analysts rank Boston as a cup favorite, and every year they fall off a cliff. Maybe it’s goaltending, maybe it’s the lack of scoring depth, or maybe you break a bunch of all-time records just to lose in the first round to an eighth seed. 

But one thing is for sure: Boston needs to find its game. They are not in a position to succeed despite maintaining the best goaltending duo in the league, Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, guarding the cage. The team has struggled, the depth has vanished, and star players have been inconsistent all year. This core needs to make moves, and they need to make moves now. 

Sell: Anaheim Ducks 

If you removed the last five years, Anaheim Ducks fans wouldn’t notice anything different. There have been no signs of progress, no worthy talent to build around, no defensive structure, and an aging goaltender who has seemingly wasted his career. 

Anaheim is like Wild E. Coyote, and the rest of the NHL is the roadrunner. No matter what they try, they can’t seem to catch up to the rest of the league, and time is ticking for some of the veterans on this squad. 

Anaheim could get some worthy draft capital for players like Adam Henrique and Frank Vatrano, but that isn’t the main concern. We know they will trade these players and acquire a ton of draft capital. Now, the question remains: What will they do with it? 

Buy: Tampa Bay Lightning

It’s complicated to discredit a Lightning squad that managed to make it to the Stanley Cup finals just two seasons ago, but time only moves forward, never back.

Tampa Bay is like Joey Tribbiana from Friends. At first, he consistently manages to steal the spotlight in each and every scene. But as the show progressed, he stayed the same, and soon, it felt like he was edged out from the rest of the cast. That has been the story of the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

Teams have figured out this talented squad. Star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has been abysmal this season, and it feels like no matter what they do, nothing changes. With long-time captain Steven Stamkos in the last year of his contract, the time to win is now. 

Tampa will be able to hold its own for the rest of the season, but come playoff time; they will need that extra piece to awaken that sleeping giant the rest of the league has seen them be.