Ranking the Biggest Trade Targets After the 2024 NHL Draft  (2024)

While the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft was a relative snooze fest in terms of trades, day two of the draft produced significantly more deals including a few surprises (Mikhail Sergachev, for example).

Even with those moves there are still a lot potential trades that could still be made at some point this offseason.

Perhaps even before the start of Monday's free-agent signing period.

So let's take a look at a few of the biggest potential trade targets that are still available at the conclusion of the 2024 NHL Draft.

Technically speaking Laine is not yet eligible to be traded until he leaves the player assistance program, but all indications are that will happen very soon. When it does happen, it seems inevitable that both Laine and the Blue Jackets will be seeking a fresh start and that a trade is going to happen.

It would be a worthy gamble for any team in need of additional goal-scoring.

Especially if the Blue Jackets eat some of Laine's remaining $8.7 million cap hit for the duration of his contract.

While his team in Columbus has not gone smoothly, Laine is still at an age (26) where he should still have some high-level hockey ahead of him. While he has his flaws on the ice away from the puck, he can still be an electrifying goal-scorer with an elite shot. Even during his down years in Columbus he still scored at close to a 30-goal pace per 82 games.

He will still have a value, and a lot of it if a team can put him into the right spot.

In a perfect world, the Jets probably not be looking to trade McGroarty, their first-round pick from the 2022 NHL Draft. He remains a very good prospect and should have a future as an NHL player.

But he apparently does not see eye-to-eye with the Jets organization on what is best for his development, and he does not seem likely to sign with the team. That creates the possibility -- if not likelihood -- of a trade.

He should draw plenty of interest.

McGroarty is coming off a huge year at the University of Michigan that saw him score 16 goals with 52 total points.

Any team in need of adding to its farm system or finding cheap talent that is close to the NHL should be knocking on the Jets' door trying to get him.

The Senators have an overflow of players on the left side of their defense, and Chychrun seems to be the most likely to be dealt given the fact he is entering the final year of his contract and is a pending unrestricted free agent.

Chychrun is not only a good player and a legitimate top-four defenseman, but he is also coming off an outstanding year that saw him score 14 goals and stay healthy for all of it (a big problem earlier in his career) while he was still on a very team-friendly contract ($4.5 million against the salary cap) for this season.

In the short term, he would be a tremendous addition to any team looking to upgrade its defense, especially offensively.

The only downside is that his pending UFA status after the 2024-25 season means he is going to either be in line for a big raise, or be just a one-year solution.

When the Predators decided to commit to veteran goalie Juuse Saros on a long-term contract extension, it rocketed Askarov up the trade board rankings.

He is close to being NHL-ready, he is one of the top goalie prospects in the league, and perhaps just as importantly (and perhaps more importantly) he would be extremely cheap against the salary cap for the next couple of years.

If he gets an opportunity at the NHL level and plays up to his potential he would have a chance to be one of the most valuable commodities in the NHL -- a starting goalie, and maybe a high-level starting goalie, on an entry-level contract.

There are only a small handful of teams in the league (Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, or any of the other small number of teams comfortably set in goal) that should not be calling Nashville and trying to get him.

Necas has been a big name on the trade rumor mill since the Hurricanes' season ended He is a pending restricted free agent and would reportedly like a fresh start and a new role.

Even though his production took a step backward in 2023-24, going from 71 points down to 56 points, he is still a very good top-six winger in the prime years of his career.

All of that is going to make it so that he is not cheap to acquire, whether it be in terms of trade assets (Carolina has undoubtedly set a high price on him) or salary (having to re-sign him as an RFA).

He would be an ideal fit for pretty much any team, but especially a team going through a rebuild and looking to add young talent for a breakthrough. Montreal comes to mind immediately, as does Utah.

Contenders with salary cap space could also be an option. The Nashville Predators have the cap space to pay him, and the Tampa Bay Lightning shed a ton of money during the draft by moving out Mikhail Sergachev and Tanner Jeannot.

There is no more fascinating team in the NHL this offseason than the Toronto Maple Leafs, and all eyes are going to be on them to see what they do in response to their latest postseason disappointment.

If they were ever going to trade a key member of their core, this would seem to be the offseason where it would happen.

If it does happen, Marner seems like the most likely member of that core to go given his pending status as an unrestricted free agent after this season.

Trading Marner is not going to be easy, however.

He not only counts more than $10 million against the salary cap this season, but he is also going to be due another major contract after this season and has trade protections in his contract that give him a lot of say in where he goes.

Toronto is not going to want to give him away given his talent and production, but it is also long past time for the Maple Leafs to make a change to a core group that has proven time and time again it is not good enough to win in the playoffs.

Players this good and at this age do not often come available in the trade market. That does create a rare opportunity for a team to land a star still in the prime of their career. It is just a matter if they can make the salary cap work, give Toronto the required assets and convince Marner to approve a trade there.