NHL Rumors: Top Trade Bait Board with notes on Ben Chiarot and Anton Khudobin

Trade bait board

TSN: Top 10 NHL trade bait board.

1. Ben Chiarot – LD – Montreal Canadiens – UFA with a $3.5 million cap hit.

2. Anton Khudobin – G – Dallas Stars – One year left at $3.33 million cap hit.

3. Jake DeBrusk – LW – Boston Bruins – RFA – with a $3.675 million cap hit.

4. Mark Giordano – LD – Seattle Kraken – UFA with a $6.75 million cap hit.

5. Tomas Hertl – C – San Jose Sharks – UFA with a $5.625 million cap hit.

6. Nick Leddy – LD – Detroit Red Wings – UFA with a $5.5 million cap hit

7. Vitali Kravtsov – RW – New York Rangers – RFA with a $925,000 cap hit.

8. Kevin Fiala – RW – Minnesota Wild – RFA with a $5.1 million cap hit.

9. Phil Kessel – RW – Arizona Coyotes – UFA with a $6.8 million cap hit.

10. Evander Kane – LW – San Jose Sharks – Three years at a $7 million cap hit.

TSN: Chris Johnston on Ben Chiarot being the top player on the TSN trade bait board and why he’s expected to draw a lot of trade interest.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

“Well, let’s call this as it is. We are proposturely early on this because it’s not as though Ben Chiarot is being traded in the coming week or so. But, as we get closer to that trade deadline, he is going to be a very valuable commodity for the Montreal Canadiens.

And, you know this is a season that has gone off the rails for them. You’ve got the new management coming in for them to change things, and when you have someone with the playoff experience of Ben Chiarot, and I think a key part of this in talking to some other teams around the league is that, it’s not yet clear what other defensemen might be available at this deadline.

Josh Manson, Hampus Lindholm in Anaheim are both unrestricted free agents but the Ducks have been one of the early surpises of this season. So, maybe they won’t be a sellers mode as it gets towards March.

So, you look at David Savard last year got a first and a third-round pick for Columbus when they traded him as a rental to Tampa at the deadline. I think that that’s the kind of return Montreal can expect to get with Ben Chiarot.”

Sportsnet: Jeff Marek on the weekend on the Dallas Stars goaltending situation and Anton Khudobin.

“Dallas Stars, now they have their goaltending tandem, Jake Oettinger, Braden Holtby, they’ve been fantastic. Dallas has won six in a row. One of the best teams in the NHL. They have started to test the market and see what they can get for Anton Khudobin.

I know they’ve spoke to at least one team last week, and that team is the Buffalo Sabres.”

** NHLRumors.com transcription