1 trade every NHL team should make

Here is one trade that each NHL team should make during the 2016-17 season.

Whether your favorite NHL team is a contender or a pretender, each team should be active at the trade deadline. It doesn’t matter if teams are buying or selling, the trade deadline is a great opportunity for teams to load up for a Stanley Cup run or make their future better. There are even some trades that would immediately benefit both teams involved.

Some of these moves might seem a little ridiculous. For one reason or another, there’s a small chance some of these trades would be made. However, they should be taken seriously. A huge motivator for most of these trades is the upcoming expansion draft. Teams can’t protect all of their players, so they must trade some or risk losing them for nothing.

There are even some trades that could change the entire landscape of the league. Much like the Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson and the Shea Weber for P.K. Subban trades, these moves would affect just about every team in some way shape or form. Last year was relatively quiet around the trade deadline. However, this year it shouldn’t be, in large part due to the expansion draft.

The slowly rising salary cap will, as always, be an incentive for some of these trades. It’s better to lose a very good player for something than lose them for nothing, no matter if you’re a contender or a seller. Even though it’s a relatively weak free agency class, that shouldn’t hurt the trade deadline action much.

Most of these trades are quite simple. They’re done to provide help to an area of need, usually courtesy of trading from an area of surplus. These trades might not happen, but here’s one trade each NHL team should make.