30 NHL stars who could be traded this offseason

26. Frank Vatrano, Anaheim Ducks

Here’s another name that was all over the trade rumors during the NHL Trade Deadline. Teams like the New York Rangers were tied to him for weeks, but nothing ever came from it. The word on the street was Anaheim Ducks GM Pat Verbeek put a massive bounty on his players in trade talks. That tracks since the only player he really traded was Adam Henrique, who is now playing in the Stanley Cup Final with the Oilers. They also traded Ilya Lyubushkin, another player in the final year of his contract.

Meanwhile, they still employ Vatrano, who still holds a ton of value as a middle-six forward who could be a playoff-type player (there’s that term again). After everyone we’ve talked about on this list, we’ll let you guess how many years Vatrano has on his contract. (It’s one year.)

There will be plenty of teams trying to get the price down on the Ducks this offseason. It seems likely that Vatrano is traded. At least, he should be traded. His style of hockey at 30 years old doesn’t fit with the current Ducks roster. However, we don’t see Verbeek dropping his price. So, he might be left holding onto Vatrano until the deadline when he thinks he can finally get the price he desires. 

Vatrano does have a very affordable contract and the playstyle teams want. So, maybe a deal does get done with a team that thinks Vatrano is exactly what they need moving forward.