NHL Trade Rumors: 3 Teams Expected to Make Multiple Trades This Summer

The NHL's silly season is upon us. With the Conference Finals underway, there's already been a couple of eye-opening trades, one between the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning which included Ryan McDonagh, and another between the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Islanders, which included several draft picks being swapped.

There's a ton of speculation brewing that the trade market this summer is going to be white hot. This may include a few starting goaltenders changing teams, which is something that's become rare in the offseason trade market. 

Regardless of who stays and who goes, here's three teams expected to be among the most active on the trade market this summer:

Nashville Predators

All the talk after the McDonagh trade is the fact the Predators enter the offseason with $26 million in cap space and Juuse Saros, who is a prime trade candidate. Nashville surprised everyone including themselves this past season with becoming a playoff team and now Barry Trotz is tasked with navigating the new direction. They need help up front and are looking for a top-line forward and are expected to be including Saros in trade discussions. The Preds has top prospect Yaroslav Askarov who is ready for full-time NHL minutes so it would make sense to capitalize on Saros' trade value having one year left on his deal at just $5 million and without any trade protection on his contract.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Simply put, there isn't enough money to go around at the moment. After acquiring McDonagh and his $6.75 million AAV for the next two seasons, Tampa enters this offseason with just over $5 million in cap space. Steven Stamkos needs a new extension and won't be interested taking that much of a pay cut. The Bolts also have Anthony Duclair who is a pending free agent and several defensemen who are due a new contract including Matt Dumba. Something has to give in Tampa Bay and expect to see a couple of draft-day deals in place and don't be surprised if Lightning GM Julien BriseBois makes another move in May. 

Pittsburgh Penguins

Kyle Dubas loves making draft-day deals, so fully expect to see a move or two announced by the Penguins next month. However, it digs deeper than that this summer in Pittsburgh. The Pens underperformed last season and missed the playoffs again and Dubas is going to have to pivot quickly to get his roster back on track. Look for the Pens GM to make another offseason trade or two, much like we saw in his first summer as GM and expect to hear names like Marcus Pettersson, Tristan Jarry, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust involved in discussions. There's little doubt the Penguins are getting another facelift in the near future.

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