3 NHL Teams That Are Selling, But Not Rebuilding

There is a clear line of NHL teams in a playoff spot this season that have separated themselves from wildcard teams and teams fighting for a playoff spot. The top three teams in each division as well as the Colorado Avalanche are a step ahead of the rest of the teams.

Even if certain teams are right in the playoff race but don't think it's their year, they seem to be shopping players and making moves. These are three teams that are selling, but not rebuilding, rather resetting for next season.

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers fell apart earlier in the season when there was a lot of noise in the dressing room. A handful of key players have been traded and the team looks different. With Ryan Lindgren just being moved to the Colorado Avalanche and Reilly Smith being held out ahead of the deadline, the Rangers are absolutely sellers.

I like what they have done, moving on from some UFAs and banking on the talent they can trust. They have a more veteran core and have to still try to compete while the majority of them are still around. Especially with the addition of J.T. Miller and the extension of Igor Shesterkin, the Rangers will be back next season and are still in the hunt this season being four points out of the second wildcard spot with one game in hand.

St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues have been very active this year. They started it off by offer sheeting Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, which has worked out very well for them. Then they acquired Cam Fowler earlier in the season. At this point, being only one point out of the second wildcard spot in the West with four teams fighting for that one spot, the Blues appear like they still want to shuffle things around.

There are some very talented young players on the team and about to break in, so it is likely a player like Brayden Schenn, who has been in rumors, will be moved to free up cap space and open up a spot. It was just reported that everyone except for Robert Thomas is available for the right price. While this doesn't mean many of the players will be moved, there is only one untouchable in any negotiations for whatever the Blues' GM is cooking up.

Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens are the only team that is actually coming out of a rebuild and are close. They have a talented group of players and a lot of young talent, some that are about to arrive. They have now won four games in a row and are three points out of a playoff spot, but players like Jake Evans, Joel Armia, and David Savard are still hot in the rumor mill, Evans especially.

Even if the Canadiens sneak into the playoffs, they have to go through a gauntlet to go on any sort of run. I don't think they are there yet and the core is going to stay through the trade deadline this season anyways. Montreal should be moving some of their pending UFAs to real contenders for more assets and the team will definitely still be trying to win and get into the postseason.