The National Hockey League's Trade Deadline is on Monday, April 12 and teams will be making decisions on whether to buy or sell and decide which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Check out the latest trade rumours and speculation from around the NHL beat.


Ready for Action?

The Philadelphia Flyers are chasing the Boston Bruins for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division and general manager Chuck Fletcher said Wednesday he's ready to make moves to improve their chances.

Fletcher made it clear that the Flyers are not planning to be sellers and said he's been aggressive in his phone calls, though talk around the league has been quiet.

"We're certainly not looking at selling right now," Fletcher said, per NHL.com. "I would say to you in my calls with managers around the league, first of all, I've received very few calls. It's been really quiet in terms of receiving calls.

"I've made many. I've been much more aggressive, I think, than a lot of people, just looking at different options. But there doesn't seem to be a lot of teams out there willing to take on dollars and term at this point in time. There seems to be more teams looking to move some pieces than take on pieces for various reasons."

The Flyers enter play Thursday sitting two points back of the Bruins, who have three games in hand. Philadelphia, currently in the midst of a three-game winless skid, has been outscored 55-36 in the month of March, including a 9-0 loss to the New York Rangers last week.

Fletcher pointed to the defence corps as a reason for the team's struggles, stating he expects to address the blueline moving forward.

"I think the makeup of our group probably is not right," Fletcher said of the Flyers defence. "I think that's a fair comment. I think we do need to address that going forward to get the right mix, and certainly some of our young players need to continue to take steps.

"I think our back end, like the rest of our team, needs to get better."

The Flyers currently have $1.45 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly.
 


Trade Bait

All eyes are on the Nashville Predators ahead of the trade deadline, with Mattias Ekholm and Michael Granlund occupying two of the top three spots on the updated TSN Trade Bait board. 

TSN Senior Hockey Reporter Frank Seravalli broke down the updated board on Thursday, noting that the Toronto Maple Leafs interest in Granlund may drop if the Predators don't lower their asking price.

Seravalli added that the Winnipeg Jets are looking to upgrade their blueline, with Ekholm and David Savard, listed at No. 2 on the Trade Bait Board, as potential options.

See the full updated Trade Bait Board here.


Stay or Go?

Ryan Dzingel is the lone Ottawa Senators player on the TSN Trade Bait board, listed at No. 11, but Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia writes "it’s doubtful he’ll get moved."

Instead, among the nine pending unrestricted free agents on the Senators, Garrioch points to defenceman Mike Reilly as a player who could draw interest from contenders.

Garrioch believes the Senators will offer Reilly a short-term deal before the deadline and would like to keep him if they can keep his cap hit at the right price. The 27-year-old carries a $1.5 million cap hit this season. 

“I’m sure there will be some talks here at some point and we’ll see what that leads to,” Reilly said, per the Ottawa Sun. “As long as I’m here, I’m going to play as hard as I can for this team and let that take care of itself.”

In 33 games this season, Reilly has 14 assists while averaging 18:28 of ice time.