Trade Bait board undergoes upheaval a month away from deadline

The TSN Trade Bait List has undergone a major upheaval exactly one month from the March 7 deadline.

New to the top 10 are Pittsburgh right winger Rickard Rakell (No. 2), Vancouver left defenceman Carson Soucy (No. 3), Chicago right defenceman Seth Jones (No. 7), Utah centre Nick Bjugstad (No. 8) and St. Louis centre Brayden Schenn (No. 10).

Rakell, Soucy and Schenn are brand new to the Trade Bait Board. Jones and Bjugstad moved up the list into the top 10.

New York Islanders’ centre Brock Nelson replaces J.T. Miller at No. 1 in the wake of Miller’s seismic trade to the Rangers. Nelson moves up from No. 2.

Nelson, a career Islander, has had three 30-goal seasons and is an impending UFA.

The shiniest additions to the Trade Bait Board are Rakell, on pace for a career-high 36 goals, and Schenn, a Stanley Cup winner with nearly 1,000 regular-season games of experience.

“Some believe that there's potential of Schenn being traded by the Blues,” TSN’s Darren Dreger reported on Insider Trading. “He is their captain. He does have a full no-trade clause, so it is a complicated process. But we also know Doug Armstrong, the general manager, how aggressive he can be, and the Blues are underachieving right now.

“So yes, the top contenders looking at the market, looking for a centre, are interested, and that would include the Toronto Maple Leafs. The return would have to be mammoth. Is there a team that is willing to pay it? It's too soon to say, but I do believe the Blues are at least testing or gauging the market to see what that level of interest is.”

Schenn, 33, is under contract for three more years at $6.5-million cap hit.

The NHL upper payroll limit is set to rise $25.5 million over the next three seasons – from $88 million in 2024-25 to $113.5 million in 2027-28.

Six players from our last Trade Bait list, posted Jan. 24, were traded over the last two weeks: Miller, No. 5 left defenceman Marcus Pettersson (Vancouver), No. 16 winger Drew O’Connor (Vancouver), No. 19 right defenceman Cody Ceci (Dallas), No. 25 centre Mikael Granlund (Dallas) and No. 30 left winger Taylor Hall (Carolina).

The most important player to move was Colorado superstar right winger Mikko Rantanen to Carolina (along with Hall) for Martin Necas.

Rantanen has one goal and one assist in six games. Carolina is 2-3-1 with him in the lineup.

Meanwhile, Necas has eight points in seven games with Colorado – including two goals in a win over Calgary on Thursday. Necas and NHL scoring leader and longtime Rantanen linemate Nathan MacKinnon have combined on six goals.

Conspicuous by his absence from today’s list is Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson, whose rift with Miller meant one of them had to go. They were co-No. 1’s on the first list. He fell to No. 10 on the Jan. 24 list and is now not among the Top 30.

Age as of March 7, 2025 / Contract status beyond 2024-25

Trade Bait - February 7