NHL agent makes 3 bold trade predictions for this season.

No one could have predicted how the National Hockey League's flat salary cap, a cap all but imposed on the league's owners by the ongoing pandemic, would impact the league going forward, but we are already seeing the ramifications. The NHL's free agency has grinded to a complete standstill in spite of the fact that there are teams who clearly must make moves before the start of the 2021 NHL season, and it sounds like there are NHL agents who believe there will be even more ramifications down the line.

NHL insider Craig Custance recently polled 21 NHL agents, under the condition of anonymity, to get their thoughts on what the future may hold for the NHL. One of the most interesting questions he put to those agents was on the subject of high profile players being traded within the next year. Patrik Laine, Jack Eichel, and Mitch Marner topped the list in terms of the players who were named the most often by those agents in the survey, but the answer given by one agent in particular indicated that we may be in store for some big time changes down the line. That agent eventually settled on Jack Eichel as his pick, but his statement indicated that he believes there will be at least 3 big trades in the coming year.

"Jonathan Quick comes to mind. Taylor Hall comes to mind," said the agent. "Taylor Hall or Jack Eichel will be out of Buffalo. I think Aaron Ekblad will be out of Florida and Max Pacioretty will be out of Vegas. Potentially Johnny Gaudreau based on how Calgary does. I’ll take Jack Eichel"

You'll notice that in the case of Eichel and Hall in Buffalo he says one of those players 'will' be out of Buffalo and the same is true of Max Pacioretty and the Las Vegas Golden Knights. He adds a caveat in the case of Aaron Ekblad but once again we are talking some very strong language here from this agent. That's before we even get to Jonathan Quick and Johnny Gaudreau who he also indicates could be dealt within the coming year. 

Given the situations involving Hall, Eichel, Gaudreau and possibly even Ekblad I would suspect that those moves would come later in the season, if at all. As for Jonathan Quick and Max Pacioretty however I could see a world in which the Los Angeles Kings, who are not competing anytime soon, and the Las Vegas Golden Knights, who could still use some flexibility under the cap, make their rumored moves a little sooner.