NHL rumblings: Utah’s trade deadline plans, plus the latest on Ivan Provorov, Seth Jones and more

One of the trends so far this NHL season has been a slow-moving block of teams announcing themselves as sellers.

Which has been frustrating for the buyers.

“It’s still a sellers’ market out there today,” one NHL team executive told The Athletic on Tuesday.

“There’s not a big group of players available right now,” another said.

That’s just 10 days out from the deadline. There just aren’t as many sellers — not yet anyway — as in a normal year.

Utah Hockey Club is one example of why. They have no intention of being sellers if they can avoid it. They feel they’re still in the playoff race in the West, trying to chase down the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames for the last playoff spot.

“We’re right in the race,” Utah general manager Bill Armstrong told The Athletic. “We’re right in the hunt. It’s kind of where we thought we’d be, to be honest with you. It’s what we always talked about, playing meaningful games and pushing to see if we get into the playoffs.

“I like our team. I like our fight.”

So while the Utah Hockey Club has some intriguing pieces, such as pending unrestricted free agent center Nick Bjugstad — who I believe would interest the likes of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers, among other contenders — pending UFA forward Alex Kerfoot and pending UFA goalie Karel Vejmelka, for now the idea is to keep all hands on deck and stay in the race if possible.

There’s a couple of reasons for Utah being reticent to sell. One is that the former Arizona Coyotes have been stockpiling for years, and the last thing they truly need is more draft picks. Secondly, they’re in a new market making a splash and playing meaningful games as late as possible this season matters more than it would to other teams in the same standings situation.

“Absolutely,” Armstrong said. “We’ve had a million picks. We think we have five really good, high-end prospects in our organization. … We have a lot of room on the salary cap. We have a good team on the ice. And we’ve got a lot of good prospects coming. So for us, we do want to start building it in front of our fans and continue to take a step. And we do that with the guys that are fighting (for a playoff spot) right now.”

They took an important step toward that end last offseason when they traded for defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino and signed forward Kevin Stenlund, then earlier this season when they traded for Olli Määttä because of their blue-line injuries.

It’s been about adding, not subtracting, and they hope to stay in the race long enough to continue on that path. A 2-1 win over the Canucks on Sunday didn’t hurt — and featured a key positive element.

“Here we are in late February, and Sunday was our first night we had our whole team together,” Armstrong said, referring to long-term injuries to Marino and Sean Durzi, in particular, that the team was able to survive. “So there’s a little bit of an unknown, to some degree, to exactly how good we are.”

So the time is now to make hay.

“Right now, we like our group,” Armstrong said. “We’re going to see what we can do.”

In the meantime, obviously Armstrong will keep working the phones. Could there be a hockey deal out there that makes sense, not just for this season but beyond?

“It’s got to be something dynamic to add into your group for us to make moves,” he said. “Something dynamic that fits into our timeline.”

What’s that mean? Armstrong wouldn’t spell it out, but I think if there was a way to package some picks with a player or two from his current roster for something more “dynamic” — a real hockey deal — he looks at it.

Easier said than done, of course. Those are more summer-type deals, like with Sergachev and Marino.

On Vejmelka, meanwhile, there have been ongoing contract-extension talks. That’s another thing to watch.

“We continue to have a negotiation,” Armstrong said. “You do that with all your people you’re trying to sign. We’ve got a lot of time on the clock. It’s a healthy situation for us.”

Blue Jackets’ big decision

These next few games before the deadline are massive for the Columbus Blue Jackets as they decide what to do with top-four blueliner Ivan Provorov, the 28-year-old pending UFA who is second on the team in ice time at more than 23 minutes a night. The sides exchanged offers last month and weren’t close in their positions, and my understanding is they haven’t circled back yet.

The Blue Jackets are torn, to be sure. They’ve got a team that is legitimately in a playoff race, an incredible story given preseason tragedy. So on the one hand, if you’re GM Don Waddell you would hate to take away from the roster. But on the flip side, if Provorov remains unsigned, can you really let him walk out the door July 1 and get nothing in return? Is that good asset management for a team still building?

It’s really going to come down to how the team fares over the next 3-4 games before the deadline but also the quality of trade offers coming at Columbus. If there’s a first-round pick on the table, can you really pass that up? All around, a really tough call.

Ivan Provorov has been a good fit in Columbus, but can the Blue Jackets afford to walk him to free agency? (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

Kings’ deadline desire

The Los Angeles Kings are playing some of their best hockey of the season and should not be the forgotten team in that battle with the Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights for the Pacific Division title. They also don’t have a screaming, glaring hole to fit ahead of the March 7 trade deadline.

My understanding is they want to land a mid-range, top-nine forward who can add some offense — someone who can jump on a second line and chip in offensively.

Seth Jones trade scenarios

Agent Pat Brisson has been working behind the scenes with the Chicago Blackhawks for a few weeks now on Seth Jones trade scenarios.

I’ve chatted with a few teams who view the 30-year-old, right-shot defenseman as a second-pairing blue-liner at this point in his career, which obviously doesn’t justify his $9.5 million salary. But they still do see a good player who can play important minutes.

That contract has five years left after this one. So there’s no question in my mind if the Blackhawks are able to move Jones, it will require either retaining salary or taking back a bad contract. At $6 million or $6.5 million a year, I can see teams perking up. Retaining salary for that many years may seem somewhat onerous if you’re Chicago, but it would improve the actual return on the deal.

The Dallas Stars, according to league sources, would top the wish list for Jones — Dallas being his hometown. Would the Florida Panthers make sense given that Aaron Ekblad is a pending UFA who hasn’t been extended?

It goes without saying, though, that Jones may not end up getting dealt by the deadline given the contract complexities at play.

Seth Jones would be an attractive trade acquisition at a discounted cap hit. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

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Jake Evans watch

It’s status quo as of Tuesday morning on the Jake Evans contract front, which is to say, as I reported on Feb. 9, both sides remain far apart on an extension. This close to the deadline, that makes it more and more likely the pending UFA center gets dealt unless either the Canadiens or Evans’ camp have a change of heart in their positions.

At a $1.7 million cap hit, Evans should be sought after by contending teams with little or no cap room. And teams need not waste the Habs’ time. They’ve collected a lot of draft picks the past few years and are not inclined to move him for a middling pick. I think a second-rounder will be the floor.

But as colleague Arpon Basu has suggested, the idea of packaging Evans with fellow pending UFA and penalty-killing mate Joel Armia is an intriguing scenario if it means a better return. The Canadiens are indeed giving that concept some thought and have talked to some teams about it.

GO DEEPER

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Latest on Yanni Gourde

Pending UFA center Yanni Gourde had surgery for a sports hernia on Jan. 31, and at the time, the Kraken put his timeline for a recovery at five to seven weeks.

Five weeks puts him right at the March 7 trade deadline. He’s resumed skating, and obviously contenders are paying close attention to his recovery. I’m hearing Gourde hopes to come back and play March 4, right before the deadline. Whether he can remains to be seen. He’s got a modified no-trade clause, but I’m told the two-time Stanley Cup champion with Tampa Bay would welcome a trade to a contender.

I’ve always liked him as a possibility for Toronto if the Leafs strike out on centers higher on their list.

(Photo: Alex Goodlett / Getty Images)