Some people are forgetting that this will be a very different team the day after the deadline and that’s going to have a significant impact on the standings. They could very well trade 3 veteran forwards and one veteran defender. Two ufas from one of the best 4th lines in the league, their best faceoff man (Dvorak) and at least one veteran defenceman (I don’t see both Savard and Matheson going). It’s unlikely that they’ll get players who will have immediate impacts in return, and please don’t try to tell me that guys from Laval are ready to replace any of these players because they aren’t.
They might climb high enough to compete for a spot, but they won’t hang onto it when they lose all these guys.
Realistically, it will depends on what they could get for these players.
From the start, I will take Evans out of the equation because I'm positive they will want to extend him.
Dvorak they will get a 3rd or a 4th round pick at best.
Savard at his full cap hit will probably get you a 3rd.
Armia is the one with the most value at the deadline. Maybe we can get a late 1st if we use the last retaining spot on him.
So imo, if you are in the mix for a playoffs spot, you don't mess with this by trading Savard and Dvorak for meh picks that we already have a lot of. So I think the only player that may be traded is Armia if we can get a 1st at the deadline.