Mailbag: Rangers could target Henrique, Vatrano ahead of Trade Deadline; Stars defense

Here is the Feb. 14 edition of the weekly NHL.com mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on X. Send your questions to @drosennhl and @NHLdotcom and tag it with #OvertheBoards.

Who is the top center option the Rangers will target now that Elias Lindholm is off the board? Do you think the Rangers can address both 3C and 1RW holes? -- @GabeML30

I talked about this on an episode of the "NHL @TheRink" podcast that came out last week, which discussed the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline on March 8. It may be a bit controversial because of the price, but I think there is an opportunity for the Rangers to get a third-line center and a right wing to play on their top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. I'm not alone in this and I'm not the first to address it either. The Rangers could trade their first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and forward Kaapo Kakko to the Anaheim Ducks for center Adam Henrique and right wing Frank Vatrano.

Let's be clear, I am not saying the Rangers want to do that or are even contemplating it. I'm also certain that will not be their first offer to the Ducks if they are at all interested in talking to them. They would prefer to keep their first-round pick and instead include their second-round pick in any trade package for a center and potentially a right wing too, but so far, a first-round pick has been the market for rental centers Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan.

A first for Henrique, arguably the No. 3 center on the trade board after Lindholm and Monahan, is a lot, but it becomes more palatable when you include Vatrano in the trade and factor in that the Rangers would have to get the Ducks to retain salary to make the cap logistics work. There is a cost associated with that. In addition, that first-round pick might not be a player for the Rangers for 2-3 years. Their window is open now. 

Vatrano is signed through next season, which gives the Rangers cost certainty with him for another season. That's why Kakko gets tossed in here. He's not a throw in, but he is a pending restricted free agent who has not delivered on the hype in New York. Kakko was the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft but has not grabbed hold of the bigger opportunities he has gotten. This season it was with Zibanejad and Kreider, but the fit wasn't quite there, which is why coach Peter Laviolette went back to Blake Wheeler. Kakko looks solid on the third line with Jonny Brodzinski and Will Cuylle, but he can't be looked at as a No. 2 pick in the draft anymore. He has played 271 NHL games and has 106 points (49 goals, 57 assists). He's a solid middle-six wing and that's the player the Rangers would be trading. He could blossom elsewhere, but it just doesn't feel like it's going to happen in New York.

Henrique fills the center position the Rangers need. He can win face-offs, play on their special teams as needed, control play and provide needed offense in the middle of their bottom-six forward group. Vatrano previously played well with Zibanejad and Kreider after the Rangers acquired him from the Florida Panthers before the deadline two seasons ago. The assumption here is that's where he would go if acquired by New York. Wheeler is in that spot now, but Vatrano, with his speed and shot, would be an upgrade. Wheeler could play on the third line with Henrique and Cuylle, or potentially in a fourth-line role with Barclay Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey.

People scoff at giving up first-round picks, but the risk is worth the potential reward when the Eastern Conference doesn't have a decided favorite and you're a first-place, win-now team like the Rangers. It's at least some food for thought.

Some other options include Alex Wennberg (Seattle Kraken), Tyler Johnson (Chicago Blackhawks) and Nic Dowd (Washington Capitals), who played for Laviolette in Washington. Though Scott Laughton (Philadelphia Flyers) is also attainable even though he is signed for two more seasons at $3 million annually, the Rangers are hoping Filip Chytil can play next season and may not be in the market for a center who has term remaining.

What is Dallas up to? -- @ibamboozle

The defense for the Dallas Stars is thinner than you'd like if you want to make a run at the Stanley Cup competing against other Central Division powers like the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets.

Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley are a legitimate top pair. Heiskanen is one of the best in the NHL and Harley has come so far this season to be a solid No. 2. There is size and physicality with Jani Hakanpää and Esa Lindell on the second pair. It thins on the third pair with Ryan Suter with either Joel Hanley or Nils Lundkvist.

Ideally, the Stars can get a big, physical, snarly right-handed shooting defenseman who they could pair with Heiskanen, giving coach Peter DeBoer the opportunity to play Harley with Hakanpaa and Suter with Lindell. That would be ideal for size, balance and depth. The perfect player for that spot would be Chris Tanev, but the Calgary Flames are likely holding out for a first-round pick that they probably will eventually get for the 34-year-old who is on an expiring contract. The question is are the Stars willing to pay at least that much when maybe they don't have to?

Flyers defensemen Sean Walker and Nick Seeler, who is a lefty, are other options. Ilya Lyubushkin of the Ducks and Joel Edmundson of the Washington Capitals, a lefty, are intriguing too. The Stars likely would be able to keep their first-round pick in a trade for any of them and that could be more enticing than, say, a first-round pick for Tanev.

Regardless of what they pay, defense is where their focus should be.

In your estimation which Buffalo Sabres players get a change of scenery from now to the trade deadline? Better yet, can Kevyn Adams pull the trigger on meaningful trades? -- @MrEd315

The Sabres traded Jack Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 4, 2021, for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a first-round pick and a second-round pick, so Adams can execute a meaningful trade. Before the 2024 deadline, though, it's less about executing a meaningful trade than it is about trading players on expiring contracts that do not have a future in Buffalo beyond this season. That list includes forwards Victor Olofsson, Zemgus Girgensons, Kyle Okposo and Eric Robinson, defenseman Erik Johnson and goalie Eric Comrie. With due respect to all of them, the Sabres are not a Stanley Cup Playoff team this season and if they can trade any or all of them for picks or prospects, they should do it. They won't get a major haul for any of the players mentioned above, but they'll get assets that can be packaged in future trades to make their team better for next season.

It's been a tough season for the Sabres based on high preseason expectations after they missed the playoffs last season by one point. They can't and shouldn't do another retool, but they can and should trade the players that have no future in Buffalo beyond this season.

Who's the hottest Swiss-born player at the moment, and which of their teams do you think has the best odds to advance as far as possible in the playoffs? -- @inoutthemoney

Roman Josi remains the standard bearer for all Switzerland-born players in the NHL, and I would assume the world. He is consistently excellent for the Nashville Predators and has been again this season with 49 points (11 goals, 38 assists) in 53 games. He plays nearly 25 minutes per game (24:54). The Predators have a chance to be a playoff team this season largely because of everything their captain does for them.

New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier, who played against Josi and the Predators on Tuesday, is a close second. The Selke Trophy goes to the best defensive forward in the NHL and Hischier will win that one day. He could win it multiple times. The door is open now that Patrice Bergeron is retired from the NHL. Timo Meier is having a down, injury-plagued season for the Devils, but he is probably the best pure goal-scorer among the nine from Switzerland who have played an NHL game this season.

But of the Switzerland-born players in the NHL, Nino Niederreiter (Jets) and Pius Suter (Vancouver Canucks) have the best chance to be on teams that do some serious damage in the playoffs. The Devils, who have four players from Switzerland including defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler and goalie Akira Schmid, are a bubble team that needs to make up some ground. The Predators are a bubble team too, but for as consistent as Josi has been, they have been as inconsistent as a team.

Kevin Fiala (43 points; 13 goals, 30 assists in 50 games) is second in scoring to Josi among Switzerland-born players this season, but the Los Angeles Kings have been the most inconsistent potential playoff team in the NHL, going 8-12-7 since they were 16-4-3 on Dec. 7.