All of the sportsbooks in New York have the Rangers ranked as a top-eight team, and there should be a ton of player movement over the next 11 days as the trading deadline nears. The NHL typically is hyperactive around the deadline, especially compared to the other three major US sports. Yes, even the NBA, where Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving can be dealt out of Brooklyn just days apart.

Last year, there were 28 deals made on trade deadline day, March 21, and another 15 in the preceding three days. It is a good bet that the company providing cellular service to NHL general managers will have a strong billing cycle by the time this year’s deals have all gone down.

The Boston Bruins (42-8-5) are the class of the league, and there are 13 Eastern Conference teams and 10 Western Conference teams with winning records. Perennial major market contenders the Montreal Canadiens, the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Chicago Blackhawks are all far out of the running, and that should create fire sale conditions by the March 3 trade deadline. The Toronto Maple Leafs gave up three draft picks and two top prospects in acquiring Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues. Could this guy be plucked out of the Windy City? 

With a 27-32 record, the Lakers are five games under .500 and currently in 13th place in the Western Conference standings. If the season ended today, the Lakers would miss the Western Conference Play-In Tournament.

The Play-In Tournament includes teams that finish in seventh place through tenth place in each conference. The Lakers are only two games behind the tenth-place Oklahoma City Thunder, and just three games behind the New Orleans Pelicans in seventh place.

However, the Lakers are still in the thick of the playoff hunt. But it’ll be a frantic fight in the last quarter of the season. Ten teams in the middle of the Western Conference standings are only separated by five games.

The Lakers acquired several new players after trading point guard Russell Westbrook to the Utah Jazz in a three-team trade that also involved the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers added three new starters, including point guard D’Angelo Russell, shooting guard Malik Beasley, and power forward Jared Vanderbilt. They also 토토사이트추천 acquired forward Rui Hachimura and center Mo Bomba before the trade deadline.