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What We Learned: Will any big names actually get traded this week?

Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports
NHL

Think of the big names you would like to see traded at the deadline. Like, the ones you would say are actually, truly big.

Jakob ChychrunTomas HertlJohn KlingbergMarc-André FleuryClaude Giroux.

Wow, it sure would be exciting to see any of those players go to a contender. But the problem is, it doesn’t seem like any of them are going to be moved. (And that doesn’t count Joe Pavelski, who looked like he might be moved for a little while but then re-signed with Dallas instead.)

Chychrun left Saturday night’s game in Boston with an injury after a hit from Derek Forbort. The Arizona Coyotes are hopeful he’s day-to-day but with the deadline now just a week away, whether he is able to be moved is up in the air — especially because such a trade has occasionally felt like more of an at-the-draft thing.

Hertl doesn’t seem like he’s going to be moved because the Sharks are, for some reason, intent on re-signing him despite clearly heading for the ditch and already having too many big long-term contracts for players in their mid-30s on the books. Object lesson in not-learning your lesson? Well, you could say that but then again they might choose to hold onto him beyond the deadline in hopes of signing him — much like the Nashville Predators probably will with Filip Forsberg, given its position in the playoff race — but then lose him this summer for nothing. Which, honestly, would probably be a better move for them.

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