4. Mason McTavish
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks are no stranger to youth-for-youth trades. We just mentioned the Gauthier-for-Drysdale deal from last season. Why not try that again, but adding another right-handed defenseman to grow this team?
There have been rumors this season that the Ducks would be open to a trade for Mason McTavish. He has just 18 points in 38 games this season. It’s not nearly something to go home about, especially for a player who went third overall, one pick before the Devils selected Luke Hughes. Now, they are in a place where they have to figure out how to find the best value out of him.
But he did have 42 points in 64 games last season. It looked like he was going to get better this season, and the breakout was coming. He went in the other direction. Now, the Ducks are worried that his development might be coming close to a bad spot.
The big question here is if the Ducks would have to add something to McTavish, and that is probably what is going to make this trade impossible. There’s no way that Pat Verbeek wants to even come close to losing a McTavish trade after he reached for him at third overall. Drysdale was a different story because Verbeek didn’t draft him. While he did sign him to an extension, that’s much different than drafting the guy when others are available.