NHL Scoring-Seekers Should Make A Trade Offer For Ducks' Frank Vatrano

Anaheim Ducks right winger Frank Vatrano is creating a robust trade market for his services while the team continues to sit near the bottom.

With three goals and four points in his last three games – and with six goals and 12 points in 22 games this year – the 30-year-old Vatrano is on pace to put up 21 goals and 44 points this season. It would be his third 40-point campaign in a row, and he hot a career-high 37 goals and 60 points last season. There will definitely be teams interested in acquiring him.

Part of why teams should watch Vatrano is his status as a pure rental.

Vatrano will be a UFA at the end of this season, and his salary cap hit of $3.65 million makes him a cost-effective asset for teams that don't want to or can't break the bank on trade acquisitions. Teams looking for instant offense should be sniffing around the Ducks and asking Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek what it would take to land Vatrano in a trade.

To that end, we can't see Verbeek asking for a boatload of draft picks or prospects in exchange for Vatrano. It would be a different story if Vatrano were locked in at his current salary for two or three years following this season. But given Vatrano's pending UFA status, Verbeek can't demand the sun, moon and stars for Vatrano.

As it stands, Vatrano is currently playing on Anaheim's second line. He's averaging 17:34 of ice time – down from 18:21 in 82 games last season – and while it's unlikely he'll match last season's scoring, Vatrano can still be a solid veteran fit on a playoff-bound team.

And sure, the Ducks are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and have 59 games to make up the five-point gap between them and the second wild-card spot, but their .500 points percentage is still not playoff-level. They're likely to stay around where they are in the standings, at 25th overall.

With that said, if you're a GM looking for veteran know-how and solid finishing skills in a player, you could do a lot worse than trading for Vatrano. And it would behoove you to act sooner rather than later before Verbeek creates a bigger trade market for Vatrano.

Many GMs follow the example of longtime GM Jim Rutherford, who always moved quickly to acquire players he targeted as good fits for his team. Waiting until the March 7 NHL trade deadline will only ratchet up the asking price for Vatrano, so it's better to act sooner and trade for him before another team scoops him up and lands him for assets you probably could've offered up much earlier in the season.

Vatrano is one of those experienced hands who can thrive on a team that doesn't require him to do all the heavy lifting himself. If, say, the New York Rangers (which traded for him in March 2022 and had him for 22 games), the New York Islanders or Vatrano's first team, the Boston Bruins, were to bring him in, Vatrano could generate more than enough offense to justify the price it would take to acquire him.

So, NHL GMs, Vatrano is out there for the taking. You can sit back and watch, or you can get off your chair and make Verbeek an offer he can't refuse right now. There's no need for a bidding war if you act quickly.

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