Which team needs to make the biggest trade-deadline splash?

The March 21 NHL trade deadline is less than two weeks away now, and Frank Seravalli’s trade targets list remains dotted with high-impact players.

Plenty of Stanley Cup contenders will make pitches on the top available assets in the days to come, but some teams are under more pressure than others to aggressively pursue upgrades.

Which team needs a big splash the most? The inaugural Daily Faceoff Roundtable tackles the topic.

FRANK SERAVALLI: The Florida Panthers are one piece away on the blue line. They are an authentic Stanley Cup contender in a wide-open Eastern Conference. The beauty of their back end is that they could add a left-shot or right-shot defenseman – they both work. If it’s a lefty, they have the option of moving MacKenzie Weegar back to his natural side on the second pair with Gustav Forsling and put the new guy with Aaron Ekblad. If it’s a righty, then they can slot him in on the second pair with Forsling. Either way, the win is in bumping down Radko Gudas, an ideal third-pairing guy. In a year where just about everything has gone right in Florida, there is no guarantee that happens next season – with Jonathan Huberdeau in the last year of his deal, Aleksander Barkov’s somewhat wonky back and some dead cap money on the books. Time to go for it.

SCOTT BURNSIDE: The Minnesota Wild. The Wild are deep, gritty and have tons of cap space. They also have a full complement of draft picks, and while GM Bill Guerin needs to be cautious with sending too many assets out the door as they are about to enter a period of salary-cap hell as a result of buying out Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, this is the perfect storm scenario for Guerin to make a big add, perhaps a Claude Giroux to bring some gravitas to the top-six forward group. 

CHRIS GEAR: The Pittsburgh Penguins have kept pace with the league’s top contenders all season, and a Sidney Crosby-led team is always a threat come playoff time. With solid goaltending from Tristan Jarry and a team that battles every night, GM Ron Hextall has to be thinking his veteran trio of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang deserve some additional firepower to take another title shot before their games succumb to Father Time. The return of Teddy Blueger and Jason Zucker from injury might be the deadline adds the Pens need, but with Evan Rodrigues and Kasperi Kapanen struggling to be the answer on the second line, another top-six winger to play with Malkin should be a priority. That plus an upgrade at the backup goaltending spot would go a long way toward giving Pittsburgh a solid chance to emerge from a tough Eastern Conference.  

MIKE MCKENNA: No team in the NHL needs a major trade more than the Toronto Maple Leafs. Goaltending has been under fire recently, and for good reason, but they need help on defense just as much. I think the compete level of Toronto’s back end hasn’t been high enough all season. And now that Jake Muzzin is out indefinitely with a concussion, the need is amplified. The Leafs recently allowed an embarrassing 12 goals against combined to the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres. That’s unacceptable for a team with the firepower to contend for the Stanley Cup. Jack Campbell hid a lot of the team’s defensive shortcomings for the first half of the season, but reality has set in. He’s struggling, and Petr Mrazek hasn’t been any better. The Leafs need help in the crease and on the blue line.

MATT LARKIN: The New York Rangers. Part of the reason Igor Shesterkin is poised to make a run at the Hart Trophy, not just the Vezina Trophy, is that he’s bailed out a team that consistently gives up too many high-quality chances. Only one team allows more 5-on-5 scoring chances per 60 than the Rangers. Getting a middle-six center with strong two-way acumen could help a lot. If we’re blue-skying it? Tomas Hertl would be a dream No. 2 pivot behind Mika Zibanejad in Manhattan, but GM Chris Drury would have to pony up a good young asset such as defenseman Nils Lundkvist and a lot more to make that happen. It’s likely disgruntled right winger Vitali Kravtsov gets thrown in as a cherry on top of any major trade package.