Rickard Rakell – Anaheim Ducks
Rakell is by far the best player on this list, as he’s only two years removed from back-to-back 30 goal campaigns. Like Marcus Sorensen though, his production fell off alongside his team’s decline. While it may not appear to make sense for Ottawa to target a 27-year old who’ll be a UFA in two years, there’s a stronger case for this type of move than one may think.
Unlike Ottawa, the Ducks are in the early stages of their rebuild. They do have some good prospects and will be picking 6th in the 2020 draft, put compared to the deep prospect cupboard in Ottawa, the Ducks have a ways to go. A player like Rakell may be exactly the type of player Ottawa may want to target as a rental in a couple of years if they manage to come out of this rebuild as a contender, so if he’s available now they could bring him in a year early to allow him to settle into his role with the team and hit the ground running if and when the team is good again.
Rakell wouldn’t come cheap, with the Islanders pick likely being the starting point with a good prospect possibly thrown in as well, but an established top 6 player like Rakell could prove to be invaluable on a team full of potential and question marks.