Expected Goals, Actual Opinions: Thoughts on the NHL - 2030 Olympics + Mock Trades

Expected Goals, Actual Opinions: Thoughts on the NHL 
By: Alex Moretto, Director of Content at the Hammer Betting Network

1.) Everyone’s doing it, and I have had some notable disagreements with what I’ve seen out there. So here are my projected Team Canada and Team USA 2030 Olympic rosters:

TEAM CANADA 2030

Macklin Celebrini (23) – Connor McDavid (33) – Wyatt Johnston (26)
Connor Bedard (24) – Nathan MacKinnon (34) – Beckett Sennecke (24)
Gavin McKenna (22) – Adam Fantilli (25) – Seth Jarvis (28)
Brandon Hagel (31) – Nick Suzuki (30) – Mitch Marner (32)
Mason McTavish (27), Dylan Guenther (26)

First one out: Quinton Byfield (27)

Keep an eye on: Brady Martin (22)

My biggest takeaway is how impossible an exercise this was. There will be a lot of consensus out there among the 2030 mock teams, and I can pretty much guarantee we’ll look back on them in four years and see how wrong they all are. There are just so many variables among such a massive pool of players. How will veterans like Hagel, Marner, and Brayden Point look when their footspeed has slowed? It’s conceivable that none of them are there. There’s also a large group of guys you won’t see on anyone’s teams right now, but who certainly have the talent to be there in 2030 if they take the necessary steps; guys like Alexis Lafreniere, Ben Kindel, Dylan Holloway, Jack Quinn, Jake Neighbours, Kent Johnson, Logan Stankoven, Michael Misa, Porter Martone, Robert Thomas, Will Cuylle, Zachary Benson, and more. It’s a deep pool – the deepest in the world – and a lot can happen in four years.

Matthew Schaefer (22) – Cale Makar (31)
Thomas Harley (28) – Brandt Clarke (27)
Owen Power (27) – Evan Bouchard (29)
Sam Dickinson (23), Noah Dobson (30)

First one out: Denton Mateychuk (25)

Keep an eye on: Landon DuPont (20)

In looking through a lot of these projected 2030 rosters, it blew me away how universally underrated Clarke is. Barring injury, he’s a lock for me here and I think it’s only a matter of time before everyone catches on to how good he really is. I’m also not nearly as sold on Jakob Chychrun, who is on everyone’s team. He’s obviously good, but will be on the wrong side of 30 by then and has dealt with a wealth of injuries throughout his career. They have enough options on the left that I don’t expect him to be better at that age than Power and Dickinson. A lot of people seem to have written off Power due to his defensive struggles, but it takes time for these younger guys to fully develop that part of their game. Just look at where his teammate Rasmus Dahlin was at this age – people were calling him a bust. I have little doubt Power will get there sooner that later, and I love Dickinson. He’s got all the tools and, similar to Clarke, by 2030 I expect him to have properly announced himself to the hockey world. I’m taking him and his 6’3 frame over ageing veterans like Josh Morrissey, who missed the 4 Nations final because he was sick and then missed the bulk of the Olympics with an injury. Frankly, I don’t care to see Morrissey represent Canada again outside of the Worlds every May. Lastly, you’ll see projected 2026 top-3 pick Keaton Verhoeff on a lot of 2030 mock teams, but I’m a little bit more interested in Dupont for this exercise. He’s a year younger but has that tantalizing ceiling of a Matthew Schaefer that we’d need to see from either guy to force their way onto this team at such a young age.

Logan Thompson (31)
Jet Greaves (28)
Sebastian Cossa (27)

First one out: Mackenzie Blackwood (33)

Keep an eye on: Joel Hofer (29)

Goaltending isn’t going to magically become a strength for Canada in 2030, but I do have high hopes for both Greaves and Cossa. The latter a consensus top goaltending prospect and is putting up insane numbers in the AHL. He has a lot to prove between now and then, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we could even see him starting games for Canada in 2030 if he remains on this trajectory.

2.) TEAM USA 2030

Matthew Boldy (28) – Auston Matthews (32) – Jason Robertson (30)
Brady Tkachuk (30) – Jack Hughes (28) – Cole Caufield (28)
Matthew Tkachuk (32) – Jack Eichel (33) – Cutter Gauthier (26)
Matthew Knies (27) – Tage Thompson (32) – Ryan Leonard (25)
Will Smith (24), Frank Nazar (25)

First one out: Clayton Keller (31)

Keep an eye on: Josh Doan (28)

The talent pool isn’t as deep here there are less names that can break into this fold, but there’s still a fairly extensive list. I’m fascinated to see how things play out down the middle. Eichel and Matthews have both been plagued by back issues so there are legitimate questions as to how they age, which would open the door for guys like Smith and Nazar to move up the lineup, making room on the team for guys like Logan Cooley, Matty Beniers, and James Hagens.  

Jake Sanderson (27) – Brock Faber (27)
Quinn Hughes (30) – Charlie McAvoy (32)
Zach Werenski (32) – Adam Fox (31)
Lane Hutson (25), Jackson Lacombe (29)

First one out: Zeev Buium (24)

Keep an eye on: Chase Ried (22)

It’s tougher to fit the pieces together on the back end, where you want to avoid putting Hughes, Fox, or Hutson on a pair together. Conservatively, Hutson should comfortably be one of their best four defensemen by 2030, but the issue is their best players are all left-handed. For this exercise, I included him as an extra as I believe 2026 veterans would get the starting nod. Hutson could also be utilized on his off side, where he plays quite often for Montreal, in order to get him in the lineup. Buium has a great career ahead of him, but like Hutson in 2026, he’s left out here because there are too many stylistically similar guys ahead of him in the pecking order.

Jake Oettinger (31)
Spencer Knight (28)
Jeremy Swayman (31)

First one out: Dustin Wolf (28)

Keep an eye on: Jacob Fowler (24)

It may seem insane not to include Connor Hellebuyck here. His heroics in the 2026 Gold Medal Game are fresh in everyone’s mind, but he’ll be 36 by the time the next Olympics come around. He’s already played over 600 games and will be above 800 by 2030. When you look at where other greats (see: Carey Price, Henrik Lundqvist, Jonathan Quick) were at 36, it’s clear the Americans will have a wealth of better options, and I don’t see the point of including him as a favor seeing as he’s now already won a gold medal.

3.) With the trade deadline just 10 days away, over the next two weeks I’m going to drop some mock trades in here that I believe would make a lot of sense for the teams involved.

To TB: Blake Coleman (50% retention)
To CGY: Oliver Bjorkstrand, Maxwell Crozier, 2026 2nd, 2027 2nd

Coleman won back-to-back Cups with the Lightning in 2020 and 2021, is obviously loved by Jon Cooper, and fits the bill as the sort of player GM Julien BriseBois likes to acquire this time of year. With another year left on his deal, he’s not a pure rental. Tampa sends Bjorkstrand back to make the money work and pays a bigger price to get that 50% retention. Crozier looks like a good depth defenseman but is stuck behind a logjam on the Lightning blue line. He’s also from Calgary.

To MIN: Owen Tippett
To PHI: Jesper Wallstedt

This would finally solve the goaltending issues plaguing Philly for years, while giving the Wild a nice injection size and scoring up front. I’m sure Minnesota would prefer a center, but the emergence of Danila Yurov gives them a bit more flexibility. They could regret moving Wallstedt down the road, but he’s a luxury they don’t need right now given the Filip Gustavsson extension.

To CAR: Alex Tuch, Colton Ellis
To BUF: Jackson Blake, 2026 6th, 2027 3rd

This is probably the most unrealistic of the bunch as I’m not sure the Hurricanes care to move Blake, but Eric Tulsky isn’t afraid to take swings. They want to be a tougher team to face in the playoffs and Tuch does that. They also have the cap space to try and convince him to re-sign this summer. Trading Tuch in the midst of their first playoff push in ages isn’t ideal for the Sabres, but they’re still a very young team that should have eyes on the coming years here. Losing Tuch for nothing this summer is simply bad business, while adding Blake softens the blow and gives them a player with term to fit into their long-term plans.

To BOS: Nazem Kadri
To CGY: 2026 1st (BOS), Mason Lohrei, Fabian Lysell

I’m not sure if Kadri has the Bruins on his 13-team no-trade list, but it would be a lot of fun to see him head to the team he got suspended against twice in the playoffs while with Toronto. He really does feel like a “Bruins player” though, doesn’t he? With no retention, I think this package gets the job done for Calgary. Lohrei, who is under team control as an RFA at the end of his current contract in 2027, has been rumored to be on the block before, and makes a lot of sense here for a Flames team in need of lefties on the back end (Weegar, Whitecloud, Parekh, Pachal are all righties).

To OTT: Jordan Kyrou
To STL: Tyler Kleven, Jorian Donovan, 2027 1st, 2026 3rd

Ottawa has the space to pull this off, and definitely need more of a long-term answer on the wing – Claude Giroux and David Perron are both in their late 30s and pending UFAs. Kyrou is a very responsible player who would fit perfectly in Travis Green’s system. He’d look great on a line with Brady Tkachuk and Dylan Cozens, allowing Ridly Greig to slot down to the third line and provide more support for Shane Pinto.

To DET: Robert Thomas
To STL: Nate Danielson, Trey Augustine, 2026 1st, 2026 3rd

There might not be a team more desperate to make a splash at this deadline than the Wings, as they look to end a nine-year playoff drought. They also are one of the extremely equipped to do so, with a war chest of picks and prospects. St. Louis can pretty much name their package here. Augustine could be the heir to Jordan Binnington, forming a formidable tandem with Joel Hofer in the coming years. Whether they’d want to trade the Michigan-born goalie remains to be seen, but they don’t have room for both him and Sebastian Cossa. Danielson, the ninth-overall pick in 2023, projects to be a similarly strong two-way center to Thomas, though maybe without the same offensive upside.

To NYI: Conor Garland
To VAN: Daniil Prokhorov, 2026 1st (NYI), 2027 2nd

I’m a big Garland guy, and I think he would be a perfect fit for this Isles team. He’s extremely responsible defensively and is a pretty consistent 20-goal scorer, which would immediately make him the team’s best winger. It also would allow Mathew Barzal to slide back to center, as they likely won’t want to go into the playoffs with a very green Calum Ritchie as the 2C. It makes sense for the Isles take a swing at the deadline to cement themselves as a top-three team in the Metro given Sidney Crosby’s injury. They have a wealth of picks and prospects to part with, so why not have a go?

To EDM: Bobby McMann
To TOR: 2026 2nd, 2027 2nd

This one pretty much writes itself. The Oilers are against the cap and have limited assets to try and improve at the deadline, so they should jump at the opportunity to grab McMann – a pending UFA on a cheap deal. McMann grew up just outside of Edmonton and would surely love the chance to return home to chase a Cup alongside the best player in the world.

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