No crystal ball as to whether or not he gets traded in the next couple of days. Could be next week but more likely next season.
He could definitely fit into your keepers though you could go with some other options instead. The best move might be to move him at your deadline in an effort to upgrade those keepers.
Here's an ethereal one.
Which NHL player sees their fantasy situation improved by the end of the Deadline? For purposes of argument, let's allow both ROS and long-term perspectives into it.
My early money's on Ladd (lined up to be on a powerhouse 1st line, which should confirm a significant UFA contract) but are there others? Drouin? Reimer? Shattenkirk (if rumours are true)?
14-team Keeper w/custom salary cap
Keep btw 12-14, excl. Minors
Skater cats (weight): G (1.75), A (1.75), +/- (0.75), Hits (0.75), BS (0.75)
Goalie cats: W (0.25), GAA (1.00), SV% (1.00)
C : Colton Jenner Frost Novak ---Rossi Cooley MSavoie Fantilli Carlsson Yager
LW: Caufield Fiala Hagel Nichushkin ---Musty
RW: Tippett Necas Brink Kakko ---Yurov Lysell Stankoven ECowan Lekkerimaki
D : Theodore Seider Chabot Gostisbehere Liljegren Carlo ---Edvinsson
G : Montembault Hart ---Commesso Augustine
Bench/IR: Zellweger Fehervary
2024 entry draft picks: 3 1sts
2025: 2 1sts, 2 2nds, 1 3rd
Fantrax IHL Champion: 2018/19, 2015/16, 2011/12
These questions are all highly specific to your league. I don't know which goalies are on contenders and which are on pretenders. That's going to determine who you chase with Niemi. Your number one target should be the team that owns Lehtonen to see if he wants the tandem.
In a Backstrom for Larkin swap I would go as high as your 2nd round pick, which would be outside the top 100 players. Going off the Yahoo! draft board, picks outside the top 100 this season were Okposo, Nyquist, Faulk, Allen, Carter, Schwartz, Hamilton, Monahan. Good players to be sure but you've got a shot at the title and Backstrom is a nice upgrade for you, especially as he'd crack your keepers. Ask to get a pick back somewhere later in the draft.
You could offer Larkin for Barkov straight up. Alternate option is offering Pacioretty and perhaps a pick upgrade.
We already saw the regression for Parayko when he went dark for much of the mid-season. His long term upside is in the 50s but it all depends on if he can get out from under Shattenkirk.
Kuznetsov is legit. So is TJ, by the way.
Schenn could be legit but the decision on whether you sell high or not would depend on what you can fetch in return.
I don't love the spot that it puts you in, especially with salary a factor and Malkin being more expensive but goalies are really tough to project so you'd be giving yourself more certainty with Malkin. Ultimately, goalies like Domingue and Korpisalo seem to pop up every year so there's a decent chance if you are proactive that you can fill the void behind Schneider.
If you could nail down Monahan + Oshie for Duchene I'd look at that option. If you assume Monahan = Duchene, which isn't quite true but with the extra games it's close then what you are looking for with that second guy is someone who fills out your roster. Schwartz at left wing on a team that has played more games than anyone isn't the boon to your roster that you want. Grabbing Oshie at RW and hoping he is hot the last couple of weeks would be the play. If not, stick it out with Duchene.
That would really depend on what kind of return you can get.
I'd suggest you keep Ehlers and Ghost as they are hot right now and should contribute to your chase right now.
Larkin is on the fence there but should still help a bit. For a bonafide star under 30, I'd move him, otherwise stay the course.
You're loaded with goaltending so you could deal Hellebuyck with limited long term impacts but again I'd be looking for a star.
I might also look at trading RNH, Rielly, Trouba, Parayko or Lindholm as options who aren't doing much for you now but could entice someone for the future.
It's also important whether or not points transfer over in a deal or if you only get the points for the time a player is on your roster. 10 points is easy to make up when points transfer but if they don't then all your additions need to add up to a 10-point improvement over the final 20 or so games. Much more challenging.