The Penguins take on the Wild in a post-trade deadline matchup. ​Welcome back to NHL Predictions here on Last Word on Hockey! Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for all the NHL’s games.

The Minnesota Wild enter the NHL trade deadline with significant needs due to injuries. Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Karpizov are both out but are expected to return before the playoffs. That makes the cap management part of Friday more difficult for GM Bill Guerin but does not mean a deal cannot be reached.

One of the most active teams at the NHL trade deadline this afternoon was Wild division rival, the Colorado Avalanche. They spent Friday swapping out multiple forwards, while also making upgrades on the blue line. The flurry of activity in Colorado today started right as the calendar was flipping from Thursday to Friday.

NHL trade deadline has come and gone. While there were significant trades going back to the fall, the “trade season” really kicked off in a big way in late January when the Colorado Avalanche shocked the hockey world by trading Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes.

The NHL’s trade deadline is at 3 p.m. on Friday, and around the league, the pace of moves kicked into high gear Thursday night.