I was recently asked to guess where 18 of the most coveted players will land between now and the March 2 NHL trade deadline.

My predictions — in no particular order — are below with some brief commentary on each potential deal:

Antoine Vermette (Arizona) to Montreal: Vermette is probably the top trade chip in play that’s likely to be moved over the next two weeks. Montreal has a great chance of coming out of the Eastern Conference this year. Vermette fits their style of play and would be a huge boost. He won’t come cheap though.

Jaromir Jagr (New Jersey) to Washington: This almost makes too much sense after Jagr said he wants to be traded to an Eastern Conference contender. Imagine Jagr on the right side of a powerplay setup opposite Alex Ovechkin for a second, with Nicklas Backstrom feeding pucks to both.

Chris Stewart (Buffalo) to Boston: The Bruins need a physical top-six winger that can mesh well with Milan Lucic and David Krejci. Stewart is a streaky scorer and is in the midst of a hot streak at the moment.

Daniel Winnik (Toronto) to Florida: Florida is in playoff contention but they haven’t been involved in many trade rumors yet. Winnik’s work ethic is exactly what they need to set an example for such a young group of rising stars.

Martin Erat (Arizona) to NY Islanders: The Islanders have great depth this season and probably won’t be adding much at the deadline, but this just feels like a good fit. The Arizona Coyotes are dumping players and Erat won’t be in huge demand.

Daniel Briere (Colorado) to Anaheim: The Ducks took a gamble on a fading Dany Heatley earlier this season. That didn’t work out, but there aren’t many players who are more clutch in the playoffs than Daniel Briere. Someone will take a chance on the 37-year-old.

Erik Cole (Dallas) to Vancouver: As usual, the Dallas Stars are stuck in the middle. Not good enough for the playoffs; not bad enough to be definite deadline sellers. They’ll eventually decide to clear the decks and Cole will be shipped out. Vancouver is on the other end. They’re hanging onto a playoff spot and need a spark to stay in contention.

Cam Atkinson (Columbus) to Buffalo: After adding Evander Kane, the Sabres are officially kicking into the second phase of their rebuild. Don’t be surprised if they pull off another blockbuster at the draft, but in the meantime Atkinson would be a great young player to add. I love his upside.

Ryan O’Reilly (Colorado) to Calgary: This one has been a long time coming. O’Reilly and the Avalanche haven’t seen eye to eye on contract negotiations for years but Colorado has held onto O’Reilly for as long as possible. Time to move on. O’Reilly is headed to unrestricted free agency after next season and carries a $5 million cap hit courtesy of an offer sheet from…the Calgary Flames. Former Flames GM Jay Feaster initiated the offer sheet but new Flames GM Brad Treliving believes in building through the middle too. O’Reilly is his type of player.

David Legwand (Ottawa) to Calgary: If Calgary doesn’t grab O’Reilly, Legwand is a good second option at center. The Flames have very little playoff experience and Ottawa is going to be in financial trouble if they don’t start shedding some salary. Legwand is signed for another year at $3.5 million cash ($3.0 million cap hit) and doesn’t add much to a rebuilding Senators team.