Goaltending can make or break a team's chances of success, and with the trade deadline fast approaching, some teams seem likely to sell, some are likely to buy and a few will probably trust in what's got them to this point.

The March. 8 trade deadline is getting closer and closer by the day. Playoff and Cup hopefuls alike will be in the mix for some last-minute tweaks to strengthen their squads for the post-season, while teams on the outside may dump some prime assets in exchange for picks and younger pieces. 

Goaltending, however, is one component that is always in high demand, and this trade deadline should be no different. With that, let's take a look at which teams will be buyers, which will be sellers and which will likely stick with their crew between the pipes.

Leafs and Hurricanes Could Ride it Out

Blood clot issues are scary, whether you're a professional athlete or a civilian. So it was great to see video of Frederik Andersen back in the Carolina Hurricanes' dressing room and chatting with the media in Ryan Henkel's story on THN's Carolina team site earlier this week.

Andersen has been off the ice for nearly four months and during that time, the Hurricanes went through a Grade A goaltending crisis which briefly had them at risk of missing the playoffs.

But there's no need for Andersen to rush back now. The Canes have a 9-2 record in their last 11 games. Waiver-wire pickup Spencer Martin has gone 3-0 since touching down in Carolina. And Pyotr Kochetkov is making a Calder Trophy case. He's 3-1-0 in his last four games, with two shutouts, including a 45-save beauty against the Florida Panthers on Thursday.

By not impulsively paying a high price to bring in a stop-gap keeper earlier in the season, Carolina GM Don Waddell has left himself in a good spot to try to shore up his team elsewhere ahead of the trade deadline.

The same is true in Toronto. After giving Ilya Samsonov a 10-day break in early January, the 27-year-old has controlled the Leafs' net for more than a month now. In the nine games Samsonov has started for Toronto since Jan. 21, he's gone 8-1-0 with a .917 save percentage, 2.10 goals-against average and a shutout to boot. 

With Joseph Woll also now in the AHL on a conditioning assignment as he recovers from his high-ankle sprain, the Leafs appear to have successfully weathered their goaltending storm and won't need to be shopping for help ahead of the deadline.

Kings, Devils and Avalanche Could Still Be Buyers

While some teams are seemingly in the clear, that's not to say that the NHL's goalie landscape won't look different after March. 8. 

Let's start in Los Angeles, where the Kings are 5-2-0 since replacing Todd McLellan with Jim Hiller on Feb. 2, and held their opponents to 2.57 goals per game since the coaching change. Still, David Rittich has been carrying most of the load — and has been playing the best hockey of his life, with a .918 save percentage that's miles ahead of his .906 career average. 

Now 31, Rittich cleared waivers and spent the first two months of this season in the AHL. While Rob Blake is currently caught in a salary-cap crunch, all the pressure is now on his shoulders after McLellan's dismissal. With so much on the line, it's hard to imagine him going into the playoffs without adding a netminder.

For both the Kings and the New Jersey Devils, a long-term fix would be better than a rental. As long as the numbers work, acquiring a goalie with some term left would be ideal. For New Jersey, Nico Daws has shown some promise. But, at 23, he could still use some seasoning before stepping into a starter's role. 

The Devils have dealt with their fair share of challenges this season, but they're still just five points out of a wild-card spot as of Saturday morning, with two games in hand on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tom Fitzgerald has shown that he isn't shy about making big deadline moves, whether that was bringing in Timo Meier last year or trading out Blake Coleman to the Lightning in 2020.

In Colorado, the Avalanche have a terrific starter in Alexandar Georgiev. What they don't have is a reliable backup. That has left Georgiev leading the league in starts, games played and total minutes.

He played a ton last year, too. But his .919 save percentage from 2022-23 has dropped all the way to .899 this season. The man needs a rest — and a veteran backup shouldn't break the bank in terms of cap hit or acquisition cost for a team that has every reason to think it can contend for a Cup again this year. 

One more team that could be in the mix for a goalie is Edmonton. On the surface, the Oilers also seem like a team that has moved past its goalie crisis. But look a little closer, and not only is Stuart Skinner 2-3-1 since the All-Star break, but he also has a .871 save percentage and 3.85 GAA over that time.

It's a small sample size, for sure. But Skinner will need to be much better than that come playoff time. And while Jack Campbell is doing the work in Bakersfield to earn himself another NHL shot, it would take a big leap of faith for Ken Holland to turn back to Campbell at playoff time.

Markstrom and Saros Among Big Names Who Could Move

The GMs holding the two most valuable goalie trade chips are both first-year bosses of teams that are currently on the playoff cusp. As of Saturday morning, Barry Trotz's Nashville Predators are tied in points with the St. Louis Blues, who hold the second wild-card spot, but the Blues have a game in hand. Craig Conroy's Calgary Flames are three points further back.

As new voices, both Conroy and Trotz have some runway to make moves that will set up their teams for brighter long-term futures. Conroy already showed that he's willing to part with useful pieces when he dealt away impending UFAs Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm. And while Jacob Markstrom has been a big part of the reason why the Flames are still sniffing at a playoff spot, he's a big-ticket player with two years left at a cap hit of $6 million, and the Flames have Dustin Wolf waiting in the wings for his NHL opportunity. 

The rumor mill has paired Markstrom with the Devils but so far, the two sides apparently haven't been able to agree on a price. Will there be a meeting of the minds in the next 13 days? Or will another team make Conroy an offer he can't refuse?

The name of Juuse Saros is also gathering steam in the rumor mill, in no small part because it looks like the Predators also have a blue-chipper on the way. Yaroslav Askarov has won his last 14 games and posted shutouts in two of his last three starts, and his Milwaukee Admirals are on an 18-game winning streak — the second-longest in AHL history. 

The conventional wisdom says that teams should not thrust 21-year-olds into starting jobs in the NHL, no matter how good they are. But if Askarov is as special as he seems, it's a golden opportunity for Trotz to deal Saros with one year remaining and a $5 million cap hit — for what could be a substantial package of assets.

Among lower-profile names, let's start with Kaapo Kahkonen. He's looking to follow in Adin Hill's footsteps and take his game to a new level after leaving San Jose. Kahkonen, 27, is an impending UFA who sits at 7.7 goals saved above expected this season, per MoneyPuck.com. That suggests he could thrive in a more structured defensive environment. Has the Battle of California calmed enough to make Los Angeles a possibility?

In Montreal, Jake Allen seems to be the most likely of their three netminders to get moved. But with another year on his deal at $3.85 million, the Canadiens would likely have to retain salary to make that work. 

Cost may also be the reason why the chatter has quieted around John Gibson. It's another lost season in Anaheim and Gibson, now 30, hasn't played a playoff game since 2018. He has three years remaining on his current deal at a cap hit that's even higher than Markstrom's, at $6.4 million.

As for Marc-Andre Fleury, he said Friday that he didn't want to be traded. And with a no-movement clause in his contract, he calls that shot. 

The Wild are also 6-1-1 in their last eight games and have climbed within two points of that second wild-card berth. It seems safe to assume that Fleury's name is now off the table for trade-deadline shoppers.