Can this Road Trip End Ottawa's Playoff Chances?

As they sit in the bottom of the NHL Northeast near Christmas time they go on an eight game road trip because the world juniors are in town. 6 of the 8 teams they play are in the playoffs as we speak. Ottawa needs to come out with at least 6 wins in this road trip to keep themselves in good position. They cannot come out of this below 500 in the eight games. They are eight points away from 8th spot. If they can win 6th they should be around 4 to 6 points away but if they go below 500 they can be around 12 points away if not more.

If this happens what can we expect from Ottawa? Will they try to get better and add a piece or two, namely a defenseman, possibly a goalie, or will they trade for prospects and draft picks. They would probably not go for draft picks or prospects because it will say they are rebuilding and most likely their GM Bryan Murray would be fired. See them if they lose most of the road trip's games, they might really look at trading Spezza.