The NHL trade deadline is just two days away. And big deals are happening, with the Toronto Maple Leafs acquiring center Ryan O’Reilly, the New York Islanders trading for Bo Horvat, the New York Rangers bringing in Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, and the New Jersey Devils landing Timo Meier.
We’re breaking down and grading all of the biggest moves from now through the deadline.
Jump to a deal:
Gavrikov (LA)
Eller (COL)
Kane (NYR)
Ekholm (EDM)
Schenn and more (TOR)
Meier (NJ)
McCabe (TOR)
Barbashev (VGK)
Niederreiter (WPG)
Orlov (BOS)
O’Reilly (TOR)
Tarasenko (NYR)
Horvat (NYI)
The trade: The Senators acquire defenseman Jakob Chychrun from the Coyotes in exchange for a conditional first-round pick in 2023, a conditional second-round pick in 2024 and a second-round pick in 2026.
Let’s start with Jakob Chychrun, whose time at the center of the trade market spotlight has warped perceptions of his game.
The 6-2 defenseman, who turns 25 on March 31, loves to carry the puck and has a terrific shot — as evidenced by his 18 goals in 56 games in 2020-21, which was his best offensive season. But some pundits have decided that because he generates offense that he does not defend well in his own zone, which is a stereotype that’s misapplied to Chychrun. He plays physically along the boards, can defend the net front and has a 70% success rate in zone exits at 5-on-5. One of the reasons he was coveted was because he’s a two-way defender.
Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion has been searching for an impact veteran defenseman to add to his top four. He’s investigated almost every available option — including some talks with the San Jose Sharks about former Ottawa icon Erik Karlsson. His preference was to acquire a right-handed one that could be paired with Thomas Chabot or Jake Sanderson, who both play the left side. Chychrun is a lefty, but he’s played the right side while with the Coyotes. Beggars can’t be choosers here.
There are some concerns about him. Health is a primary one, as he’s yet to play more than 68 games in a season. While he’s a deft puck-mover, there have always been questions about his decision-making as an offensive defenseman. He hasn’t generated all that much on special teams, however that could be a Coyotes problem rather than a Chychrun one.
The other reason Chychrun was coveted by teams is his contract. He’s signed through the 2024-25 season with a $4.6 million annual cap hit. Coincidentally, that term syncs up with the duration of Claude Giroux‘s contract in Ottawa. The Senators feel they have a window here. They have Brady Tkachuk and another year of contract control on Alex DeBrincat. They have young players like Tim Stutzle and Shane Pinto ready to pop.
A lot of the reception to this trade has been blanket praise, mostly because the Senators traded three draft picks and no prospects to Arizona. We’ll touch on the catalysts for that cost in the Coyotes section, but let’s be clear about something. The 2023 first-round pick is top-5 protected this season and then unprotected in 2024 if it ends up in the top five this season. That’s reasonable Connor Bedard/Adam Fantilli insurance, but it could also mean the Senators are handing the sixth overall pick in an exceptional draft to Arizona. In a worst-case scenario, it could mean risking more lottery odds in 2024 if the Senators don’t make the playoffs.
There’s some inherent risk here on the “this could come back to haunt us” scale.
That said, it’s probably one worth taking for Dorion. Ottawa is getting new ownership. If this isn’t a playoff team next season, it’s entirely possible he won’t be the general manager beyond that. The team and the fan base deserve a win like this. So does Dorion.
This grade is for the return. It’s not for general manager Bill Armstrong, who did as much as he could under the constraints of his organization.
I’ve seen some harsh reviews for this trade. I think they’re a product of the intense speculation about what could come back to Arizona — blue-chip prospects and the like — and from this transaction taking as long as it did to complete. Armstrong’s stubbornness for a substantial return gave his ask a mythic quality that the eventual trade was never going satisfy. I think that shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the trade market, and of the Coyotes’ plans.
Armstrong said there were about eight teams in discussions for Chychrun. The Boston Bruins were one of them, and they couldn’t get Arizona to retain some salary from Chychrun’s contract. The Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings and Carolina Hurricanes were all rumored to be among them. It’s probably no coincidence that they all opted for other defensemen at the deadline when a match with the Coyotes couldn’t be made.
According to Armstrong, the problem with those suitors that are contending for the playoffs is that “they’re pushing hard with the salary cap” and were “pushing money” back to the Coyotes to make these trades work. That was a non-starter for Arizona. They were sending money out and didn’t want to take any back.
Let’s talk about the Mullett in the room: The Coyotes are playing at Arizona State University for at least three seasons, and potentially a fourth in 2025-26, while (they hope) an arena in Tempe is completed. It’s no secret that ownership wants a cost-effective roster in the near term, as the team’s revenues are adjusted to campus life.
Armstrong was operating under those constraints. “We’re still in rebuild mode, and next year, we’re still in that mode,” he said on Wednesday.
He said his aim wasn’t acquiring prospects, but picks. And Ottawa’s picks were better than anyone else could offer. Again, the Coyotes could end up with a top-three pick of their own, and then another in the top-10 this season. That’s huge. That’s not something a contending team can offer, and perhaps not something that other rebuilding teams in the market for Chychrun would offer.
The first-round pick is a solid one. If the Senators somehow make the Eastern Conference finals this season, that second-rounder becomes a top-10 protected first-rounder in 2024. That’s not likely to happen, so the Coyotes are likely to get the Capitals’ 2024 second-rounder and Ottawa’s second-rounder in 2026.
Again, without the ability or desire to retain money on Chychrun or take on contracts from other teams, the acquisition cost was what it was. Let this grade reflect the return within those constraints, and not Armstrong’s work to maximize it, which could end up being admirable if the lottery balls bounce their way this season. — Greg Wyshynski
The trade: The Kings deal goaltender Jonathan Quick, a 2023 conditional first-round pick and a 2024 fourth-round pick to the Blue Jackets in exchange for defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.
Another victory for the Kings — other than getting Gavrikov and Korpisalo — was they did not have to part with a prospect to make this deal happen. That was thought to be one of the concerns at a time when it appeared that Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun would be going to the Kings. Instead, the Kings gave up two draft picks while keeping all the members of their youth movement together.
Kings general manager Rob Blake’s mission ahead of the deadline was addressing his team’s ever-present defensive problems. Namely, how can the Kings finally bridge the gap between their goaltending and underlying defensive metrics while also strengthening their defense? Natural Stat Trick’s data shows the Kings are fourth in shots allowed per 60, eighth in high-danger chances allowed per 60 and 11th in scoring chances allowed per 60 in 5-on-5 play. Hypothetically speaking, it shows the Kings have a defensive structure that ranks among the strongest in the league in key categories.
It is possible that a pair of pending unrestricted free agents such as Gavrikov and Korpisalo could be the solution. Gavrikov is another top-four defenseman the Kings now have in addition to Mikey Anderson, Drew Doughty and Sean Durzi, with the notion it could slide Matt Roy to the third pairing. Before he was held out of the lineup for trade-related reasons, Gavrikov was doing everything that could be asked of a top-pairing, stay-at-home defenseman. He was averaging 22:20 in ice time, and he was one of the Blue Jackets’ leaders in 5-on-5 ice time and in short-handed minutes.
There is also the promise that comes with a Korpisalo-Pheonix Copley partnership. Korpisalo is 11-11-3 with a 3.17 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. It’s been an inconsistent season, but what he did in February showed why teams were interested. He went 3-2 but posted a 2.43 GAA and a .933 save percentage. Then there’s what he has done in the postseason. His 85-save performance in a five-overtime loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2020 Toronto bubble might be the lasting memory. But overall, Korpisalo has gone 3-5 with a 1.90 GAA and a .941 save percentage; he’ll give the Kings a goalie with some postseason experience, given that Copley has yet to appear in the playoffs.
Until Copley arrived, the Kings did not have the goaltending to match their underlying metrics. Cal Petersen went 5-3-2 with a 3.75 GAA and .868 save percentage that led to him being sent to the AHL and being replaced with Copley. Since then, Copley has gone 17-4-2 with a 2.74 GAA and a .901 save percentage. His performances have helped the Kings remain a factor in a tight Pacific Division race.
There was a contrast whenever Quick was in net. Although he was 3-1 in February, Quick posted a 4.27 GAA and a .821 save percentage. It was the fifth straight month in which his save percentage was never greater than .892. The deal itself is easy to digest: The Kings are trying to return to the playoffs, and they made a trade they believe can get them there while addressing a weakness. They did it without having to give up a prospect.
Quick’s role in this trade is where it gets complicated for the franchise (and fans).
He’s the most accomplished goalie in franchise history and is the club’s all-time leader in several categories. He was part of the group that featured Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and Doughty that broke through to win two Stanley Cups. All four of them remained with the team through lean years. They played an instrumental role in helping usher in the next generation of Kings with the objective that they could someday win a championship.
Yet the reality is the Kings had to address their needs, and shedding Quick’s $5.8 million cap hit allowed a team with less than $800,000 in cap space going into Tuesday a chance to take on two players who could help them win it all.
What the Blue Jackets received in return will contribute to their plans for the future. At first glance, it might be considered a little surprising that the Blue Jackets did not receive a prospect from the Kings, who are considered to have one of the NHL’s strongest farm systems. That is, until you come upon this realization: You know who else also has one of the premier farm systems in the NHL and is overflowing with talent that is 25 years old and younger? Yeah, it’s the Blue Jackets.
Maybe the Blue Jackets did not get enough for one of the most coveted top-four defensemen on the market. Even more true upon considering they also traded a goalie. But we also know that the alleged asking prices going into this deadline have been viewed as astronomical, and it has led to a changing market. Especially if it involves pending UFAs such as Gavrikov and Korpisalo.
Then there’s this element: There is still the chance that the Blue Jackets could receive more draft capital should they elect to trade Quick before Friday. For one, there are teams that could be interested in having a two-time Stanley Cup-winning goalie on the roster who can share his knowledge while giving a No. 1 goalie rest between now and the playoffs. Furthermore, the Blue Jackets could get a bit more in such a trade, considering they have the needed salary cap space to retain 50% of Quick’s salary.
This is still a trade that pays off for the Blue Jackets given their current state of affairs. They entered Wednesday with the fewest points in the NHL. While it is not the most desirable of places for a team that was thought to be a potential playoff hopeful, they are in the running to win the draft lottery. And if they do that, then they have the presumed No. 1 pick in Connor Bedard in the mix — which changes the outlook quite a bit for the Blue Jackets.
Even if they don’t get Bedard or the presumed No. 2 pick in Adam Fantilli, the Blue Jackets still have quite a bit on the line in this year’s draft.
As of now, they have two first-rounders in this year’s draft. That amounts to five picks in the first three rounds, three rounds in which they have multiple picks, and it gives them 10 picks in total. On the 2023-24 NHL roster, they’ll have proven players such as Johnny Gaudreau, Patrik Laine, Jack Roslovic, Jakub Voracek and Zach Werenski. They have prospects and/or young players such as Adam Boqvist, Yegor Chinakhov, Corson Ceulemans, Jordan Dumais, David Jiricek, Kent Johnson, Kirill Marchenko, Denton Mateychuk, Cole Sillinger and Daniil Tarasov — OK, you get the point.
They have a lot of players who they believe can be part of the next wave of homegrown talent. And CapFriendly also projects the Blue Jackets will have $10.3 million in available cap space going into the offseason, enough to make more smart additions. This was smart work to put themselves in great position ahead of this summer. — Ryan S. Clark
The trade: The Avalanche acquire C Lars Eller from the Capitals for a 2025 second-round pick. The Capitals retain 31% of Eller’s contract.
Eller will help the Avalanche, provided they don’t ask him to do too much. Colorado coach Jared Bednar called him a “solid, big, strong third-line center,” and that’s the highest we’d slot in him the lineup.
The 33-year-old veteran is a solid, bottom-six center defensively who can help on their penalty kill, which ranks 18th in the NHL. His offensive output has declined for three straight seasons, and his current 1.0 points per 60 minutes would be the lowest average of his 14-year NHL career.
The Avalanche are no longer an “adding rings in the room” team, as most of their players earned theirs last postseason. That being said, Eller has a wealth of playoff experience, playing a big role on the Capitals’ 2017-18 championship team (18 points in 24 games) and having 96 appearances overall in the playoffs.
The second-rounder in 2024 is a little rich for what Eller is now, and leaves the Avalanche with three first-round picks and one third-rounder over the next three drafts’ opening three rounds. But their time is now, and Eller should improve what’s already the best team in the West.
The Eller trade is even more great asset management from the Capitals and GM Brian MacLellan.
For those that haven’t been following along: Washington basically decided that the playoffs weren’t in the offering this season, so MacLellan decided to start taking action on his pending unrestricted free agents. In one case, that meant re-signing defenseman Nick Jensen. In most cases, it meant aggressively turning those players into picks and prospects before the deadline. The Capitals moved Dmitry Orlov (Boston), Garnet Hathaway (Boston), Marcus Johansson (Minnesota), Erik Gustafsson (Toronto) and now Eller.
Getting a second-rounder for Eller, while retaining 31% of his salary, is a win within context. Defenseman Luke Schenn moved for a third. So did Johansson. Nino Niederreiter, who had another year on his contract, moved for a second.
The Capitals now have four second-round picks in the next three drafts. The war chest is filling up again. — Greg Wyshynski
The trade: The Blackhawks trade Patrick Kane to the Coyotes for defenseman Vili Saarijarvi, retaining 50% of his salary; the Coyotes trade Kane to the Rangers, retaining 50% of his remaining salary in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick; Rangers trade a conditional 2023 second-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round pick along with Andy Welinski to Chicago for Cooper Zech.
Showtime finally hits Broadway. The Rangers acquired Patrick Kane, one of the biggest stars in the NHL, for a conditional second-round pick and a fourth-round pick. They won the waiting game — even though they didn’t know they were going to end up playing it.
Earlier this month, the Rangers opted to trade for St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko instead of Kane for three reasons, according to a source: They felt the asking price to acquire Kane would be too high; they liked the inclusion of defenseman Niko Mikkola in the trade with the Blues; and there were concerns about Kane’s injury status, in particular his lingering hip issue.
What changed since Feb. 9? First, Kane narrowed his field of teams for whom he’d waive his no-movement clause down to one option for Chicago general manager Kyle Davidson: The New York Rangers. Any concerns about a bidding war for Kane were alleviated. The Blackhawks would take what they could get.
Second, Kane’s recent output was the declarative statement about his health status. Kane had 10 points in four games, including seven goals. He vowed that his hip injury wasn’t a drag on his season; however, he hasn’t been himself, as Kane’s defense has particularly struggled. But the spark in his game was hard to ignore leading to the trade.
Most importantly, according to multiple NHL sources, Rangers owner James Dolan wanted Patrick Kane on this team, especially when it was apparent that Kane wanted to be a Ranger. That’s why the Rangers reengaged with Chicago and why Kane will be a Ranger.
New York’s top six forwards match up with anyone in the NHL — and in many cases eclipse them. Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin on left wing; Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck at center; Kane and Tarasenko on right wing. Any combination of them and defenseman Adam Fox on the power play. They’re loaded with talent down the lineup too. In fact, one could see a situation where they build a third scoring line around Kane and someone like center Filip Chytil.
They gave up a conditional first, a conditional second, a third-round pick and two fourth-round picks, Sammy Blais and Hunter Skinner for the chance to have Tarasenko and Kane on their roster for a Stanley Cup push. Maybe they keep one of them beyond this season too, in which case perhaps those trade grades improve even more.
You’ll notice this grade isn’t an A-plus, and there are two reasons for that. First is that the Rangers absolutely had the Blackhawks in a no-win situation and still gave up what could be a first-round pick, if the conditions are met. The second is that Kane’s hip concerns are real, despite the recent burst of “vintage Kane”; it remains to see how that plays out.
But in the end, Patrick Kane is a New York Ranger.
In July 2019, the Rangers signed Panarin and Fox because they wanted to play for the Blueshirts more than anyone else. In 2023, they traded for Kane, who stated the same desire. The New York Rangers will always have the institutional advantage of being the New York Rangers when it comes to player transactions in the NHL. They flexed on that here.
The Chicago media had been conditioning fans to expect a lowly return for a franchise icon who wielded all the power here. So hopefully, they digested this news with the proper context.
The second-round pick the Blackhawks acquired will become a first-rounder in either 2024 or 2025 if the Rangers make the Eastern Conference finals. In that case, the current playoff format will help the Blackhawks. New York made it that far last season. They’ll have to likely beat a young New Jersey team then the winner of Carolina’s first-round series to do it again. That’s not implausible. There’s still a chance the Blackhawks could end up with a first-round pick for Kane, which was the minimum many Hawks fans were hoping to see as the return.
Davidson had two options: Trade Kane to the Rangers for whatever was coming back for Kane and 50% of his salary; or keep him on the Blackhawks, with whom he’d probably duck out for medical reasons rather than play out a sad string of games before free agency. He chose the former — and did as well as expected, comparatively.
Another win for GM Bill Armstrong. The Minnesota Wild received a fourth-rounder for retaining salary on Ryan O’Reilly and a fifth-rounder for retaining salary on Dmitry Orlov. The Coyotes received a third-round pick in 2025 for facilitating this deal, taking 50% of Kane’s already reduced salary. That’s how it’s done, folks.
Arizona now has 27 draft picks in the first five rounds of the next three NHL drafts. — Greg Wyshynski
The trade: The Predators trade defenseman Mattias Ekholm and a 2024 sixth-round draft pick to the Oilers for defenseman Tyson Barrie, prospect forward Reid Schaefer, a 2023 first-round draft pick and a 2024 fourth-round draft pick. The Predators also retained $250,000 of Ekholm’s annual salary for the remainder of his contract.
Scoring has not been the issue with the Oilers. Doing what they can to prevent giving up goals at a high rate is why the Oilers had to make a move. Having Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid power your attack is why the Oilers lead the NHL with 3.80 goals per game. But when you allow the 13th most goals per game for a number of reasons? That is why the Oilers are third in the Pacific Division and in a four-team race for the division crown rather than leading by a wide margin.
No single player can answer all of a team’s defensive challenges. That said, Ekholm should be able to significantly help the Oilers address a season-long problem that could ultimately be the difference in either returning to at least consecutive Western Conference finals or an early exit.
In short, Ekholm eats minutes at a high rate. He was second on the Predators in 5-on-5 minutes behind last year’s Norris Trophy runner-up, Roman Josi. He is one of those defensemen who can also be trusted to anchor a penalty kill. Ekholm was second among Predators defensemen in short-handed minutes. He’s had nine seasons in which he has logged more than 100 minutes on the penalty kill and has crossed the 200-minute threshold twice in his career. And he also provides the Oilers with a potential second-team power-play option should they need him to serve in that role.
It’s likely that he will partner with Darnell Nurse to give the Oilers a top pairing that can make it difficult for opponents while helping their defensive structure find success and give their goaltenders a sense of comfort.
There is also the economic component to a trade like this. Oilers general manager Ken Holland had to part with quite a bit to get Ekholm. The process actually started earlier Tuesday when they cleared $3 million in cap space when they traded Jesse Puljujarvi to the Carolina Hurricanes. Freeing up that cap space in addition to moving Barrie’s contract did more than open the door for the Oilers to get Ekholm for this season. They have him for three more years after this season as he carries a $6 million annual cap hit.
On one hand, he’s the 11th Oilers player who has more than two years left on their contract and shows there is a sense of organization stability. Or rather, as much stability as a team can have until they need to make a change. But what happens if a change needs to be made at some point? Could it be more difficult for the Oilers to get out under that contract should they need to move money around in the event the 32-year-old Ekholm faces a decline in his later years? Or would it really matter considering the cap is expected to increase in the future and the Oilers might have a Cup by that point?
CapFriendly projects the Oilers will now have $8.057 million in available cap space going into the offseason as they’ve added the freight of Ekholm’s deal. That figure is further enhanced by the fact they will recoup $2.25 million in the combined Milan Lucic and Andrej Sekera buyouts. OK, so what’s the problem? That depends on Evan Bouchard.
Barrie’s departure means Bouchard, who was second among Oilers defensemen in power-play ice time prior to the trade, will likely be at the controls of the NHL’s most dangerous power play, which has a 31.9% success rate. There is a possibility that orchestrating a power play like that could see a rise in Bouchard’s production. He’s scored only 21 points in 63 games after scoring 43 points in 81 games last season. But it still does not change the fact that he could make the most of his new role and help with maximizing his earning power.
Bouchard, 23, is a pending restricted free agent at a time when young defenseman are earning significant dollars. It’s possible that the cost may be manageable for the Oilers. After all, both sides could do a bridge deal before opting to do something with more term and dollars. But it also comes with the reminder that Klim Kostin and Ryan McLeod are also pending RFAs while the Oilers also have a six-player unrestricted free agent class that will also need answers about their future.
Building toward what they believe can be a better future is the tagline for every team that is not a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. How the Predators can get to that future is complicated by the fact that they have players other teams might want, but those players have contracts that are difficult to afford at this point in the season. Or rather, that appeared to be the case with Ekholm before they traded him.
That’s not to say the Predators will make another trade quite like this one. But it could prove difficult considering there are several cap-strapped contenders — like the Oilers — that had to clear space in order to make the math work.
Exactly where do things stand with the Predators’ future at the moment? They have 12 picks in the 2023 draft (which will be held in Nashville). Of those 12 picks, they have two first-rounders and three picks each in both the third and fourth rounds. They have nine picks going into the 2024 draft, with three of them coming in the second round. They also have nine picks in 2025, and that includes two first-rounders — with the notion the Predators could eventually add more draft capital. CapFriendly also projects they have $2.85 million in cap space which means they could potentially serve as a third-party broker to receive more picks if it comes to that point.
Then there is the role Schaefer could have in that future. The 19-year-old was the last pick of the first round in the 2022 draft. He is a 6-3 forward who is flirting with what would be a consecutive 30-goal season in the WHL. He was also a member of the Team Canada roster that won gold at the IIHF World Junior Championships, recording one point seven games. It’s possible Schaefer could develop into a top-nine option for a franchise that is trying to build its prospect system using all of those aforementioned draft capital.
In losing Ekholm they also gained Barrie, who gives them a puck-moving top-four defenseman. He is under contract for two more seasons at $4.5 million per year. The Predators currently rank 24th in goals per game, and having Barrie could play a role in increasing that number. Yet where it gets interesting for Barrie and the Predators is what happens for the rest of this season.
The Western Conference has been a roller coaster that has seen teams go from clinging onto a wild-card spot to suddenly leading their division seven games later. The Predators came into Tuesday on a three-game winning streak, and are just six points behind the Seattle Kraken for the last playoff spot — note that the Preds have two games in hand on the Kraken. Is it possible that the Predators could maybe sneak into the postseason for a ninth straight year? Or is this the year the streak ends? — Ryan S. Clark
The trades:
No. 1: Toronto acquires a 2023 first-round draft choice (previously belonging to Boston) and defenseman Erik Gustafsson from Washington for defenseman Rasmus Sandin.
No. 2: Toronto acquires a 2024 third-round draft choice from the New York Islanders for forward Pierre Engvall.
No. 3: Toronto acquires defenseman Luke Schenn from the Vancouver Canucks for a 203 third-round choice.
How quickly things can change for a young NHL defenseman.
It was only a few short months ago that Sandin — then an unsigned, restricted free agent — was in a contract stalemate with Toronto over his next deal. He eventually came to terms on a two-year, $2.8 million pact, and the Leafs’ first-round draft choice from 2018 was heralded as a top-four defenseman for the future.
Sandin still could be. But it won’t be with the Leafs.
Toronto’s defensive depth has improved throughout the season. Timothy Liljegren — the Leafs’ first-round choice in 2017 — has blossomed. Conor Timmins has carved out a role and is on a cheaper contract (two years, $2.2 million) that kicks in next season. And the Leafs just acquired Jake McCabe from Chicago — he has two years on his deal — and Luke Schenn (a pending UFA) from Vancouver.
It all added up to a logjam on defense, and Sandin was the odd man out. The Leafs are in win-now mode. It’s why GM Kyle Dubas has been unafraid to part with so much draft capital. Toronto sent first-round draft choices to St. Louis for Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari and to Chicago for McCabe and Sam Lafferty. Getting one back from Washington for Sandin is a solid return.
Dubas didn’t want to trade roster players or key prospects, but eventually that had to happen. And while the Leafs’ eyes might not be on the future now, they’re still giving up on a player who’s only just tapping into his full potential.
Toronto also parted with Engvall, another longtime member of the organization. Much like with Sandin, Engvall became expendable after Toronto’s recent moves to bring in Acciari and Lafferty to fill bottom-six depth roles. The 26-year-old Engvall — a seventh-round choice by the Leafs in 2014 — played for coach Sheldon Keefe in the American Hockey League before being elevated to full-time NHL status the past two seasons.
Engvall heads to the Islanders and will be reunited with former Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello. Toronto added draft capital after trading a lot of it away in deals made over the past week.
Which brings us to the Leafs’ third move from Tuesday, bringing Schenn back into the fold from Vancouver. Toronto drafted Schenn No. 5 overall in 2008, and he played for the franchise from 2008 to ’12. Some characterized Schenn — who was traded to Philadelphia in 2012 for winger James van Riemsdyk — a bust with the Leafs for not turning into the top-pairing defender.
What Schenn is now — and should be for Toronto — is a reliable veteran who adds grit and physicality in a third-pairing slot. Plus, he can eat minutes on the penalty kill. While Schenn has endured his ups and downs — including stints in the American Hockey League from 2018 to ’20 — he brings valuable championship experience to Toronto, having won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It’s clear from what Dubas did on Tuesday — including the addition of blueliner Erik Gustafsson from Washington — that he’s prioritizing players with experience. Toronto has been tripped up by its youth during past playoff runs. Dubas appears to be guarding against that now by loading up on league veterans.
Time will tell how that strategy pays off.
It appeared Washington would approach this trade deadline as sellers and that’s what they’ve mostly done. Adding Sandin was too good an opportunity to pass on, though.
First of all, Sandin is young (at 22) with potentially years ahead to prove he’s a capable top-four NHL defenseman. He’s also signed for two years, making him and John Carlson the only defensemen Washington has under contract next year. That’s a nice bonus.
Sandin had his moments in Toronto. He moves the puck well, generates offense, can chip in on special teams and carry a reasonable workload (averaging nearly 18 minutes TOI per game). He’s a strong skater and plays with a ton of confidence. Washington needs exciting up-and-comers like that as it transitions into a new phase.
The Capitals had the extra first-round draft choice acquired from Boston for Dmitri Orlov and Garnet Hathaway. It’s poetic almost to use that pick to bring in a player who could potentially fill a role for seasons to come. Washington was also able to move another veteran it wasn’t expecting to re-sign in Gustafsson.
All around, some tidy work by GM Brian MacLellan.
There’s no question the Islanders need scoring help and to add general depth up front. Mathew Barzal is the most recent skater New York has lost to injury, joining Cal Clutterbuck and JG Pageau on the sidelines.
Engvall won’t put a ton of pucks in the net. But he can play the Islanders’ brand of hockey. Engvall’s a defensive-minded forward who can slot in throughout the bottom-six at center or on the wing. He forechecks well, is responsible in his own end and uses good speed to transition out of the zone.
And, Engvall will add to the scoresheet too. He’s put up 12 goals and 21 points in 58 games so far this season and those totals could increase with a larger role in New York.
Receiving that for a third-round pick is a decent exchange by Lamoriello, who knows Engvall well from the years he spent at the Leafs’ helm.
It’s likely Vancouver wanted more for Schenn than a third-round pick.
The market for defensemen appears high and Schenn is the coveted right-shot many clubs are looking for. The Canucks must have felt they couldn’t package Schenn to get more out of him asset-wise. If reuniting the blueliner with his former team was Vancouver’s best option, then they did what was necessary.
Vancouver isn’t bound for the postseason this year and stocking up on picks and players for the future should be the main focus. Getting something in return for Schenn is better than having him walk away for nothing as an unrestricted free agent in the summer.
— Kristen Shilton
The trade: The Hurricanes acquire forward Jesse Puljujarvi from the Oilers in exchange for forward prospect Patrik Puistola.
This is a difficult grade to assign.
There’s a clear salary cap savings here for Edmonton, in the near and long term. CapFriendly says that by moving Puljujarvi, the Oilers open up $4,412,500 in usable LTI salary space. At the time of this grading, GM Ken Holland was in pursuit of a few upgrades for his defense corps, ranging from Arizona’s Jakob Chychrun to Nashville’s Mattias Ekholm to Columbus’s Vladislav Gavrikov. If this trade leads to that kind of acquisition, that’s a positive.
Also, Puljujarvi is a restricted free agent this summer with a $3 million qualifying offer, who hits unrestricted free agency in summer 2024. Can the Oilers find a player who scored five goals and nine assists in 58 games for less than that? They likely can.
But the fact of the matter is that Puljujarvi isn’t an ordinary 24-year-old NHL forward. He’s 6-foot-4 and the No. 4 pick from 2016. The talent is there. The results haven’t been there. Edmonton has been rightfully called out for the mistakes it made in developing Puljujarvi, which impacted his confidence and competence. It hindered his NHL career and left them with a diminished trade option: Imagine telling someone three seasons ago that Puljujarvi would be a salary dump traded for an unsigned prospect, rather than the centerpiece of a deal that improves the Oilers?
Patrik Puistola is a 22-year-old winger that’s put up some solid offensive numbers for Jukurit in Finland’s top pro league. He was a third-round pick by Carolina in 2019 and never signed with the Hurricanes. He has 38 points in 56 games this season.
For the present, the trade works. For the sins of the past, we can’t go better than average on the grade — with the acknowledgement that more is to come.
There are few front offices in the NHL who make a move like this and inspire others to say, “Uh oh … they’re doing it again.”
Which is to say that the Hurricanes have earned their reputation for identifying players that fit their system, their data-driven purview and their salary structure, and looking like geniuses when those players thrive in Carolina. Sometimes they make a big trade to get them, like with Dougie Hamilton and Vincent Trocheck. And sometimes they play small ball, like when they traded for Nino Niederreiter.
This is obviously a small-ball trade, as the Hurricanes ship out an unsigned pick for Puljujarvi. It’s a gamble that he can find his game in a different system with different opportunities. It’s a wager that this established play-driving forward can eventually finish chances — he has an 8.6% shooting percentage in 317 career NHL games. It’s the hope that getting him on the same team with his Finland world junior lineup Sebastian Aho can help, in the same way a change in scenery from the media spotlight of Edmonton to the opposite of that in Raleigh can help.
There’s a lot of potential here for Carolina. Realizing that potential ultimately falls on Puljujarvi. But this is potentially the kind of trade Oilers fans have dreaded for years: Someone smart “buys low” on Puljujarvi and he blossoms on another team. They don’t come much smarter than the Hurricanes. — Greg Wyshynski
The trade: The Maple Leafs acquire defenseman Jake McCabe, forward Sam Lafferty, a conditional fifth-round selection in the 2024 draft and a conditional fifth-round selection in the 2025 draft from the Blackhawks for forwards Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev, a conditional first-round selection in the 2025 draft (top-10 protected) and a second-round selection in the 2026 draft. The Blackhawks retain 50% of McCabe’s salary.
One of the benefits of the current NHL playoff format is that the Maple Leafs know what’s ahead of them. They’re going to play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. Survive that, and it’s likely they’ll see the Boston Bruins in the following round, provided their historic regular season isn’t followed by a calamitous first-round upset. (Ask the Lightning … it happens.)
Boston is the third highest-scoring team in the NHL (3.74 goals per game). Tampa Bay is the fourth highest scoring team in the NHL (3.56). Naturally, Toronto’s attention turned to its defense corps after adding Ryan O’Reilly to bolster their forward group, which led them to McCabe.
The 29-year-old defenseman fits a time-honored NHL deadline trope: a player who’s never mentioned in general conversation until his contract term, salary cap hit and his current team’s desire to empty its roster for picks and prospects combine, making him a bold-type name on the trade market. (See also: Nick Jensen from a few years back).
McCabe is a defense-first blueliner, but not exactly a black hole offensively: His 1.1 points per 60 minutes average this season is on pace to be his career best. He’s averaged 19:29 per game in ice time this season and was used on Chicago’s penalty kill. McCabe has played 483 regular-season games but never in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, having spent the last 10 seasons with the Buffalo Sabres and the Blackhawks. That he was one of the best defenders on some terrible teams could either make him overrated or could be one of his better virtues, depending on one’s perspective.
Where does he fit? Potentially with T.J. Brodie on a duo that the Leafs could deploy as a shutdown pairing against the likes of Nikita Kucherov and David Pastrnak. But it’s where McCabe fits beyond this season that’s a key to this trade.
The Blackhawks retained half of McCabe’s salary in this trade, meaning that the Leafs have a solid NHL defenseman at a $2 million cap hit through 2024-25. That’s incredible. Justin Holl is a free agent after this season. Jake Muzzin, 34, played just four games with the Leafs this season before going on long-term injured reserve with a cervical spine injury. There’s a chance his NHL career is over. Having McCabe locked in beyond this season at that AAV makes him a much more desirable trade deadline option than other potential rentals.
Speaking of deadline hype, when did Sam Lafferty become Patrick Kane? The 27-year-old forward’s status as a critical bottom-six forward for a contending team feels like it was concocted by the Chicago marketing department. He has 10 goals and 11 assists in 51 games this season, with the highest average ice time of his career (15:07). His four shorthanded goals lead the NHL, and the Leafs penalty kill (81.5%, 10th in the NHL) could use the help. But his metrics have him at slightly below replacement and the Leafs have him for another season at $1.15 million against the cap. He’s fast, though. Give him that.
First off, let’s just be happy the Toronto GM Kyle Dubas and Chicago GM Kyle Davidson have put all of last year’s unpleasantness behind them to do business at the trade deadline. Please recall Dubas was “disappointed” that discussions about the Leafs potentially acquiring Marc-Andre Fleury and Brandon Hagel were made public. The Kyles hashed things out at last year’s draft, and it was “trade on!” this winter.
The first-round pick the Blackhawks received from Toronto is in 2025 and is top-10 protected, which means it could transfer all the way to 2026. That’s the draft where the Leafs’ second-round pick the Blackhawks acquired can be used. Still, it’s a first-round pick and a second-round pick for a defense-first ancillary defenseman, a few years of retained salary during a rebuild and a penalty killing depth forward. That’s not bad, even if the windfall is three years away.
Joey Anderson, 24, is an interesting project on right wing. He can play solid defense but was never really given a chance to shine by coach Sheldon Keefe. He’s a restricted free agent this summer. Pavel Gogolev is a 23-year-old forward who has spent the majority of the last two seasons in the ECHL.
With some of the draft capital we’ve seen move at this deadline, for Chicago to package both of these players and retain salary for multiple seasons, the package received — a first-rounder, a second-rounder, a borderline NHLer and a current ECHLer — is not enough. — Greg Wyshynski
The trade: The Lightning acquire forward Tanner Jeannot in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2023 draft, a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft, a fifth-round pick in the 2023 draft, a second-round pick in the 2024 draft, a conditional first-round pick in the 2025 draft and defenseman Cal Foote.
Here’s one way to think about this trade: Tanner Jeannot landed as many draft picks as Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko did … combined.
Everything about this past weekend showed the Predators are an organization that is thinking about their future. That was made clear Saturday when they traded Nino Niederreiter to the Winnipeg Jets. It was even more evident Sunday when David Poile, the only general manager in franchise history, announced he was stepping down at the end of the season and would be replaced by former Preds coach Barry Trotz.
Jeannot was a pending restricted free agent who could have been part of that future. His offensive production dipped from 24 goals and 41 points in 81 games last season to just five goals and 14 points in 56 games this season. His cap hit only cost them $800,000, and they could have either signed him to a $750,000 qualifying offer for one more season or to a long-term deal.
Instead, they made a promising bottom-six forward available. Scratch that. They made a promising bottom-six forward available to a team that has won two of the past three Stanley Cups and has a penchant for talented players with team-friendly contracts. That, in turn, allowed Poile and his front office staff to offload what may have been their most movable player.
Figuring out their long-term vision was one of the questions facing the Predators heading into the deadline. Part of that stems from the team’s contract situation. Players such as Matt Duchene, Mattias Ekholm, Filip Forsberg and Mikael Granlund, among others, are individuals who would strengthen a number of teams. However, they have contracts that may not be easy for a team chasing a playoff spot to take on at this stage of the season. For example, Ekholm is a 32-year-old defenseman who has three years left after this season carrying a $6.25 million annual cap hit. CapFriendly projects that there are only three teams that could take on the full freight of Ekholm’s contract, and two of them are lottery teams.
The return Poile was able to get for Jeannot is one that should set up Trotz for years to come. The three 2023 draft picks give the Predators a total of 11 picks, and they will have multiple selections in three different rounds. (Please note that the draft is in Nashville this summer.) They’ll have nine picks in 2024 while having two first-rounders in 2025 with the condition that the Lightning’s first-round pick that year is top-10 protected.
Foote gives them a 24-year-old pending RFA defenseman who can play on the NHL roster right now. He has 15 points in 117 games while averaging 13:17 in ice time over his career. He was a first-round pick in 2017 who could have a chance to potentially be included in the Predators’ future plans. Especially if the front office believes this upcoming offseason could be the time to start overhauling the roster and gain as many draft picks and prospects possible.
Perspective is what makes the Lightning’s latest move complicated. This is not the first time Lightning GM Julien BriseBois and his front office staff have tried to find ways to improve their roster while working around their salary cap limitations. It’s something they have done before when they acquired forwards Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul in recent seasons. Those were all moves that either helped the Lightning win a Stanley Cup or return to the Cup Final for a third straight season.
It’s possible Jeannot could be the next trade deadline addition who arrived on a cheap contract only to be part of the Lightning’s success. Those reasons could hypothetically justify why it was necessary to give up that much for Jeannot. Those could also be the same reasons why the Predators knew they could ask for so much. Otherwise, it’s possible the Predators could have traded Jeannot elsewhere and the Lightning would be left with one fewer option in what’s becoming a smaller market by the day. Even if it meant dealing with the reality the Predators would seek to maximize their leverage to the fullest extent.
What BriseBois and his staff have done over the last few years is win. People got mad when they started using long-term injured reserve to create more cap space. Now, everyone does it. But the Lightning have also done something else, whether it was under BriseBois or the man he replaced — Steve Yzerman — that also drew league-wide acclaim: The Lightning seemingly could find and then develop NHL-caliber talent in every round of the draft. Current players such as Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn and Brayden Point were third-round picks. Ross Colton was a fourth-round pick. Rookie defenseman Nick Perbix was a sixth-round pick. That’s not even including the players who have since left. Radko Gudas, Mathieu Joseph and Cedric Paquette were all fourth-round picks. Ondrej Palat was a seventh-round pick. Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson are among the examples of undrafted players who became key fixtures.
So much is said about how the Lightning drafted four franchise cornerstones in the first two rounds with Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Andrei Vasilevskiy. An argument could be made about how they have five franchise cornerstones with Point. Still, they became something of a blueprint for other teams to follow. Do you want to build what you believe is a long-term winner through the draft? If so, look at the Lightning. Yes, they’ve lost players to the salary cap. Yet they have devised a near-interchangeable system that allows them to either develop a new wave of talent or use those prospects in future deals.
But to trade away Foote and five draft picks? For a bottom-six forward who has seen a decline in production? That’s going to lead to questions. Although weren’t similar questions being asked when there was the thought that the Lightning may have given up too much to acquire Coleman and Goodrow?
Jeannot could rediscover the heights that allowed him to be such a key player for the Predators last season. He provides the Lightning with a second-team power-play unit option and someone who can eat heavy minutes on the penalty kill. Jeannot also gives the Lightning a 6-foot-2, 208-pound, interior presence, considering 63% of his career goals have come from a combination of the slot and net front, according to IcyData.
Even if it does not work out this season, the Lightning still have options. They could either offer him a one-year deal in what would be his final year of team control. Or they could go for cost certainty by signing him to a long-term deal. — Ryan S. Clark
The trade: The Devils acquire forwards Timo Meier and Timur Ibragimov, defensemen Scott Harrington and Santeri Hatakka, goaltender Zachary Emond and a fifth-round pick (originally Colorado’s selection) in the 2024 draft from the Sharks in exchange for New Jersey’s first-round pick in the 2023 draft (conditional), defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Nikita Okhotiuk, forwards Andreas Johnsson and Fabian Zetterlund, a conditional second-round selection in the 2024 draft and a seventh-round selection in 2024. San Jose will retain 50% of Meier’s 2022-23 salary as part of the trade.
Now that’s a trade. It’s entirely possible more players moved in this single transaction than will move on the entirety of March 3.
It all boils down to one thing: The Devils acquired Timo Meier. And as one NHL executive texted me: “Huge get for Devils. HUGE.”
That about sums it up. Both in dimensions and magnitude, New Jersey’s acquisition of Meier is a game-changer. He is a 26-year-old winger who has scored 66 goals in his past 134 NHL games with the Sharks, with 128 points in those games.
In Meier, the Devils have an elite, play-driving winger who creates scoring chances and finishes them with frequency. He’ll immediately join the flank of either Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier (his Swiss countryman), adding an established offensive force to a team that was already fifth in the NHL in goals per game (3.51). The Devils play a specific offensive style: speedy, creating off the rush. Meier’s metrics show him to be a player quite comfortable converting and creating chances off the rush. He’s a perfect fit in that regard.
“Think it’s a fantastic move. He can play against the big defensemen and the fast little guys,” one current NHL player said. “He’s a shooter, which will help their playmakers Hughes and Jesper Bratt.”
Where he’ll theoretically help the Devils in a big way is on the power play: Meier has the 11th-most power-play goals in the NHL over the past two seasons (25). The Devils excel in most offensive areas, but he’ll likely improve a power play that has lagged at 19th this season (20.5%).
The team coveted Meier for those reasons but also for his size. He is listed at 6-1 and 220 pounds, and he plays every bit as big as that. As the Devils head to their first postseason berth since 2018 — and seek their first playoff-round win since 2012 — they’ve faced questions from skeptics about their physicality and lack of playoff experience. Meier helps answer them, both as a big body in the offensive zone and with 35 career playoff appearances. If you watched some of those Sharks’ wars in the Western Conference, you know he understands the intensity of that postseason grind and the chaos of rivalry series — like the one the Devils are on course for in the first round against the New York Rangers.
So that’s Meier now. What about the rest of this trade and Meier in the future?
He is a restricted free agent this summer with a $10 million qualifying offer to retain him for another season. For weeks, the Devils were hoping to land Meier and get him locked into a contract extension. That didn’t happen. The Devils have the cap space to absorb a $10 million hit — the luxury of smart contracts and young talent — but sources say it isn’t something they’re eager to do. The goal is now to get Meier comfortable, happy and committed to signing a new contract with a less deleterious cap hit.
Hence the conditions on the picks. The 2023 first-round pick is top-two protected, which is essentially disaster insurance: If the Devils somehow fell out of a playoff seed all the way into the lottery and ended up selecting first or second — and given their luck with the lottery, who’s to say they wouldn’t? — that pick would remain with New Jersey, and their 2024 first-rounder moves to San Jose instead.
Let’s assume the Devils make the playoffs. The Sharks also receive a conditional 2024 second-round pick. If the Devils make the 2023 or 2024 Eastern Conference finals and Meier plays in at least 50% of his team’s playoff games in 2023, the Devils will hand over their 2024 first-round pick — which is still top-10 protected — instead of that second. If that pick ends up in the top 10, then it’s a 2025 first-round pick going to San Jose.
The bottom line: The Devils did not have any draft pick tied to Meier signing an extension in New Jersey, which is interesting.
As far as the players they sent to San Jose, Johnsson is a pending unrestricted free agent with a $3.4 million cap hit. His three-year run with the Devils was done. Zetterlund has some upside, with 20 points in 45 games, but also has some growing to do as a complete NHL player. He could be a nice middle-six forward for the Sharks.
Mukhamadullin and Okhotiuk could both end up as NHL defensemen. But the Devils were dealing from a position of strength here: Mukhamadullin could be the fourth-best defensive prospect in New Jersey’s system, depending on how one feels about Seamus Casey.
That’s the real key to this deal. Surrendering what could be two first-round picks for what could be two seasons of Meier isn’t ideal. But much less ideal would have been to give up Dawson Mercer, Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec or Alexander Holtz in this deal. For that, they should be applauded.
What general manager Tom Fitzgerald has essentially said with this trade is that the future is now. Yes, there’s a multiple-year window for the Devils to contend for a championship — Luke Hughes and Nemec haven’t even arrived yet! — but they’re also third in the NHL in points right now. At their best, they can beat anyone in this league. They have a superstar in Jack Hughes. They have an outstanding young cast around him, from Hischier to Bratt to Dougie Hamilton to the playoff heroism of Ondrej Palat. And now they have Timo Meier, and with 50% of his salary retained, they have room to add more.
(Oh, and Scott Harrington and an array of minor leaguers. Let’s not deny love to our veteran pending UFA insurance defenseman.)
As one NHL source noted during the trade talks: “Timo checks almost every box for them.”
One last thing on the trade: The Devils had to land this player. There was a modicum of embarrassment for the franchise when it was looking like Johnny Gaudreau was going to be a Devil last summer and he opted for Columbus instead.
The Devils were the front-runners again here. They were willing to go bigger and better with their offer than the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes could go as the other finalists. They weren’t going to lose out on another high-profile target. And they got their man. The question now is, for how long?
One former NHL front office member recently told us that “if you’re a seller, it has to be quality over quantity” at the trade deadline.
I’m afraid GM Mike Grier did not follow that rule.
He had the top forward available at the trade deadline, one headed to restricted free agency next summer. But the $10 million qualifying offer obviously limited the number of teams that could have been in on Meier; it’s a bit scary when the options are to sign him to a long-term deal or have him at $10 million in 2023-24. The Devils felt they were a front-runner for Meier because they were one of the few teams with the assets to facilitate a trade and the cap space to bring him back next season if a new contract doesn’t materialize.
That established, you can understand how the Sharks ended up with the package that they did. And it’s not bad!
The Devils’ first-rounder this season projects to be a low one, but it’s a stacked draft. Mukhamadullin is a very interesting prospect. The 21-year-old stands 6-foot-4 and is currently in the KHL. He has a terrific shot and skates well for a player his size. Most projections have him as a middle-pairing defenseman, which is to say an NHLer. Okhotiuk is a throwback defensive-defenseman type. Zetterlund could be a nice middle-six forward for the Sharks when all is said and done.
Again, three potential NHL players (and a fourth established one in Johnsson) for Meier sounds pretty good on paper. But there are two general problems I have with this deal for the Sharks:
1. The conditional second-rounder swings pretty heavy in the Devils’ favor. Essentially, it becomes a first if New Jersey wins two playoff rounds in either of the next two seasons, and it’s then top-10 protected. If the Devils lose in the first round or only win one round, then it remains a second-round pick. And the East is an absolute meat grinder.
2. While we respect the sheer tonnage of this deal, we’d like it a lot better if it were a 2023 first-rounder, a 2024 second and Mercer, if we’re being honest. Or if Holtz was in this trade somewhere. Again, maybe that’s never going to be on the table for the Devils, just like their other top prospects weren’t. But the fact remains that a bunch of B’s don’t equal an A, and the lack of a blue-chipper coming back for a player like Timo Meier — from the Devils or anyone else — makes this feel like the Sharks acquiescing rather than the Devils meeting their price.
Maybe we look back on this deal more favorably if the pick conditions are met and Meier is no longer a Devil in 2025. For now, it’s an average return for an exceptional player. — Greg Wyshynski
The trade: Golden Knights acquire F Ivan Barbashev from the Blues for F Zach Dean
Context is king when it comes to the last two seasons for Ivan Barbashev.
He posted career-best offensive numbers last season — 26 goals and 34 assists — during a campaign in which the Blues posted their best team goals-per-game average since 1990-91 and Barbashev saw significant time with Jordan Kyrou. This season, the Blues’ offense has atrophied, he hasn’t seen a ton of time with Kyrou, and Barbashev’s numbers shrunk back to his previous career averages.
Barbashev, 27, has 29 points in 59 games, or 1.8 points per 60 minutes for St. Louis. Much like with Ryan O’Reilly, one has to take the Blues’ terrible season into consideration with Barbashev, because no one has escaped this disaster unscathed.
What the Knights are getting with Barbashev is a versatile, middle-six forward with solid playmaking ability. He’s better than average in setting up shot attempts for teammates, which makes up for the fact that he doesn’t shoot the puck much himself — and when he does, he has shown decent finishing abilities. Defensively he’s not going to be a game-changer, however.
At $2.25 million average annual value and an expiring contract, he’s a fine rental who makes the Knights deeper. One imagines he had some fans in Vegas, what with defenseman Alex Pietrangelo having played with him in St. Louis and coach Bruce Cassidy having seen what Barbashev can do in the postseason during the Blues’ Cup win over Boston.
Giving up Dean was preferable to giving up the Knights’ 2023 first-round pick. But in a system that doesn’t have many top prospects, it could be argued that they just surrendered one of their top-5 future players for what could amount to a rental. We’ll adjust accordingly if Barbashev sticks around.
The Knights clearly didn’t want to give up their 2023 first-round pick here, either to have it as a capital in another deadline deal or to use it themselves this summer. With that off the table, Blues GM Doug Armstrong did the next best thing: got a former first-round pick in Dean, whom the Knights selected 30th overall in 2021 from the Quebec Major Junior League’s Gatineau Olympiques.
Dean, 20, is a speedy center and a deft playmaker who has put up impressive offensive numbers in the Q. But he only had three points in seven games at world juniors for Canada.
Armstrong is betting that Dean’s offensive prowess can thrive and grow when he makes the leap to the American Hockey League, the next step on his growth curve. If he’s right and that eventually leads to an NHL gig, then this could end up looking like a lopsided deal one day down the road.
If he’s wrong … Barbashev wasn’t in the plans anyway. — Greg Wyshynski
The trade: The Predators trade winger Nino Niederreiter to the Jets for a 2024 second-round pick.
In a vacuum, a second-round draft pick is a reasonable price to pay for the services of a reliable 30-year-old forward with another year on his contract. But Niederreiter brings a lot more to the table than that.
The Swiss winger has eclipsed 20 goals six times in his career and is on track for a seventh, with 18 goals in 56 games for the Predators. Look up “analytics darling” in the hockey glossary, and you might find his photo. Niederreiter is a play-driving, shot-generating forward whose teams haven’t had less than 57% of the shot attempts with him on the ice since the 2014-15 season.
Niederreiter has been an average defensive player at 5-on-5. While he’s a solid finisher — his 15 even-strength goals put him in the neighborhood of Nikita Kucherov and Matty Beniers — he has never been an exemplary playmaker. He’s also not much of a contributor on the power play. Despite averaging 2:13 per game with the man advantage, he has only five points in 56 games this season. The Jets are 13th (21.9%) in power-play conversion. They might be left wanting here.
Niederreiter could slide next to Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, or he could play down the lineup. He does have the ability to play both wings as well. His $4 million cap hit next season is manageable, but we have to knock the grade down a little for the lack of salary retention, given that he’s signed for 2023-24 as well.
The Jets were reportedly in the hunt for Timo Meier of the San Jose Sharks, a player who would have had a dramatically bigger impact but would have cost a lot more than a 2024 second-round pick. (Winnipeg traded its 2023 second-round pick to the Washington Capitals in the Brenden Dillon trade in 2021.)
Niederreiter isn’t a perfect player — and sometimes the results don’t seem to square with the analytics — but he’s a strong addition for a contending team.
The Predators signed Niederreiter to a two-year, $8 million contract last summer with the assumption that they’d be a playoff contender. They still have an 18% chance of making the cut in the Western Conference, but that climb got much steeper recently with the news that center Ryan Johansen will miss around three months after leg surgery.
So kudos to GM David Poile for understanding who the Predators are. They’re not a true contender. To become one, they need fundamental changes to this lineup that can be facilitated only with trade capital. Adding a 2024 second-round draft pick for a player who no longer fits into their plans — specifically one signed beyond this season — is a nice bit of business. Nashville is now in possession of eight picks in the 2024 draft — one in each of the first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds and two in the second round.
It’s not easy to find a team that’s willing to take on the full freight of a $4 million AAV for two seasons. Poile did so without any salary retention. Disappointing season, good pivot for the Preds. — Greg Wyshynski
The Washington Capitals traded Dmitry Orlov to the Minnesota Wild for C Andrei Svetlakov, retaining 50% of Orlov’s salary. The Wild traded Orlov to the Boston Bruins for a 2023 fifth-round pick, retaining 25% of his salary. The Capitals traded forward Garnet Hathaway and Svetlakov to Boston for a first-round pick in the 2023 NHL draft, a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL draft, a third-round pick in the 2024 NHL draft and forward Craig Smith.
Two words: Let’s go.
The Bruins are challenging the NHL records for wins and points by a team in a single season. But as winger Brad Marchand told me this week, none of that matters inside their locker room. “If you asked any of the guys on this team who owned any of those records, nobody would know, because nobody cares. Because it’s not about the regular season,” he said.
That mindset is at the heart of this trade. The Bruins are a steamroller that just got lot more steam.
Orlov, 31, is a top-pairing defenseman who was averaging 22:43 per game in his 11th season with the Capitals. He has 19 points in 43 games, which is offensive production in line with previous seasons. Orlov gives the Bruins that rare combination of physicality and excellent puck-moving ability, excelling in skating the puck out of his own zone and controlling entries into the attacking zone.
The Bruins had been in the market for a left-shot defenseman who could be paired with star Charlie McAvoy, which would allow Matt Grzelcyk to drop down the lineup. The heavy speculation was that player was going to be Vladislav Gavrikov of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who once again have managed to take a solid but unspectacular defenseman and build a robust trade market around him as a pending unrestricted free agent. When that deal didn’t materialize, the speculation turned to the Bruins working on something else. Which turned out to be this Capitals trade.
Patience is a virtue: Orlov is better than Gavrikov. Better offensively, around the same level of effectiveness defensively and with a truckload more playoff experience.
Don’t sleep on Hathaway, either. The 31-year-old is the kind of quintessential bottom-six winger who brings energy and physicality every night while pitching in on offense. Jake DeBrusk, David Pastrnak, Nick Foligno and Hathaway down the right side is as solid as it gets in the East. But pour one out for Craig Smith, whose $3.1 million cap hit had to go to make this deal happen, but who leaves a team with eyes on the Stanley Cup and goes to one raising the white flag on the season.
Svetlakov is a center playing for CSKA Moscow in the KHL. The 26-year-old was a sixth-round pick in 2017 and projects to be a capable bottom-six forward if he ever makes the jump.
Giving up a first-round pick for a rental — or even two them — is rarely advisable. But the Bruins are the best team in hockey. Their window is open now. The post-Patrice Bergeron landscape will sort itself out. The Big Bad Bruins have gone even bigger.
Subban: Bruins look ‘impossible to beat’ after trade for Hathaway, Orlov
P. K. Subban says the Bruins look even better after trading for Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway.
First of all, kudos to GM Brian MacLellan for making that most difficult of choices for an NHL executive: To trade expiring contracts of reliable veterans even though their continued presence could bolster the artifice of championship contention.
Of course, the Capitals do have the luxury of Alex Ovechkin’s goal-record chase as a reason for fans to keep showing up for games this season, even if they’re sellers …
No matter what happened this season, it was going to be a transitional one for Washington. The Capitals had 11 unrestricted free agents before trading Orlov and Hathaway; in acquiring Smith, they still have 10 of them. That’s a significant amount of cap space and roster spots that MacLellan can use to reshape the team this summer.
Now he has two first-round picks in 2023, two third-round picks in 2024 and two second-round picks in 2025 as additional capital for the Capitals’ reload; or, if he chooses, to start laying the foundation for a post-Ovechkin franchise. It’s hard to believe that he’ll take the latter path, given the age and contract status of the rest of his core. But the point is that Washington smartly turned two players who wouldn’t return in 2023-24 into solid picks.
As MacLellan put it: “This trade allows us to acquire draft capital, infuse youth and restock our system. While this season has proven challenging with injuries to our significant players, we are in a position to use some of our current assets to retool our club and build a competitive team moving forward.”
Orlov and the Capitals were far apart on terms for the defenseman, who turns 32 this July. They didn’t want the long-term deal that he wanted. So off he goes to the Bruins.
If there’s a criticism to be made about the Capitals’ return here, it’s that they didn’t pull Jakub Zboril or Connor Clifton off the Bruins’ roster, two under-30 players who could have given them a body on a blue line that has only John Carlson signed beyond this season.
But otherwise, it’s a smart move on two players no longer in the plans. Even if that first-rounder from Boston is going to be, ahem, rather late in the round.
If the Arizona Coyotes are the team that acquires contracts with “dead cap space” — as they recently did in picking up Shea Weber’s contract from Vegas — the Wild are officially the NHL’s Third-Party Trade Broker.
The Capitals retained 50% of Orlov’s $5.1 million cap hit. The Wild then picked up 25% of that, bringing his AAV down to $1.275 million by the time the Bruins landed him.
This was the same play GM Bill Guerin used in helping to facilitate the Ryan O’Reilly trade between the St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs. In that deal, the Wild sent forward Josh Pillar, a 2019 fourth-round pick, to Toronto in exchange for the Leafs’ 2025 fourth-round pick. In this deal, they sent Svetlakov to the Capitals while receiving a 2023 fifth-round pick.
Michael Russo of The Athletic notes that the Wild are spending $86,000 in actual dollars to buy a 2023 fifth-rounder from Boston; they spent $74,000 for a 2025 fourth-rounder from Toronto. All in all, more smart use of cap space to facilitate two trades for pending unrestricted free agents. More teams should take notes. — Greg Wyshynski
The Toronto Maple Leafs acquire center Ryan O’Reilly, forward Noel Acciari and forward Josh Pillar; the St. Louis Blues acquire center Mikhail Abramov, forward Adam Gaudette, the Leafs’ 2023 first-round pick, the Ottawa Senators‘ 2023 second-round pick and Toronto’s second-round selection in 2024. The Minnesota Wild acquire Toronto’s fourth-round pick in 2025. St. Louis retained 50% of O’Reilly’s salary while Minnesota will retain 50% of his remaining salary before trading him to Toronto.
Any discussion about this trade begins with those nebulous, unmeasurable things called “intangibles.”
The Maple Leafs have been eliminated in the opening round of the postseason for six consecutive seasons and haven’t won a playoff series since 2004. O’Reilly, 32, is four seasons removed from winning the Stanley Cup with the Blues and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in the process.
They can’t win in the playoffs. He walks into their dressing room with a Stanley Cup ring, a captain’s ‘C’ and a pedigree most of his new teammates are still chasing.
Intangibles are funny: If the Leafs finally get past the first round, it will be due to absorption of O’Reilly’s playoff savvy, obviously. If the Leafs go out in the first round … well, not even O’Reilly and his ring of power can push Toronto into Round 2! What hope do they have?
Moving on to things that can be measured, O’Reilly adds some interesting dimensions to Toronto’s lineup. He’s an accomplished defensive center, winning the Selke Trophy in 2018-19. The Leafs are 18th in defensive zone faceoffs (49.2%); O’Reilly wins them 52.5% of the time. He kills penalties. He’s been used as a shutdown center in the playoffs, despite playing on the Blues’ top line. His defensive game has suffered a bit this season — as almost everyone’s underlying numbers have in a lost season in St. Louis — but Toronto is an environment where it can flourish again.
Offensively, O’Reilly’s 19 points in 40 games is uncharacteristically low, giving him a 1.5 points per 60 minutes average for a player that hasn’t been under 2.0 points per 60 since 2010-11. O’Reilly’s assists per 60 minutes (0.6) dropped dramatically from last season (1.5). It’s not that O’Reilly isn’t trying to create; it’s that he didn’t have a player like David Perron to convert those chances after he left for Detroit as a free agent. Again, going from the 18th best offensive team in the NHL to the 8th best should help.
Acciari helps the bottom six. The 31-year-old pending UFA forward had 18 points in 54 games for the Blues, playing 14:35 per game. He has played 54 career postseason games. He won’t give Toronto much offense, but he’s a versatile addition to their roster.
The Leafs gave up a bit to make this trade happen, both in acquiring O’Reilly and getting his cap hit down from $7.5 million to $1.875 million AAV. Please recall that O’Reilly is likely a rental, with unrestricted free agency pending this summer.
The first-rounder they sent to St. Louis isn’t lottery protected, but Toronto has a 99.5% chance of making the playoffs, per Money Puck. They gave up Ottawa’s third-rounder this season, which could end up being like a low second-rounder, their own second-rounder in 2024 and a fourth-rounder in 2025 to the Wild.
What they didn’t give up: Top prospect Matthew Knies, which was a concern from the Leafs faithful. They did give up Mikhail Abramov, 21, who has put together a promising season in the AHL this season. Gaudette, 26, has 34 points in 40 games with the Toronto Marlies, but wasn’t in the plans.
Pillar, 21, is an unsigned 2021 fourth-round draft pick by the Wild, skating for the WHL Saskatoon Blades. He’s a strong skater and an intriguing throw-in from St. Louis via Minnesota.
Overall, it’s a considerable price for O’Reilly. But this is the kind of swing you’d expect from a general manager without a contract beyond this season, which is the spot Kyle Dubas is in.
The concern here is that O’Reilly is in the kind of decline that a change in scenery won’t fix. It’s understandable if Leafs fans are getting flashbacks to the Nick Foligno trade in 2021 — acquiring a 33-year-old captain for draft picks and still not getting out of the first round. It has not been a good season for O’Reilly. That’s undeniable.
But if he regains his form, O’Reilly is the kind of player the Leafs need to level up. He can round out their top six or give them center depth that rivals that of the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning. Most of all, he’s a reinforcement that reinforces the faith that management has in this group to finally break through the first round — and keep it rolling for rounds after that.
The Blues and O’Reilly hadn’t had any recent contract negotiations. His camp hoped that the March 3 NHL trade deadline might act as a pressure point to get GM Doug Armstrong to come back to the negotiation table with one last extension offer. Instead, Armstrong remained unsentimental about his team captains: He let David Backes and Alex Pietrangelo leave as free agents and now O’Reilly is a Leaf.
(Don’t weep for O’Reilly not getting a new deal in St. Louis. With Bo Horvat signed by the Islanders and Dylan Larkin still expected to re-up with the Red Wings, O’Reilly is the best unrestricted free agent center available this summer.)
This is the second huge trade Armstrong’s made this month. For Vladimir Tarasenko, 50% of his salary and defenseman Niko Mikkola, the Blues picked up Sammy Blais, middling prospect Hunter Skinner, a conditional 2023 first-rounder and a 2024 fourth-rounder from the Rangers.
The Blues retained 50% of O’Reilly’s salary, too, and again shipped out a roster player (Acciari) with him. This time, they picked up a first (2023), a second (2024) and a third (2023, from Ottawa). They acquired a prospect with upside in Abramov — he’s a playmaker who needs more growth on the defensive end — and a minor leaguer in Gaudette.
This trade gives the Blues three first-round draft picks in 2023: Their own, the lower of the Rangers and Stars, and the Leafs. Considering the quality in this draft class, that’s a good place to be — either for the Blues to add prospects as they move into their next phase or for Armstrong to flip for more immediate help.
In a league with more than a few teams still determining if they want to buy or sell at the NHL trade deadline, you have to respect Armstrong’s brutal honesty through these trades.
The Wild spent $1.875 million in cap space to pick up a 2024 fourth-round pick from Toronto, sending Pillar out to make the O’Reilly transaction happen.
On the surface, that’s nothing to pop champagne about. But give GM Bill Guerin credit: He had the cap space to keep a share of O’Reilly’s salary and picked up a draft asset for the trouble. Third-team salary retention deals aren’t going to produce a blue-chip prospect or a first-round pick. This was a nice bit of business from the Wild that other teams would be wise to emulate.
It’s just a shame that the Minnesota Wild finally traded for the center they’ve always needed and he was gone in the same night … — Greg Wyshynski
Rangers acquired forward Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a conditional first-round pick in the 2023 draft, a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2024 draft, forward Sammy Blais and defenseman Hunter Skinner.
In the end, it wasn’t Patrick Kane who slides across from Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad on the Rangers’ top line. Instead, it might be someone who can help them even more in their pursuit of the Stanley Cup this season.
Tarasenko’s journey out of St. Louis was an unpredictable one. He won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2018-19, scoring 17 points in 26 games. But he asked for a trade in the summer of 2021, citing his displeasure with how the team handled multiple surgeries on his shoulder and a lack of trust in team management because of it.
Because of those injuries — Tarasenko played just 34 regular-season games from 2019 to ’21 — his trade value was low and the Blues held on to him. Then came the Tarasenko-ssance in 2021-22: 34 goals and 48 assists for 82 points in 75 games.
His value was high, but the Blues held on to him again. They expected to be a playoff team. They needed all the veteran scoring they could muster after David Perron left for Detroit as a free agent.
This season was a regression, not only for the Blues but for Tarasenko. He has 29 points in 38 games, including 10 goals, skating to a minus-18. He’s still a strong top-six winger despite that fall in 5-on-5 production, especially when it comes to shot generation and the ability to create shots off the rush. A change in scenery and linemates, and maybe those numbers trend up.
I had previously heard Tarasenko was open to waiving his no-trade clause for the Rangers, so that this trade happened now isn’t surprising. It’s a good fit.
New York has some natural playmakers in Panarin and Adam Fox who are going to benefit with having someone like Tarasenko who can shoot the puck from anywhere (and will). They’ve basically had a seat open at right wing in their top six the entirety of the season that Tarasenko fills.
Why didn’t Patrick Kane fill that hole? That might have been the most asked question Thursday when this trade was completed. Kane to the Rangers was one of those transactions that felt like it was being conjured into existence by fans and the punditry. The Chicago Blackhawks star is in the last year of his contract for a rebuilding team; the Rangers needed a right wing; and a trade to New York would mean a reunion with Panarin, who blossomed into a star playing with Kane in Chicago.
If not Kane, there was speculation that the Rangers could end up with Timo Meier of the San Jose Sharks, a pending restricted free agent who is younger (26) than Kane or Tarasenko and has scored 30 goals in 52 games for the Sharks this season.
The sense I get is that the cost for Kane and Meier was too high for the Rangers, both in what they’d have to give up and in cap implications. Tarasenko’s cap hit was $3.75 million after the Blues retention. Half of Kane’s cap hit would have been $5.25 million. Meier’s would have been $6 million, but the package the Rangers would have had to give up for him would have gotten much heavier if the Sharks also gobbled up part of his salary.
The Tarasenko deal gives the Rangers a top-six wing and more flexibility to do other things before the trade deadline. The Rangers gave up less for Vladimir Tarasenko than they did for Andrew Copp last season.
Well done, GM Chris Drury.
Look, Kane on the Rangers would have been intriguing, especially in a reunion with Panarin. But whatever injury that has nagged him this season is a concern, hurting his offensive production and making him basically a non-playable character on defense. Tarasenko’s offensive decline probably has more to do with the Blues’ descent into deadline seller than it does his own inefficiencies.
Mikkola, meanwhile, is a depth acquisition. He’s a defensive defenseman who has played at a replacement level in 50 games this season, averaging 16:39 minutes per game. But replacement level would be an improvement for the Rangers’ third pairing, as Ben Harpur and Braden Schneider have gotten absolutely cratered at 5-on-5 (38.9% expected goals). Mikkola slides in for Harpur.
There’s a lot to like about both fits for the Rangers, from the lineup to the salary cap to the expiring contracts. But especially because of the cost of doing this business.
GM Doug Armstrong has never been one for delusions of grandeur when it comes to his roster. If he senses the Blues aren’t good enough for playoff qualification, he starts burning up the phones to ship players out. St. Louis has a 3% chance of making the playoffs, according to MoneyPuck.
Hence, Vladimir Tarasenko is now a Ranger.
He wasn’t going to be a St. Louis Blue after this season anyway. It’s hard to believe Armstrong had the appetite to give term to a 31-year-old winger, especially considering the contentious history between Tarasenko and the franchise.
The Blues wanted a first-rounder and a prospect for Tarasenko. But they were trying to work a deal for a pending free agent with full trade protection. The market wasn’t going to be robust.
The Rangers’ offer checked the Blues’ boxes, perhaps as best they could be checked.
The conditional first-rounder will be the lower of the Rangers or the Dallas Stars, which the Rangers acquired in the Nils Lundkvist trade. Keep in mind that the Dallas pick is a conditional conditional: If the pick is a top 10 selection, then it’ll transfer over to 2024 as an unprotected first-round pick. The Stars are currently four points ahead of the Rangers in the league-wide standings and have a 98.4% chance of making the playoffs.
The Blues get a 2024 fourth-round pick that becomes a third-round pick if the Rangers make the playoffs. That feels like the “tax” for salary retention. St. Louis fans will note that Armstrong gave up a 2023 second-round pick for the Detroit Red Wings to retain 50% of pending UFA defenseman Nick Leddy’s salary last trade deadline. So that won’t sit well with them.
Sammy Blais is a popular former Blues forward whose inclusion in the deal is a roster slot swap with Mikkola — both are pending UFAs. He’ll throw a check. People will cheer. The Blues reacquiring Blais brings the Pavel Buchnevich trade full circle, as the Rangers traded the talented winger to St. Louis out of financial concerns for Blais and a second-rounder in 2021. Unfortunately, the Blues are done in their season series against the Calgary Flames, so no Sammy Blais reunion with Milan Lucic.
Which brings us to the impeccably named Hunter Skinner.
The Blues weren’t getting any young player off the Rangers’ current roster. They weren’t getting one of the team’s top prospects like forward Brennan Othmann, defenseman Zac Jones or winger Will Cuylle. Instead they received a 21-year-old defenseman taken No. 112 overall by the Rangers in 2019 who has played for the Jacksonville Icemen of the ECHL and the AHL Hartford Wolfpack.
Is he a prospect? Yes, he is, although not even among the Rangers’ top three young defensemen. New York’s blueline is stacked, so they’re dealing from a position of strength. Maybe the Blues see something here that we don’t, because this part of the trade is the most disappointing. He’s a project that’s shown some improvement but needs much more of it on the defensive side of the ice. As this point, his ceiling feels like the AHL. That’s not great.
But again, Armstrong was not dealing from a position of strength. Tarasenko had trade protection. As it turns out, Ryan O’Reilly and Ivan Barbashev do not. The Blues could just be getting started for the trade deadline. Buckle up … — Greg Wyshynski
The rumor and speculation is now over regarding Vancouver Canucks center Bo Horvat. The New York Islanders have traded forwards Anthony Beauvillier and Aatu Raty, along with a conditional first-round pick in the 2023 draft (top-12 protected), in exchange for Vancouver’s now-former captain. The Canucks are retaining 25% of Horvat’s salary.
In 49 games played this season, Horvat already has tied a career high in goals with 31. He also was named to the Pacific Division roster for the 2023 NHL All-Star Game this past weekend. His contract expires at the end of this season, at which point he’ll hit unrestricted free agency.
How did both GMs do in this swap? Here are our grades:
Isles general manager Lou Lamoriello likes to keep things quiet. Remember when we heard about the Canucks and Islanders talking about J.T. Miller at the draft last summer? And how the Islanders opted not to do business with Vancouver partially because we had heard about those talks?
Suffice it to say, the Horvat trade happened with nary a peep about the Islanders and Canucks being in conversation. Just the way Lou likes it.
Lamoriello has never shied away from making a significant deal, no matter if his team is challenging for the Stanley Cup or desperately trying to bounce over the playoff bubble, like these Islanders. The significance of this deal isn’t just for the second half of the season but potentially for years to come.
“You have to give something to get something,” Lamoriello said Monday. “But with the depth we have down the middle, we felt this was something that helped our hockey team. Today and tomorrow. This is a 27-year-old player.”
In the short term, Horvat immediately bolsters an offense that ranks 25th in the NHL at 2.85 goals per game. He has 31 goals in 49 games, after scoring 31 goals in 70 games last season. He has 24 power-play goals over the past two seasons, which could be a boon to an Islanders unit that ranks 31st in the NHL in power-play conversion rate (15.5%). He wins 56% of his faceoffs, which will help New York as a middle-of-the-pack faceoff team (15th overall).
He is many things that the current Islanders are not.
But the reason the Islanders gave up what they did to make this move is, in theory, for the seasons beyond this one. Horvat told reporters that there have been no contract extension talks with the Islanders, saying, “We’ll see if we can get something done.”
Lamoriello made it no secret that this was a trade made to keep Horvat with the Islanders after this season.
“Whenever you make a transaction like this, you make it for a player that has character,” he said. “That knows what a team gives up. And certainly feels comfortable in the organization he’s in. All of that, he’ll recognize quickly, and hopefully we’ll get that done.”
Bringing Horvat back on a long-term deal is the whole ballgame here. The Islanders signed Mathew Barzal to an extension through 2030-31. He needs another elite forward to play with, either as a linemate or on the power play or as an anchor for another scoring line. The Islanders believe Horvat is that guy, and they appear willing to pay him the average annual salary that’ll fall between Anders Lee‘s $7 million in average annual value and Barzal’s $9.15 million in AAV.
It’s possible Horvat decides to test the free-agent waters. Heck, it’s possible Lamoriello understands that, sees the Islanders as something less than a playoff team and cuts his losses with a Horvat reflip ahead of the March 3 deadline to another contender. It’s Lou. Everything’s on the table.
(The 25% salary retention could come in really handy if there was a second Horvat trade, as the Isles could pick up another 25% of his salary to swing the doors open to a number of capped-out contenders looking to make a deal.)
But let’s be real: Lamoriello has been doing this for a long, long time — like, since the late 1980s. He is a big trade guy but not a gambler. He is making this trade with some confidence that Horvat is playing next to Belmont Park for the next several seasons or he isn’t making it.
Barzal, Horvat, Lee, Brock Nelson, Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech, Noah Dobson and, hopefully, Ilya Sorokin (who is an unrestricted free agent in 2024): That’s a good, but not great, core to build around.
It’s possible that in Horvat and Barzal, the Islanders have two outstanding supporting players in search of a star to orbit around. It’s possible that Horvat is peaking and that an eight-year extension’s cap hit will look mighty different within five years. Adding another player 28 years or older (Horvat’s 28th birthday is April 5) to this roster doesn’t seem ideal.
As for the return to Vancouver, it was time for the Isles to stop waiting on Beauvillier. Raty has been projected by some to be a third-line center; and besides, Barzal and Horvat would have two center spots locked down if the latter re-signs. The hardest thing to surrender was the draft pick, although the Islanders do have some control over when the Canucks receive it. It’s top-12 lottery protected, but if it ends up being No. 12 overall in 2023, the Islanders could send it over now rather than risk a higher pick in 2024.
Lamoriello, of course, probably doesn’t see the Islanders as a lottery team this season or next. He clearly still believes that the Islanders are the team that went to the Eastern Conference finals twice in pandemic-impacted seasons, rather than the one that had a .512 points percentage last season and a .529 points percentage this season. And he believes, rightly or wrongly, that Bo Horvat is someone who can help the Islanders confirm his intuition.
If nothing else, this closes an odd loop in Lamoriello’s trade history. On June 30, 2013, the New Jersey Devils acquired goalie Cory Schneider from the Canucks for the ninth overall pick in the draft. That pick ended up being Horvat, who is now with the same franchise that still employs Schneider. Lou always gets his man, eventually.
The inkling that the Canucks were going to soon be out of the Bo Horvat business came a few weeks ago. President of hockey operations Jim Rutherford talked about how his team had a contract offer tabled for the captain since last summer but that the math on the net contract had significantly changed thanks to Horvat’s (conveniently timed) career-high goal-scoring season. Even if they wanted to up their ante for Horvat, the franchise’s decision to hand out new deals to forwards J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser made that economically unfeasible.
Horvat was a pending unrestricted free agent, and his team wasn’t going to bring him back — and the rest of the NHL knew this.
That established, the Canucks acquired a top-six NHL forward, a top-five prospect in a team’s system and a first-round pick that is lottery protected in 2023 (for obvious reasons) but not for 2024. On paper, that’s the kind of return one expects for a center with Horvat’s numbers, age and situation. For example, Claude Giroux went for Owen Tippett as well as first- and third-round picks at the previous trade deadline, and Giroux is eight years older than Horvat.
But trades aren’t made in a vacuum. There are names attached to those categories. Beauvillier is a bit of a diminished prospect at this point in his career. After a breakout campaign in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season (1.2 goals per 60 minutes), he regressed last season, and he hasn’t played out of that funk in 2022-23, during which he has just 20 points in 49 games. Beauvillier is 25 years old and under contract through the 2023-24 season at a manageable $4.15 million annual cap hit, even if it’s now a bit high for his production level.
At best, the Canucks have acquired a winger who needed a change in scenery to recapture his game. At worst, this is who Beauvillier is going to be: a winger who shows flashes of upside but never consistency — unless we’re talking about being a defensive liability, for which he has unfortunately been very consistent in his career. Still, he is a player the Canucks could move along in another transaction. He has some value.
Raty, 20, had two goals in 12 games with the Islanders this season. Selected at No. 52 in the 2021 draft, he was considered among the top five prospects in the Islanders’ system, which tells you more about the Islanders’ system than it does Raty. He has good ice vision, and he showed offensive flash playing in SM-liiga in 2021-22, putting up point-per-game numbers. He has yet to show that in North America, but again, Raty is 20 years old with a dozen NHL games to his credit. It all adds up to an intriguing prospect acquired in a package for a player who was leaving anyway.
The Canucks retained 25% of Horvat’s cap hit. That’s a bit surprising but necessary to make this particular deal work.
The reason this trade is a solid B for the Canucks is that they are, for lack of a better term, fading the Islanders. The first-round pick is lottery protected for this draft. Assuming the Horvat trade doesn’t turn this season around — and New York currently has a 12% chance of qualifying for the playoffs — that first-rounder could kick over to 2024, should the Islanders choose. Islanders GM Lamoriello is wagering Horvat signs long term and that the roster he has built is one that’s going to be a contender. The Canucks are wagering the Isles won’t make the playoffs and that the struggles with this roster will continue in 2023-24. Which bet are you backing? — Greg Wyshynski