Although it was a quieter week around the league with many teams on their byes, that didn’t stop it from being a busy week around the hockey world. Here are the top stories.
Extensions: The Ducks locked up a core part of their forward group by signing winger Andrew Cogliano to a three-year, $9.75MM extension. Cogliano has been an effective middle-six forward Anaheim for several years now and, until his suspension earlier today, had yet to miss a single game in his career. The Predators also were active on the extension front, inking defensemen Yannick Weber (two years, $1.35MM), Anthony Bitetto (one year, $650K), and Matt Irwin (two years, $1.25MM) to new contracts, ensuring that their depth defenders will stay intact for at least another year.
Duclair To Chicago: After shopping him for over a year, the Coyotes were finally able to find a suitable trade for disgruntled winger Anthony Duclair, sending him along with defenseman Adam Clendening to the Blackhawks for winger Richard Panik and center Laurent Dauphin. Chicago gets out of the final year of Panik’s $2.8MM per year contract and they’ll likely do something to utilize those cap savings before the season comes to an end. Meanwhile, both sides are hopeful that their wingers will thrive with the change of scenery.
Johnson Requests Trade: Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson has requested a trade. He’s in the final year of his contract but finds himself on the third pairing which doesn’t bode well for his marketability this summer in unrestricted free agency. With Columbus in the thick of the playoff race, this presents an interesting situation for GM Jarmo Kekalainen who will likely be looking for another defender or at least a roster player in return instead of a futures-based package. Johnson makes $5MM in salary this season with a cap hit of $4.357MM which may be difficult for other contending teams to fit onto their books.
Canada Names Olympic Roster: With the Olympics now less than a month away, Canada unveiled their men’s hockey roster. It features many familiar faces as 23 of the 25 players have spent time in the NHL at some point in their careers. Interestingly enough, one player who said no was Colorado defensive prospect Cale Makar. It’s believed that he could have been a power play specialist for the Canadian squad but he chose to stick with UMass (Amherst) of the NCAA instead.
Hurricanes Sold: The ownership saga in Carolina has officially come to an end as the NHL has approved the sale of the team from Peter Karmanos to Dallas billionaire Thomas Dundon. Karmanos will retain a minority share for the time being but it’s expected that Dundon will have 100% ownership in the years to come. As part of the deal, the team cannot be moved for at least the next seven years. Dundon also threw his support behind both GM Ron Francis and head coach Bill Peters and has already been in contact with the league regarding an outdoor game.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.