While the activity on the trade front still hasn’t really picked up yet, there were plenty of headlines across the league. Here are the top stories from the past seven days.
Koskinen Extension: The Oilers made an interesting gamble when they brought over Mikko Koskinen from the KHL for this season and gave him a $2.5MM deal despite having just four NHL games under his belt. Evidently, the team likes what they’ve seen from him thus far as they signed him to a three-year, $13.5MM contract extension, cementing his status as Edmonton’s number one netminder in the process. Koskinen has a respectable .910 save percentage on the season but has struggled considerably lately with just a .877 mark over the past month. The move also likely increases the chances that Cam Talbot is dealt before the trade deadline.
Chiarelli Fired: It turns out that the Koskinen extension was Peter Chiarelli’s last piece of business as GM of the Oilers as shortly after that deal was announced, he was fired by the team. Many of his moves in recent years haven’t panned out from giving Milan Lucic a seven-year contract to trading a first and second round pick for Griffin Reinhart (the first rounder became Mathew Barzal), to dealing Jordan Eberle in a trade tree that ultimately yielded Ryan Spooner (who cleared waivers this week). However, the worst one may have been moving reigning Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson in a highly-criticized one-for-one swap. Keith Gretzky will take over on an interim basis and if Edmonton’s press conference to announce the move is any indication, the idea of them going all in to make the playoffs now does not appear to be likely.
Teravainen Extension: The Hurricanes locked up one of their top forwards, inking Teuvo Teravainen to a five-year, $27MM extension. The contract also contains a ten-team no-trade clause in the final two years. He was slated to become a restricted free agent with salary arbitration eligibility this coming summer. Teravainen has done quite well in Carolina after being the incentive for them to take on Bryan Bickell’s contract three years ago and has emerged as a legitimate top-line forward. After putting up an impressive 64 points last season, the 24-year-old is on pace to beat that mark this year. If he can even come close to being a 60-point player with regularity, this deal has a chance to be a steal for the Hurricanes.
Kase Out For The Year: To say this season has been rough on the injury front for Anaheim would be a significant understatement. They’ve lost the most man games due to injuries this season and that number will get even higher with the announcement that Ondrej Kase will undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum next week, one that carries a recovery time of five-to-six months which means his season is over. The 23-year-old already missed 18 games earlier in the season with a concussion but despite that, he still sits second on the Ducks in goals with 11 in just 30 games. Anaheim has been a tailspin for the past month and this news certainly won’t help their fortunes.
Hurricanes Open To Moving A Top-Four Defenseman: Adding help to the back end is something many contenders are looking to do but it’s rare that a player like that is available. Carolina has a surplus of quality defenders and they are willing to move one of them. It’s believed that Jaccob Slavin is the only one that is completely off the table which leaves one of Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce, or Dougie Hamilton as the ones that are likely in play. Toronto is a team that’s known to be looking for blueline help and they’ve been keeping tabs on them in recent weeks.
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