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West Notes: Puljujarvi, Gaudreau, Nichushkin

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The Edmonton Oilers have cap space in hand and, after a strong run to the Western Conference Final, a clear desire to add difference-making players to their roster. One player they’re likely to subtract from their lineup is forward Jesse Puljujarvi. Puljujarvi, 24, will become an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent on Wednesday and is expected by many to be moved before next season. After a promising season in Edmonton, the Oilers faithful could not be faulted for expecting to return at least something of reasonable quality as part of the compensation package in any summer Puljujarvi trade. It seems, though, that that’s unlikely to happen. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Oilers are “frustrated” by “how little interest there is” in Puljujarvi.

Dreger clarifies that there are about three or four teams that are “nibbling” at the prospect of acquiring Puljujarvi and that the Oilers front office is bracing for a reality where they are forced to “sell low” on Puljujarvi and accept a return they deem to be sub-par. Puljujarvi, the fourth overall pick at the 2016 draft, scored 14 goals and 36 points in 65 games in 2021-22, which is a career-high in points production, although his playoff scoring (just three points in 16 games) left much to be desired. There is a general belief that Puljujarvi could “pop” on another team and score with a level of consistency and frequency he never could in Edmonton, and the Oilers may be left with a sort of trade return that is not commensurate with the value they believe Puljujarvi holds.

Now, for some other notes regarding the league’s Western Conference teams:

  • With Filip Forsberg now off the market, Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau has solidified his spot as the undisputed top free agent scorer set to be available on next week’s open market. The Calgary Flames, though, are hoping his contract situation ends in a similar way to Forsberg’s. Flames GM Brad Treliving, as relayed by TSN’s Salim Valji, remains “optimistic” about the prospect of re-signing Gaudreau, and part of the reason for that optimism has been because he and Gaudreau’s agent, Lewis Gross, have been “genuinely working towards a deal.” There has long been speculation on a Gaudreau return to his native East Coast, perhaps to the Philadelphia Flyers or New Jersey Devils, but it seems as though the Flames are fully intent on keeping that from happening and have every confidence that they’ll be successful.
  • With a spectacular performance in the playoffs, capped off by an impactful Stanley Cup Final series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, winger Valeri Nichushkin could enter the market next week on extremely strong ground. The Colorado Avalanche and GM Joe Sakic are going to try to keep that from happening. The team bid farewell to goalie Darcy Kuemper, helping them save cap space, and will likely use a solid chunk of that space in their attempt to retain Nichushkin. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes pegs a Nichushkin extension in Colorado at the $5MM-$6MM average annual value, which seems more than reasonable for a strong defensive player who scored 52 points in 62 games. It’s still an open question as to whether the Avalanche will commit to the full eight-year term they are permitted to offer Nichushkin, but their ability to offer one more year than any teams on the open market could be a factor in deciding if Nichushkin stays in Colorado. If he doesn’t, he can expect a multitude of suitors once the market opens.

Free Agent Focus: Chicago Blackhawks

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Free agency is now less than a week away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens up.  There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in mid-July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  Next up is a look at the Chicago Blackhawks

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Dylan Strome – On the day of the draft, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported that the Blackhawks were not expected to extend Strome a qualifying offer. Strome is eligible for a qualifying offer worth $3.6MM, and it looks like the rebuilding Blackhawks aren’t interested in retaining Strome at that number. But that doesn’t mean other teams won’t be interested in Strome on the open market. While Strome hasn’t lived up to the hype he once held as the third overall pick at the 2015 draft, it would be misleading to say he’s been anything other than a reasonably productive NHL player since arriving in Chicago. He had 22 goals and 48 points this season, and in only one of his four seasons as Blackhawk Strome has scored under a 50-point pace. Sure, Strome has had the benefit of sometimes sharing the ice with Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat, and his skating, while improved, is still holding back his game. But even with those caveats, Strome’s production combined with his age (he will be 25 for most of next season) makes him an extremely intriguing project signing for a team that wants a scoring center at a lower price than the more established options. Perhaps Strome could look to sign with a team that has a play-driving, superstar winger in order to have a mid-twenties career renaissance similar to the one his brother Ryan Strome had with the New York Rangers.

F Dominik Kubalik –  Another non-tender candidate, Kubalik has regressed since his extremely impressive rookie season and endured a difficult 2021-22 campaign. He had 15 goals and 32 points this past season, a decline from the 25-goal, 56-point pace he played at last season, and the 30-goal, 46-point showing he produced as a rookie. Kubalik is due a $4MM qualifying offer, and it seems as though GM Kyle Davidson does not believe extending him that offer to retain his rights is in the best interest of the rebuilding Blackhawks. Like Strome, Kubalik is an interesting UFA option for many teams. He’s just two seasons removed from when he made the NHL’s All-Rookie team and was a Calder Trophy Finalist, and only one season removed from a healthy 25-goal, 50+ point offensive pace. Teams are always looking for big wingers who can score, and that’s exactly what Kubalik is. If teams can look past Kubalik’s difficult 2021-22, they could get the kind of valuable, relatively young player that is rarely made available on the open market.

D Caleb Jones – Unlike the other two RFA’s listed here, Jones, the brother of Seth Jones, is expected to re-sign with the Blackhawks this offseason, according to Scott Powers of The Athletic. Jones played a third-pairing role in Chicago to moderate success, ranking fifth among regular Blackhawks defensemen in time on ice per game. Jones was not a factor on either of the Blackhawks’ special teams units, but he does have a history as a regular penalty kill contributor from his time in the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors. Jones isn’t the caliber of defenseman his brother is but expecting him to fit in as a long-term third-pairing defenseman wouldn’t be unreasonable. A short-term deal around $1MM-$2MM makes the most sense here, although the Blackhawks could opt to try to lock him up long-term if they are believers in his NHL future.

Other RFA’s: F Philipp Kurashev, F Andrei Altybarmakyan, F Cameron Morrison, D Wyatt Kalynuk, G Cale Morris

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D Calvin de Haan – The biggest-name veteran player the Blackhawks have to offer to the UFA market is defenseman Calvin de Haan. He was often mentioned in trade rumors but did not ultimately get moved at the 2022 deadline. De Haan, 31, is a veteran of 520 NHL games and has battled injuries throughout his NHL career. De Haan has only played in a full season once, and missed 13 games due to injuries this year. De Haan, the 12th overall pick at the 2009 NHL Draft, has had a successful NHL career thanks to his steady defensive play. De Haan’s offense is not what it used to be. While his career-high in points is a healthy 25, his eight points in 69 games this year are a sobering reminder of the declined state of his offensive tools. Nonetheless, De Haan still enters the market on stable ground: he’s an experienced, reliable defenseman who can help a second-unit penalty kill and fit in as a team’s fourth or fifth defenseman. While his next contract may come in lower than the $4.55MM he earned on his last deal, and the shoulder injuries he sustained may give some teams pause, he should still have a strong group of suitors once he hits the market next week.

G Kevin Lankinen – In some ways, Lankinen is in a similar situation to Kubalik. Like Kubalik, Lankinen was an out-of-nowhere import signing who, after a successful pro career in Europe, got into the rebuilding Blackhawks’ lineup and saw immediate success. Lankinen’s first 10 NHL starts were extremely promising: he posted a .920 save percentage or higher in seven of ten starts and frequently had to bail out a Chicago team that wasn’t putting forth a structured defensive effort to protect him. He effectively had to fend for himself early in his NHL career, and endeared himself to many Blackhawks fans in the process. The end of Lankinen’s rookie season was a struggle, and his numbers dipped overall, but his season-ending 17-14-5 record and .909 save percentage was indicative of the promise he flashed as a rookie. Lankinen even received seven Calder votes for his season and looked like he could possibly be the Blackhawks’ goalie of the future. 2021-22 didn’t go as planned, though, and Lankinen struggled as the Blackhawks plunged to the bottom of the NHL’s standings. The defensive performances in front of him didn’t help matters, but the reality was the nights that Lankinen would save the Blackhawks, which were all so common in his rookie year, were becoming few and far between. The Blackhawks recently acquired Petr Mrazek, but that shouldn’t block a return for Lankinen if that’s the route Davidson wants to pursue. If he hits the open market, Lankinen will be, like Strome and Kubalik, one of the more interesting (and risky) options on the open market.

Other UFA’s: D Erik Gustafsson, G Collin Delia, F Kurtis Gabriel

Projected Cap Space

For all the issues on the Blackhawks’ roster, the one advantage they do hold over most NHL clubs is that they have a wealth of cap space to work with. CapFriendly projects them to have $15MM of space to work with this offseason, and with the team expected to not qualify its most notable RFA’s, Davidson will have a blank canvas to work on in this summer’s market. Even with the $5.5MM cap recapture penalty incurred by Edmonton Oilers defenseman Duncan Keith’s retirement, they’ll be able to continue taking on other teams’ unwanted contracts in exchange for future assets, as they did with Mrazek.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

New York Islanders Re-Sign Seven Players

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On an otherwise quiet Saturday night, the New York Islanders have decided to get a bulk of their lower-priority offseason business done. The team has, per CapFriendly and PuckPedia, finalized contract extensions for a whopping seven players: defensemen Robin Salo, Sebastian Aho, and Grant Hutton, forwards Andy Andreoff, Otto Koivula, and Jeff Kubiak, and goalie Ken Appleby.

Salo, 23, got a two-year extension carrying an $800k cap hit in each year, with a $750k salary in 2022-23 and a $850k salary in 2023-24. Salo was the 46th overall pick at the 2017 draft after a successful season as an 18-year-old playing full-time in the Finnish Liiga. Salo was a long-term project pick, and he spent three seasons in Liiga before spending 2020-21 manning the blue line for Orebro in the SHL.  That wealth of professional experience helped Salo make a smooth transition to North America. He began the year with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders, quickly becoming one of their most relied-upon defensemen. At the AHL level, Salo finished second on the team with 21:05 time-on-ice per game, including 3:27 average time on ice on the power play. Salo was reasonably productive, with 20 points in 41 games, and his instant success at the AHL level earned him time with the Islanders at the NHL level. There, he averaged nearly 17 minutes of ice time per game and even got some time on the power play. Salo will get the chance to make the Islanders’ opening-night roster at training camp and, should he make it, will be a great help to the Islanders’ cap situation with his highly manageable $800k cap hit.

Aho, 26, was a frequent healthy scratch for the Islanders this season, although his role as the team’s spare defender kept him on the NHL and away from Bridgeport for the entirety of 2021-22. In total, Aho got into 36 games and posted 12 points. He averaged 16:27 time on ice per game and averaged 44 seconds of time on the power play, only getting time there in very specific circumstances. Aho is an undersized defenseman, but his ability in transition and production in the AHL has kept him as a reliable depth piece in New York. Aho’s extension is two years, $825k AAV.

The Islanders also re-signed Hutton, a 26-year-old undrafted player who found a home in the Islanders’ organization after a successful four-year stint at Miami University of Ohio, a team he captained his senior year. Hutton got into 16 NHL games this year and scored his first NHL goal, but he averaged only 14 minutes of time on ice per game and did not earn the trust of coach Barry Trotz. Hutton had 20 points in 46 AHL games, skating as a top-four defenseman at that level, and with the extension should remain a depth piece for the Islanders moving forward. Hutton’s deal is a three-year, $775k AAV extension that interestingly is a one-way contract for the final two years it runs. (PuckPedia link)

The next player the Islanders have reportedly re-signed is forward Andy Andreoff. Andreoff, 31, is a veteran of 185 NHL games and has proven himself as a reliable AHL scorer. Andreoff had 18 goals and 42 points for the Bridgeport Islanders, good for fourth on the team. Andreoff ranked fifth in Bridgeport in short-handed time on ice per game, and earned a two-year, two-way extension. His extension carries a $762k cap hit and holds total guarantees of $375k per year.

The second of three forwards the Islanders have re-signed is Koivula, a 23-year-old 2016 fourth-round pick. Koivula, who represented his native Finland at two IIHF World Junior Championships, is coming off a year where he ranked second on the Bridgeport Islanders in scoring with 47 points in 56 games. Koivula’s skating has thus far kept him from breaking into the NHL full-time, although he did get into eight games with the big club in 2021-22. Standing at six-five, 225 pounds, Koivula has intriguing size and has blossomed into a top-of-the-lineup offensive player at the AHL level. Koivula’s extension is a two-year deal with an $800k AAV. It will be a two-way deal in 2022-23 with a $750k cap hit before becoming a one-way deal in 2023-24 with an $850k cap hit.

The final forward the Islanders re-signed is Jeff Kubiak. The 28-year-old has been in the Islanders’ system since he graduated from Cornell University in 2017 and has worked his way up from the team’s ECHL affiliate, the Worcester Railers. Kubiak’s offensive game is not what earned him this one-year, $750k deal. (PuckPedia link) It’s his defense, as he’s become a true defensive specialist with AHL Bridgeport. There, Kubiak ranked first among team forwards with nearly three minutes of short-handed ice time per game, anchoring a penalty kill that ranked in the top half of the AHL with an 81.5% success rate. Kubiak may not have true NHL upside to his game but he’s become an important specialist player for the Islanders’ AHL squad.

Finally, the last player the Islanders have re-signed is goaltender Ken Appleby. Appleby, 27, bounced between the AHL and ECHL levels in 2021-22, posting solid numbers with each affiliate. At the AHL level, Appleby had a .928 save percentage in nine games, and he had a .918 in 27 games in the ECHL. Appleby earned a two-year, $762k AAV deal that carries a $125k guarantee in year one and a $130k guarantee in year two, according to PuckPedia.

As noted, information on the extensions is courtesy of CapFriendly and PuckPedia. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Goalie Notes: Kuemper, Murray, Campbell

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When the Colorado Avalanche acquired Alexandar Georgiev from the New York Rangers earlier this week, it became abundantly clear that the Avalanche would be moving forward without their Stanley Cup-winning starting goalie, Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper is set to hit the market on Wednesday, and with other pending free agents such as Valeri Nichushkin, Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, and Josh Manson, as well as Nathan MacKinnon’s mega-extension coming up a year from now, the Avalanche just aren’t in a position to spend significant cap dollars on a goalie. That leaves Kuemper with an intriguing opportunity, as he’s proven himself to be a championship-caliber starting goalie and is coming off of a regular season where he posted a .921 save percentage in 56 starts. There should be significant market interest from teams looking to acquire his services.

One of those teams is presumed to be the Washington Capitals. They traded one-half of last season’s goalie tandem, Vitek Vanecek, to the New Jersey Devils, and have enough cap space to make a splash on a goalie. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on the 32 Thoughts Podcast, the Capitals have been “very interested” in Kuemper for “quite some time” and should be “very motivated” to sign him once the market opens next week. The Capitals are looking to remain a Stanley Cup contender for the rest of Alex Ovechkin’s career, and acquiring a cup-winning number-one goalie is certainly one way for GM Brian MacLellan to keep his team in the mix.

Now, for some other notes regarding netminders across the league:

  • Earlier this week, we covered the trade that would have sent Ottawa Senators goalie Matt Murray to the Buffalo Sabres, before being nixed by Murray himself. Murray scuttling that trade possibility hasn’t stopped the Senators in their attempts to move him, and according to Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, Senators GM Pierre Dorion is “trying to get creative” in order to solve his current goalie logjam that currently has the team rostering three goalies on one-way contracts. Per Garrioch, the Toronto Maple Leafs are “involved in talks” with the Senators about Murray, and the Edmonton Oilers and Arizona Coyotes are two teams “studying the option” of taking on Murray. Murray, 28, carries a $6.25MM cap hit for the next two seasons and has not performed like a quality NHL goalie since 2018-19. Murray does, however, have two Stanley Cup rings on his resume and a career .911 save percentage, making him a potentially intriguing reclamation project for a team willing to take on his contract along with some sweetener assets as well.
  • For some time now, it’s looked as though the Toronto Maple Leafs and their number-one goalie for the last two years, Jack Campbell, were headed for a divorce. Campbell struggled as the season went on in 2021-22, and many assumed that the cap-strapped Maple Leafs would prefer to go in a different direction than extend Campbell on a market-value contract. Now, with Petr Mrazek’s $3.8MM cap hit off the books, it seems a Campbell reunion may be possible after all. TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that Campbell is “the priority” for Toronto and that before GM Kyle Dubas approaches any other goalie options he’ll want to make one last push at an extension for Campbell.

Washington Capitals Re-Sign Lucas Johansen

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Even more extension news has come in today. The Washington Capitals have announced that they have re-signed defenseman Lucas Johansen on a two-year, $762k AAV deal. Per the Capitals’ announcement, the deal has the following financial structure:

  • 2022-23: two-way, $750k NHL salary/$125k AHL salary
  • 2023-24: one-way, $775k

Johansen, 24, was the Capitals’ top draft pick at the 2016 draft, going 28th overall. He’s taken a long time to develop, and spent four full seasons in the AHL before finally making his NHL debut in 2021-22. He got into one game with the Capitals this year and registered an assist.

At the AHL level, Johansen has grown since his debut season and become a top-four defenseman for the Hershey Bears. In addition to his 28 points in 62 games, Johansen averaged just over 20 minutes of ice time per game, which ranked fourth among regular Bears defensemen. He often played as the partner to another Capitals first-rounder, Alexander Alexeyev. Johansen was also a factor on both of the Bears’ special teams units, averaging 1:59 of short-handed ice time per game and 1:20 per game on the Bears’ power play.

Johansen probably won’t become the top-four staple he was drafted in the first round to be, but the Capitals still see enough in him to give him a one-way commitment in 2023-24. Two of Johansen’s professional seasons were wrecked by injuries, and that could mean that Johansen is simply a late-blooming former top prospect who needed a longer runway to finally develop into an NHL player. It’s also possible that Johansen doesn’t improve on the consistency he showed this season, and tops out as a solid middle-of-the-lineup AHL-er.

With this new contract, Johansen will have a crucial two-year window in the Capitals’ organization to finally break into the NHL and become the NHL regular scouts once believed he could become.

Post-Draft Notes: Wild Free Agents, Nemec, Vlasic

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The Minnesota Wild just wrapped up an impressive eight-man draft class, and now, with the free-agent market set to open next Wednesday, they focus their attention to the upcoming group of free agents. The team has a few players set to hit free agency, although they took one of those players off the market yesterday, re-signing Marc-Andre Fleury to a two-year extension. Two players Wild GM Bill Guerin won’t be giving extensions, as relayed by Michael Russo of The Athletic, are mid-season pickup Nicolas Deslauriers and Minneapolis native Nick Bjugstad.

The Wild acquired Deslauriers, 31, from the Anaheim Ducks for a third-round pick last season, and he added some grit and physicality to the bottom of their lineup. He looked like a decent fit in Minnesota, but with the pressure of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts heavily squeezing Guerin’s financial flexibility this summer, it seems they don’t have the necessary cap room to retain him. Guerin did say that he expects Deslauriers to garner “a lot of interest,” which likely means Deslauriers has priced himself out of a return to the state of hockey. Bjugstad is coming off a year where he was a depth forward for the Wild, and he has not scored double-digit goals or more than 20 points since his impressive 49-point 2018-19 campaign with the Florida Panthers. It’s unlikely that Bjugstad sees the same level of leaguewide interest as Deslauriers when he too hits the market.

Now, for some other notes on information that has come out after the draft:

  • The New Jersey Devils didn’t flinch when they saw long-time consensus number-one prospect Shane Wright surprisingly on the board after the Montreal Canadiens took Juraj Slafkovsky first overall. They stuck to their board and selected Simon Nemec, an extremely talented defenseman and Slafkovsky’s countryman. The Devils made a bold choice, and won’t waste any time getting Nemec into the fold in their organization. As relayed by Amanda Stein of NHL.com, Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald says he spoke to Nemec’s agent and “expects to sign” Nemec to his entry-level contract this week. Stein notes that Nemec expressed a willingness to play in the AHL at the NHL Combine in Buffalo, and Nemec joining the Utica Comets for 2022-23 is beginning to seem like the most likely outcome.
  • Earlier in July, we covered the San Jose Sharks’ situation with defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and whether he would be bought out by the team after 16 seasons in teal. Today, Vlasic told The Athletic’s Corey Masisiak that “it doesn’t look like” he’ll be bought out and that he’s “excited” for a fresh start under a new coaching staff and a new GM in Mike Grier, who he played with for three seasons. Vlasic’s past few years haven’t been up to the standard he established earlier in his career. If the Sharks have any hope of returning to contention next season, as the organization fully intends to do, Vlasic will need to play like the $7MM defenseman he once was.

Arizona Coyotes Acquire Zack Kassian

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We have another trade. The Coyotes, who earlier tonight cashed in some of their draft capital to move up to the 11th overall pick, are making another move. They have acquired forward Zack Kassian, the 29th overall pick, a 2025 second-rounder, and a 2024 third-rounder from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for pick 32. To put it more simply, the Oilers are moving down two spots and trading two future mid-round picks in order to clear Zack Kassian’s contract off their books.

The Oilers, desperate to improve their team after an encouraging run to the Western Conference Final, want to be active this offseason in making improvements to their roster. They have been interested in a variety of goalies, but with cap space at an absolute premium, they have now decided they’ll need some more wiggle room in order to get a deal done. Trading Kassian’s cap hit gives GM Ken Holland more room to work with as he chases free agent goalies, such as Jack Campbell, or other established players in free agency.

For the Coyotes, this move adds a few more picks to GM Bill Armstrong’s stockpile. The Coyotes add two decently valuable picks as well as the right to move up a few spots in tonight’s draft in exchange for taking on Kassian, who had six goals and 19 points in 58 games this year. If Kassian can perform well in Arizona, it’s possible that the Coyotes will have the option to retain salary on his deal in order to flip him to another club. For now, though, the main priority will be the draft picks acquired in the deal.

We knew going into this summer that teams such as Chicago and Arizona would be active in weaponizing their cap space in order to acquire future assets. Now, on the night of the draft, both teams have made moves to do exactly that.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first on the details.

Chicago Blackhawks Acquire Petr Mrazek

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The Blackhawks aren’t done. They’re back in the first round, acquiring the 25th overall pick from the Toronto Maple Leafs as well as goaltender Petr Mrazek in exchange for the 38th overall pick. The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli first reported the trade, which has since been confirmed by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. The trade creates an additional $3.8MM in additional salary cap space for the Maple Leafs over each of the next two seasons.

For the Blackhawks, who are entering the next phase of a full-scale rebuild, the trade gives the team their third first-round pick of the evening after entering the day with zero picks in the round. The team used the pick to select Sam Rinzel, a Minnesota high school defenseman who was projected to go in the middle of the second round. The interesting wrinkle to this selection is that Chicago may have been able to simply utilize the 38th overall selection they traded away to select Rinzel, however draft-floor chatter may have made Chicago move quicker than they had intended.

The deal is a no-brainer for Toronto, who was already tight on salary cap space, giving them some breathing room, and doing so at the cost of sliding down just 13 spots in the draft order. Mrazek struggled greatly this season, posting a 3.38 goals-against average and .888 save-percentage in 20 games, dealing with injuries and even being placed on waivers. One issue with the deal is is it leaves the Maple Leafs without either of the goalies they started their season with, as All Star Jack Campbell is set to hit the UFA market. However, this trade opens up room for the team to take a run at keeping Campbell in the fold, or at least find a replacement.

Joe Sakic Wins GM Of The Year

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Joe Sakic won many awards as a player, and now he has one as an executive. The Colorado Avalanche GM has won the Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award. Sakic edged out Chris Drury of the New York Rangers and Julien Brisebois of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the award.

Sakic led the Avalanche to a Stanley Cup title this year, and his work, especially this year, went a long way to getting them there. Savvy trades for Darcy Kuemper, Artturi Lehkonen, and Nazem Kadri provided the team with crucial difference-makers that all played a role on their cup run. His trade for Devon Toews especially is one of the most lopsided trades in recent NHL history. Sakic’s shrewd free-agent moves, highlighted by his acquisition of Valeri Nichushkin, helped support the core of players the Avalanche drafted.

Sakic, a Hall of Fame player, is now building an executive career that could eventually come to rival the success of his playing career. The Avalanche look like they could be contenders for many years to come, and they’re in that position thanks in large part to the work Sakic has done. Now, Sakic has even more recognition to show for that work, in addition to the Stanley Cup ring he won earlier this summer.

Montreal Canadiens Acquire Kirby Dach

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Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes has made his splash. The Canadiens have dealt defenseman Alexander Romanov and pick 98 to the New York Islanders for the 13th pick. They then sent  pick 13 and 66 to Chicago for center Kirby Dach.  The teams have all announced the trades.

This is an absolute whopper of a three-team deal. The Blackhawks, who already acquired a first-rounder earlier today, add a second top-fifteen pick in exchange for Dach, the third-overall pick in 2019. They also add the 66th pick as part of the deal as well. For Chicago, this is another move for Kyle Davidson in his quest to add more long-term future assets. Dach was a promising prospect but a mix of injuries and underperformance is what has led to this trade. The Blackhawks, who entered today with no first round picks, have now amassed a small stockpile of picks in very short order.

For the Islanders, GM Lou Lamoriello adds a young defenseman who plays the sort of highly physical, rugged game that the Islanders covet. Romanov, 22, was a second-rounder at the 2018 draft and already has 133 NHL games to his name. His offensive upside is still up for debate, but he has played an increasingly important role in Montreal and should step into the Islanders defense and play immediately. There were defensemen set to be available at thirteenth overall, but Lamoriello and the Islanders seemingly preferred a more NHL-ready option with that pick.

In Dach, the Canadiens add a player who only a few years ago was the third-overall pick. Dach is a big center who starred for the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL, scoring 72 points in 62 games in his final season there. Dach has struggled in the NHL, perhaps a signal that he should have spent more time developing in Saskatoon before making the transition to the professional game. Dach has 59 points in 152 games and it could be that a change of scenery is exactly what he needs to get his career back on track. It’s a major risk for the Canadiens, as they’re spending a top-fifteen pick on a player who has thus far struggled to be a difference-maker at the NHL level. That being said, if the Canadiens’ evaluation of Dach is correct, they could be adding the type of big, top-six center that is coveted by most GMs and unlikely to be available to them at pick 13.

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