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Devils Sign Juho Lammikko

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The Devils signed center Juho Lammikko to a one-way deal worth $800K, PuckPedia reports. He’ll look to win out a roster spot in training camp and avoid waivers and a subsequent assignment to AHL Utica, although the one-way deal stipulates that it won’t affect him financially if it happens.

Lammikko, 29, has three years and 159 games of NHL experience. The left-shot pivot was a third-round pick of the Panthers back in 2014 and made his NHL debut four years later. He made 40 appearances for the Cats in the 2018-19 season, registering six assists and a minus-seven rating, before returning to Europe when his entry-level contract expired. However, Florida retained his signing rights with a qualifying offer, so when he decided he was ready to return stateside after a year and a half abroad in Finland and Russia, he returned to the Panthers for the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.

While Lammikko managed a full-time roster spot, something he never held during his first stint in the Panthers organization, his production and role were identical to his rookie campaign. He scored his first four NHL goals but added only one assist for five points in 44 games, posting a minus-eight rating and averaging 10:50 per game. While he didn’t generate any meaningful offense in Florida, he did have some solid possession impacts at even strength, considering he was deployed as a defensive specialist.

After Lammikko re-signed with Florida on a league-minimum, one-way contract for the 2021-22 season, he failed to win a regular spot in the lineup in training camp. As a result, was traded to the Canucks along with Noah Juulsen in exchange for former top defense prospect Olli Juolevi at the beginning of the regular season. It was in British Columbia that Lammikko showed more legitimate upside as a bottom-six checking center. He upped his offensive production with a 7-8–15 scoring line in 75 games, a slight per-game increase even with the increased workload, and saw his ice time jump to the 12-minute range per game. The Finnish pivot also won 51.0% of his faceoffs after finishing at 42.8% and 44.9% in his two prior seasons with Florida. He also finished fourth among Vancouver forwards with 93 hits.

Nonetheless, that wasn’t enough for the Canucks to issue Lammikko a qualifying offer following his career-best campaign. After not pursuing or receiving NHL offers, Lammikko returned to Europe with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League. He’s been with ZSC ever since, bringing him some much-desired stability and allowing him to re-emerge as an offensive threat. He potted a 48-64–112 scoring line and a +60 rating in 144 games across the last three years, yielding back-to-back NL championships – he even scored the title-clinching goal in ZSC’s 2024 win. Lammikko is also 11th in NL scoring over the last three seasons.

He’ll now head to Jersey in an attempt to win out a bottom-six spot next year. It’s exceedingly rare for a player to make a jump to the NHL after his first two stints didn’t pan out, but he’s nonetheless hoping the third time is the charm. Bottom-six depth was an easily identifiable area of need for the Devils entering the summer, who have more than a few pending unrestricted free agents at the position and need insurance options in case candidates for internal promotion like Nolan Foote and Nathan Legare don’t work out.

Stars Reportedly Dialing Back Efforts To Trade Jason Robertson

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June 13th: According to today’s rendition of 32 Thoughts, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has heard that the Stars are already dialing back their efforts to explore moving Robertson this offseason. Friedman wouldn’t confirm whether it was because Dallas prefers to retain Robertson or if they hadn’t received adequate preliminary offers. Furthering this point, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period spoke on NHL Network, reporting that the Stars prefer to move Mason Marchment, Lyubushkin, or Dumba to alleviate their financial gridlock.

June 10th: It appears there’s some legitimate fire to the smoke that erupted last week when Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek opined the Stars could move winger Jason Robertson to ease their incredibly restrictive salary cap space this summer. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on 590 The FAN yesterday that Robertson’s name has indeed been floated in trade talks around the league, although “it’s not a guarantee that [he] goes.”

Robertson, 26 next month, has had a bit of a winding road since bursting onto the scene at the beginning of the decade. The 2017 second-rounder’s rookie season was the shortened 2021 campaign, scoring 45 points in 51 games to finish second on Dallas in scoring and place second in Calder Trophy voting behind Wild star Kirill Kaprizov. After eclipsing the point-per-game mark the following season, the two sides agreed on a four-year, $31MM deal after a lengthy run on the RFA market for Robertson.

It immediately looked like one of the best contracts in the league. Robertson erupted for a career-high 46 goals, 109 points, and a +37 rating while playing in all 82 games in the 2022-23 campaign, placing him fourth in MVP voting and tying for sixth in the NHL in scoring. Since then, Robertson has remained a veritable first-line piece but has seen his point production regress heavily, making him more of an ideal No. 2/3 forward instead of a team’s top scorer. He’s continued that ironman streak from the 2022-23 season but has just 80 points in each of the last two years, a 26% decrease in points per game from the heights of his breakout. His average ice time also dipped below 18 minutes per game in 2024-25 for the first time since his rookie season, and he was limited to six points in 11 postseason games after returning from a knee injury sustained in the final game of the regular season.

Aside from Dallas’ current unenviable cap situation, having just under $5MM in space with seven roster spots to fill, per PuckPedia, there are some peculiarities with Robertson’s contract that make him more of an understandable trade chip than at first glance. He’s still under team control as an RFA with arbitration rights when his extension expires next summer, and because his contract was somewhat significantly backloaded, he’s due a $9.3MM qualifying offer that’s much higher than his current $7.75MM cap hit. While Robertson’s upside remains tantalizing, is that QO number one the cap-crunched Stars are willing to even pay for one year, considering his more pedestrian offensive output over the past two seasons?

There are less efficient deals the Stars will presumably try to jettison first before becoming seriously engaged in Robertson talks. 2024 UFA defense pickups Mathew Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin both flamed out and make $3.75MM and $3.25MM against the cap next season, respectively. They’d need to replace them with cheaper UFAs this summer, but packaging some futures to get rid of those contracts would at least open up the cap space to potentially retain two of their three main pending UFAs – forwards Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, and Mikael Granlund. At present, they don’t stand much of a chance of even signing one while being able to fill out the rest of the roster.

If Dallas does structure a Robertson trade, they’ll presumably do so around a cost-effective player who can step into his top-six role directly – potentially a winger still on his entry-level deal – so they can use most of his cap hit to instead commit to extensions for the aforementioned UFAs and potentially pursue a depth defense upgrade.

2025 NHL Offseason Trades

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As with 2024-25’s in-season trades, we’ll keep track of all the NHL trades completed this season and update this article with each transaction. This post can be found anytime throughout the season on our desktop sidebar under “Pro Hockey Rumors Features” or our mobile menu under the Flame icon.

Trades are listed here in reverse chronological order, with the latest on top. So, if a player has been dealt multiple times, the first team listed as having acquired him is the one that ended up with him. Trades listed in italics have been agreed upon but are not yet official. For more details on each trade, click the date above it.

Here’s the full list of trades completed during the 2025 NHL offseason:

2025-26 League Year

September 4

  • Flyers acquire F Tucker Robertson.
  • Kraken acquire F Jon-Randall Avon.

July 25

July 17

  • Maple Leafs acquire F Dakota Joshua.
  • Canucks acquire the Maple Leafs’ 2028 fourth-round pick.

July 13

  • Penguins acquire G Arturs Silovs.
  • Canucks acquire F Chase Stillman and the Penguins’ 2027 fourth-round pick.

July 10

July 10

July 8

  • Oilers acquire signing rights to F Isaac Howard.
  • Lightning acquire F Sam O’Reilly.

July 2

July 1

  • Hurricanes acquire D K’Andre Miller.
  • Rangers acquire D Scott Morrow, the Hurricanes’ 2026 first-round pick, and the Hurricanes’ 2026 second-round pick.
    • Note: the Rangers will receive the better of the Hurricanes’ or Stars’ 2026 first-round pick, and the selection is top-10 protected.

July 1

  • Sharks acquire G Alex Nedeljkovic.
  • Penguins acquire the Sharks’ 2028 third-round pick.

July 1

  • Blackhawks acquire F Sam Lafferty.
  • Sabres acquire Blackhawks’ 2026 sixth-round pick.

July 1

July 1

  • Bruins acquire F Viktor Arvidsson.
  • Oilers acquire the Bruins’ 2027 fifth-round pick.

2024-25 League Year

June 30

  • Hurricanes acquire signing rights to G Cayden Primeau.
  • Canadiens acquire the Hurricanes’ 2026 seventh-round pick.

June 30

June 30

  • Maple Leafs acquire F Matias Maccelli.
  • Mammoth acquire the Maple Leafs’ 2027 third-round pick.
    • Note: the pick upgrades to the Maple Leafs’ 2029 second-rounder if Maccelli records at least 51 points in 2025-26 and Toronto makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

June 30

June 30

  • Predators acquire D Nicolas Hague and the Golden Knights’ 2027 third-round pick.
    • Note: the Predators will receive the Golden Knights’ 2027 second-round pick if Vegas wins at least two playoff rounds in 2026.
  • Golden Knights acquire F Colton Sissons (50% retained) and D Jeremy Lauzon.

June 28

  • Canucks acquire the signing rights to F Ilya Safonov.
  • Blackhawks acquire future considerations.

June 28

  • Flames acquire the Blues’ 2025 seventh-round pick (No. 211).
  • Red Wings acquire the Flames’ 2026 seventh-round pick.

June 28

  • Blue Jackets acquire the Kraken’s 2025 seventh-round pick (No. 198).
  • Kraken acquire the Blue Jackets’ 2025 seventh-round pick (No. 205) and the Golden Knights’ 2025 seventh-round pick (No. 218).

June 28

  • Panthers acquire the Bruins’ 2025 seventh-round pick (No. 197).
  • Blackhawks acquire the Panthers’ 2026 seventh-round pick.

June 28

  • Mammoth acquire the Avalanche’s 2025 sixth-round pick (No. 182).
  • Predators acquire the Mammoth’s 2026 sixth-round pick.

June 28

  • Oilers acquire the Predators’ 2025 fifth-round pick (No. 131).
  • Predators acquire the Oilers’ 2026 fifth-round pick.

June 28

  • Lightning acquire the Red Wings’ 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 108).
  • Bruins acquire the Lightning’s 2026 fourth-round pick.

June 28

  • Capitals acquire D Declan Chisholm and the Wild’s 2025 sixth-round pick (No. 180).
  • Wild acquire D Chase Priskie and the Capitals’ 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 123).

June 28

  • Senators acquire the Hurricanes’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 93).
  • Capitals acquire the Panthers’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 96) and the Senators’ 2027 seventh-round pick.

June 28

  • Golden Knights acquire the Senators’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 85).
  • Penguins acquire the Capitals’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 91) and the Golden Knights’ 2025 fifth-round pick (No. 154).

June 28

  • Blue Jackets acquire the Red Wings’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 76).
  • Red Wings acquire the Blue Jackets’ 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 109) and the Blue Jackets’ 2026 fourth-round pick.

June 28

  • Canadiens acquire the Bruins’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 69).
  • Bruins acquire the Canucks’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 79) and the Red Wings’ 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 108).

June 28

  • Hurricanes acquire the Predators’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 67).
  • Kings acquire the Hurricanes’ 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 125) and the Hurricanes’ 2026 third-round pick.

June 28

  • Golden Knights acquire the Lightning’s 2025 second-round pick (No. 55).
  • Predators acquire the Golden Knights’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 58) and the Golden Knights’ 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 122).

June 28

  • Red Wings acquire G John Gibson.
  • Ducks acquire G Petr Mrázek, the Red Wings’ 2027 second-round pick, and the Red Wings’ 2026 fourth-round pick.

June 28

  • Penguins acquire D Connor Clifton and the Sabres’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 39).
  • Sabres acquire D Conor Timmins and D Isaac Belliveau.

June 28

  • Kraken acquire the Flyers’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 36) and the Flyers’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 68).
  • Flyers acquire the Kraken’s 2025 second-round pick (No. 38) and the Maple Leafs’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 57).

June 28

  • Senators acquire D Jordan Spence.
  • Kings acquire the Predators’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 67) and the Avalanche’s 2026 sixth-round pick.

June 28

  • Canadiens acquire the Blackhawks’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 34) and the Hurricanes’ 2025 sixth-round pick (No. 189).
  • Hurricanes acquire the Penguins’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 41) and the Canadiens’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 49).

June 27

  • Blackhawks acquire the Hurricanes’ 2025 first-round pick (No. 29).
  • Hurricanes acquire the Blackhawks’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 34), the Stars’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 62), and the Blackhawks’ 2027 fifth-round pick.

June 27

  • Penguins acquire the Kings’ 2025 first-round pick (No. 24).
  • Kings acquire the Oilers’ 2025 first-round pick (No. 31) and the Capitals’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 59).

June 27

  • Predators acquire the Senators’ 2025 first-round pick (No. 21).
  • Senators acquire the Lightning’s 2025 first-round pick (No. 23) and the Predators’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 67).

June 27

  • Flyers acquire the Rangers’ 2025 first-round pick (No. 12).
  • Penguins acquire the Avalanche’s 2025 first-round pick (No. 22) and the Oilers’ 2025 first-round pick (No. 31).

June 27

  • Blue Jackets acquire F Charlie Coyle and F Miles Wood.
  • Avalanche acquire F Gavin Brindley, the Blue Jackets’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 77), and a conditional 2027 second-round pick.
    • Note: the Avalanche will receive the lower of the Blue Jackets’ or Wild’s 2027 second-round picks.

June 27

  • Canadiens acquire D Noah Dobson.
  • Islanders acquire F Emil Heineman, the Flames’ 2025 first-round pick (No. 16), and the Canadiens’ 2025 first-round pick (No. 17).

June 26

  • Capitals acquire F Justin Sourdif.
  • Panthers acquire the Capitals’ 2026 second-round pick and the Capitals’ 2027 sixth-round pick.

June 26

June 26

  • Panthers acquire G Daniil Tarasov.
  • Blue Jackets acquire the Panthers’ 2025 fifth-round pick (No. 160).

June 26

  • Kraken acquire F Frédérick Gaudreau.
  • Wild acquire the Kraken’s 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 102).

June 25

June 25

  • Canucks acquire F Evander Kane.
  • Oilers acquire the Senators’ 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 117).

June 23

  • Flyers acquire F Trevor Zegras.
  • Ducks acquire F Ryan Poehling, the Blue Jackets’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 45), and the Flyers’ 2026 fourth-round pick.

June 21

June 19

  • Kraken acquire F Mason Marchment.
  • Stars acquire their own 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 126) and the Kraken’s 2026 third-round pick.

June 18

  • Predators acquire F Erik Haula.
  • Devils acquire D Jeremy Hanzel and the Predators’ 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 99).

June 13

  • Bruins acquire signing rights to D Victor Söderström.
  • Blackhawks acquire D Ryan Mast and the Bruins’ 2025 seventh-round pick (No. 197).

June 12

  • Ducks acquire F Chris Kreider and their own 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 104).
  • Rangers acquire F Carey Terrance and the Maple Leafs’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 89).

Michael DiPietro Generating Interest

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Goaltender Michael DiPietro has had a rocky development road, but got back on track with an AHL All-Star campaign in the Bruins organization in 2024-25. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports the former high-end prospect is generating interest as he heads toward Group VI unrestricted free agency in a few weeks.

If so, DiPietro might be aiming to land somewhere where there’s a potential opening for him to start the season on the NHL roster as a No. 2 option. Jeff Marek of Daily Faceoff reported in March the Bruins were pursuing a contract extension with him, but considering there’s been no apparent forward progress since then, combined with today’s report, it’s clear he desires more of a shot than he’d have next year in Boston behind Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo.

A third-round pick by the Canucks in 2017 after winning the Memorial Cup with OHL Windsor, his development quickly stalled after turning pro two years later. He never became more than a fringe No. 3 option in Vancouver and lost nearly an entire year of development in the COVID-laced 2020-21 season, sitting on the taxi squad all year aside from four minor-league appearances.

After three NHL appearances and a few years of average minor-league play, the Canucks traded DiPietro to Boston at the beginning of the 2022-23 season in what looked like nothing more than a swap of AHLers at the time. DiPietro didn’t even manage an AHL role in his first year with the Bruins organization, playing just one game with Providence and spending the rest of the year with ECHL Maine, where he looked somewhat rejuvenated with a .918 SV% in 29 appearances.

A restricted free agent the following summer, the Bruins at least saw enough to tender him a qualifying offer. He signed a fresh two-way deal for the 2023-24 campaign, which saw him lock down a full-time AHL role again and replicate his forward momentum. While still Boston’s fourth-stringer behind Linus Ullmark, Swayman, and Brandon Bussi that year, he managed a strong 2.51 GAA, .918 SV%, 18-9-2 record, and four shutouts in 30 AHL appearances.

With an even stronger 2024-25 campaign, DiPietro’s development is finally on a linear track. The 26-year-old was a First Team All-Star and named the AHL’s top goaltender after superceding Bussi as Providence’s starter and posting a 2.05 GAA, .927 SV%, 26-8-7 record, and four shutouts in 40 games of action.

Goalies generally take longer to develop, and DiPietro’s winding road to this point could just be a victim of that cliché. He benefits from a pretty weak group of UFA netminders whose top options are Jake Allen, Anton Forsberg, and James Reimer. There are more than a few serviceable backups out there and even a legitimate 1B option in Allen still, but all of the options are known commodities at this stage. Aside from the veteran Allen, who was quite good in backup duties for New Jersey this season, DiPietro offers the most upside of anyone available for free.

Magnus Hellberg Signs With SHL’s Djurgårdens IF

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After a middling season in the AHL while on a two-way deal with the Stars, goaltender Magnus Hellberg is heading home to the SHL. Djurgårdens IF announced they’ve signed Hellberg to a three-year deal, bringing him back to Sweden through the 2027-28 season.

Hellberg hasn’t played in the SHL since 2011-12, back when it was called the Elitserien. He was a second-round pick by the Predators in 2011, for a time looking like he could be a long-term backup to Nashville stalwart Pekka Rinne. He was a solid AHL netminder for them, posting a .917 SV% and 2.36 GAA in his first three North American minor-league seasons, but only got one NHL relief appearance before a goalie crunch meant he was traded to the Rangers in 2015 for a sixth-round pick. His tenure in New York at least brought his first NHL start, but he only managed a .882 SV% and 2.44 GAA in three total appearances with the Rangers before reaching Group VI unrestricted free agency in 2017.

He opted for more opportunity overseas instead of trying to climb up an NHL depth chart elsewhere, signing with Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League. It was in the KHL that Hellberg finally established himself as an elite option in a high-level professional league. Across five seasons in China and Russia with Kunlun, SKA St. Petersburg, and HK Sochi, he posted a 2.00 GAA, .927 SV%, 24 shutouts, and an 81-64-14 record in 169 appearances. He was a two-time KHL All-Star and was rostered for Sweden at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics, also winning a gold medal at the World Championship in 2018.

That prompted Hellberg to make an NHL return late in the 2021-22 season, signing on with the Red Wings. He’s spent the last few years as a journeyman, making stints as a No. 3 option for Detroit, Ottawa, Seattle (although he never played for them), Pittsburgh, Florida, and Dallas. He saw NHL action in three of those stops (Red Wings, Senators, Penguins), but only put up a .891 SV%, 3.12 GAA and a 7-8-1 record in 22 appearances over three years. He spent all of last season on assignment to AHL Texas after clearing waivers with Dallas, where he recorded a fine but unimpressive 2.69 GAA, .904 SV%, two shutouts, and a 24-14-1 record in 41 games.

Now 34 years old, this is almost definitely the end of the road for Hellberg in the NHL. He’ll aim to rediscover his KHL form with Djurgården, which just gained promotion back to the SHL after three seasons in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan league.

Kings’ Anže Kopitar Wins 2024-25 Lady Byng Trophy

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Kings center Anže Kopitar has won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for the 2024-25 season, the NHL announced Thursday. According to the league, the award is given “to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.” As with most other major trophies, it’s voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association at the end of the regular season.

As the full voting results show, Kopitar was far from a unanimous first-place vote and narrowly edged out Brayden Point, Jack Eichel, and Jaccob Slavin, all of whom had at least 27 first-place nods. It’s Kopitar’s third Lady Byng, putting him in a tie for fifth-most in league history. Frank Boucher (seven), Wayne Gretzky (five), Pavel Datsyuk (four), and Red Kelly (four) are the only ones ahead of him.

Others receiving first-place votes, listed in order of total points awarded, were Nick Suzuki, Cale Makar, Marc-André Fleury, Mitch Marner, Colton Parayko, Jake Sanderson, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and Kirill Marchenko.

Kopitar, 38 in August, appeared in 81 games for Los Angeles in 2024-25 in what was his 19th NHL season, all with the Kings. Still an effective top-line piece, he also finished eighth in Selke Trophy voting after posting a 21-46–67 scoring line, a +14 rating, and 67 blocks while winning 57.2% of his faceoffs. As always important for Lady Byng voting, Kopitar took just two penalties all season – a holding call against the Devils in January and a cross-checking penalty against Utah in April.

The all-time great Slovenian pivot previously won the award following the 2015-16 and 2022-23 seasons. He was also a finalist back in 2014-15.

Image courtesy of Alex Gallardo-Imagn Images.

Ducks Acquire Chris Kreider From Rangers

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June 12: Both teams have made the trade official. The Ducks receive Kreider and their own 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 104), which they sent to the Rangers in the Trouba deal, while the Rangers receive the Maple Leafs’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 89), which the Ducks had acquired in last season’s Ilya Lyubushkin trade.

June 11: While the deal is agreed to in principle, Anaheim is on Kreider’s no-trade list, according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The trade will remain in limbo until the Rangers gain clarity on whether he’s willing to waive his trade protection to facilitate the deal.

June 10: The Ducks and Rangers are in “advanced discussions” on a trade that would send winger Chris Kreider to Anaheim, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports Tuesday. New York is slated to receive a prospect and a pick in return, according to Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA TODAY Sports. The Rangers are not retaining salary on Kreider, who is signed through 2026-27 at a $6.5MM cap hit, if the deal gets across the finish line. Center Carey Terrance will be the prospect heading to New York if the deal formalizes, which isn’t expected to happen until Wednesday morning at the earliest, Seravalli later added.

Kreider, 34, has spent the entirety of his 13-year NHL career in New York. They nabbed him 19th overall in the 2009 draft – a solid piece of work considering he’d be a unanimous top-10 choice in a redraft – and has hit the 20-goal mark in 10 of his 12 full seasons with the club.

The 6’3″, 230-lb lefty had been incredibly effective, especially in recent years, as the Rangers exited their accelerated retool during the late 2010s. While always a consistent scoring threat, he erupted for a career-high 52 snipes and 77 points in 81 games in the 2021-22 campaign, leading them in scoring as the Blueshirts had their first 50-win season in seven years and firmly restablished themselves as contenders atop the Eastern Conference.

Kreider hasn’t hit 50 again, nor did anyone expect him to. However, he’s still been incredibly effective as New York’s second-line left-winger behind Artemi Panarin, scoring 75 goals and 129 points in 161 regular-season games across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, the latter of which resulted in a Presidents’ Trophy for the Rangers. He’s also been downright dominant in the club’s last three playoff appearances, scoring 24 goals in 43 games in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 postseasons.

This season was an obviously disastrous campaign for the Rangers, who missed the playoffs entirely and saw a 29-point drop in the standings. That included Kreider, who had his most injury-plagued season since pre-pandemic. A back injury, a hand injury that may have resulted in offseason surgery, and what he later revealed to be a bout of vertigo limited him to 68 games. When healthy, his production cratered. While never a playmaker by any stretch, Kreider still had just eight assists in addition to his 22 goals, giving him 30 points on the year.

That worked out to 0.44 points per game, the worst rate of his career, excluding a 23-game trial in 2012-13. His 0.32 goals per game was far closer to his career median and just a few ticks south of his career average, though. Considering he shot at 14.5%, 0.6% worse than his 15.1% career average, there’s reasonable hope for him to get back to 30 goals again next season for Anaheim, especially if he gels well with a much younger group of centers in Orange County.

Rangers general manager Chris Drury, who had been shopping Kreider as far back as the Rangers’ early-season slide last November, wasn’t going to wait to see if the aging winger would rebound and be worth his cap hit next season. While tough to swallow for a lifelong Ranger, it’s an understandable viewpoint. With limited salary cap flexibility this summer to retool his roster and higher-paid players having no-movement clauses, Kreider, who only has a 15-team no-trade clause, was always the most likely candidate to be moved this offseason to free up considerable spending money.

It’s presumably not how Kreider, whose 326 career goals rank third in Rangers franchise history behind Rod Gilbert (406) and Jean Ratelle (336), wanted his time in New York to end. It’s also an eerily familiar move. Former captain Jacob Trouba was made available for trade at the same time as Kreider and could now welcome his ex-teammate to Anaheim after the Ducks took him on, also with no retained money, mid-season.

It’s not yet clear where Kreider could fit into the Ducks’ left-wing depth chart, which includes Cutter Gauthier, former Rangers teammate Frank Vatrano, and now Trevor Zegras after the natural center was shifted away from the middle of the ice. Zegras is entering the final year of his contract and has been the subject of trade rumors for a few years now, while Vatrano is kicking off a three-year extension but has some experience playing the right side. If he shuffles over, that would make more room for Kreider to split top-six LW duties with the 21-year-old Gauthier, who’s coming off a 20-goal, 44-point rookie season.

The Rangers are at least slated to land a center prospect with moderate upside in Terrance. Anaheim selected the 20-year-old in the second round of the 2023 draft. He was the No. 10 prospect in their system, as opined by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, amid a strong season for OHL Erie, where he was promoted to captain and finished the year with a 20-19–39 scoring line in 45 games. His season ended in February after a hit into the boards sent him to the hospital, although he was discharged within 24 hours. He is under contract – Anaheim signed him to his entry-level deal in April. Otherwise, they would have lost his signing rights on June 1.

Image courtesy of Danny Wild-Imagn Images.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post was first to report Kreider had waived his modified no-trade clause. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first to report the details of the draft pick swap.

Islanders Won’t Consider Trading Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat

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Ahead of the draft in which they hold the No. 1 overall pick, the Islanders have made it known that top forwards Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat will not be traded, reports Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun adds that new general manager Mathieu Darche has gone as far as to inform both players directly that their future on Long Island remains stable.

While the Isles’ front office change signaled a willingness for a new organizational approach, the prospects surrounding a full retool/rebuild took a big hit when New York won the draft lottery to move up from 10th to first overall. Doing so gives them an incredibly valuable stepping stone toward their next period of sustained playoff contention without needing to trade away one of their highest-valued players to acquire that type of asset as they would have had to do otherwise.

It would have been incredibly unwise to trade Barzal at this stage anyway. The 28-year-old’s value is likely at a low point after an injury-plagued season, limiting him to just a 9-11–20 scoring line in 30 games. Even on a per-game basis, it was the worst offensive showing of his eight-year run as a full-time NHLer. He still has six years left on his contract at a $9.15MM cap hit with a 22-team no-trade list. Considering he had an All-Star campaign with 80 points in 80 games while averaging over 20 minutes per night just one season ago, there’s legitimate reason to believe an offseason’s worth of rest provides the reset Barzal needs to get back to that level of production.

Trading Horvat, their leading scorer in 2024-25, would have been similarly surprising. He doesn’t have Barzal’s offensive upside but remains a high-end piece, even if he would be better suited as a second-line option on a championship contender compared to the No. 1 center honors he holds on Long Island. He’s scored 141 points in 192 games since being acquired from the Canucks ahead of the 2023 trade deadline and remains one of the league’s best faceoff men, coming off a career-high 58.2 FOW% in 2024-25. Like Barzal, Horvat is signed through the 2030-31 season.

As such, both will remain foundational pieces of the Isles’ forward group as they look to improve by refreshing their blue line and secondary scoring options. Barzal is a natural center but has shifted to Horvat’s wing frequently since the latter’s acquisition. Nonetheless, head coach Patrick Roy might do well to shift Barzal back to center to give them two legitimate top-six pivots in an effort to revitalize a New York offense that ranked 27th in the league last season.

If the Islanders do trade from their forward group to get younger and open up cap space, expect it to be a name like Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The 32-year-old center is entering the final season of his contract at a $5MM cap hit and has become expendable after the Isles landed their new top prospect (for now) in 2023 first-rounder Calum Ritchie, a strong candidate to start next year as their third-line middleman, from the Avalanche in this season’s Brock Nelson deal.

Canucks Have Shown Interest In Marco Rossi

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A handful of Canadian teams have spoken with the Wild regarding pending RFA center Marco Rossi, but the Canucks are the club with the highest level of interest in the youngster, writes Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun adds the Flames have also expressed a mild degree of interest but are looking for a pivot with more size to complement their top six, while the Canadiens have kicked tires but haven’t been remotely progressive in their pursuit.

Rossi is one of the biggest names to watch on the trade market over the next few weeks, especially among centers, unless Vancouver decides to shop their own Elias Pettersson again before his no-trade clause takes effect on July 1. Minnesota has been more aggressively soliciting calls on Rossi since the season ended, after previously denying they were looking to move the 23-year-old pivot. There’s been widespread interest so far, but no team has emerged as a true frontrunner.

That’s due mostly to Rossi’s disinterest in a bridge deal and a desire for a long-term contract worth $49MM over seven years for a $7MM cap hit, according to reports. He’s coming off a strong platform year, finally elevated into consistent top-six deployment and responding with a 24-36–60 scoring line in 82 games despite not having superstar Kirill Kaprizov available on his wing for half of the season. He was second on the Wild in points and only three goals behind Matt Boldy for the team lead. He also hasn’t missed a game since emerging as a full-time NHL option in 2023-24, a notable development for someone who experienced significant post-COVID complications shortly after being drafted No. 9 overall by the Wild in 2020.

Rossi’s leap in production, especially since he was able to shoulder the responsibility of being Minnesota’s top center for a decent portion of the campaign with Joel Eriksson Ek missing time as well, still points to the Austrian having a point-per-game ceiling (or close to it). There’s one limiting factor he has to overcome: his size. Checking in at 5’9″ and 182 lbs, teams generally prefer to have that type of skillset on the wing. Whether justifiable or not, his evaluation by the Wild has been negatively impacted. His minutes were slashed in the postseason as he was reduced to a fourth-line role, still managing three points in six games against the Golden Knights despite seeing a decrease of over seven minutes per game from his regular-season deployment.

The lack of cost certainty and the fact that Rossi only has two full years of NHL experience also hurt, not help, his trade value. As such, it’s hard to identify a solid comparable deal to speculate a return. The Wild have no intention of taking a step back in their competitiveness level next season, though, so as Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff speculated earlier this month, they won’t just be looking for futures in return. If they’re losing center depth, they’ll look to bolster their skill on the wings to compensate.

Few destinations make more sense for Rossi than Vancouver. The Canucks are in desperate need of more offensive depth at every forward position but particularly at center, where they took a temporary hit by swapping J.T. Miller for Filip Chytil in an in-season blockbuster with the Rangers. Slotting in Rossi as their No. 2 center behind Pettersson, as they await the latter’s return to form, would allow Chytil to drop down to a much more comfortable third-line role to begin 2025-26 and give Vancouver three legitimate scoring threats down the middle.

It’s unclear who Minnesota might want in return on the wing, though. They’d presumably prefer a similarly-aged piece to Rossi but the Canucks wouldn’t likely value him high enough to deem him worth parting ways with top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki. A return based around the 23-year-old Nils Höglander, plus other assets to equal Rossi’s higher trade value, would be more realistic.

That’s a decent step back in offensive ceiling for Minnesota, but Höglander is cost-controlled at a $3MM cap hit through 2027-28. That would still allow the Wild to be aggressive in pursuing a name like Matt Duchene or Mikael Granlund in free agency to replace Rossi down the middle, while the Canucks would still open up more flexbility compared to a futures-based return and might still have the space to pursue a replacement for Höglander on the wing on the open market.

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