Atlanta-Based Owners Request Initiation Of Formal NHL Expansion Process
Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, a new Atlanta-based ownership group named Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment Group, led by former NHL player Anson Carter, has formally requested the NHL begin an expansion process that would bring the league back to Atlanta, GA. Aside from Carter, the group is also composed of Neil Leibman of Top Tier Sports, Peter Simon of Simon Sports, and Aaron Zeigler of Zeigler Automotive Group.
Mentioning that discussions for an Atlanta-area expansion have been ongoing since 2019 with Commissioner Gary Bettman, the ownership group has also created a partnership with New York Life in the hopes of using the North Point location in Alpharetta, GA. The location would be around 30 miles north of central Atlanta, and about 20 miles northeast of the recently built Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves of the MLB.
Atlanta has not seen an NHL team since the 2010-11 season when the team was purchased by True North Sports & Entertainment for a reported $170MM and subsequently moved to Winnipeg to create the second version of the Winnipeg Jets. Before the Thrashers began play in the 1999-00 NHL season, Atlanta had not seen an NHL team since the 1979-80 season, with the Atlanta Flames becoming the Calgary Flames only a year later.
If the NHL Board of Governors is not warm to the idea of expansion, the new ownership group could also look to relocate a current NHL organization, namely the Arizona Coyotes. After reportedly securing a land parcel in the Phoenix area, the Coyotes organization has been extremely quiet about their future home in Arizona. Given that the Seattle Kraken paid a reported $650MM to become the 32nd team in the league, it may be more financially prudent for the Atlanta-based ownership group to relocate.
2024 Trade Deadline Day Recap
With the preceding 48 hours causing enough excitement in their own right, the 2024 Trade Deadline still brought some action to the table. The day saw some rumored names such as Tyler Toffoli, Jason Zucker, and Matt Dumba all find new homes, while star player Tomas Hertl was moved to a divisional rival in a surprising blockbuster. Below is a complete list of the 23 trades made on March 8th alone:
Blue Jackets Acquire Malcolm Subban
Trade Details: St. Louis Blues send G Malcolm Subban to Columbus Blue Jackets for future considerations.
Hurricanes Acquire Evgeny Kuznetsov
Trade Details: Washington Capitals send F Evgeny Kuznetsov to Carolina Hurricanes for a third-round pick in 2025 (CAR). Washington also retained $3.9MM (50%) of Kuznetsov’s contract.
Panthers Acquire Kyle Okposo
Trade Details: Buffalo Sabres send F Kyle Okposo to Florida Panthers for D Calle Sjalin and a conditional seventh-round pick in 2024 (FLA). Conditional selection will upgrade to a fifth-round pick in 2024 if Florida wins the Stanley Cup.
Ducks Acquire Ben Meyers
Trade Details: Colorado Avalanche send F Ben Meyers to Anaheim Ducks for a fifth-round pick in 2024 (ANA).
Rangers Acquire Chad Ruhwedel
Trade Details: Pittsburgh Penguins send D Chad Ruhwedel to New York Rangers for a fourth-round pick in 2027 (NYR).
Rangers, Wild Swap Turner Elson For Nic Petan
Trade Details: Minnesota Wild send F Nic Petan to New York Rangers for F Turner Elson.
Jets Acquire Tyler Toffoli
Trade Details: New Jersey Devils send F Tyler Toffoli to Winnipeg Jets for a third-round pick in 2024 (WPG) and a second-round pick in 2025 (WPG). New Jersey also retained $2.125MM (50%) of Toffoli’s contract.
Red Wings Send Klim Kostin To Sharks, Acquire Radim Simek
Trade Details: Detroit Red Wings send F Klim Kostin to San Jose Sharks for D Radim Simek and a seventh-round pick in 2024 (NJ).
Predators Acquire Jason Zucker
Trade Details: Arizona Coyotes send F Jason Zucker to Nashville Predators for a sixth-round pick in 2024 (DAL).
Bruins Acquire Pat Maroon
Trade Details: Minnesota Wild send F Pat Maroon to Boston Bruins for F Luke Toporowski and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026 (BOS). Conditional selection will be sent to the Wild if Maroon plays one game in the 2023-24 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Sabres Send Erik Johnson To Flyers
Trade Details: Buffalo Sabres send D Erik Johnson to Philadelphia Flyers for fourth-round pick in 2024 (PHI).
Philadelphia Trades Wade Allison To Nashville For Denis Gurianov
Trade Details: Nashville Predators send F Denis Gurianov to Philadelphia Flyers for F Wade Allison.
Bruins Acquire Andrew Peeke
Trade Details: Columbus Blue Jackets send D Andrew Peeke to Boston Bruins for D Jakub Zboril and a third-round pick in 2027 (BOS).
Penguins Trade Magnus Hellberg To Panthers
Trade Details: Pittsburgh Penguins send G Magnus Hellberg to Florida Panthers for G Ludovic Waeber and a seventh-round pick in 2025 (FLA).
Devils Acquire Jake Allen
Trade Details: Montreal Canadiens send G Jake Allen to New Jersey Devils for a conditional third-round pick in 2025 (NJ). Conditional selection will upgrade to a second-round pick in 2025 if Allen plays in 40 or more games next season and the team he is rostered on makes the 2024-25 Stanley Cup playoffs. Montreal also retained $1.925MM (50%) of Allen’s contract.
Lightning Acquire Matt Dumba
Trade Details: Arizona Coyotes send D Matt Dumba and a seventh-round pick in 2025 (ARZ) to Tampa Bay Lightning for a fifth-round pick in 2027 (TB).
Flames Acquire Nikita Okhotiuk From Sharks
Trade Details: San Jose Sharks send D Nikita Okhotyuk to Calgary Flames for a conditional fifth-round pick in 2024 (CHI). Conditional selection will be the better of the two 2024 fifth-round selections that Chicago owns.
Sabres Send Devin Cooley To Sharks For Draft Pick
Trade Details: Buffalo Sabres send G Devin Cooley to San Jose Sharks for a seventh-round pick in 2025 (WSH).
Rangers Acquire Jack Roslovic
Trade Details: Columbus Blue Jackets send F Jack Roslovic to New York Rangers for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2026 (NYR). Conditional selection upgrades to a third-round pick in 2026 if the Rangers make it to this year’s Stanley Cup Final and Roslovic plays in at least 50% of the games.
Sharks Trade Kaapo Kahkonen To Devils
Trade Details: San Jose Sharks send G Kaapo Kahkonen to New Jersey Devils for G Vitek Vanecek and a seventh-round pick in 2025 (NJ).
Golden Knights Acquire Tomas Hertl
Trade Details: San Jose Sharks send F Tomas Hertl, a third-round pick in 2025 (SJ), and a third-round pick in 2027 (SJ) to Vegas Golden Knights for F David Edstrom and a first-round pick in 2025 (VGK). San Jose also retained $1.3875MM (17.1%) of Hertl’s contract.
Jets Acquire Colin Miller From Devils
Trade Details: New Jersey Devils send D Colin Miller to Winnipeg Jets for a fourth-round pick in 2026 (WPG).
Maple Leafs Acquire Connor Dewar
Trade Details: Minnesota Wild send F Connor Dewar to Toronto Maple Leafs for F Dmitry Ovchinnikov and a fourth-round pick in 2026 (TOR).
Injury Notes: Trouba, Forbort, Joshua
Even with some positive developments on the trade front this afternoon, the New York Rangers have some negative news as well, as Mollie Walker of the New York Post reports that defenseman Jacob Trouba will be out for the next two to three weeks. With some line shuffling set to take place, new deadline pickup Chad Ruhwedel should find his way into the lineup rather quickly on the right side.
This marks the first significant injury for Trouba during the regular season in the last three years, as he sustained two full seasons in 2021-22, and 2022-23. Trouba did have an undisclosed injury earlier this year, but it was largely insignificant as it only kept him out for three days.
In now his fifth season with the Rangers, Trouba is once again performing at his typical pace. In 60 games this year, he has scored three goals and 22 points in total and is averaging just under three hits a night.
Other injury notes:
- Indicating that his season might have come to an end, Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal is reporting that Boston Bruins’ defenseman Derek Forbort has been placed on the team’s long-term injured reserve. Forbort was playing through two significant injuries that have limited him to only 35 games on the year.
- Jeff Patterson of Canucks Army reports that Vancouver Canucks’ forward Dakota Joshua will at most miss the next two weeks for the team. Thankfully, the Canucks only have five games over the next 14 days, so Joshua shouldn’t miss too much action down the stretch. Having the most productive season of his career up to this point, Joshua has played in 53 games for Vancouver so far this year, scoring 13 goals and 26 points overall.
Trade Notes: Savard, Chychrun, Toffoli
With some of the bigger names on the defensive trade market off the board, the attention has now turned to the secondary market leading up to tomorrow’s trade deadline. One of those defenseman, David Savard of the Montreal Canadiens, has seen an increase of interest over the last 24 hours according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
In the third year of a four-year, $14MM contract signed with Montreal back in 2021, Savard’s name in the rumor mill should come as no surprise to him. Leading up to the trade deadline in 2021, as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Savard was shipped to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, for a first- and third-round pick.
Carrying only one more year on his contract after this one, the Canadiens could be talked into retaining some money on Savard’s deal, but the return will have to be enticing enough. Fortunately, even though the organization as a whole has been disappointing this season, Montreal does have the internal infrastructure available to them on the blue line making the idea of parting with Savard logical.
Other trade notes:
- One defenseman who has seen his name pop up in trade speculation for the last few seasons is Jakob Chychrun of the Ottawa Senators. Although it appeared that Chychrun had finally found a long-term home in Ottawa, the new front office does not seem as convinced. TSN’s Bruce Garrioch is reporting that although nothing is imminent on the Chychrun front, General Manager Steve Staios continues to work the phones regarding a Chychrun deal.
- Trade speculation has begun to increase surrounding New Jersey Devils’ forward Tyler Toffoli tonight, especially after the scoring forward was scratched by the organization for trade-related reasons. With Jake Guentzel likely headed to the Carolina Hurricanes, many interested teams are now pivoting to Toffoli, who is viewed as a fallback option to Guentzel (X Link). It makes a lot of sense, as Toffoli could benefit a plethora of playoff-bound teams with 26 goals in 61 games for the Devils this year.
Central Notes: Carrier, Koch, Khusnutdinov, Coyotes
Earlier this morning, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun commented that everything was still on the table in regards to Nashville Predators defenseman Alexandre Carrier. Taking a mixed approach to the trade deadline, the Predators have resigned Thomas Novak, and brought in Anthony Beauvillier and Jaret Anderson-Dolan, while shipping out Yakov Trenin.
Much like they did with their other rental options this past week, the Predators are weighing the option of signing Carrier to an extension, trading him, or using him as their rental. With less than 24 hours leading up to the trade deadline, Nashville does not have the luxury of time to make their decision.
As far as his value compared to other moves that have been made already this deadline season, the Predators could conceivably command a second-round pick for Carrier’s services. In 58 games for Nashville this season, Carrier has scored four goals and 19 points, averaging just under 18 and a half minutes a night.
Other Central notes:
- After sending veteran defenseman Troy Stecher to the Edmonton Oilers earlier today, the Arizona Coyotes opened up a roster spot on their blue line. To fill the void, the team opted to recall defenseman Patrik Koch according to a team announcement. In his first season in professional hockey in North America, Koch has only played for the Coyotes AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners, suiting up in 47 games this year, scoring 11 points overall.
- Now over a week since the Minnesota Wild signed forward Marat Khusnutdinov to an entry-level contract, it appears the organization has found some clarity on when he will eventually make his debut with the club. Michael Russo of The Athletic is reporting that Khusnutdinov’s visa issues have been worked out with the United States, and he will join the team for practice on Saturday.
- The Arizona Coyotes have shared that Jason Zucker and Matt Dumba will both sit out of the team’s Thursday night game for trade-related reasons. Both players have been focal pieces of Arizona’s assets this Deadline, with the team now acknowledging their chances of moving. They are both in their first season with the Coyotes, with Zucker scoring nine goals and 25 points in 51 games and Dumba totaling 10 points in 58 games. The two were previously teammates with the Minnesota Wild from 2013 to 2020, before Zucker joined the Pittsburgh Penguins for four seasons.
Waivers: 3/5/24
March 7: Johansen, Lockwood and Moverare cleared waivers today, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. Anderson-Dolan was claimed off waivers by the Predators.
March 6: As trade deadline season is in full swing, so too is the NHL’s waiver wire. Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff lists four players finding themselves on the wire today. Furthermore, Seravalli also notes that all players placed on waivers yesterday have cleared. The list for today is as follows:
Los Angeles Kings
F Jaret Anderson-Dolan
D Jacob Moverare
Florida Panthers
F William Lockwood
Philadelphia Flyers
F Ryan Johansen
For Los Angeles, the team will free up a bit of cap space leading up to the trade deadline on Friday. Both Anderson-Dolan and Moverare have been used as depth players for much of the season, and shouldn’t alter the continuity of the lineup moving forward in their absence.
After trading for Vladimir Tarasenko this morning, Lockwood’s roster spot fell victim to the chopping block. Whether or not Lockwood clears by tomorrow afternoon, the Panthers will now roll with 14 forwards on their active roster.
Lastly, this waiver placement will mark Johansen’s name in the second transaction today, as he was recently traded to the Flyers from the Colorado Avalanche in the Sean Walker trade a few moments ago. With 50% of his salary still being paid by the Nashville Predators, Johansen and his $4MM salary will be available to rest of the league for the next 24 hours.
Golden Knights Acquire Noah Hanifin From Flames
9:23 p.m.: The Vegas Golden Knights have announced the full trade package – sending a 2025 first-round pick, a conditional 2025 third-round pick, and defenseman Daniil Miromanov to the Flames. The first-round pick carries top-10 protection, while the third-round pick will upgrade to a 2024 second-round pick if Vegas advances to the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Vegas also sent a 2024 fifth-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers to broker the deal. Calgary retained 25 percent of Hanifin’s $4.95MM cap hit, while Philadelphia retained 50 percent, meaning he’ll only count towards $1.2375MM of Vegas’ salary cap. Philadelphia sent the rights to 27-year-old centerman Mikhail Vorobyov to Vegas to facilitate the salary retention.
Vorobyov played in 35 NHL games across the 2018-19 and 2019-20 season, scoring two goals and five points. He’s spent each of the last four seasons in Russia’s KHL, including the last three with routine heavyweight SKA St. Petersburg. Vorobyov has 112 points across 194 KHL games since the 2020-21 season.
5:28 p.m.: Even after acquiring Anthony Mantha from the Washington Capitals yesterday, the Vegas Golden Knights were not done adding to their current roster. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed that the Golden Knights would be acquiring defenseman Noah Hanifin from the Calgary Flames. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that defenseman Daniil Miromanov is heading from Vegas to Calgary as part of the return.
Not only will Vegas be adding a top defenseman to their already loaded defensive core, but Darren Dreger of TSN reports the two sides are working on a contract extension as well, although Friedman did pour some cold water on that scenario later. Since Hanifin will be a member of the Golden Knights before the trade deadline, he is eligible to sign an eight-year deal in Vegas.
With Alec Martinez being placed on the team’s injured reserve earlier this morning, Vegas had an opening next to top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. Factoring in the recent activation of Shea Theodore, the Golden Knights have once again put together a top defensive core leading into the Stanley Cup playoffs.
As the defending Stanley Cup champions, Vegas will likely represent Hanifin’s best opportunity to win Lord Stanley’s trophy for the first time in his career. There are some personal ties as well for Hanifin in Nevada, as he did play with star center Jack Eichel a decade ago on the United States National Junior Development Team.
Suppose the Flames are willing to retain 50% of Hanifin’s salary. In that case, a deal became feasible, as Vegas was only $500k from being able to absorb Hanifin’s full salary for the rest of the season. Still holding on to their first-round pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, and a moderate prospect pool to deal from, the makings of a deal came to fruition rather quickly between the two teams.
Anaheim Ducks Recall Pavol Regenda, Glenn Gawdin
After trading away Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick to the Edmonton Oilers earlier today, the Anaheim Ducks had two roster spots up front that needed to be filled. To solve the problem, the team has recalled Pavol Regenda and Glenn Gawdin from their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls.
With both Regenda and Gawdin serving as offensive depth options for the organization, neither has played in an NHL game yet this season. Lining up in a contest against the Ottawa Senators tonight, both will likely make their season debut.
Signed out of Slovakia last year, Regenda has been more than solid at the AHL level. Factoring in a 13-goal, 29-point performance in 38 games for the Gulls this season, Regenda has scored 29 goals and 54 points in 88 total games over his short minor-league career. Even though he is already 24 years old, Regenda has every opportunity to be a main piece in Anaheim’s middle-six next year.
As more of a veteran presence, Gawdin is very similar to Regenda as far as production. With limited experience at the NHL level playing for the Ducks and the Calgary Flames, Gawdin has been much more productive in the AHL. With over 300 games played over the last six seasons, Gawdin has scored 80 goals and 221 points in total, making him one of the more consistent offensive threats in the minors.
Avalanche Notes: Foudy, Pavel, Nichushkin, O’Connor
A few hours ago, the Colorado Avalanche made a pair of trades, sending Ryan Johansen to the Philadelphia Flyers as a part of a trade to land Sean Walker in the Mile High City, as well as sending Bowen Byram to the Buffalo Sabres for Casey Mittelstadt. In doing so, with both Walker and Mittelstadt unavailable to the team tonight, two roster spots opened up in the active lineup before the team’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.
To solve the issue, the Avalanche have recalled forwards Jean-Luc Foudy and Ondrej Pavel from their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. Both players should feature in the team’s bottom six, with Foudy taking over as the center of the third line, and Pavel joining Chris Wagner and Andrew Cogliano on the team’s fourth line.
Both players have primarily played on the Eagles this season, with Pavel registering one game with the Avalanche back in November. At the AHL level, Pavel has suited up in 48 games for the Eagles, scoring three goals and seven points in total. Foudy, however, has had his season severely limited by injury, only registering 12 games in the AHL, scoring two goals and six points up to this point.
Other notes:
- Making his way back from the NHLPA Player Assistance Program, the Avalanche are hoping that forward Valeri Nichushkin will be able to make his way back to the lineup on Friday against the Minnesota Wild (X Link). Although not playing since early January, Nichushkin is still sitting fourth on the team in scoring, putting up 22 goals and 42 points in his first 40 games this year.
- Another player who will not be in the lineup for Colorado tonight will be forward Logan O’Connor, who is out with a lower-body injury according to Ryan Boulding of the NHL. Previously missing time in mid-February with a similar injury, O’Connor has still put together a quality season for the Avalanche. Suiting up in 57 games for Colorado this season, O’Connor has scored 13 goals and 25 points overall, with three of those goals coming on the penalty kill.
Pacific Notes: Canucks, Emberson, Bordeleau, Barabanov
Pittsburgh Penguins beat writer, Josh Yohe, is reporting that although several teams remain in the mix for forward Jake Guentzel, the Vancouver Canucks have been far and away the most aggressive team. This reaffirms multiple reports over the last several days listing the Canucks as one of the top suitors for Guentzel’s services.
Yesterday there was a report from TSN’s Chris Johnston, which indicated that Vancouver was working on a potential trade that would land them Guentzel as well as shipping Elias Lindholm to the Boston Bruins. With just over 48 hours left until the trade deadline, a trade of this magnitude may have too many moving parts to be completed, but would be a fascinating shift from Vancouver after acquiring Lindholm just over a month ago.
In his own right, Guentzel does make a lot of sense for a team like the Canucks, with many of the team’s top players having minimal playoff experience throughout their careers. Playing for the Penguins over his entire career, Guentzel has been a standout playoff performer, scoring 34 goals and 58 points in 58 postseason games as well as a Stanley Cup ring in 2017.
Other Pacific notes:
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- In an announcement coming from the organization, the San Jose Sharks have placed defenseman Ty Emberson on injured reserve, and have recalled forward Thomas Bordeleau in a corresponding roster move. This will mark Emberson’s third stint on the IR this season, losing time in December and January as well. However, when healthy, he has been a solid performer in San Jose this season, scoring one goal and 10 points in 30 games played, coupled with a 91.7% save percentage in all situations as well. Bordeleau, on the other hand, has only appeared in six games for the Sharks this season, scoring one goal and one assist while averaging just over 13 minutes of ice time per night.
- Sticking with the Sharks, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that extension talks have broken down between the team and forward Alexander Barabanov, and they are actively shopping the veteran to a Stanley Cup contender. Experiencing something of a down season due to injuries earlier in the year, Barabanov has only been able to muster 10 points in 38 games for the Sharks this season. However, Barabanov is only one year removed from a 15-goal, 47-point performance, which may entice some contenders as a secondary-scoring option down the stretch.