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Pontus Andreasson, Filip Roos Linked To NHL

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Two more undrafted free agents could soon be coming to North America, as Aftonbladet.se reports that Pontus Andreasson and Filip Roos have both agreed to entry-level contracts with NHL clubs. The Swedish news outlet notes that Andreasson has agreed to a deal with the Detroit Red Wings, while Roos is in agreement with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Andreasson, 23, has exploded onto the SHL scene this season, scoring 18 goals and 38 points in 52 games with Lulea HF. It’s his first season at the highest level after spending the last two in the Allsvenskan, and it seems as though it’s been enough to draw the interest of an NHL team. Undrafted, Andreasson’s development has been relatively unnoticed, given he was never involved in any international play at any level. An entry-level contract would be limited to just one year, as he turns 24 in August.

Roos, meanwhile, would be signing a two-year deal as he only turned 23 a few months ago. He too has burst onto the SHL scene after two years in the Allsvenskan and is playing regular minutes for Skelleftea AIK. The 6’3″ defenseman had only eight points in 50 regular season games, but did show a little more scoring upside last season at the lower level, when he racked up 28 points in 52 games. Similarly overlooked when it comes to international competition, Roos is also an undrafted prospect has been relatively under the radar to this point.

The SHL quarter-finals get underway tomorrow, meaning contracts for both players would have to wait until after their team is eliminated or win the championship.

Red Wings Recall Kyle Criscuolo

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  • The Red Wings announced the recall of center Kyle Criscuolo from Grand Rapids of the AHL. The 29-year-old has played in 49 games with the Griffins this season, picking up 32 points.  With Detroit playing in Ottawa on Sunday, Tyler Bertuzzi will be ineligible to play while Dylan Larkin is day-to-day with a minor injury so Criscuolo will serve as some insurance to make sure they can dress 12 forwards for that game.

AHL Playoff Push Could Prevent Berggren From Making NHL Debut This Season

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  • While Red Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren has impressed in his first season in North America, there appears to be some hesitance in bringing him up for the stretch run. As Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press points out, Detroit’s farm team in Grand Rapids is still battling for a playoff spot in the minors and it appears the organization may be prioritizing that as being more valuable than a handful of NHL games to finish off this season.  The 21-year-old sits second on the Griffins in scoring with 44 points in 57 games.

Dallas Stars Acquire Vladislav Namestnikov

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The Dallas Stars acquired forward Vladislav Namestnikov from the Detroit Red Wings today in exchange for a fourth-round pick, per ESPN’s Kevin Weekes.

In terms of underrated additions, Namestnikov joining the Stars might rank among the best of the day. The veteran forward appears to be a perfect fit for the Dallas roster, adding some good defensive impact along with a bit of offensive production. In 60 games this season he’s scored 13 goals and 25 points, a total that would actually put him seventh among forwards for the Stars, right about where he’ll likely fit into the lineup. More effective than say, Alexander Radulov, who has been a frustratingly inconsistent part of the Dallas roster all season, Namestnikov also has the ability to play both center and wing, meaning he could end up moving around quite a bit.

The fact that he cost just a fourth-round pick makes it a low-risk move for the Stars, who are focused on making the playoffs. The team decided not to move some of their own high profile players–including John Klingberg–bringing in Nametnikov and depth goaltender Scott Wedgewood in separate deals instead. While that may not move the needle very much, it also doesn’t sacrifice a huge number of future assets in a year where even qualifying for the postseason is no sure thing.

On Detroit’s end, getting a draft pick out of Namestnikov is likely exactly the outcome that was discussed when they signed him to a two-year, $4MM deal in October 2020. Now 29, there was always little chance that the veteran forward would be around when the Red Wings were really competitive, and this move just adds another pick to the pile.

St. Louis Blues To Acquire Nick Leddy

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The St. Louis Blues have made their defensive addition, acquiring Nick Leddy from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Oskar Sundqvist and Jake Walman and a second-round pick in 2023. The Blues will also receive Luke Witkowski in the deal, giving them some more depth (at multiple positions, even). Lou Korac of NHL.com reports that the Red Wings will be retaining 50 percent of Leddy’s remaining contract.

Leddy, who turned 31 yesterday, is still one of the strongest skating defensemen in the league and can fit into a Blues team that has their eyes set on another Stanley Cup. After a career spent entirely in Chicago and New York, Leddy came to Detroit in an offseason trade that cost just Richard Panik–a contract the team didn’t want anyway–and a second-round pick.

After a few months with the Red Wings, he’ll bring back even more than that, as both Sundqvist and Walman project as potential NHL options for Detroit. There’s even potential for him to return to them anyway as a free agent, as Leddy is currently scheduled to hit the open market this summer. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic tweets that there have not yet been any extension discussions between the Blues and Leddy, meaning this could just be a pure rental for the last part of the season.

Getting back players that can contribute right away is key for a Red Wings team that hopes to contend for a playoff spot next season. In Sundqvist, they’re getting a 27-year-old forward that carries a cap hit of $2.75MM through the 2022-23 season. While he still hasn’t turned into much of an offensive player, the 6’3″ forward is a physical force that can fit into a few different spots in the bottom of the lineup. In Detroit, the team can perhaps even squeeze more offense out of him, as the Blues did when he scored 14 goals and 31 points in 2018-19.

Walman too could get a much bigger chance in Detroit, who have now moved out a pair of defensemen following Troy Stecher’s deal yesterday. The 26-year-old has played just 57 games in his NHL career to this point and will be a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer if he fails to play in enough games down the stretch. He’ll likely enter the lineup on a regular basis to avoid that, at which point he’ll be an arbitration-eligible RFA in the offseason.

This has turned into a clear strategy for Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, acquiring underutilized players for expiring assets. In fact, he might even end up flipping Sundqvist or Walman at some point as the team continues to build for the future.

But even though those players are tough to lose, the Blues are getting their big addition on defense ahead of a Stanley Cup push. Leddy can slot into the lineup and help take some of the pressure off of players like Marco Scandella who has struggled to maintain his previous level. The fact that he has over 120 games of playoff experience and won a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013 only adds to his appeal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Tyler Bertuzzi Hoping To Remain With Detroit

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While Red Wings winger Tyler Bertuzzi has been in some trade speculation as of late, he told reporters including MLive’s Ansar Khan that his desire is to stay with Detroit, the team that drafted him back in the second round in 2013.  The 27-year-old has one year left on his deal with a $4.75MM AAV and will become an unrestricted free agent in the 2023 offseason.  He sits second on the team in scoring this season with 49 points in 51 games which means GM Steve Yzerman would be placing a very high price tag if a contender wants to take a run at adding Bertuzzi today.

Los Angeles Kings Acquire Troy Stecher

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The Los Angeles Kings have been shopping for a defenseman and were linked to a number of major targets. However, with the likes of Hampus Lindholm, Ben Chiarot, and Mark Giordano now off the table and Jakob Chychrun looking increasingly unlikely to be dealt before the deadline, L.A. has decided to go bargain hunting. The Detroit Red Wings have announced that they have traded defenseman Troy Stecher to the Kings in exchange for a 2022 seventh-round pick. Los Angeles has confirmed the deal as well.

Now, adding Stecher does not remove the Kings from making further deadline additions on the back end, particularly when it comes to long-term pieces like Chychrun. Though just 27 years old and still carrying some name recognition from when he was an up-and-coming blue liner with the Vancouver Canucks, Stecher is merely a rental depth option for the Kings. Stecher has only played in 16 games with Detroit this season, with two points and a career-low 15:08 averaget time on ice. He is now longer the player he was once expected to become and is just an extra option on defense in L.A., hence the low cost of a last-round pick.

With that being said, defensive depth is still highly valuable to the Kings. The club has been inundated with injuries of late, with top-four defenders Drew Doughty, Matt Roy, and Michael Anderson all sidelined, not to mention Sean Walker out for the year. The team has been fortunate enough to get Alex Edler back in the lineup after a long-term absence, but they still have five rookie or sophomore defensemen on the roster right now. Stecher brings some much-needed experience and veteran ability to the team to help with this short-term injury bug and could play himself into a regular role even once the team is back at full strength. Stecher and Edler are familiar having played together in Vancouver and it will be interesting to see if they are paired once again in L.A. and if that could be a stable, successful partnership.

Detroit Red Wings Sit Nick Leddy For Asset Protection

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The Detroit Red Wings will scratch defenseman Nick Leddy for the purpose of asset and injury protection tonight in Vancouver and potentially again on Saturday in Seattle, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Leddy joins other defensemen like Ben Chiarot and Mark Giordano who have been scratched precautiously by their teams in anticipation of a trade prior to Monday’s trade deadline.

In Detroit this season, Leddy has been a valuable mentor to their duo of young right-shot defensemen on the rise in Moritz Seider and Filip Hronek. After general manager Steve Yzerman acquired him this offseason from the New York Islanders, he’s netted a goal and 15 assists for 16 points in 55 games, averaging 21:33 per game.

With that stat-line and the reputation that precedes him, Detroit should likely be able to at least recoup the second-round pick they gave up to acquire him, especially if they retain half of his $5.5MM cap hit. Still a skilled passer at this point in his career, he can be used more effectively in a sheltered, third-pairing role, potentially with limited power-play time as well. Leddy’s defensive metrics took a nosedive in Detroit this season, although that could very well just be a byproduct of the entire team’s struggles in that regard.

Recent waiver claim Olli Juolevi, now on his third NHL organization after the Vancouver Canucks drafted him fifth overall in 2016, will continue to get what could be his last real chance to impress in an NHL top-four setting in Detroit.

Detroit Red Wings Sign Cross Hanas

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The Detroit Red Wings have inked a top prospect, signing Cross Hanas to a three-year entry-level contract. Hanas currently plays for the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL, where he will remain for the rest of the CHL season.

Hanas, 20, was picked 55th overall by the Red Wings in 2020 after a decent sophomore season with the Winterhawks but has turned some heads this year with his strong play. The Texas native has scored 22 goals and 70 points in 53 games, leading a Portland team that has already clinched a playoff spot and has its eyes set on the WHL championship.

Every time the Winterhawks get a powerplay, the puck goes onto Hanas’ stick, where he has racked up 20 assists with the man advantage (and leads the team with 48 overall). He also happens to lead all Portland forwards in penalty minutes with 65, a good chunk of which came from a boarding incident that earned him a two-game suspension in January.

Once Portland’s season is over, Hanas will likely be joining the Grand Rapids Griffins for the next stop in his hockey career. Whether that happens at the tail end of this AHL season or next, he’ll be another interesting prospect to watch come through the Red Wings’ system.

Trade Rumors: Bertuzzi, Monahan, Middleton

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It’s T-minus six days until the 2022 Trade Deadline, and some names are already off the board with more likely to come prior to Deadline Day. One of those names who’s making a late entry to the fray is Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi, according to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. He reports that Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman is letting other teams know he’s “open for business,” with the sense around the league being Yzerman will entertain offers for any Red Wing not named Moritz Seider or Lucas Raymond. Bertuzzi is a desirable trade asset – he’s clicking at nearly a point-per-game clip this season and is locked into a $4.5MM cap hit this year and next. However, he and Josh Archibald retain their status as the only unvaccinated players in the NHL, and he’s already missed nine games this season due to border restrictions. It remains to be seen whether teams will be willing to acquire him with the risk that he may not be available for half of a playoff series or more.

Some more trade notes as things heat up:

  • As the Calgary Flames attempt to load up even further after acquiring Tyler Toffoli earlier this year, Seravalli speculates that Sean Monahan is a trade candidate to get shipped out of town prior to the deadline. Monahan’s continuously slipped down the depth chart this season and carries the lowest +/- rating on the team by far (-15). He has a paltry eight goals in 59 games and now sees time as the team’s fourth-line center, falling behind younger players like Dillon Dube. With Calgary needing to pay up big-time soon for pending free agents Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, freeing Monahan’s $6.375MM off the books would likely be beneficial, with replacement players available within the organization.
  • TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports the Toronto Maple Leafs are showing interest in San Jose Sharks defenseman Jacob Middleton for some added organizational depth. Middleton’s seen a career-high 41 games played in the NHL this year, scoring nine points, averaging 19:01 per game, and holding his own defensively. With Jake Muzzin still out with injury, he’d provide competition for players like Justin Holl, Travis Dermott, and Timothy Liljegren, and he would give Toronto a ninth NHL-caliber defenseman for a playoff run.

 

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