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Oilers, Canucks Among Teams With Interest In Penguins’ Marcus Pettersson

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The Oilers and Canucks have demonstrated interest in acquiring defenseman Marcus Pettersson from the Penguins ahead of the March 7 trade deadline, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reports Tuesday.

At least on paper, Edmonton and Vancouver have much more precise needs for a right-shot defender than a lefty like Pettersson. He hasn’t logged significant time playing on his off side since his first NHL stint with the Ducks in the 2017-18 season, either.

That being said, both clubs need to add at least one defenseman – preferably one with historically strong possession impacts like Pettersson – to be in great shape heading into the postseason in Edmonton’s case and a passable shape in Vancouver’s case. There’s a far more apparent need for Pettersson in British Columbia than in Alberta, where he’d be competing for top-four minutes with Darnell Nurse and likely pushing Brett Kulak to the latter’s offside.

The Canucks would immediately have Pettersson slot in as their No. 2 left defender behind Quinn Hughes, giving them a much more competent and well-rounded top-four group once Filip Hronek returns to the lineup from his lower-body injury. Acquiring arguably the best pure defensive blue-liner that’s set to be available on deadline day, especially one who’s controlled over 50% of shot attempts when on the ice at even strength in all of his seven seasons with the Penguins, would be a significant boon to a Vancouver squad that’s only controlling 49.4% of shot attempts and 48.7% of scoring chances at 5-on-5.

Over in Edmonton, Nurse has proved that reports of his demise are only slightly exaggerated this season. He’s got 17 points through 36 games, up from last season’s pace, and has been one-half of Edmonton’s best shutdown pairing this season when deployed with Kulak on his right. That duo only allows 1.83 expected goals against per 60 minutes, seventh-best in the league among pairings with over 200 minutes together, per MoneyPuck.

Still, Pettersson’s raw shot attempts numbers this season (52.5 CF%) are better than Nurse’s (50.8 CF%) at even strength, as are his relative impacts on a much weaker possession team in Pittsburgh. Acquiring him would allow the Oilers to roll out the effective Nurse-Kulak duo against lesser competition in a third-pairing role while pairing Pettersson with one of Ty Emberson or Troy Stecher.

Yohe reports that more teams will undoubtedly call the Pens about Pettersson’s services, and a trade is a matter of when, not if. Even with Pittsburgh hanging around a playoff spot, the club “only has so many players without no-trade clauses” and is “almost certainly as good as gone” as a pending unrestricted free agent.

That leaves the question of which club is in a better position to take on his $4.025MM cap hit, although the Penguins still have a pair of retention slots open and would likely be willing to slash that cap hit to $2.01MM for additional assets since it’s an expiring deal. The Oilers can only swing if Evander Kane remains on long-term injured reserve for the remainder of the season; otherwise, they only have $1.02MM in projected deadline space, per PuckPedia. The Canucks are in a similar boat with Hronek on LTIR and only project to have $1.33MM in deadline space, although both clubs will up those numbers with some minor moves in the days leading up to March 7.

Alex Chiasson Announces Retirement

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A long-time middle-six scorer is officially hanging up his skates. Originally announced by himself and then shared by the National Hockey League Players’ Association, Alex Chiasson is retiring after spending a few years off the ice.

The Dallas Stars drafted Chiasson with the 38th overall pick of the 2009 NHL Draft out of the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers program. Instead of immediately turning professional, Chiasson joined the Boston University Terriers for the 2009-10 NCAA season one year after they won the National Championship. Unfortunately, Chiasson would fail to reach the Frozen Four throughout his three-year tenure with Boston University.

He still became an effective playmaker at the collegiate level. He finished his NCAA career with 36 goals and 99 points in 108 games before signing his entry-level contract after the 2011-12 campaign. Chiasson started quickly with the AHL’s Texas Stars, scoring one goal and five points in nine contests.

Much of the next calendar year was spent in AHL Texas until Dallas recalled Chiasson in early April of the 2012-13 season to debut in the NHL. After scoring six goals and seven points in seven games to end the regular season, Chiasson became an NHL regular for the next decade.

Chiasson scored 13 goals and 35 points in 79 games during his official rookie season, which would be his last with the Stars. The following summer, he was acquired by the Ottawa Senators organization as a part of the return package for franchise icon Jason Spezza.

Although he became one of the better players from the trade for Spezza, his time in Canada’s capital was mostly disappointing. He finished his tenure in Ottawa with 19 goals and 40 points in 153 games before arduous contract negotiations led to a trade to the Calgary Flames in the summer of 2016.

After a solid year as a depth scorer for the Flames, Chiasson signed with the Washington Capitals for the 2017-18 season. He won his first and only Stanley Cup that year, scoring one goal and one assist in 16 playoff games for the Capitals.

It wasn’t until he joined the Edmonton Oilers that Chiasson experienced the most personal success of his career. During his time with the Oilers, Chiasson scored 42 goals and 78 points in 183 games, including a 22-goal campaign in the 2018-19 season.

Chiasson’s final game came on April 13, 2023, as a member of the Detroit Red Wings one year after spending the season with the Vancouver Canucks. He ended his career with 120 goals and 233 points in 651 games with another four goals and seven points in 37 postseason contests.

All of us at PHR extend our best wishes to Alex as he enters the next chapter of his life.

Oilers Expected To Wait Until Deadline To Add Defenseman

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To the surprise of few, the Edmonton Oilers are monitoring nearly every available defenseman as the trade deadline approaches. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period lists Ivan Provorov of the Columbus Blue Jackets, David Savard of the Montreal Canadiens, and Brian Dumoulin of the Anaheim Ducks as the most viable candidates.

As hasty as the Oilers are to acquire a top-four defenseman they are severely limited by their salary cap space and Evander Kane’s availability for the rest of the campaign. Kane’s $5.125MM salary is currently on long-term injured reserve giving Edmonton plenty of flexibility in the present but they’ll be handcuffed if he returns for the regular season. PuckPedia gives the Oilers a deadline cap space of only $1.02MM.

Edmonton should be able to acquire any of the aforementioned trade candidates but another fish may become available closer to the deadline. It’s becoming apparent the New York Rangers are headed toward a complex roster retooling after a 5-15-0 record in their last 20 games. Does former Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox make sense for the Oilers? Both sides would have to get creative considering Fox’s $9.5MM salary for the next five years but the 2024-25 campaign is the last year on the deal without a full no-movement clause.

Depending on how aggressively both teams want to be with their respective aspirations, the Oilers could form a package with Kane’s contract, Jeff Skinner’s expiring deal, prospect Matthew Savoie, and their 2027 first-round pick. It’ll be difficult for Edmonton to reach the price of what it would take to acquire a defenseman with Fox’s stature but there are other possible candidates on the Rangers’ roster.

K’Andre Miller and Ryan Lindgren fit the mold of an ideal trade acquisition for the Oilers. They are both on expiring contracts (with the former not becoming an unrestricted free agent until after the 2026-27 season) and hold valuable roles on the penalty kill. Edmonton’s penalty kill is ranked 23rd in the league with a 76.4% success rate while New York’s sits third thanks to help from Miller and Lindgren.

Needless to say, Edmonton is on the hunt to put themselves over the top in preparation for the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. Multiple reports indicate that it’s a matter of when, not if, the Oilers acquire a top-four defenseman to plug into their lineup.

Edmonton Oilers Recall Josh Brown

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The Oilers are adding some extra depth on the back end to their roster as they begin a four-game road trip tonight in Seattle.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Josh Brown from AHL Bakersfield.

The 30-year-old is in his first season with Edmonton after signing a three-year, $3MM contract that hasn’t gone quite as intended thus far.  Originally viewed as a sixth or seventh defender at the time he signed, Brown wound up not making the team out of training camp and cleared waivers back in early October.

Since then, he has been recalled three times but his playing time has been quite limited.  Brown has suited up in just three games, all coming over a four-day stretch in November.  He didn’t record a point while adding five blocked shots and six hits in a little over 12 minutes a night of playing time.  Considering Edmonton has six healthy blueliners at the moment, he might not be adding to his limited totals while up with the big club.

Brown has played in 20 games with the Condors this season, his first taste of action in the minors since the 2018-19 campaign when he was with Springfield.  He has just three assists in those outings while also recording 52 penalty minutes.

Edmonton had two open roster spots so no corresponding moves needed to be made to bring Brown up and with Evander Kane being their only injured player (and not close to returning), there won’t be any pending moves that could force him off the roster in the near future.

Could Emberson Be An Extension Candidate?

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With many players now extension-eligible as of today, it will be interesting to see if any come to terms on a new deal in the coming days.  In the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman speculates that the Oilers might want to take a run at starting talks with defenseman Ty Emberson in the near future.  Acquired in the Cody Ceci trade over the summer, the 24-year-old has settled into a steady third-pairing role, logging just under 15 minutes a night while recording 48 blocks, 53 hits, and five assists in 35 appearances so far.

Making $950K this season, Emberson’s qualifying offer would be just under $1MM if he qualifies for RFA status but he needs to play in 15 more games for that to happen.  Otherwise, he’d be a Group Six unrestricted free agent.  With the role he has, he should be able to add a bit to that qualifier but it shouldn’t be an exorbitant cost for the Oilers to absorb if they can get something done.

Morning Notes: Hughes, Pettersson, Murray, Skinner

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Exactly how much longer the Canucks will remain without stars Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson remains to be seen. The club certainly won’t have their services for this week’s intra-division road trip, though, head coach Rick Tocchet told Jeff Paterson of CanucksArmy.

Pettersson’s return is more imminent than Hughes’, Tocchet said. Pettersson hasn’t been ruled out for Friday’s home game against the Predators, but a return on Monday in Montreal seems more likely, with Tocchet saying Pettersson will likely miss another week. Hughes’ timeline is muddier. After missing Saturday’s overtime loss to the Kraken with an undisclosed injury, he’s been labeled week to week and could likely miss another five games at a minimum.

The latter’s absence is an especially tough one to swallow for the Canucks, who have won one out of their last five games and are already missing their No. 2 defenseman, Filip Hronek, for another few weeks. Hughes has easily been their most valuable player this season, leading the club in scoring with 42 points (8 G, 34 A) in 34 games and ranking second among NHL defensemen in points behind the Avalanche’s Cale Makar. He’s averaging 25:08 per game and posting better offensive and defensive possession metrics at even strength than last season’s Norris Trophy-winning campaign.

Hughes missing action wouldn’t be so awful if Vancouver had their second-best offensive producer this season. But they won’t have Pettersson, who has 10 goals and 28 points through 34 appearances, for the time being, either. Like Hughes, the 26-year-old has only missed one game with an undisclosed injury so far.

More from across the league this morning:

  • The Maple Leafs have continued to shuffle NHL backup options in the absence of emergent No. 1 Anthony Stolarz. Veteran Matt Murray has been returned to AHL Toronto with Dennis Hildeby coming up to take his place for the time being, the team announced. Murray, 30, has allowed seven goals on 58 shots faced in two starts this month while sitting behind Joseph Woll on the depth chart, his first NHL action since the end of the 2022-23 regular season. In a small sample size, that tracks as a career-worst .879 SV% and 3.54 GAA for the two-time Stanley Cup champion. Hildeby’s NHL numbers this season haven’t been any better with a .875 SV% in three starts, but he does have a .916 SV% in his last four minor-league contests. It’s unclear if this is a paper move to extend Murray’s waiver-exempt period or if the Leafs intend on rostering Hildeby for tomorrow’s matinee game against the Islanders.
  • Oilers winger Jeff Skinner sat in the press box while healthy for the first time in a while yesterday as Edmonton was upset 5-3 by the Ducks. It was a foreseeable result, writes Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. Skinner had no points and a -4 rating in his five most recent outings, and the 32-year-old has been an overall disappointment with only six goals and 12 points in 35 games after signing a one-year, $3MM pact with the Oilers following a buyout by the Sabres. He’s now averaging 12:58 per game on the year, the lowest usage of his 15-year NHL career, and his 48.6% shot-attempt share at 5-on-5 is also a career low.

Oilers Sign Connor Clattenburg To Entry-Level Deal

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Oilers left wing prospect Connor Clattenburg has put pen to paper on a three-year entry-level contract, his agent, Gold Star Hockey’s Dan Milstein, relayed today. The contract carries an $855K cap hit and will pay him $775K in the NHL and $82.5K in the minors, with an $80K signing bonus each season, per PuckPedia.

The Oilers just picked up Clattenburg, who stands at 6’2″ and 205 lbs, in the fifth round of this year’s draft. The 19-year-old had been passed over in the 2023 draft, but after posting 13 goals, 16 assists and 29 points in 60 Ontario Hockey League games split between the Soo Greyhounds and Flint Firebirds last season, he generated interest from Edmonton.

A bang-and-crash winger in the truest sense of the description, Clattenburg has improved his game offensively this season with 10 goals and 18 points in 22 games with Flint. He serves as the Firebirds’ captain and leads the team with 57 PIMs.

Clattenburg won’t play in the NHL this season and will remain on loan to Flint, so his freshly-signed ELC will slide to the 2025-26 campaign and expire in the summer of 2028. His $80K signing bonus for this season will be paid out regardless, though, lowering his cap hit slightly when his deal does go into effect.

He didn’t check in as a top-15 prospect in the Edmonton system in McKeen’s Hockey’s preseason ranking, nor did he crack the top-20 in Allan Mitchell of The Athletic’s offseason look at the Oilers’ prospects. His ceiling is that of a fourth-line piece, although a fringe recall option is a far more likely projection. Clattenburg will be eligible to suit up for AHL Bakersfield next season or return to the OHL for an overage campaign.

Nugent-Hopkins Scratched Due To Illness

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  • Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was scratched tonight due to illness, notes Bob Stauffer of 880 CHED (Twitter link). The veteran had played in all 33 games before this one but is having a quiet year offensively, tallying six goals and a dozen assists.  For comparison, Nugent-Hopkins had 18 goals and 49 helpers in 80 games just last season.

Oilers Activate Viktor Arvidsson From Injured Reserve

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The Oilers announced that winger Viktor Arvidsson has been reinstated from injured reserve and will play in tonight’s contest against the Bruins. The active roster already had a vacancy with defenseman Travis Dermott being claimed off waivers by the Wild last week, but the roster is now full with this move.

Arvidsson, 31, sustained an undisclosed injury against the Islanders on Nov. 12 and was initially ruled out day-to-day, but a lengthier-than-expected recovery period means he ended up sitting out of action for over a month. He missed 15 games, during which time Edmonton went 10-4-1 and now sits third in the Pacific Division after a rocky start to the year.

Arvidsson, who the Oilers signed to a two-year, $8MM contract over the summer, started the year in a second-line role with Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin. It didn’t go as planned. The two-time 30-goal scorer was limited to two goals and five points in 16 appearances before exiting with injury, averaging 15:41 per game. Connor Brown, Kasperi Kapanen and Jeff Skinner have all found themselves in Arvidsson’s spot in his absence. None of them have had particularly good results, although Brown has the most production with 13 points through 31 games.

The Swedish winger hit free agency after an injury-plagued 2023-24 campaign that limited him to 18 appearances with the Kings, although he was far more productive when healthy with six goals and 15 points. Dating back to his days as a developing forward in Nashville, Arvidsson has averaged 26 goals and 54 points per 82 games throughout his career. He’s projected to slot into a more conservative third-line role with Brown and Adam Henrique in his return tonight, per multiple reports.

Pacific Notes: Arvidsson, Hyman, Warsofsky, Barbashev

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The Edmonton Oilers received a flurry of injury updates on Tuesday, captured Oilers TV host Tony Brar. Most notably, winger Viktor Arvidsson is expected to return to the lineup sometime this weekend, with Thursday’s matchup against Boston a real possibility. Arvidsson has missed Edmonton’s last 15 games with an undisclosed injury. He landed on injured reserve on November 21st, and could be activated at any point with Edmonton carrying plenty of lineup and cap flexibility.

Arvidsson signed a two-year, $8MM contract with the Oilers this summer, but only managed two goals and five points in 16 games before sustaining his injury. The near month-long absence continues Arvidsson’s nagging bout with injuries. He missed all but 18 games of last season with a lower-body injury, and hasn’t played 80 games in a season since 2016-17. Arvidsson has usually been able to curb routine absences with promising scoring – scoring 52 goals and 123 points in 161 games with the Los Angeles Kings over the last three seasons – but that production hasn’t carried up North just yet.

While Arvidsson hopes to return to the lineup, and the scoresheet, fellow winger Zach Hyman will also be facing injury. Brar reports that Hyman sustained a broken nose, but isn’t expected to miss any playing time. Hyman has 10 goals and 15 points in 26 games this year. He’s a fixture of Edmonton’s top line and power-play unit – a role he stamped with 54 goals and 77 points in 80 games last season.

Other notes from out West:

  • San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky has received a $25,000 fine for inappropriate conduct during Saturday’s game against Utah, per Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. Warsofsky took exception with multiple missed calls throughout the game. Most egregious was a second-period hit to Macklin Celebrini from Utah’s Kevin Stenlund that appeared to be a clear boarding penalty, though refs left it uncalled. Celebrini didn’t suffer any injuries on the hit. Warsofsky will now turn towards the future with slightly lighter pockets, looking to pull San Jose into the win column after a 5-5-0 record in their last 10 games.
  • Vegas Golden Knights winger Ivan Barbashev missed Tuesday’s practice with an upper-body injury, head coach Bruce Cassidy shared with Jesse Granger of The Athletic. Cassidy designated Barbashev as day-to-day. The Russian winger has continued to be a force in the Golden Knight roster, with 30 points – split evenly – in 31 games. The near point-per-game scoring is far-and-away the highest of Barbashev’s nine-year career in the NHL. His current career-high in scoring came in 2021-22, when Barbashev posted 26 goals and 60 points with the St. Louis Blues.

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