Minor Transactions: 02/21/19
The NHL has a full slate of action on tap tonight, with 11 matches taking place including a rematch of the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals. The Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks face off in an important game for both clubs as they try to secure playoff berths in their respective conferences. As the league prepares for tonight’s play, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves right here.
- The Minnesota Wild have recalled J.T. Brown from the minor leagues, though Ryan Donato is expected to enter the lineup. Brown has just four points in 35 games for the Wild this season and was sent down to the AHL earlier this month.
- The Washington Capitals have officially sent Devante Smith-Pelly to the minor leagues after he cleared waivers, meaning he will play his first AHL game since the 2013-14 season. Even with the recent addition of Carl Hagelin, the Capitals could very well bring up Smith-Pelly at some point down the stretch for his playoff experience.
- Jonny Brodzinski has been activated from injured reserve, and could help replace Hagelin in the Los Angeles Kings lineup. Brodzinski hasn’t played a game for the Kings this season but recorded one goal in a three-game conditioning stint with the Ontario Reign.
- Landon Bow has been returned to the AHL by the Dallas Stars, which should signal a return to action for Ben Bishop. Bishop hasn’t played a game since February 4th, but will have to play a big role for the Stars down the stretch if they’re to make the playoffs.
Washington Capitals Acquire Carl Hagelin
The Washington Capitals were bound to make a move of some sort after waiving Devante Smith-Pelly yesterday, and it comes in the form of Carl Hagelin. The Capitals have acquired Hagelin from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 2019 third-round pick and a conditional 2020 sixth-round pick. The Kings will be retaining 50% of what remains on Hagelin’s contract, which had already been involved in a retained salary transaction earlier in the year and expires at the end of this season. According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, the sixth-round pick will be sent to Los Angeles if the Capitals win two playoff rounds and Hagelin plays in 50% of any two rounds combined.
Hagelin, 30, should be very familiar to Capitals fans already from his days with the Pittsburgh Penguins, though he is not quite the same player that scored 16 playoff points en route to a 2016 Stanley Cup victory. In fact, Hagelin has just eight points through 38 games this season split between the Penguins and Kings. Still, Capitals GM Brian MacLellan obviously saw a way for his team to improve, and released a statement explaining why he made the move:
We are pleased to welcome Carl to our organization. We felt this trade enables us to add depth up front and provides us with a veteran player with a tremendous amount of speed to help us on the penalty kill.
If there is one thing Hagelin is still known for, it is that speed. One of the fastest players in the NHL, he will jump into the Capitals bottom-six and replace a player in Smith-Pelly who has slowed considerably this season. There’s a good chance the former Penguins forward will also become a trusted penalty killer, a role that he has excelled at over the years.
For the Kings, this was always the plan after acquiring Hagelin from the Penguins in exchange for Tanner Pearson earlier this year. As an expiring contract he was never expected to stay the whole season in Los Angeles, where the team is committed to a short rebuild after getting off to such a slow start. The Kings now have ten picks in the upcoming draft including five in the first three rounds. The team could acquire even more by selling off other names like Ilya Kovalchuk, Tyler Toffoli or Alec Martinez, but it is unclear if they will really want to move on from those more important players.
Washington meanwhile is happy to give up a third-round selection to add some Stanley Cup experience to the team for another playoff run. While other teams were giving away their first-round picks last year to try and load up at the deadline, the Capitals decided to hold onto theirs and actually selected three times in the first two rounds. Once again they still have their first and second for the upcoming draft, ensuring that more young talent will continue to flow into their system.
Even with the retained salary on Hagelin’s deal, the Capitals are right up against the cap and have almost no room to do anything else at the deadline. They could however move out some other names that have been rumored, including Dmitrij Jaskin who was expected to be placed on waivers yesterday. If not, this is the group they’ll have to ride until the playoffs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Kyle Clifford Generating Trade Interest
The Los Angeles Kings are incredibly not out of the wild card race in the Western Conference, but that isn’t because of any real turnaround. The team is still in last place with a 23-30-6 record and have lost five consecutive games, leading to more speculation about trade assets on the roster. The team has already traded Tanner Pearson, Nate Thompson and Jake Muzzin this year and have several others who might draw calls from around the league as Monday’s deadline approaches.
One of those who is already generating interest is Kyle Clifford, according to NHL Network correspondent Dennis Bernstein and LA Kings Insider Jon Rosen. Both reporters note however that the Kings may not be jumping to move Clifford, who is having an excellent season by his standards and is one of the team’s locker room leaders.
The 28-year old looks like he will shatter his previous career-high of 15 points as he now has 13 through 49 games this season. It’s his physicality and leadership, not offense, that teams would be acquiring him for though, as Clifford has never been more than a bottom-six player that gets between 9-11 minutes a night. The heavy winger could add some experience to any fourth line in the league, given his two Stanley Cups with the Kings and 55 playoff games overall.
Clifford also only carries a $1.6MM cap hit this season and next, making it easy to understand why the Kings would hesitate to move him. It’s unlikely he would bring back a huge return, meaning his veteran presence may be worth more to them as they try to turn things around and install the next wave of young talent in 2019-20.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Atlantic Notes: Muzzin, Zadina, Scandella, Rodewald
A lot of praise was sent towards Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas and the organization for pulling off an impressive trade when they acquired defenseman Jake Muzzin from Los Angeles for a what’s likely to be a late first-rounder and two above average prospects. The move didn’t take away any players off their current roster and only made them better.
However, Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun writes that Mike Babcock may not be integrating Muzzin properly so far. The 29-year-old averaged 21:32 of ice time in 50 games with the Kings. However, his ATOI is quite a bit less in Toronto with Babcock playing him just 18:37. The team has no intention of moving Morgan Rielly away from the left-side, but the team might be better off moving Muzzin to the right side and allowing him to play alongside Rielly. At the moment, Muzzin is playing on the second defensive unit. Regardless, the team needs to find a way of increasing Muzzin’s minutes.
- Peter Wallner of MLive.com writes that the hottest player currently on the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL is 2018 first-rounder Filip Zadina, who scored an overtime goal Saturday to pick up his fourth goal in four games. The 19-year-old winger who naturally struggled early on when he arrived in the AHL, seems to have found his stride. He has seven points in his last eight games and has had a plus-six rating, a big improvement considering he had a minus-16 rating previous to the run. He now has 15 goals and 29 points in 43 games. While there is no word on whether the team might bring him to Detroit at some point, with the team currently struggling, a recall is potentially possible, although the team might be wary of allowing him to play more than 10 games this year and burning that first year of his entry-level deal.
- NHL.com’s Mike Morreale reports that Buffalo Sabres defenseman Marco Scandella is injured once again and did not go with the team on their current road trip, although he could rejoin them. Head coach Phil Housley said that Scandella will be evaluated for an undisclosed injury. “Being evaluated by doctors and we’ll know more hopefully when we get down to Florida,” said Housley. It’s very likely the team will place him on injured reserve until he is ready to return.
- TSN 1200 reported that the Ottawa Senators activated Jack Rodewald from injured reserve Saturday and have already assigned the 25-year-old forward to Belleville of the AHL. Rodewald was injured in a game against Anaheim on Feb. 7 with a lower-body injury and was expected to miss two weeks. He had played in six games with Ottawa, but had failed to record a point. The team also activated forward Mikkel Boedker from a mid-body injury.
Colorado’s Odds At The First Overall Pick
Early this season, the Colorado Avalanche were in the most enviable position in sports. Their team was excelling and looking playoff-bound, but without any negative effect on their draft status. Because as the Avs won games, the Ottawa Senators were losing them and Colorado owned the Sens’ first-round pick this year as part of last season’s Matt Duchene trade. There was a real possibility that the Avalanche could be Stanley Cup contenders and also have the first overall pick in the draft. Lately, the Avs have looked less like a playoff team and more like the Senators. Colorado has four wins in their past 23 games dating back to mid-December and have slipped into a tie for tenth-place in the Western Conference, three points out of a playoff spot. The one silver lining: their odds at drafting No. 1 have improved and might end up being the best in several years.
Ahead of the 2014 NHL Draft, the NHL changed the draft lottery rules. Any team in the lottery could now move up into a top-three position and the odds would be more fairly distributed among all lottery teams. There have been slight variations in the odds for each draft, but the biggest shift came last year when the addition of the Vegas Golden Knights to the league added a fifteenth member of the lottery group and further split the odds. Yet, with 18.5% odds, the last-placed Buffalo Sabres still retained the first overall pick and drafted Rasmus Dahlin, a generational defenseman. This year’s prize, play-making forward Jack Hughes, is seen by most scouts as a guaranteed top-six center and power play wizard and the team with the worst record still stands the best chance of getting him by a significant margin.
Of course, the worst record looks like it will belong to Ottawa and thus the pick will belong to Colorado. The Senators are currently in 31st overall in the league standings, three points back of the Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils. If those standings hold, based on last year’s odds Colorado will have a 18.5% chance that the Ottawa pick will be first overall, compared to 13.5% for L.A. and 11.5% for New Jersey. Then, Colorado’s own pick comes into play. Currently, the Avs are technically 23rd overall. If they remain in that spot, they would have 5% odds that their own pick would be No. 1. Combined, they would have a 23.5% shot at picking first. Since 2014, no team has come close to having odds that high at the top pick and Colorado could continue to struggle down the stretch and improve the odds on their own pick. If the Avs were to slip three more spots in the league standings, their odds would be greater than 25%, giving them better than a one-in-four shot at Hughes.
The possibilities are even more intriguing when you consider the odds of both picks winning the lottery instead of just one. Currently, there is about a 0.9% chance that Colorado could pick first and second, not dissimilar odds to those that the final lottery team has of picking first. The addition of both Hughes and the presumptive No. 2 pick, Finnish winger Kaapo Kakko, would be an enormous influx of elite draft talent unseen since the Sedin twins landed with the Vancouver Canucks at second and third overall in 1999. There is a whopping 58% chance that both of their picks land in the top four, which would also be an unbelievable boost for the Avalanche with a number of impact forwards available in this class. And again, these odds can only improve if the Avalanche continue on this downward spiral. If the current standings hold, the worst that Colorado could do is to pick fourth and twelfth – which would still be a better first-round combination than any team in recent years – and the odds of that happening are approximately 18x less likely than picking both first and second; the best case is greater reality than the worst-case.
The moral of the story is that, while it’s disappointing for Avalanche fans to see a talented team plummeting down the standings, there is some upside as well. The team is young and built for the future and are in better shape than any team in recent memory to add the best player in the draft and perhaps two of the best available. So whether you’re a Colorado fan soley focused on Hughes or holding out for another top prospect as well, the team’s current slump is only helping in that pursuit. The ping pong balls will ultimately decide the Avs’ fate, but the future is bright.
Minor Transactions: 2/16/19
As is often the case, Saturday is a busy day on the schedule with 24 teams in action which means there should be plenty of roster movement throughout the day. We’ll keep track of those moves here.
- The Jets announced the recall of defenseman Sami Niku from AHL Manitoba. The 22-year-old has split the season between the NHL and AHL which has prevented him from really getting into a rhythm as of late. He has a dozen points in 20 games with the Moose plus a pair of assists in 11 contests with Winnipeg so far this season. With Joe Morrow suffering a lower-body injury that’s going to keep him out for two-to-three weeks, Niku, who has been part of trade speculation in recent weeks, may be in line for some more playing time. In a separate move, the team has also promoted blueliner Tucker Poolman from Manitoba. After playing 24 games with Winnipeg last year, he has yet to play with them this season while injuries have limited him to just 25 contests with the Moose.
- Dallas is giving a look to the top goal scorer in the AHL as center Joel L’Esperance has been brought up from Texas (AHL) per a team release. The 23-year-old is in his first full professional season and has already scored 27 goals in just 49 games. He signed with the Stars as an undrafted free agent last summer, a move that is certainly paying dividends already. This will be L’Esperance’s first look at the NHL level.
- The Islanders announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned winger Andrew Ladd and defenseman Thomas Hickey to Bridgeport of the AHL on conditioning stints. Ladd has been out for three months due to a leg injury while Hickey has been out of action with an upper-body issue for nearly two months. GM Lou Lamoriello told reporters, including Newsday’s Andrew Gross (Twitter links) that both players have been transferred to LTIR today and are pegged to play two games with the Sound Tigers before re-evaluating their progress.
- Defenseman Filip Hronek is back with the Red Wings after the team announced his promotion from AHL Grand Rapids. The 21-year-old has been quite productive in limited action at the minor league level, collecting 23 points in 28 games. He also has more than held his own with Detroit, logging over 18 minutes a night in 23 contests with the big club.
- Injuries on the back end for the Kings have provided an opportunity for Matt Roy to get a look with the big club as the team announced that he has been brought up from Ontario (AHL). Roy leads the Reign in scoring by a defenseman with 29 points in 45 games so far this season. His recall was required with Alec Martinez and Sean Walker are out with upper-body injuries.
- The Anaheim Ducks announced they have assigned winger Kevin Roy to the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. The 25-year-old has been on season-opening injured reserve after undergoing offseason wrist surgery. Roy played 25 games for the Ducks last season, putting up six goals and seven points. He will attempt to find his game after a long layoff with the Gulls, where he scored 14 goals and 37 points last season.
- The Philadelphia Flyers announced they have assigned forward Mikhail Vorobyev to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL. The 22-year-old was recalled for a second stint with the team on Jan. 28, but has failed to produce offensively. He hasn’t register a point in eight games since that call-up. He has just one goal and two points in 15 games total this season, while receiving just 9:20 of ATOI.
- Ed Willies of The Province reports that injured winger Jake Virtanen has been moved to injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Virtanen took a big hit from Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf Wednesday, missed Thursday’s game and had an MRI this morning, prompting the team to place him on IR. The team will use that open roster spot to put newly acquired forward Ryan Spooner on the ice. Head coach Travis Green said the injury is not concussion-related. He is expected to miss at least a week.
- The St. Louis Blues announced they have placed defenseman Carl Gunnarsson on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. The veteran defenseman has been out of the lineup since Feb. 5 and therefore can return whenever he is ready. The team has recalled forward Sammy Blais from the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. Blais has played 24 games for the Blues, but has just two goals and three points in that time.
Deadline Primer: Florida Panthers
With the trade deadline fast approaching, we continue our look at the situation for each team over the coming weeks. Where do they stand, what do they need to do, and what assets do they have to fill those needs? As we continue with the Atlantic Division, here is a look at the Florida Panthers.
For all the talk of the Florida Panthers trading for Artemi Panarin and/or Sergei Bobrovksy, it doesn’t really make much sense. The Panthers are 11 points back of a playoff spot and don’t seem to have the makings of late-season run like in 2017-18. The team doesn’t need Panarin and Bobrovsky this year, they want them for the future. Luckily, both are slated to be unrestricted free agents this summer. The rumors of Florida’s interest may very well be true, but they will take their shot in the off-season.
No, the truth this season is that the Panthers are pure sellers and that’s it. The team entered the campaign with high expectations and have failed to perform up to the level many assumed they would. Florida has the talent in place, but simply couldn’t put it together this year. They will sell off what they can, tweak the roster this summer, and likely enter next year with high expectations again.
Record
24-24-8, sixth in the Atlantic Division
Deadline Status
Seller
Deadline Cap Space
$11.67MM in full-season cap hit, 1/3 used salary cap retention slots, 43/50 contracts per CapFriendly
Upcoming Draft Picks
2019: FLA 1st, PIT 2nd, EDM 3rd, FLA 4th, MIN 4th, PIT 4th, FLA 5th, FLA 6th, FLA 7th
2020: FLA 1st, FLA 2nd, FLA 3rd, FLA 4th, FLA 5th, TOR 5th, FLA 6th, FLA 7th
Trade Chips
The Panthers already made a major trade this season, sending Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Derick Brassard, Riley Sheahan, and a package of picks. While a second-rounder and two fourth-rounders is a nice get for Florida, this deal is still only half done. Barring an unexpected extension of either player, both Brassard and Sheahan are impending unrestricted free agents brought in as pieces for Florida to flip before the deadline. Expect the Panthers to shop both aggressively.
Yet, even prior to that trade the Panthers had UFA pieces ready to move. Veteran bottom-six forwards Troy Brouwer, Micheal Haley, and the recently-waived Jamie McGinn are all up for grabs. Defensemen Bogdan Kiselevich, Julian Melchiori, and Chris Wideman, another player acquired earlier this season, are depth options on the block as well. None of these players will return much to Florida, but if they’re able to trade all or most of them, it will result in a nice bundle of mid- to late-round picks or project prospects, which never hurts.
The team has already refuted reports that Jonathan Huberdeau is available, but the same might not be true for several other Florida players with term or team control. Mike Hoffman has been a great fit for the Panthers and is on pace for a career year offensively. However, he has just one year left on his contract and would be more highly-valued on the market now as opposed to this off-season or next season. The same can be said for Evgenii Dadonov, who has quietly been a dominant presence in Florida but will be due a significant raise after next season. There isn’t a great chance that either player is moved, but it’s certainly possible. More likely, albeit for a significantly lesser return, is that the Panthers move on from an aging RFA defender like MacKenzie Weegar or Ian McCoshen, if there’s a market. Neither has developed the way the team had hoped and it seems unlikely that they’re both back on the roster next year.
If the Panthers can figure out some way (read: retained salary) to move James Reimer, they will. The Reimer-Roberto Luongo tandem experiment has not worked out, as evidenced by the teams purported interest in Bobrovksy. Florida does not want to buy out or bury Reimer if they can trade him. Some team in need of a backup may be willing to make a deal if the Panthers eat a chunk of his $3.4MM cap hit over two more seasons. Sadly, Reimer has been the better of the two goalies this season and Luongo’s contract is basically immovable.
Five Players To Watch For: F Derick Brassard, F Riley Sheahan, F Troy Brouwer, D Bogdan Kiselevich, D MacKenzie Weegar
Team Needs
1) Prospect Defensemen: The Panthers’ biggest needs are a starting goaltender and top-four defenseman; they won’t be getting those at the deadline. However, those needs are reflective of a team defense that is simply horrid. Not a single player on Florida’s roster has a positive plus/minus following the trade of Bjugstad. No other team in the NHL can claim that unfortunate mark. This has to change if the Panthers ever want to improve. Looking ahead, the team is missing that top defensive prospect who could come in and make an impact without being yet another defensive liability. While Florida has some promising forwards in the pipeline, they should target a high-upside blue liner if possible.
2) Draft Picks: Do the Panthers really need draft picks? No. This team wants to retool in the off-season and try to compete again next year, rather than rebuild. However, when most of your deadline pieces are depth players on expiring contracts, the best you can do is maximize your draft pick return. Those picks could then be used on prospects, but also traded away for immediate help as well. If the Panthers can’t pry a top prospect – preferably a defenseman, but a forward is fine – for Brassard, look for the team to target another second-round selection this year to replace their own and pair with Pittsburgh’s.
Minor Transactions: 02/14/2019
Although there were only two games yesterday, it was a notable night as the Ducks got back in the win column for the first time in almost a month. The Canucks have the unfortunate designation of being the team on the other side of that result and are right back in action tonight against the Kings as one of eleven games on the schedule. Valentine’s Day or not, there will be no love lost between several competitors tonight, as the surging Blue Jackets host the Metro Division-leading Islanders, Shea Weber and the Canadiens visit P.K. Subban and the Predators, and the Avalanche look to right the ship versus the Jets, who are now atop the Western Conference. With 22 teams in play, including many impact match-ups, today should be another busy day for minor moves. Keep track right here:
- The Colorado Avalanche announced that they have recalled forward Dominic Toninato from the AHL. After skating in 37 games with the Avs as a first-year pro last season, Toninato has yet to see NHL ice this year through several call-ups. He continues to be an effective two-way forward for the Colorado Eagles, but his production at both levels simply hasn’t justified further play time on an Avalanche team that is desperate for secondary scoring. Perhaps he will finally get another look on this recall opportunity.
- Connor Brickley has earned his first call-up of the season, now on his second team of the campaign. Brickley, a veteran of 67 games with the Florida Panthers over the past three seasons, signed as a free agent with the Nashville Predators this off-season. However, the Preds flipped him to the New York Rangers last month for Cole Schneider before Brickley ever played a game for the club. Now, the Rangers have announced that they are willing to give the center a shot to get back to the top level, promoting him from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. Brickley has six points in 13 games since joining Hartford and the Rangers hope he can bring more of a spark to their offense than frequent recall Vinni Lettieri has been able to this season.
- Another day, another Darren Archibald transaction. The veteran grinder has again been recalled by the Ottawa Senators, the team announced. This time he’s joined by defenseman Cody Goloubef, acquired from the Boston Bruins earlier this season. Head coach Guy Boucher stated that both Archibald and Goloubef are being considered for a spot in the lineup tonight when the Sens visit the Detroit Red Wings.
- The Los Angeles Kings have assigned forward Jonny Brodzinski to the AHL’s Ontario Reign for the purpose of a conditioning stint. Brodzinski was hurt in training camp and has been on the season-opening injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Brodzinski played in 35 games as a rookie last year and recorded six points, but the Kings hope he can show more of the offensive touch he displayed in the minors and at the college level once he is fully healthy.
- Similarly, the Philadelphia Flyers have activated forward Pascal Laberge from the season-opening injured reserve and have assigned him to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Laberge was injured in training camp and underwent hip surgery this fall, delaying the start to his first pro season. A second-round pick in 2016, Laberge is a hard-working two-way center who should challenge for a bottom-six role for the Flyers down the line.
Trade Rumors: Panarin, Staal, Dzingel, Clifford
For all the talk of an Artemi Panarin trade, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun cautions that the Columbus Blue Jackets keeping the star forward as an “own rental” is a very real possibility. Lebrun believes that it is all a cost-benefit analysis for the team, “because there’s almost no chance GM Jarmo Kekalainen simply sells off Panarin without also trying to replace him in some fashion via a separate transaction.” The Blue Jackets are on a four-game winning streak and, with a win last night over the Washington Capitals, leapfrogged their rivals in points percentage to put them on pace to finish second in the Metropolitan Division. Columbus is still searching for it’s first playoff series win in franchise history and is not going to give up all hope of that accomplishment this season when they have played so well all season and could earn a home ice advantage in the first round. As LeBrun notes, that means that if the Blue Jackets do in fact trade away Panarin, they would only do so knowing they could acquire another player of similar ability for a favorable price. LeBrun believes that Kekalainen continues to monitor the situation in Ottawa, as Senators forwards Matt Duchene or Mark Stone would be the most likely targets. However, if the Senators’ asking price for either Duchene or Stone is too similar to the return on a Panarin trade, the Blue Jackets lack incentive to shake up their roster for only a minor gain in trade capital. Most likely, this means that Panarin could stay in Columbus as an “own rental” rather than be traded if, of course, the Blue Jackets remain hot through the deadline, but also if the demand from Ottawa is more of a flip of trade assets from a Panarin deal. If the Blue Jackets cannot walk away from the deadline with both an immediate replacement from Panarin and significant future piece, it’s possible that the star scorer isn’t going anywhere until this summer.
- LeBrun also touches on another team having to tackle a cost-benefit analysis. The Minnesota Wild are in a tough spot; the team has been in playoff position all year, but have just one win in their past seven games since the season-ending injury to captain Mikko Koivu. At this rate, the Wild are going to miss the playoffs, as the Vancouver Canucks, Colorado Avalanche, and Arizona Coyotes are right on their tail. However, even a slight improvement could be enough for Minnesota to clinch the final wild card spot. But does that mean they shouldn’t also be sellers? LeBrun writes that without considerable improvement before the deadline, first-year GM Paul Fenton will need to seriously consider trading his most valuable rental piece, Eric Staal. Staal’s absence, especially in light of the loss of Koivu, would likely see the team fall out of playoff position. Yet, his presence likely isn’t enough to get them through the first round anyway. For what it’s worth, LeBrun adds that Staal has not made it easy on the Wild to move him. The veteran center’s trade protection includes a ten-team no-trade list, which LeBrun reports is primarily contenders. This could force Fenton’s hand when it comes to making a decision on Staal. However, even if Staal is open to a move, the team will have to consider the repercussions on their season. The return on the trade in future value would have to be worth the immense risk of missing the postseason, even with little hope of advancing.
- In updating TSN’s Trade Bait List, Frank Seravalli writes that interest is picking up on Ottawa Senators forward Ryan Dzingel. While the media, and seemingly the Senators themselves, have been primarily focused of Matt Duchene and Mark Stone, Seravalli notes that Dzingel is enjoying a career year and teams are taking notice. With his trade value at a new high, his cap hit still low, and no sign of an extension, Dzingel is certainly on the block and is a valuable asset and Seravalli feels that the chatter points toward a trade. He has moved Dzingel up to No. 19 on the list.
- Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Los Angeles Kings forward Kyle Clifford is a person of interest for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the two sides discussed Clifford during the recent Jake Muzzin negotiations. Toronto could go back to Clifford in their pursuit of a physical, bottom-six forward before the deadline. Like the reported interest in Luke Glendening, the only problem for Toronto when it comes to Clifford is term and salary. Clifford has just one year remaining at $1.6MM, but even that might be difficult for the cap-crunched Maple Leafs to spend on a probable fourth-liner. It remains a good potential fit, but the Leafs will likely look for pure rentals before returning to Clifford, unless the Kings are willing to retain salary.
Montreal Canadiens Acquire Nate Thompson
The Montreal Canadiens lost a depth forward on waivers today when Kenny Agostino was claimed by the New Jersey Devils, but have acquired another. Montreal has traded a 2019 fourth-round pick (CGY) for Los Angeles Kings center Nate Thompson and a 2019 fifth-round pick (ARI).
Thompson, 34, represents a veteran addition for the Canadiens who have surprised many in their hunt for the playoffs this season. The young, speedy team is in a battle with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division and could very well meet one of those teams in the first round. Thompson, while not nearly as quick as some of his new Montreal teammates, is a reliable defensive center who is excellent in the faceoff circle and has 62 playoff games under his belt.
The cost for the Canadiens is almost nothing, given that the difference in draft picks is likely just a handful of spots once the standings are finalized. Instead they’ll take the rest of Thompson’s $1.65MM annual salary off the Kings’ hands. Montreal, who came into the season with plenty of cap space, can basically add whoever they want at the deadline to help their playoff chances this year. Thompson will only take up a small amount of their deadline cap room, but he will force them to make another roster move to open a spot.
The team recalled Dale Weise earlier today giving them a full 23-man roster, meaning there will be someone else on waivers tomorrow. CapFriendly believes that player will be Michael Chaput, though there has not yet been any confirmation from the team.
For the Kings, Thompson was always expected to be dealt before the deadline given his status as a pending unrestricted free agent. The team now has just two rental options remaining on the NHL roster, Carl Hagelin and Oscar Fantenberg.