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West Notes: Engelland, Canucks, Steen

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The Vegas Golden Knights already have a roster full of defensemen, including six NHL players already under contract with another four defensemen in Nicolas Hague, Jimmy Schuldt, Dylan Coughlan and Jake Bischoff all waiting to get their chance to break out with the franchise.

That leaves a big question question mark for soon-to-be UFA and team leader Deryk Engelland. SinBin Vegas’ Ken Boehlke suggests that the writing is on the wall that the veteran defenseman’s time with the team could be over soon. The scribe points out that Engelland hasn’t been a favorite of new head coach Peter DeBoer since he took over on Jan. 16. He has only played in five games under the new coach and was scratched in the team’s last 12 games and 17 of the team’s previous 18 games.

DeBoer did recently praise Engelland’s dedication to the team:

To a man they all want to win the Stanley Cup, that’s their number one motivation,” said DeBoer. “They are willing to do whatever they have to do to be a part of it. I look at Deryk Engelland as an example of that. Tough situation, veteran guy, we had to scratch him some games here recently before the pause. The messaging to me was ‘I just want to be a part of this. When you need me, let me know, and I’ll be ready to go.’ You can’t have enough of that and that’s what makes groups like this special.”

However, it’s quite obvious that the team may be looking beyond Engelland in the future despite the veteran’s intent on continuing his playing career. He currently has a goal and six points in 49 games, while averaging his lowest ATOI (17:33) in his time with Vegas. With a number of blueliners waiting for their chance in the AHL, Vegas may have seen the last of him.

  • TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that while many teams are against the NHL’s recent memo that is suggesting the league have the NHL Entry Draft in June, the Vancouver Canucks are a team that is likely going to be in favor of the deal. The Canucks traded their first-round pick last offseason to Tampa Bay (now owned by New Jersey) and would rather give the Devils a non-lottery pick this year, rather than an unprotected one for the 2021 draft. The Canucks are currently in the playoffs as of this moment. However, if play does resume with a October/November draft, the Canucks could slip out of the playoffs and be forced to move a lottery pick then.
  • Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that while there is a lot of talk of the St. Louis Blues buying out veteran forward Alex Steen in the offseason next year in order to make room for UFA Alex Pietrangelo, the scribe believes that’s an unlikely scenario. The scribe says it’s more likely that Steen, one of the most popular players on the team and a leader as well, is more likely to retire at the end of this season. That could solve a tough issue of being forced to buy him out, which the team might hesitate to do after the years of service both on and off the ice.

Edmonton Oilers Linked To Theodor Lennstrom

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Veteran Swedish defenseman Theodor Lennstrom has informed Frolunda HC that he will not honor the final year of his contract and will not play in the SHL next season. The question now is where exactly he will play. Swedish source Kvalls Posten seems confident that the answer is the NHL, as they report that Lennstrom is choosing between a number of offers, but seems most likely to land with the Edmonton Oilers.

Lennstrom, 25, was undrafted out of Sweden and has never played anywhere else but his native country, but finally seems ready to take the next step in his career and sign an entry-level contract in the NHL. Lennstrom is an offensive defenseman, excelling in the skating and possession aspects of the game. His defensive game is likely not quite ready for the NHL though and he may need to start in the AHL upon arriving to North America or else play in a sheltered, power play-dependent role at first.

If he is to succeed at the top level, Edmonton seems like a strong choice. Kvalls Posten notes that team has two fellow Swedish defensemen in Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson, as well as a former teammate of Lennstrom’s in Joakim Nygard. On the other hand, the Oilers do have a decent amount of depth on the blue line and that position battle would become even more crowded if another Swede defender, top prospect Philip Broberg, also decided to jump to North America this off-season. There remain a number of other teams interested in Lennstrom as well, specifically the New Jersey Devils as a top suitor for his services, so his decision is far from made.

New Jersey Devils Interview Gerard Gallant

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The New Jersey Devils aren’t waiting around to get a jump on their coaching search, despite the NHL still holding out hope that the rest of the 2019-20 season will be completed at some point. Pierre LeBrun reported on today’s Insider Trading for TSN that the Devils have interviewed several candidates for the position including former Vegas Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant. As LeBrun points out, that interview was conducted by GM Tom Fitzgerald, who is also only operating under an interim tag after Ray Shero’s dismissal earlier this season.

Alain Nasreddine, who took over as interim head coach when John Hynes was fired, is also still a candidate for the full-time position. Nasreddine has actually posted a 19-16-8 record with the Devils since taking over, much better than his predecessor and perhaps a reason he should be considered moving forward.

Gallant though is a big fish on the market, as we discussed in one of our recent PHR Panels. He was fired after just two and a half seasons with the Golden Knights, despite taking them to the Stanley Cup Final in year one and the playoffs again in year two. Gallant has a career .550 winning percentage as a head coach, which is actually brought down considerably by his first stint behind the bench with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Landing a coach of that stature would certainly be a big step for the Devils who appear to be on the right track towards competitiveness once again, even though their chance at making the playoffs this season faded quite quickly. With two first-overall selections down the middle in Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, three first-round picks to make this season and several high-end prospects ready to soon make an impact there are hopefully better times ahead in New Jersey.

Potential Compliance Buyout Candidates: Part II

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As the current Coronavirus crisis wears on, it seems more and more likely that the NHL will not return to action soon and when play resumes, it will almost certainly not be the full remaining regular season schedule. That lost revenue is expected to impact the 2020-21 salary cap, perhaps even keeping the current $81.5MM upper limit in place. Given that teams expected an increase, initially projected to be between $84-88.2MM, this stagnation could have a harsh impact on a number of clubs’ cap situations. As such, many expect that compliance buyouts will return in some form or fashion to ease that pain. These buyouts, which do not count against the salary cap, would allow for teams to open up space that they otherwise expected from a cap increase.

After taking a look at the first ten teams, we move on to the middle third of the NHL:

Detroit Red Wings: Justin Abdelkader

– When Abdelkader signed a seven-year extension with an AAV of $4.25MM following his career-best season in 2014-15, it was perceived to be a bargain at the time and few expected that it would turn out poorly. Yet, with three years still to go Abdelkader has failed to impress in each of the first four seasons, recording a total of just 78 points and consistently missing time due to injury. On a young rebuilding team, the 33-year-old forward’s slow, plodding game is not a fit and his salary is not commensurate to his role on the club. New GM Steve Yzerman wouldn’t hesitate to buy out the career Red Wing if given the opportunity.

Edmonton Oilers: James Neal

– Last summer’s swap of Neal for Milan Lucic was labeled as two teams exchanging bad contracts. However, Neal got off to a hot start and ended up with 19 goals and 31 points despite being limited to just 55 games due to injury. That being said, the 32-year-old forward, who was a -20 this season, is still probably the worst contract on the team. The likelihood of Neal playing up to his remaining $17.25MM over three years seems slim and the Oilers could use the cap space to add a younger, better winger. If Neal has earned the trust of the team, Kris Russell could be bought out before his final year at $4MM.

Florida Panthers: Sergei Bobrovsky

– Would the Panthers move on from Bobrovsky just one year after handing him a seven-year, $70MM deal? That could be the biggest question of the off-season if compliance buyouts become reality. The star goalie’s first season in Florida could not have gone worse as he posted a career-worst GAA and didn’t boast a shiny save percentage either. Expected to be the Cats’ savior in net, Bobrovsky was anything but. If they hesitate to cut ties with Bobrovsky and his play does not improve, he would undoubtedly become the worst contract in hockey. Though on the other hand, if Bobrovsky goes elsewhere and succeeds and Florida cannot find a suitable location, some would surely say that they didn’t give him enough of a chance.

Los Angeles Kings: Jonathan Quick

– The rebuilding Kings have been trying to move Quick for a couple of years now and it would be a surprise if they did not take advantage of a compliance buyout opportunity. A holdover contract from the days of yore, Quick’s ten-year, $58MM deal signed in 2012 remained a bargain for the first half of the term until Quick hit a wall last year. While his play rebounded this season, Quick is still not playing up to the all-world level that had become the norm. L.A. is still a ways away from contending and can make more use of extra cap space over the next three years than a goalie who is past his prime.

Minnesota Wild: Zach Parise

– The Wild and new GM Bill Guerin came awfully close to trading Parise at the deadline this season and in recent years players who have been rumored to be leaving Minnesota are always eventually dealt. However, the potential trade included the team taking back bad salaries to facilitate the movement of Parise’s remaining five years and $37.69MM. Although Parise showed a return to form somewhat over the past two years, he has never been able to replicate his numbers from earlier in career and the team has generally been unhappy with the results of their 13-year gamble. If the possibility to dump the 35-year-old Parise without any cap repercussions opened up, it would become a serious conversation. More interesting would be if the Wild also discuss Mats Zuccarello as a buyout candidate after he was a bust in the first of a five-year, $30MM deal.

Montreal Canadiens: Karl Alzner

– While there will be those that find some of the bigger names on Montreal as intriguing buyout candidates, Alzner seems like an obvious choice that will improve the roster without any risk of releasing a good player or upsetting team chemistry. Few players in recent history have had their team turn on them following a major contract as quickly as the Canadiens did with Alzner. After signing the physical defenseman as a top free agent in 2017, the Habs decided just a year later that he was not worthy of an NHL roster spot following a difficult first season. Alzner has played just 13 NHL games over the past two years, buried in the AHL for the remainder. With two years at $4.625MM remaining, Montreal would be happy to be completely rid of Alzner’s contract rather than receiving just minor saving from sending him to the minors instead.

Nashville Predators: Kyle Turris

– For a long time, Nashville GM David Poile was opposed to handing out expensive, long-term contracts. That policy served him well for quite a time, as the Predators ended up with a number of tremendous values on the roster. Since the team has started to move away from that practice, things have not gone so well. Turris is the poster boy for this statement. He signed a six-year, $36MM extension with Nashville not long after being acquired by the club early in the 2017-18 season and has never lived up to the expectations. His 54 total points over the past two years is less than the one-year total the season prior to his joining Nashville. Turris has become an expendable player, not only missing time due to injury but also as a healthy scratch. The team has been eager to move him and they likely wouldn’t hesitate to do so with a compliance buyout.

New Jersey Devils: Cory Schneider

– An overpaid, under-performing starting goalie is one thing; an overpaid, under-performing backup is another. It has been quite a time since Schneider was the top man in net in New Jersey and young Mackenzie Blackwood has now taken the reins. However, Schneider’s horrific numbers over the past two year suggest that he isn’t even capable of being an NHL backup at this point in his career. With two years remaining at $6MM, Schneider’s might be the worst goalie contract in the league and a rather obvious buyout candidate.

New York Islanders: Andrew Ladd

– Ladd, part of the infamous 2016 class of terrible free agent contracts, Ladd has never provided adequate value to the Islanders compared to his $5.5MM AAV. The team finally buried him in the AHL this season after recording just 71 points through his first three years. With the majority of their forwards signed to substantial long-term deals, there is almost no chance that Ladd can ever work his way back into the NHL mix for the Islanders. New York was ready to move him at the trade deadline and would be quick to buyout the final three years of his deal rather than continue to pay major money for him to play in the minors.

New York Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist

– While it would be a sad day for the Blueshirts and their fans, the reality is that Lundqvist is the best use of a compliance buyout on the team. New York was considering moving young Alexandar Georgiev at the deadline rather than continue to carry three goaltenders, as Igor Shesterkin looks like the starter of the future and King Henrik has become an immovable contract. However, the team would be far better off retaining both young goalies and moving on from Lundqvist, who at 38 years old had the worst season of his career and still has a season remaining at $8.5MM. That’s a hefty salary to pay the man who would be your third-string goalie next season if Georgiev is not moved. The Rangers have no shortage of options though if they cannot overcome the loyalty they feel toward Lundqvist. Defensemen Marc Staal, $5.7MM AAV, and Brendan Smith, $4.35MM AAV, have both outworn their welcomes in New York and would not be missed in the final years of their respective contracts.

Stay tuned for Part III coming soon.

Metropolitan Notes: Jones, Fitzgerald, Golyshev

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While the season remains on hold due to COVID-19, many players are getting every chance to get back to full health. In fact, the delay in the season could be  a huge benefit to several teams that lost key players late in the season, which now might make them available if the NHL is able to continue the season or at least the playoffs.

The Columbus Blue Jackets look like they could be huge benefactors to that end as injured defenseman Seth Jones, a crucial linchpin to the team’s shutdown defense announced that he stepped on the ice today for the first time since suffering an ankle injury in which he required surgery to repair a sprain an hairline fracture on Feb. 11. He was given an 8-10 week recovery time after suffering the injury three days earlier against the Colorado Avalanche.

While Columbus had fared well despite suffering numerous team injuries over the course of the year, Jones’ departure from the lineup had quite the effect. The team picked up just three wins after his injury, with a 3-5-6 record.

The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline adds that while players are not allowed to use their teams’ facilities at the moment, Jones is permitted to do so as part of his rehab from ankle surgery, allowed by deputy commissioner Bill Daly. Injured players are allowed access to team’s facilities since the beginning of the league’s suspension.

  • The Athletic’s Corey Masisak (subscription required) writes in his most recent mailbag entry that the longer the suspension goes on, the more and more likely the New Jersey Devils will had the permanent general manager position to current interim GM Tom Fitzgerald. With most candidates still under contract until the season ends, New Jersey has been unable to interview any candidates that are associated with a team. The team has interviewed former Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis (twice), but if the season goes deep into the summer, there is a good chance they will keep Fitzgerald, who took over for Ray Shero on Jan. 12 and had a successful trade deadline. Fitzgerald was already a top candidate for the job, but the Devils were interested in a full search, which now may be difficult.
  • With rumors that the New York Islanders are already getting Russian goaltending prospect Ilya Sorokin under contract for next season, Sport-Express’ KHL writer Igor Eronko reports that another Russian prospect is considering coming stateside for the 2021-22 season. According to Eronko, 25-year-old forward Anatoli Golyshev has looked at houses in New York and wants to join the team in 2021. Golyshev, an Islanders’ fourth-round pick in 2016, had an injury-plagued campaign this year with just 11 goals and 25 points in 38 games, but scored 37 goals over his previous two years with Yekaterinburg Automobilist in the KHL.

Evening Notes: Greene, DeBoer, Gostisbehere

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The New York Islander paid a premium price to acquire 37-year-old defenseman Andy Greene from the New Jersey Devils at the trade deadline, sending the Devils their 2021 second-round pick. However, with the suspension in place, the Islanders have only gotten 10 games from the veteran blueliner.

Newday’s Andrew Gross writes, however, that Greene has made it clear that he doesn’t have any intention to retire at the end of this season.

“Oh, yeah, for sure, in my mind, I’m definitely going to play,” Greene told Newsday this week.

While that doesn’t necessarily mean that Greene, an unrestricted free agent this offseason, would return to the Islanders next year, at least it’s still a possibility. Greene finished his 14th season in the league with two goals, 14 points and 155 blocked shots in 63 games.

  • If the NHL decides to go with a playoff system with more than the standard 16 games, the Vegas Golden Knights would receive a bye in the first-round of the playoffs as they are the No. 1 seed in the Pacific Division. However, head coach Peter DeBoer suggested recently, via SinBin’s Ken Boehlke, that he isn’t enamored with that idea and would not be interested in a bye for his team. “I don’t want to be the team with the bye, sitting there after being off for a month or two months or three months. Having teams play two-out-of-threes and play-in games while you’re sitting there. There’s a huge advantage to having actually played games. I know the bye sounds like an advantage. And it is an advantage if you’ve been playing an entire 82-game season and you roll into that and you have 10 days to prepare for the next round. But when you’ve been sitting around for months, it’s a disadvantage. From a fairness point of view, that would be a concern for me.”
  • Once considered to be a future franchise piece to their defense, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has struggled for two straight years, which includes a five-goal, 12-point season last year in 42 games. While there was talk that he could have been a trade candidate at the trade deadline, Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sam Carchidi writes that it’s extremely likely that Gostisbehere will be traded within the next year due to the expansion draft in 2021. With the team likely to only protect three defensemen, it’s a lock that the Flyers will protect Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim and Philippe Myers, leaving Gostisbehere available to Seattle. However, the scribe believes that team is more likely to trade him rather than just hand him over to Seattle for nothing.

Poll: If Season Ends Now, Who Should Win Calder Trophy?

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The NHL has every intention in trying to finish out the regular season and have a playoffs to cap off the 2019-20 season. However, with the unknown nature of the quickly changing COVID-19 virus, the season already has been suspended and could be pushed back further and further to avoid players contracting the virus. There has been talk of a drop-dead date as the league doesn’t want the 2019-20 to interfere with the 2020-21 season, which could make the regular season expendable if things begin to extend further and further into the summer. If the regular season ended on March 11, who would walk away as the league’s top rookie?

At midseason, it looked like an obvious choice as Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar dominated the first half of the season after coming over from UMass-Amherst last season. The 21-year-old had a dominant 11 goals and 37 points in 41 games before the all-star break. While his numbers dipped slightly, Makar has still been impressive in a much more limited second half. He did miss five games with an upper-body injury in late February where Colorado lost three of those five games, yet he still had a goal and 13 points in 16 games since the break. In total, however, Makar currently has 12 goals and 50 points in 57 games, an impressive feat for a rookie blueliner.

While Makar seemed like the inevitable choice early on, Vancouver Canucks rookie defenseman Quinn Hughes came on late to have his own impressive season. Hughes has been a solid addition to a Canucks defense at the end of last season as he came out of the University of Michigan. While he had solid numbers in the first half, with five goals and 34 points in 48 games before the all-star break, he did explode in February with 15 points in 13 games and tallied eight goals and 53 points in 68 points. While Makar might have had a better points-per-game average, it was Hughes who provided the healthier player on the ice.

There are several other candidates who will receive some consideration, including Chicago Blackhawks forward Dominik Kubalik, who scored 30 goals already in just 68 games in his first season in North America. The 24-year-old had spent his entire career overseas in the Czech League and the NLA, but adjusted to North American skating rinks quickly and was a key piece to the Blackhawks’ squad.

Several goalies dominated this season, but New Jersey Devils goalie MacKenzie Blackwood so far has a 22-14-8 record on a struggling Devils team. While he did post a 2.77 GAA, his save percentage suggests that he has been a dominant netminder for the Devils this season at .915.

So, if the regular season ended today, who would be the Calder Trophy winner?

For Pro Hockey app users, click here to vote.

NHL Rosters To Be Frozen During Suspended Season

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According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the NHL will implement a league-wide roster freeze this evening after announcing a new directive for players earlier today. Johnston points to this freeze as the reason for several roster moves today, moving players between the NHL and AHL. We’ll list those moves below:

  • The New Jersey Devils have moved both Janne Kuokkanen and Matt Tennyson to the AHL. Both players are on two-way contracts, earning less at the minor league level.
  • The Minnesota Wild have moved Matt Bartkowski back to the AHL. He hadn’t played in a single NHL game this season and is on a two-way contract.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have recalled Mark Letestu from his conditioning loan in the AHL. He is on a two-way deal, but would need to clear waivers in order to be sent to the AHL full-time.
  • The Florida Panthers have moved Sam Montembeault back to the AHL. He is on a two-way deal and is still waiver-exempt.
  • The Anaheim Ducks have sent both Jani Hakanpaa and Anthony Stolarz to the AHL. Both players are actually on one-way contracts, meaning they don’t earn any less at the minor league level.
  • The Colorado Avalanche have sent Logan O’Connor to the AHL. The 23-year old is on a two-way contract.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights have sent Keegan Kolesar and Brandon Pirri to the AHL. Pirri is on a one-way contract, while Kolesar is still on his two-way entry-level deal.

East Notes: Chara, Devils GM Position, Kotkaniemi, Meyer

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Almost a year ago, Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara signed a one-year extension (on Mar. 23) as he made it quite clear he wanted to return for another season in Boston. While the league remains suspended, it should be noted that the 43-year-old has not shown the same enthusiasm of signing a contract. Could that signal the end of his career is coming?

When interviewed recently, Chara’s agent Matt Keator, was quite vague about negotiations on a new contract.

“Not thinking about it right now,” said Keator. “Something we’ll all sit down with at the end of the year — Z, me, [Bruins GM] Don Sweeney — and figure out what’s next.”

The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont writes that if the season doesn’t resume, there is a good chance that Chara may have played his last game as a Boston Bruin. While there remains a good chance that the league resumes eventually, which would allow Boston to fight for a Stanley Cup, including Chara, there is a chance that the season gets cancelled and Chara chooses to retire.

Chara still is a solid top pairing defenseman for the Bruins. He averages 21:01 of ATOI, while putting up five goals, 14 points, 60 penalty minutes, 101 hits and has blocked 78 shots in 68 games.

  • The New Jersey Devils might find themselves in bind when it comes to interviewing candidates for their open general manager and coaching positions, according to The Athletic’s Corey Masisak (subscription required). While the team did already interview former Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis two weeks ago, the Devils were hoping to wait until the season was over to interview candidates that are currently employed. With a delay until the season ends, New Jersey could find itself without a permanent GM in place for quite a while, something the team wanted to avoid. Interim general manager Tom Fitzgerald remains a candidate, which could increase the chances of him getting the permanent job. Another option, according to Masisak would be if the NHL allowed teams to interview candidates during the break.
  • The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription required) breaks down the stock of Montreal Canadiens 2018 first-round pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who was lost for the season last week with an injured spleen with little fanfare for a top prospect. The scribe looks at what has happened to the team’s view on the highly regarded rookie last season and how the 19-year-old had lost his confidence during that season and how it hadn’t returned this season, which includes how the centerman was sent to Laval after struggling in his sophomore campaign with just six goals and eight points in 36 games.
  • The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reports that Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Carson Meyer, who completed his senior year at Ohio State University, has signed with an agent, Jeff Boston of Roy Sports Group. Unfortunately, his next step is unclear with the suspension of play at both the NHL or AHL level. Meyer wrapped up his senior year with a career-high 17 goals and although he could wait until August to become an unrestricted free agent, he is an Ohio native, suggesting he might prefer to sign with the team that drafted him.

 

Trade Conditions Hinging On Regular Season Games

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There’s little doubt that the NHL would prefer to resume the season and play out the remaining regular season games, but speculation still swirls that it may need to move directly into the playoffs depending on how long this “pause” lasts. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) spoke with deputy commissioner Bill Daly who made it clear that nothing has been decided yet, but that next year’s season will not be shortened even if the playoffs leak into the summer.

If the final dozen or so games are cancelled and the league decides to move directly into the playoffs it would certainly ruffle some feathers given the standings and points percentages right now, but there are other things to consider if a chunk of the season is lopped off.

Perhaps most notably (other than the drastic financial impact it might have on next year’s cap) are how a shortened season would affect trade conditions. This is probably the last thing on the minds of league officers, but fans have already started wondering about some of the deals their teams have made in the past. Below, we’ll look at a couple of those conditions that might be influenced by a loss of the remaining games.

Toronto acquires Jack Campbell (link)

When the Maple Leafs went out a few weeks before the trade deadline and acquired their backup goaltender, an interesting condition was attached to one of the third-round selections heading back to the Los Angeles Kings. Should the Maple Leafs make the playoffs in 2019-20 and Campbell wins six regular season games, the 2021 third would upgrade to a second-round pick.

Through six appearances for Toronto Campbell already had three wins, and was likely going to get a few more opportunities down the stretch. If the season ends without any more regular season games, the Kings will have to hope that Toronto decides to re-sign Kyle Clifford if they want that second rounder.

Carolina acquires Sami Vatanen (link)

The Hurricanes went out at the deadline and bought, acquiring three impact players in the process. While Vincent Trocheck and Brady Skjei immediately made an impact, Vatanen suffered a setback in his recovery and looked like he might miss the majority of Carolina’s remaining games. The fact that he hadn’t played for them yet made it look like the conditions on a 2020 fourth-round pick wouldn’t be met, but this break actually may result in a positive for the New Jersey Devils (at least in this case).

There are two games played thresholds involved in the deal for Vatanen at five and 12, which suddenly don’t seem that difficult to meet if the pause allows him to recover. Of course that would require the regular season games to be played in this scenario.

Edmonton, Calgary swap Milan Lucic, James Neal (link)

This is the one you’ve been waiting for, given how ridiculous the condition seemed at the time of the trade. To refresh your memory, the Flames will receive a 2020 third-round selection if Neal scores 21 goals and outscores Lucic by at least 10. Neal is currently 11 goals ahead of Lucic on the season, but has just 19 total. If those regular season games never get played, it would seem that the condition has not been met. Perhaps there is a prorated version in the fine print, but as of now the deal looks to be “one-for-one.”

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