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Blue Jackets Acquire Keith Kinkaid

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The Blue Jackets have pulled off another trade and this time, it’s not with Ottawa.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman relays a Nick Kypreos report (via Twitter) that Columbus has acquired goalie Keith Kinkaid from New Jersey.  Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports adds (Twitter link) that New Jersey acquires a fifth-round pick in return while Craig Custance of The Athletic clarifies (via Twitter) that the pick is a 2022 selection.

Last season, Kinkaid was instrumental to New Jersey’s postseason push.  However, his numbers this year are the worst of his career and with Cory Schneider now healthy and MacKenzie Blackwood waiting in the wings, the pending UFA was actively being shopped.  In 41 games this season, he has a 3.36 GAA with a .891 SV%, numbers that are considerably worse than current Columbus netminders Sergei Bobrovsky and Joonas Korpisalo.  Despite that, GM Jarmo Kekalainen provided the rationale for the move in their team release on the trade:

While we believe goaltending is a position of strength for our club with Sergei Bobrovsky and Joonas Korpisalo, we thought it was important to add depth to the position.  Keith Kinkaid is an experienced National Hockey League goaltender who will provide that depth as we move through the final month of the regular season and into the spring.

The 29-year-old is in the final season of a two-year, $2.5MM contract and is slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.  If he remains as the number three down the stretch for Columbus, that likely won’t be boosting his prospects in free agency.

New Jersey Devils Sign Evan Cormier To Three-Year Deal

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The New Jersey Devils have signed goaltender Evan Cormier to a three-year, two-way deal that includes the 2018-19 season, according to TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie.  As it’s too early for teams to sign contracts that begin next year, the first year of this contract will be burned this season.

Back in June, the Devils opted to relinquish the rights to goaltender Evan Cormier, who they drafted in the fourth round (105th overall) back on 2016. That saw him start the year with the University of Guelph, playing 13 games there, posting a 2.27 GAA and a .926 save percentage there. However, injuries to Cory Schneider and Eddie Lack left them with limited depth so they convinced Cormier to leave the school and since a amateur tryout deal, one that he parlayed into an AHL contract to finish out the season after posting a 2.02 GAA and a .934 save percentage in seven games.

He hasn’t fared as well with the ECHLs Adirondack Thunder though as he has a 3.87 GAA and a .875 save percentage in six games with them so far this season.  However, the Devils have seen enough from his thus far to officially bring him back into the organization.

Latest On Mark Stone Trade Talks

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Trade chatter continues to increase surrounding the Ottawa Senators and Mark Stone, but TSN’s Bob McKenzie writes that while it may be a longshot, the Senators haven’t ruled out attempting to sign Stone to an extension. Of course, it would require Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk to make a bigger offer to Stone and it would require the 26-year-old to actually agree to stay in Ottawa, both which seem unlikely at this point.

Regardless, while the team is still hoping for a positive outcome, McKenzie adds that general manager Pierre Dorion remains focused on trading Stone and reports that the Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators, Calgary Flames and the Boston Bruins remain the most interested teams, although Ottawa is talking to other teams as well.

The Jets have been mentioned for quite a while and have discussed moving their first-rounder as well as forward Jack Roslovic for starters, but will likely need to offer another significant prospects as well to net him, while Nashville has made it clear they will not be moving prospect Eeli Tolvanen in a rental situation, but are open to moving out some of their other prospects and have quite a bit of young depth ready who could immediately step into Ottawa’s lineup.

Other teams have made it clear they would want to know whether Stone would be willing to sign a long-term deal with them. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun writes that he believes the Calgary Flames would only be interested in acquiring Stone if they believe he will sign an extension with them. The problem is that Calgary would need to send Ottawa some salary back as part of any trade as the team only has $5.77MM in cap room to make a deal, well short of the $7.35MM that Stone makes.

The cost for Stone is currently considered to be very high, suggesting that a Stone trade may go down to the wire as teams will wait for the price to go down. Regardless, McKenzie writes that a potential long-drawn out process shouldn’t slow down other trades as many teams, who feel that they’ve been priced out will likely refocus their sights on New York Rangers’ Mats Zuccarello or New Jersey Devils’ Marcus Johansson.

Devils Would Like To Trade Keith Kinkaid

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  • The Devils would like to move goaltender Keith Kinkaid by Monday’s trade deadline, reports Fox Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland (Twitter link). However, he adds that the goalie trade market is pretty weak at the moment.  With Cory Schneider locked up long-term plus promising youngster Mackenzie Blackwood waiting in the wings, there isn’t room for the pending unrestricted free agent beyond this season.  Kinkaid carries just a $1.25MM cap hit but has struggled this season, posting a 3.36 GAA with a .891 SV% in 41 games.

Trade Rumors: Hart, Elliott, Tolvanen, Rangers, Senators

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Some bad news on one player could turn out to be a blessing in disguise in regards to another. The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that rookie sensation Carter Hart will be out at least ten days with a lower-body injury. Hart has been playing phenomenally this season and his absence could end what little hope the Flyers had of reaching the postseason this year. However, it will force the team to start Brian Elliott tonight in their Stadium Series game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philly’s final game before the deadline. Recent acquisition Cam Talbot is still new to the team and unable to jump in net just yet. However, Talbot’s presence makes Elliott expendable and the Flyers are known to be shopping him. The team tried to move Elliott to the Edmonton Oilers as part of the Talbot return, but ended up trading away the younger Anthony Stolarz. However, with playoff-bound teams like the San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights in need of reinforcements in net, Elliott is very much still in play. A strong performance on a grand stage tonight could be enough to convince those kicking the tires to take a shot on Elliott. Moreso, the injury news on Hart could be the final straw for new GM Chuck Fletcher, as he is still allegedly unsure of whether to sell or not at the deadline. With Elliott, Wayne Simmonds, Michael Raffl, and several others drawing interest, Fletcher should be more encouraged to part with those pieces now that his stud goaltender is out for what could be weeks.

  • The New York Rangers are one of the most talked-about teams as the deadline approaches, as rentals Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello, and Adam McQuaid and even term players like Chris Kreider and Vladislav Namestnikov are drawing considerable interest. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes that the Nashville Predators are one of the teams in talks with the Rangers, but it appears that one of their best assets may be off the table. Brooks reports that the Predators will not trade 2017 first-round pick Eeli Tolvanen for a rental this season. Nashville does not have interest in Hayes, but has looked into Zuccarello, however they won’t offer up Tolvanen to land him. Brooks believes Tolvanen would only be available to the Rangers in a deal for Kreider. The talented Finnish forward has only seen limited NHL action thus far, but is still coveted by sellers – not only the Rangers – for his potential. In this scenario, it’s the sellers who may have to ante up with a signed player to get the prized prospect. As for the Rangers, they may have better luck getting a top return for Zuccarello elsewhere. Brooks states that the Calgary Flames and Pittsburgh Penguins are among the teams pursuing the veteran winger, while a report yesterday stated some contenders are willing to pay the price to package Zucarello and Hayes together.
  • Meanwhile, the price for McQuaid has gone up significantly today following the trade of Ben Lovejoy to the Dallas Stars. McQuaid is arguably the top rental defenseman left on the market, currently ranked No. 21 overall on TSN’s Trade Bait List. With the trade statuses of Alex Edler, Niklas Kronwall, Cody Ceci, and others still unclear, McQuaid looks like the top target for defense-needy teams versus the likes of Michael Del Zotto and Bogdan Kiselevich. McQuaid is by no means a star or season-changing acquisition, but he is likely the best available defenseman even as just a physical, stay-at-home defender. If the New Jersey Devils can draw a third-round pick and young roster player for Lovejoy, the Rangers are suddenly looking at second-round territory with McQuaid. To protect their top trade assets, New York will not play McQuaid, Zuccarello, or Hayes today, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
  • Many have felt that the allure of the free agent market for Matt Duchene and Mark Stone and the caliber of return the Ottawa Senators could get for trading them left Ryan Dzingel as the most likely of the trio to re-sign with the team. That certainly isn’t going to be the case. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Dzingel recently turned down a five-year extension offer worth more than $20MM, a significant pay raise over his current $1.8MM cap hit. After that, the team made the definitive decision to trade him before the deadline. Garrioch adds that Stone also rejected the Senators’ last offer, and eight-year pact of unknown value, but the team has not yet completely closed the door on a new deal. They continue to take offers on the star winger though, as Garrioch writes that the Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, and Tampa Bay Lightning are the team’s most involved in Stone talks. He believes the Bruins are also interested in Dzingel. It remains to be seen who ends up with Stone or Dzingel and how the returns compare to that of Duchene, but one way or another the Senators are walking away from the deadline with a complete lack of star power on the roster, but a massive influx of picks and prospects to show for it.

Dallas Stars Acquire Ben Lovejoy

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The Dallas Stars are looking to keep pace in the Western Conference playoff race and have opted to strengthen their back end in that pursuit. The Stars have acquired veteran defenseman Ben Lovejoy from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for defenseman Connor Carrick and a 2019 third-round pick. The Devils have confirmed the deal.

The deal comes as a slight surprise, as the Stars are deep on the blue line, having carried eight defensemen for much of the year. However, Lovejoy does bring a veteran presence that the team lacked on defense outside of Roman Polak. He is also a strong penalty killer and will be a major boost for the Stars when shorthanded. Lovejoy isn’t much for offense, with seven points in 51 games, but the impending free agent plays a dependable defensive game and is a nice piece to have in the postseason. He also has ties to the organization, as cousin Gavin Bayreuther is also a defenseman for the Stars. It’s a nice pickup for Dallas and Lovejoy should fit in nicely as a reliable depth piece.

Dallas is not done though. The Stars are heavily rumored to be wanting to add more scoring, as they currently lack the firepower they will likely need to knock off a top seed in the West as a wild card team. The Devils did not retain any salary in the trade, so the Lovejoy acquisition does eat up some of their available cap space. At $2.67MM compared to Carrick’s $1.3MM, Lovejoy’s addition is not that taxing and still leaves the Stars with over $3.4MM to add another forward. Although two trade chips are now gone, expect the Stars to continuing exploring the market for both rental and long-term help up front.

The real story of this trade is the great return for the Devils. GM Ray Shero managed to turn Lovejoy, an expiring asset on the decline, into a young defenseman with team control and a mid-round pick. Carrick, who is also offensively challenged, is nevertheless growing into a capable bottom pair defender and by many metrics has outplayed Lovejoy this season. Carrick will be a restricted free agent this summer due a qualifying offer of just $1.1MM, so the Devils are likely to hold on to him to see what he can do next year. The worst case scenario is merely that Carrick doesn’t work out, but New Jersey still would net a nice pick. The Stars’ third-rounder becomes the Devils’ ninth pick in the upcoming draft. The Devils aren’t done either. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that Marcus Johansson, who sat out of Thursday night’s game alongside Lovejoy, will sit again tonight and seems very likely to be traded.

Trade Candidate: Ben Lovejoy

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With the trade deadline quickly approaching, we continue to profile players in the weeks ahead that have a good chance to be dealt by February 25th.

Three years ago, Ben Lovejoy had a strong postseason with the Penguins during their run to the Stanley Cup.  While he isn’t quite the player he was then, he’s still a veteran player that can kill penalties and has a fair bit of playoff success under his belt.  With that in mind, New Jersey will probably be getting some calls for his services if they haven’t already.

Contract

Lovejoy is in the final season of a three-year, $8MM contract that he signed following that Stanley Cup run.  He has a salary of $2.75MM with a $2.67MM AAV and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.  There is no trade protection in the deal.

2018-19

His performance over his career hasn’t been particularly flashy from game-to-game as he’s an old-fashioned stay at home defenseman and this year has been no exception.  Lovejoy has largely been a regular on New Jersey’s third pairing and has been a fixture on the penalty kill, logging nearly four minutes a night in that regard.  He has shown that he’s still a capable shot-blocker, slotting second on the team with 77.  He isn’t producing much offensively (he never does) but the 35-year-old is still serviceable in his own end.

Season Stats

51 GP, 2 goals, 5 assists, 7 points, +1 rating, 33 PIMS, 70 shots, 17:35 ATOI, 48.8 CF%

Potential Suitors

There aren’t many playoff-bound teams that would be slotting Lovejoy in as a full-time regular.  However, as far as injury insurance or extra penalty killing help goes, he’d be a strong option for quite a few teams.

In the East, Toronto has been looking for a right-shot blueliner that could kill penalties even before their acquisition of Jake Muzzin (a lefty).  While GM Kyle Dubas has said he’d prefer to avoid the rental market, this would be an easily-affordable acquisition as they have plenty of cap room to work with for this season and the acquisition cost shouldn’t be steep.  Montreal could be seeking some insurance with youngster Noah Juulsen potentially out for the season.  Tampa Bay is likely setting their sights on a top-four blueliner at the moment but if they can’t add one, this is the type of fallback they could be looking for.  Pittsburgh could make some sense as they wouldn’t mind adding another depth piece but the Devils would have to retain for the Penguins to be able to fit him in on the cap.

Out West, the Stars don’t have great defensive depth on the right side to the point where Lovejoy could very well crack their top six.  GM Jim Nill is likely looking to make more of a splash but if they can’t do that, they could turn towards adding some depth pieces (using LTIR to free up some cap room).  The injury to Ian Cole in Colorado has left them down their top shot-blocker which could create a short-term opening for Lovejoy and with the Avs being on the outside looking in, this may be the type of marginal upgrade that GM Joe Sakic could justify making without affecting their future.

Likelihood Of A Trade

Considering New Jersey decided to sit him for their last game as a healthy scratch to avoid the risk of injury, it’s pretty clear that they think they’ll be moving Lovejoy shortly.  The return may not be particularly high but it appears that he’ll be in another uniform come Monday.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Edler, Rangers, Kinkaid

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The Vancouver Canucks have maintained all along that they would like to work out an extension with Alex Edler, and today GM Jim Benning said just that once again. Edler is on an expiring deal and could potentially provide some veteran defense for a contending team, but is so valuable to the Canucks as a legacy player and mentor for young Swedish star Elias Pettersson.

Edler, 32, has been effective when in the lineup this season but has had trouble staying healthy once again. The veteran of 796 NHL games has only played all 82 in a season once during his long career, and no more than 74 in a season since 2011-12. He is currently on injured reserve and carries a cap hit of $5MM.

  • With Matt Duchene and potentially Artemi Panarin off the market after today’s trade, teams looking for offense will have to look elsewhere. The New York Rangers are one of the clubs with expiring assets that could be difference makers, and Darren Dreger of TSN tweets that several teams have expressed interest in acquiring both Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello together. A package like that would certainly cost a lot, but bringing in two legitimate top-six options with familiarity and playoff experience could be seen as quite the answer to Duchene’s arrival in Columbus today.
  • Andy Strickland of Fox Sports Midwest reports that the New Jersey Devils “would like to move” goaltender Keith Kinkaid, but there isn’t much of a market at this point.  It wasn’t so long ago that Kinkaid looked to be stealing the starting job from Corey Schneider and setting himself up for a potential long-term contract, but the 29-year old has struggled immensely this season and provides little upside. With the emergence of MacKenzie Blackwood as a potential NHL goaltender next season, Kinkaid’s expiring contract will likely not be renewed by the Devils.

Senators, Devils Hold Top Trade Candidates Out Of Lineup

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The match-up between the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils tonight could have somewhat of a preseason feel. When two of the NHL’s three worst teams face off, they will do so without many of their top players. Matt Duchene, Mark Stone, and Ryan Dzingel will not dress for Ottawa and neither will Marcus Johansson and Ben Lovejoy for New Jersey.

Both teams have confirmed that the scratches are “precautionary”, but seeing as all five are impending unrestricted free agents rumored to be on the trade block with the NHL Trade Deadline just four days away, it is easy to read between the lines. While the likes of Duchene and Johansson have been confirmed as on the market and likely to be traded, speculation is set to soar about Stone and Dzingel, as well as Lovejoy. Case in point: TSN’s Frank Seravalli has moved Stone up to No. 1 on the TSN Trade Bait List following this news, stating that “sitting out signals his apparent decision to forego a contract extension with the Senators in favour of testing the open market.” Stone and Duchene are now occupying the top two spots on the list, with Dzingel at No. 9. For New Jersey, Johansson comes in at No. 14 and Lovejoy at No. 41. Tonight’s lineup decisions indicate all five could be headed elsewhere in the coming days.

Fans in attendance tonight will likely be disappointed by the lack of star power, but not as much as the scouts in attendance. TSN’s Gord Miller notes that the many scouts still evaluating Ottawa’s big three – who make up 41% of their scoring this season – will likely be frustrated by the absence of not just Duchene, who sat out last game, but also Stone and Dzingel. This includes the Winnipeg Jets, who have been frequently linked to the Senators’ stars. NJ.com’s Chris Ryan reports that the Jets have three scouts in attendance, yet no Ottawa stars to observe. Ryan states that ten teams have scouts in attendance and some were likely there to see Johansson and/or Lovejoy as well, but instead will only see sellers protecting their assets.

Devils Open To Keeping Marcus Johansson Beyond This Season

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  • The Devils have received considerable interest in pending UFA winger Marcus Johansson, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic noted in an appearance on TSN 1040 (audio link). After being injured early on in the season, he has been particularly productive over the past month, notching six goals and six assists in just 13 games while playing nearly 19 minutes per night.  As teams start to turn to the secondary market, the interest in the 28-year-old should pick.  LeBrun adds that New Jersey has interest in keeping him beyond this season so if they don’t get fair value for Johansson’s services, it’s likely that they’ll hold off on moving him and presumably would then look at working on a contract extension.

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