Adrian Kempe Expected To Return During Regular Season
The Kings have avoided the worst with right-winger Adrian Kempe, who’s expected to return from his upper-body injury sometime later this month, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports. The 27-year-old is listed as week-to-week with the injury he sustained late in Monday’s game against the Oilers.
If Kempe were expected to miss the remainder of the regular season, the Kings could have placed his $5.5MM cap hit on long-term injured reserve and used that space before the March 8 trade deadline to acquire players. Per Dreger, that won’t be the case.
Kempe can still go on LTIR if he’s expected to miss at least 10 games and 24 days, retroactive to Feb. 26, to provide temporary relief. However, as they’ll need cap space to activate him before the end of the regular season, they won’t be able to dip into his relief for additional acquisitions.
Right-winger Viktor Arvidsson is already on LTIR with a lower-body injury, although he, too, is expected back before the end of the regular season. Seeing as the Kings will need space to have his $4.25MM cap hit count against the books, they’ll have nearly $0 in space to work with at the trade deadline. As such, any upgrade they make to their roster must be a money-in, money-out move.
Kempe has already missed two games with the injury, which he sustained late in the third period in an awkward collision with Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci as Los Angeles was trying to erase a 4-2 deficit with an empty net. Kempe skated to the bench while play was active, appearing to favor his left arm (video link).
The Kings have largely recovered from a disastrous stretch between Christmas and the All-Star break in which they went 4-8-6 with a -11 goal differential. After a 5-1 road win over the Pacific Division-leading Canucks last night, the Kings remain first in the Western Conference Wild Card race with a 30-19-10 record and 70 points.
They have a seven-point cushion on the ninth-place Flames, although they are in danger of falling to the second wild-card spot. The Predators are now tied with Los Angeles with 70 points, although they trail in the points-percentage tiebreaker as they’ve played two more games.
After signing a four-year, $22MM extension in the 2022 offseason, Kempe has provided spectacular value for the Kings. While he’s not on pace to sniff the career-high 41 goals he scored last season, he does have 51 points in 57 games, a career-best 0.89 per-game rate. He’s also averaging 18:47 per game, eclipsing last year’s career-high mark by two seconds.
However, he’s struggling in the possession department after being a net-positive player for the last two seasons. While his 54.5 Corsi-for percentage at even strength is substantial at first glance, it’s 1.2% worse than the team’s overall Corsi share without him on the ice.
His expected rating is also negative, with a -0.8 mark. He posted a combined +13.9 expected rating over the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
Regardless, he’s still a core piece for a mediocre Kings offense that relies on depth, not star power, to be effective. In Kempe’s absence, top-prospect-turned-breakout-star Quinton Byfield has returned to a top-line role flanking Anže Kopitar, while 2019 top-five pick Alex Turcotte is also seeing reps alongside the Kings’ captain.
The Kings only have 12 healthy forwards on the active roster and have recently scratched winger Arthur Kaliyev in favor of dressing seven defensemen, allowing both of their best up-and-coming right-shot defensemen, Brandt Clarke and Jordan Spence, to get playing time. Given their current LTIR situation, they have enough cap space to make a corresponding recall in Kempe’s absence, although they would need to place him on IR or LTIR to open a roster spot.
Canucks, Hurricanes Discussed Elias Pettersson Trade Before Extension Talks
The Vancouver Canucks came close to trading star centerman Elias Pettersson, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. Friedman shared that Vancouver was engaged in trade talks with the Carolina Hurricanes that advanced a serious enough point that Vancouver was forced to make a decision – ultimately opting to take another pass at extending the top-scoring 25-year-old. News of the trade talks was enough to inspire Pettersson to allow his representative Pat Brisson to continue discussing a new deal in Vancouver. The two sides remain steadfast on finding an extension, as reported earlier this week.
While Pettersson rumors have swirled around in light of few extension talks, there has yet to be serious weight to any trade talks. That’s now changed, as the Canucks inched towards dealing their star to one of the NHL’s premier teams. There’s no doubting that any deal involving Pettersson would go down in history. The young forward has 29 goals and 75 points in just 61 games this season, scoring at an 82-game pace of 39 goals and 101 points. That would fall just narrowly short of the career-high Pettersson recorded last season, when he managed 39 goals and 102 points in 80 games.
Pettersson’s scoring this season leads all U26 players in the NHL, ahead of major names like Cale Makar, Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, and Tim Stutzle. Speculating a price for such one of the league’s top players is never an easy feat – and Pettersson’s case is made even more difficult by the lack of clear assets on either side. The most recent comparable deal is likely when the Calgary Flames traded Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a first-round pick.
But that trade swapped one 100-point scorer for another, something that Carolina neither has nor
would be willing to part with. The Hurricanes’ greatest value sits in 26-year-old Sebastian Aho, 21-year-old Seth Jarvis, and 23-year-old Andrei Svechnikov. One of these names would likely need to move in a Pettersson deal – both to add value and create lineup space – though Carolina would still likely need to add value. That could come in the form of reliable centerman Martin Nečas, who has come into his own in recent seasons, or defense depth such as Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, or Dmitry Orlov. Carolina also has their first-round pick in each of the next three drafts, all of which could have come into play.
Vancouver is, for now, aiming towards extending Pettersson – likely poised to offer him a record-setting contract. If they do, they’ll lock up their forward of the future to lineup alongside defenseman of the future Quinn Hughes, who has three more seasons left in a six-year, $47.1MM contract signed in October of 2021.
Vladimir Tarasenko Willing To Waive No-Trade Clause
The Senators are expected to move winger Vladimir Tarasenko after confirming the Russian veteran will waive his no-trade clause for a Stanley Cup contender, reports David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Reporting from Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch multiple times this month indicated that the 32-year-old may have preferred to stick with the Sens for the rest of the season, but he’s now likely to be on the move before the March 8 trade deadline.
Tarasenko’s willingness to accept a move aligns with what most anticipated at the beginning of the season: if the Senators were out of playoff contention close to the deadline, they’d flip the 2019 Stanley Cup champion after signing him to a one-year, $5MM pact in free agency. The six-time 30-goal scorer surprisingly struggled to secure a commitment when the floodgates opened on July 1, leading to him changing agents less than a week into the new league year.
He settled on Ottawa and their offer of complete trade protection, allowing him to dictate his destiny if they decided to move him at the deadline. While his days of routinely potting 30 in a season are behind him after multiple significant shoulder injuries in 2019 and 2020 with the Blues, he’s been a solid complementary top-six piece in Ottawa with 15 goals, 23 assists, 38 points, and a +12 rating while averaging 15:59 per game across 55 appearances.
Don’t let the +12 rating on a bottom-feeder team fool you – he hasn’t suddenly turned into a high-end shutdown winger. His expected rating is -0.4, middle of the pack on the team, as is his 49.2 CF% at even strength. Nothing about his numbers indicates he’s become a genuine liability, either, posting a solid 51.4% expected goals share with Drake Batherson and Tim Stützle this year, per MoneyPuck.
Any team acquiring Tarasenko is getting a similar talent to what the Rangers picked up from the Blues at last year’s deadline. He’s a solid middle-six scoring winger with Cup-winning experience, and if the Sens opt to retain half of his $5MM cap hit down the stretch and make him a $2.5MM player for whoever acquires him, they should be able to get a second-round pick at the very least.
Dallas Stars Acquire Chris Tanev From Calgary Flames
The Dallas Stars have acquired defenseman Chris Tanev from the Calgary Flames, and goaltender Cole Brady from the New Jersey Devils, per a team announcement. The Stars will send defensive prospect Artyom Grushnikov, a 2024 second-round pick, and a conditional 2026 third-round pick back to Calgary. Dallas has also sent a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Devils for their part in retaining 50% of Tanev’s salary for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.
As the Flames also retained 50% of Tanev’s contract, that brings his AAV down to just $1.125MM for the Stars. As far as the conditions on the conditional third-round pick headed to Calgary, the Flames will only receive this pick if Dallas makes it to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
With Tanev now in the fold, this gives Dallas a formidable top-four of their defensive unit with Miro Heiskanen, Thomas Harley, and Esa Lindell also in the mix. As Tanev was previously one of the grittier defensemen on this year’s trade market, he will make the Stars much more difficult to play against leading into the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs.
In the last season of a four-year, $18MM contract signed with the Flames organization, Tanev has averaged over 20 minutes a night in Calgary during his tenure. In 259 games played with the Flames, Tanev has scored a total of 10 goals and 67 points during his tenure in Alberta. 
Nevertheless, the Stars undoubtedly targeted Tanev due to his defensive prowess, as he averaged close to a 90.0 on-ice save percentage in all situations over his career. Aside from carrying solid defensive awareness, Tanev has also averaged more than 100 blocked shots each season, and he will become the new leader in that category in Texas with 171 already this year.
Currently, in a backup role at the University of Massachusetts, Brady was brought to the Devils organization as a fifth-round selection in the 2019 NHL Draft. In now his fourth season in the NCAA, Brady has played in a total of 46 games for Massachusetts and Arizona State, earning a 16-18-4 record with a .902 SV%.
In return to Calgary, Grushnikov was originally drafted 48th overall by the Stars in the 2021 NHL Draft. In his first full season in the American Hockey League, he has played in 44 games for Dallas’ AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, scoring one goal and five points overall. Nevertheless, Grushnikov does have solid defensive awareness like Tanev and can frustrate opposing players in his zone.
By adding the second-round selection and the conditional third-round pick, the Flames now have a total of 24 draft picks available to them in the next three NHL Drafts. Intent on rebuilding the team through the draft to supplement their core, General Manager Craig Conroy continues to stockpile picks through his trades this season to do just that.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports images.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the deal.
The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report the return to Calgary.
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report the full return to Calgary.
Seravalli was the first to report New Jersey’s involvement in the trade.
Vancouver Canucks, Elias Pettersson Making Progress On Extension
According to Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff, the Vancouver Canucks and forward Elias Pettersson are making progress on a contract extension that would keep Pettersson in British Columbia for the next eight seasons, and it could be announced within the next several days. This marks a significant change in attitude from Pettersson, who appeared adamant about not wanting to discuss an extension with the Canucks during the season.
It will be interesting to see what the eventual dollar amount that Vancouver will give to Pettersson on this new contract. Heading into the offseason, the Canucks will have approximately $35.74MM available to them in cap space, with a total of nine players set to become unrestricted free agents, and another two set for restricted free agency, including Pettersson. Comparing Pettersson’s production and recent contracts given out to similar players, Pettersson could earn anywhere between $11MM-$13MM on this new deal.
Over the last two years, Pettersson has taken his production to another level, scoring 68 goals and 177 points in his last 141 games in Vancouver. Currently sitting 10th in the league in scoring on a team contending for the President’s Trophy, there is every reason to believe that Pettersson will finish much higher than 18th in Hart Trophy voting like he did last season.
Unfortunately, with the Canucks being tight to the cap ceiling even with the salary cap set to increase to $87.7MM next year, this likely means that Vancouver will be unable to extend recently acquired Elias Lindholm to a new deal. With Lindholm reportedly seeking an AAV of $9MM on his next contract, it would be rare to see a team sign their first- and second-highest-paid forward in the same offseason.
Nevertheless, this will set the Canucks core in place for the long haul, with the trio of Pettersson, J.T. Miller, and Quinn Hughes locked up until at least the 2026-27 season. Now that everything is clicking in Vancouver, the Canucks will now be able to reallocate money to supplement their core for the future.
Wild Won’t Trade Marc-André Fleury
Feb. 28: It appears Fleury and the Wild are now solidly on the same page. Minnesota is informing teams they won’t be moving the veteran netminder ahead of the deadline, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Feb. 25: Wild netminder Marc-André Fleury has indicated he’d prefer to stay with the Wild as they attempt to stay in the Western Conference playoff race, Joe Smith of The Athletic relayed Sunday. As such, it appears unlikely he’ll waive his no-movement clause ahead of the March 8 trade deadline and will finish out the season in Minnesota.
“I don’t want to just quit, right?” Fleury said to Smith after the Wild’s 5-2 win over the Kraken on Saturday. “I want us to make the playoffs. That’s my first priority. I think being in the hunt, it’s fun, it’s challenging. And I want to be here and see this team make the playoffs.”
In the final season of a two-year, $7MM extension, the 39-year-old Fleury could regain the starting role in the Minnesota crease with Filip Gustavsson struggling if they manage to squeak into the postseason. Neither he nor Gustavsson has been above average, but he’s put up slightly better surface-level numbers with a .899 SV% and 2.92 GAA in 24 starts and four relief appearances. Gustavsson, on the other hand, has a .896 SV% and 3.23 GAA in 33 starts and one relief appearance.
Fleury has started five of nine games since returning from an upper-body injury sustained before the All-Star break. The Wild are 7-1-1 in that timeframe, firmly putting them back in postseason contention after they looked far out of place just a few weeks ago. They’re two points behind the Predators for the final Wild Card spot in the West.
Regardless of his intentions, there will likely be a fair amount of trade interest in Fleury over the coming days from contending teams looking to supplant a weaker starter with a better backup option. If the Wild can maintain a winning record between now and the deadline, however, it seems unlikely Fleury will green-light a deal.
Wild Sign Marat Khusnutdinov To Entry-Level Deal
4:01 p.m.: Per PuckPedia, Khusnutdinov’s deal carries a cap hit of $925K. The deal breaks down as follows:
2023-24: $832.5K base salary, $92.5K signing bonus, $80K minors salary
2024-25: $832.5K base salary, $92.5K signing bonus, $850K Schedule ‘A’ performance bonus, $80K minors salary
1:31 p.m.: Minnesota has made Khusnutdinov’s signing official, inking him to a two-year, entry-level contract. Terms were not disclosed, although the deal begins immediately and will make him an RFA in 2025.
9:27 a.m.: The Wild are expected to sign 2020 second-round pick Marat Khusnutdinov to his entry-level contract in the coming days, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports.
Khusnutdinov’s time in the Russian KHL ended last weekend after his club, HK Sochi, wrapped up their regular-season schedule. They did not qualify for postseason play, and while his contract with the club expires this offseason regardless, Khusnutdinov’s agents are undergoing the process for a mutual contract termination so that Khusnutdinov can join the Wild before the KHL’s free agency period begins.
The 21-year-old plays both center and left wing and was selected out of the SKA St. Petersburg organization three years ago, where he remained until an early-season move to Sochi this year. He was a consensus early-second-round pick after posting 38 points and a +27 rating in 44 Russian junior league games in his draft year, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when the Wild took him off the board at 37th overall.
While his 5-foot-9, 165-lb frame may pose difficulties for him transitioning into a center role at the NHL level, he’s a spectacular skater, intelligent playmaker, and zone-entry machine – making him an important top-nine piece for the Wild in the coming years if he can physically adapt to North American play.
2023-24 was somewhat of a disappointing campaign for Khusnutdinov, however, who recorded no points through six games with St. Petersburg and only six goals and 20 points in 49 games for Sochi. Last season, he solidified himself as a top-six piece on a powerhouse St. Petersburg team stacked with NHL veterans such as Nikita Gusev and Dmitrij Jaskin, posting 41 points in 63 games and a +15 rating.
Minnesota’s director of player development, former NHL defenseman Brad Bombardir, told The Athletic’s Joe Smith last summer that the organization expected Khusnutdinov to jump into an NHL role immediately when he came over. By all indications, that remains their plan.
Khusnutdinov will count against the cap when he signs his deal in the coming days but won’t count against the 23-man roster. He’ll carry a non-roster designation while he gets his work visa, per Russo, and the Wild will need to make a transaction to clear a roster spot when he’s ready to debut.
While he’s likely not a long-term top-line answer, Khusnutdinov does add to a Wild center core that’s lacked much punch outside of Joel Eriksson Ek for the past number of years. Top-ten pick Marco Rossi is coming into his own and looks to ease those pains, but Khusnutdinov is likely better suited for a third-line role anyway. He’s ranked as Minnesota’s third-best center prospect by Dobber Prospects, trailing Rossi and 2023 second-round pick Riley Heidt.
New Jersey Devils Interested In Juuse Saros
In an article from Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, he mentions that the New Jersey Devils have had a consistent interest over the last several weeks in goaltender Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators. However, Seravalli points out that the General Manager of the Predators, Barry Trotz, has been informing teams that Saros will not be moved while the Predators are in a playoff position.
The Devils’ situation between the pipes has been an issue dating back to last summer when the team was strongly connected to Winnipeg Jets’ goaltender Connor Hellebuyck before he signed a seven-year contract extension in Manitoba. Throughout this season, New Jersey has largely been connected to nearly all the names currently present on the market, while almost acquiring Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames a few weeks ago.
The problem in net has been persistent this year, with the Devils currently ranked 22nd in the NHL in goals against per game, and 31st in the league in team save percentage. Combining the numbers from Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws, and Akira Schmid at the NHL level this season, the team has a .892 SV%, 3.22 GAA, and a whopping -20.5 goals saved above average.
Even with experiencing a down-season by his standards, Saros would mark an immediate upgrade over all three goalies that have started for New Jersey this season. In 46 starts, Saros has managed a 23-21-2 record coupled with a .904 SV% and a 2.95 GAA. Before this year, Saros finished top-10 in Vezina Trophy voting in each of the last three seasons and is still signed for a moderate $5MM salary for one more year.
Owning just short of $9.5MM in cap space come deadline day, the Devils could comfortably afford the contract of Saros, especially if they were able to move out Vanecek in the same deal too. Nashville may not be too high on Vanecek overall but could view him as an expensive short-term backup with his contract ending after the 2024-25 season.
As Seravalli highlighted in his article, the Predators do not seem keen on making a substantial move in net when the team currently holds the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Things could change leading up to the March 8th trade deadline, with Nashville sustaining plenty of pressure from the St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames, and Seattle Kraken for that spot.
If the Predators do end up moving out Saros, they already have an heir-apparent in Yaroslav Askarov currently playing for their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. As the team currently rides a 19-game winning streak, Askarov has produced a 21-7-1 record throughout the season with a .920 SV% and 2.11 GAA, showing that he may be ready to take the full-time step to the NHL.
Valeri Nichushkin Cleared To Resume Practicing
The NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program has cleared Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin to resume practicing with the team, the league said Monday.
Nichushkin is not yet cleared to return to game action by program administrators, but that step traditionally doesn’t come too long after a return to team activities. The Russian two-way force has been away from the Avs since entering the assistance program on Jan. 15.
Colorado cleared a roster spot for Nichushkin’s eventual return to play this morning by assigning Fredrik Olofsson to the AHL after he cleared waivers yesterday. Since Nichushkin’s $6.125MM cap hit has counted against their books while in the program, they won’t need to make any cap-clearing transactions to reinstate him to the active roster in the coming days or weeks.
The Avalanche remain active in discussions ahead of the March 8 trade deadline, including being recently linked to the Capitals’ Anthony Mantha, but a lack of cap space makes any additions hard to work in. Internally, the return of Nichushkin after a weeks-long absence, plus the potential return of captain Gabriel Landeskog down the stretch, will serve as their major deadline adds.
Nichushkin, 28, has been on a consistent upward climb since joining the Avs in 2019, and he’s capped things off with his best season yet in 2023-24. He’s one of four Avs players with over a point per game this year, notching 22 goals and 42 points in 40 games, along with a +9 rating. After helping Colorado to the Stanley Cup in 2022, Nichushkin inked an eight-year, $49MM extension that’s provided high-end value to the Avs thus far.
His pending return will allow recent veteran pickup Zach Parise, who has a goal and two assists through 10 games with Colorado, to drop down to a much more comfortable bottom-six role. He and Artturi Lehkonen will anchor their second line, hopefully providing enough support to aid the struggling Ryan Johansen in the 2C role.
Kings’ Mikey Anderson Out Week To Week
Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson will be out with an upper-body injury on a week-to-week basis, interim head coach Jim Hiller said Saturday (via Eric Stephens of The Athletic). Hiller also confirmed that winger Viktor Arvidsson, who landed on LTIR earlier Saturday with a lower-body injury, carries the same designation, confirming an earlier report from Kevin Weekes of ESPN.
Anderson, 24, sustained the injury in the third period of Thursday’s 4-1 loss to Nashville. He skated to the bench hunched over after being harassed for puck possession by Predators winger Luke Evangelista.
It’s a major loss for the Kings, who are now without half their top defense pairing on a semi-long-term basis. Anderson and Drew Doughty have played 878 minutes together this season, the second-most of any pairing in the league, with a respectable 52.1 expected goals percentage, per MoneyPuck. Only the Blues’ Nick Leddy and Colton Parayko have been paired together more frequently.
A fourth-round pick of the Kings in 2017, Anderson has surpassed all the benchmarks expected of him as a shutdown prospect. He’s averaged over 20 minutes per game in each of his four full NHL seasons and has one goal, 14 assists, 15 points, and a +14 rating in 55 games this year.
Individually, however, Anderson is having his worst two-way season since cementing himself in L.A.’s top four. While still adept at limiting quality against at even strength, he’s become more of an offensive damper this season and has an expected -1.9 rating as a result. His -3.1 relative Corsi-for percentage at even strength is also the worst of his career.
That said, his minutes are difficult to replace. Vladislav Gavrikov, who’s put up better possession metrics than Anderson during his first full season in Los Angeles while anchoring their second pairing with Matt Roy, will likely slide up alongside Doughty. 23-year-old Jordan Spence was recalled from AHL Ontario in a corresponding transaction with Arvidsson’s LTIR placement and will draw into the lineup tonight against Anaheim.