Injury Notes: Tuch, Lindgren, Blackwood
The Buffalo Sabres have placed Alex Tuch on injured reserve, according to Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. There has been no official announcement from the team as of yet, but one is expected on Sunday morning before the Sabres face the Washington Capitals in an afternoon contest. Tuch did not play late in the Sabres most recent game on Friday night against the Florida Panthers, but stayed on the bench for the final seven minutes without touching the ice. He was listed as a game-time decision heading into that contest after crashing hard into the boards Thursday night in the team’s previous game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Sabres are pushing to make the playoffs for the first time since 2011. They are currently one point back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final playoff spot, and are tied with the Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals. Tuch has played a big role in the team’s success this season with 28 goals and 62 points in 57 games. His absence, which will be at least seven days if he is placed on injured reserve, will leave a big hole in the Sabres lineup.
- New York Rangers defenceman Ryan Lindgren left the team’s afternoon game early today after a questionable hit by T.J. Oshie of the Washington Capitals. Oshie was not penalized for his hit, but contact appeared to be from behind as Lindgren fell awkwardly into the boards. Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported after the game that Lindgren had his left arm in a sling. There was no further update from the team.
- New Jersey Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood has been out of the lineup since Tuesday when he reportedly tweaked something at practice. The team has been rather quiet about his absence since, but Ryan Novozinsky of NJ Post reports head coach Lindy Ruff says that a timeline on Blackwood’s recovery will be coming soon. Akira Schmid has been called up to fill in and gets the start tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Colorado Avalanche Extend Keaton Middleton
The Colorado Avalanche have signed Keaton Middleton to a contract extension through the 2024-25 season, according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic. PuckPedia reports that the two-way deal will carry an average annual value of $775K in the NHL, $250K in the AHL, and includes a minor league guarantee of $300K.
The 25-year-old was a fourth-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2016. At 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds, Middleton is a powerful, defensive defenceman who is currently playing for the Colorado Eagles. He has scored three goals and 20 points in 57 games this season, already setting career highs in assists and points in his fifth AHL season.
The Edmonton, Alberta native secures a two-year contract, giving him a bit of financial security and career stability as he continues to grind in the minor leagues. Middleton has played in three NHL contests in his career, suiting up for a trio of games late in the 2020-21 season with the Avalanche. He has become one of the most trusted defenders on the Eagles roster, and is just one point back of Brad Hunt for the team lead in points by a blueliner.
Given his age, Middleton would have qualified for Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer. Instead, he’ll stay with the Colorado organization and try to earn another chance in the NHL.
Latest On Timo Meier
With the announcement that Timo Meier wouldn’t play tonight coming earlier today, speculation ran rampant across sports media about where and when he would be traded. Fans will likely have to wait a bit longer, as Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the move isn’t expected to come tonight. The San Jose Sharks are celebrating Patrick Marleau‘s career tonight with a jersey retirement ceremony and don’t want to take focus away from their franchise icon.
That said, it’ll be hard to keep Sharks fans’ attention on anything other than the potential trade of their current star winger. Corey Masisak of The Athletic reports that multiple other teams believe the New Jersey Devils are still the favorite to land Meier when the deal is officially completed.
For weeks, the Devils have been linked to Meier with the caveat of a contract extension. New Jersey was more interested in him as a long-term play, than just a player to help the club this season. Meier, of course, isn’t really a rental either way, as he will be a restricted free agent in the summer—provided an acquiring team is willing to issue the $10MM qualifying offer he is owed.
Meier is also dealing with an upper-body injury which is likely part of the reason for him sitting out, though asset protection certainly comes into play with the deadline so close. As the most significant chip on the market, the Sharks will want to make sure any minor ailments don’t slow down the process.
Deadline Notes: Capitals, Dumba, Foote
The Washington Capitals are in unfamiliar territory as they became deadline sellers when they traded Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to the Boston Bruins. It doesn’t sound like this is the beginning of a massive selloff though. According to Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic, general manager Brian MacLellan is not interested in moving pending unrestricted free agents Nick Jensen, Conor Sheary, Trevor van Riemsdyk or Erik Gustafsson for small returns. Quite the opposite, as he is interested in bringing back all four if they are open to an extension. He also has interest in keeping winger Connor Brown who played only four games this season before tearing his ACL.
El-Bashir also notes that the Capitals may flip some of the assets they received in the Orlov/Hathaway deal and try to add before the deadline. Jakob Chychrun is of interest to them. Chychrun has been sitting out for over a week now waiting for a trade from the Arizona Coyotes and has two more years remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $4.6MM.
- The Minnesota Wild have had an up-and-down season but appear to be firmly entering the buyer category ahead of the deadline. A recent hot streak has propelled them to within two points of Central Division leading Dallas Stars. This should put talk of Matt Dumba‘s availability to rest. Joe Smith of The Athletic reports that Wild general manager Bill Guerin said Dumba would be tough to replace and he is not looking to move the right defenceman with his team playing so well.
- One right-shot defenceman that is available is Cal Foote. Emily Kaplan of ESPN reports the Tampa Bay Lightning are open to moving the 24 year-old defender. The Lightning have already traded their first and second-round picks in 2023 and first-round pick in 2024 so they are low on assets at this deadline. Their general manager Julien BriseBois has stickhandled around sticky cap situations before and will have to do the same this season to add before Friday’s deadline.
Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Billy Sweezey
The Columbus Blue Jackets, fresh off a win over the Edmonton Oilers earlier today and headed out on the road for two games, have added another defenseman to the roster. Billy Sweezey has earned just the second recall of his professional career.
Already 27, Sweezey is an interesting case, as he only turned pro in 2020 after a four-year stint at Yale University. The undrafted defenseman is in his third season of AHL action and less than a year removed from signing his first NHL contract. That two-year deal was inked with the Blue Jackets in March 2022, after he made such an impact with the Cleveland Monsters. Sweezey racked up 114 penalty minutes in 70 games last year for the AHL club, becoming one of the most physical defenders in the league.
He’s been in Cleveland again this year, recording nine points in 41 games while adding another 49 penalty minutes to his ledger. The 6’2″ defenseman already has 13 fights in his 133-game AHL career.
With the Blue Jackets still sitting Vladislav Gavrikov—now for six straight games—adding an extra defender for the journey to Minnesota makes sense. The Blue Jackets take on the Wild tomorrow afternoon, a quick turnaround after playing in Columbus today. Tim Berni played 13 minutes in the win against Edmonton, with Andrew Peeke logging nearly 26 minutes to lead the group. If Sweezey was to get into the lineup—perhaps to offset some of the physicality of the Wild—it would be his NHL debut.
Snapshots: Coyotes, Beckman, Johansson, Regional Rights
The Coyotes have elected to take Toronto’s 2025 second-round pick instead of their 2023 third-round selection to complete last year’s Nick Ritchie trade, reports NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston (Twitter link). Arizona had until yesterday to make the decision. This means that Toronto now has three draft picks remaining this season with the other two being later-round selections (fifth round and sixth round). Meanwhile, the Coyotes now have four second-round selections for the 2025 draft.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Wild announced (Twitter link) that they’ve re-assigned forward Adam Beckman to AHL Iowa. The 21-year-old has been held off the scoresheet in nine games with Minnesota this season but has 18 goals and nine assists in 43 games in the minors. They now have one spot open on their 23-man roster.
- We’re at the time of the year when players on expiring contracts being absent is worth keeping track of. However, while the Capitals were without Marcus Johansson for their game this afternoon against the Rangers, NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti relays (Twitter link) that the winger has a non-COVID illness. Johansson is on an expiring deal that carries a $1.1MM cap hit and has 28 points in 60 games this season which could draw some interest around the league.
- On the heels of Bally Sports skipping an interest payment earlier this month which is causing some concern for the NHL and the dozen teams with regional rights under that umbrella, another regional broadcaster is pulling the plug. John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal relays that Warner Bros. Discovery, which operates AT&T SportsNet and has a stake in Root Sports, is intending to divest its interests in regional sports rights by the end of March. Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal adds that they’re proposing to the impacted teams (Vegas, Seattle, and Pittsburgh are the NHL ones) that they take back the rights at no fees as long as they sign a release stating there are no future financial claims against the network. With nearly half the league having their regional rights in question, it’s quite possible this could materially affect the salary cap moving forward.
PHR Mailbag: Kane, Blues, Kings, Chychrun, Bruins, Gurianov, Devils
With the trade deadline now less than a week away, the focus of the mailbag this weekend will be questions pertaining to trades and the upcoming deadline. With so many deadline questions submitted, we’ll split this weekend’s mailbag in two. Next week, the focus will primarily be on the non-deadline queries (with a couple of trade ones in there as well).
@kflorenz1: Assuming Kane decided to waive his no-trade and the ‘Hawks express an interest in retaking 50-75% of the cap hit, what does the package look like?? #1 and a prospect?? 2nd rounder, plus two prospects??
Based on Patrick Kane’s recent comments, if he opts to waive his no-move protection, it will only be for one team, maybe two max if someone comes in late that intrigues him. At this point, I think pretty much everyone believes the list begins and ends with the Rangers. That will make it extremely difficult for Chicago to get good value, let alone top value. If it is just New York or bust, the Rangers can come in with a low-ball offer and basically say it’s that or nothing.
Let’s go Rangers-specific here with the package. I don’t think their other first-rounder is in play but they have a second-rounder this year. I think that would move. There should be a prospect component after that but I’m not sure it’s toward the top end of their prospect pool. I’ve seen some suggest Zachary Jones as a possibility and if it’s a forward, I like Adam Sykora, a player who likely isn’t a top-six piece in the NHL but has a good shot at making it in a lower role. They’ll also have to flip a mid-round pick somewhere for the extra 25% of retention. With a one-team bidding pool, I don’t expect the cost to be particularly high and it will be Chicago choosing to ‘do right’ by their long-time star to move him to his desired destination.
Gmm8811: Now that Armstrong has started the fire sale, I see a couple more moves that might make sense. Krug to Detroit…they have the cap space and prospects to make this work, plus maybe going back to his hometown might be the best for him. While I’m not ready to give up on Parayko just yet, send him home to Edmonton for Hyman. I know they all have NMC clauses, but as we’ve seen that’s not really an obstacle.
I can make a case for Krug to Detroit but there’s a reason that GM Steve Yzerman has refused to commit long-term contracts in free agency. He doesn’t want to make that type of long-term commitment although he’s going to have to soon if he wants to re-sign Dylan Larkin. If he doesn’t give one to a player on the open market, why would he turn around and trade for one, giving up assets to do so? If there were two fewer years on the contract (meaning there were two years left instead of four), I think this could be an interesting option but with Krug signed at $6.5MM through 2025-26, I don’t think Detroit shows interest.
As for Colton Parayko to Edmonton, he’d certainly help their back end. However, Zach Hyman is on pace for a 96-point season. Is subtracting a player that seems likely to hit 40 goals and around 90 points if he stays healthy really a move that makes them a better team in the long run? I don’t think it does. If they move Parayko, the return is going to be underwhelming as that contract ($6.5MM through 2029-30) and concerns over his back means it would be more of a cap dump than trading for someone of value.
I also want to comment quickly on your NMC thought. Just because we see some players waive their trade protection doesn’t mean it’s not an obstacle. There are quite a few trades every year that get kiboshed due to a player invoking that protection. We just don’t always hear about it. And if someone has full protection, they can leverage that into a very small list that makes it difficult for the trading team to bring back full value (think back on this when the expected Kane trade is made official). Sometimes, it doesn’t matter much but it can be an obstacle more often than you might think.
dodgerskingsfan: I thought the Kings were close on Chychrun. What other LHD are there that the Kings can acquire and who (if any) will be traded off the roster?
rpoabr: Add to this. – what’s a fair deal for the Kings to get Chychrun all things considered? Coyotes aren’t getting their ask based on no deal, so far, Kings should be able to offer a good package to get it done without sacrificing the future.
Let’s put these two together. I’ll tackle the easy part first. Sean Walker is probably the one who goes if they need someone strictly to try to match money. Matt Roy would be the other but he has some standalone value so that one would be more of the team trading Los Angeles doesn’t want to take Walker back and the Kings turn around and move Roy in a separate deal to clear the salary.
As for other left-shot defenders possibly in play, Vladislav Gavrikov is back in play after the expected deal with Boston fell through. Jake McCabe is signed as long as Jakob Chychrun at fairly similar money ($4MM for McCabe, $4.6MM for Chychrun) and he’d likely fit in on their second pairing. Shayne Gostisbehere is a rental that can help a power play. If Nashville decides to actually sell, I could see them poking around on Mattias Ekholm as well. If Chychrun falls through (and I don’t think it’s at that point yet), there will be other options.
As for the second question, Arizona is looking for future assets. If Los Angeles is offering a package that doesn’t sacrifice anything of their future, what’s in it for the Coyotes? They’re well within their rights to ask for the package they’re believed to be looking for. It’ll have to include their first-round pick this year, that’s pretty much a given. I think there needs to be a young defenseman coming back so that’d be one of Jordan Spence or maybe Tobias Bjornfot.
The other piece is a little harder. Assuming it’s another first-round element, I think the Coyotes would want a center. They’d probably ask for Quinton Byfield but that should be a non-starter for the Kings. Los Angeles probably counters with Alex Turcotte who is probably a non-starter for Arizona unless their scouts are really high on him. With the belief that their focus is on entry-level players, how much do they like Rasmus Kupari? I think this is where the hold-up is in a trade as the other secondary elements are there but finding that ‘A’ piece is where they’re struggling as swapping in a 2024 first-rounder probably doesn’t move the needle either.
SkidRowe: 1) Did the Bruins do enough?
2) Why did it cost as much for Orlov and Hathaway as the Rangers paid for Tarasenko and Mikkola and the Maple Leafs paid for O’Reilly and Acciari?
1) Considering Boston is already the top team in the league playing at a level rarely seen, they didn’t really have to do a whole lot necessarily. That they were able to add an impact defenseman and a gritty depth winger that can kill penalties without subtracting anything of consequence is excellent for them. Right now, they’re still the prohibitive Stanley Cup favorite so by that standpoint, yeah, they’ve done enough. Of course, the true answer to that question will come in June.
2) With Tarasenko, the Rangers got the best rental winger on the market. With O’Reilly, the Maple Leafs got the best rental center that might move. In Orlov, the Bruins are getting the best rental defenseman that’s out there so when you have two preceding trades that set the precedent for the ‘top at that position’ type of swap, it made sense to me that this one was similarly structured. It also should be noted that Boston, unlike the other two teams, was in a spot where they had to match money so there’s a bit of premium to be paid to do so to get Washington to take Smith’s deal on. It’s a high price, no doubt, but I think it was a fair one based on what had already been established.
Winnipeg Jets Acquire Nino Niederreiter
The Winnipeg Jets have added to their forward group, acquiring Nino Niederreiter from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2024 second-round draft pick. Winnipeg then sent Axel Jonsson-Fjallby to the AHL to open the roster spot.
The 30-year-old has been a reliable secondary scorer for the majority of his career and continued that trend in his first season with Nashville. This season, Niederreiter has 18 goals and 10 assists in 56 games, good for second on the Preds in goals (just one behind Filip Forsberg). He has reached the 20-goal mark in six of the last eight seasons and should certainly bolster Winnipeg’s scoring depth, especially with Cole Perfetti likely out for the remainder of the regular season and potentially into the first round.
Notably, Niederreiter isn’t a rental acquisition for Winnipeg as he still has one year remaining on his deal after this season with a $4MM cap hit. They already had more than $66.5MM in commitments for next season to just 13 players per CapFriendly, a total that will jump to over $70.5MM. Notably, that figure does not include an expected new deal for RFA center Pierre-Luc Dubois who is heading for a sizable raise on his current $6MM salary. With that in mind, it’s quite possible that from here on out, the Jets will be focusing on rental players.
As for Nashville, this year hasn’t gone as planned for the Preds. After being 12th in goals scored in 2021-22, they’ve struggled offensively this season, sitting 26th in that department even with the addition of Niederreiter who was supposed to help bolster their attack. The end result is that they find themselves fifth in the Central Division and seven points out of a Wild Card spot heading into today’s action. It appears that GM David Poile has settled on his course of action after previously suggesting he wasn’t entirely sure if he’d be a buyer or seller.
While the Preds don’t have a strong list of pending UFAs – it’s basically backup goaltender Kevin Lankinen and injured blueliner Mark Borowiecki – they do have some other players that are signed or under team control beyond this season that could be of interest. Pending RFA defenseman Dante Fabbro has been in recent speculation while veteran rearguard Mattias Ekholm has previously been suggested as someone that could move if they look to undergo a longer-term retooling process.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman broke the news (Twitter link) that Niederreiter was headed to Winnipeg.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Multiple Teams Showing Interest In Austin Watson
The Senators have moved out a couple of veterans already recently in defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and forward Tyler Motte. While they haven’t completely thrown in the towel yet on trying to make the playoffs, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that at least three teams have shown interest in acquiring veteran winger Austin Watson. Those three are all Western Conference squads in the Stars, Kings, and Avalanche.
Watson is in his ninth NHL season and is having a quieter year than normal offensively, scoring just four goals and two assists in 53 games while his playing time has dipped to just above ten minutes a night. However, he’s only one year removed from a ten-goal campaign. The 31-year-old continues to play a physical game, picking up 120 hits along with 63 penalty minutes and that’s what’s likely to draw attention from elsewhere. He’s in the final season of a three-year deal that carries a $1.5MM AAV and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Playoff-bound teams are often looking to shore up their depth forwards at this time of year and adding some grit for the playoffs is also a trait that is often coveted so it’s no surprise that some teams are calling about Watson. Those three teams are quite familiar with him from his days in Nashville as well. He’d be no more than a fourth liner on any of those squads though so if Ottawa does wind up moving him, they’d likely be limited to receiving no more than a mid-round draft pick for his services.
Scratch Notes: Kane, Lafferty, Meier
With the trade deadline now less than a week away, more teams are starting to sit their players to avoid any risk of injury that could scuttle a pending move or complicate ongoing discussions. With that in mind, here’s a rundown of players in that situation that are out of the lineup today.
- The Blackhawks announced (Twitter link) that winger Patrick Kane and forward Sam Lafferty will sit for trade-related reasons. Kane’s agent Pat Brisson relayed a statement to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link) that it was mutually agreed that Kane would sit during this “period of reflection”. Kane is mulling over whether to leave the only NHL organization he has ever known with the Rangers expected to be the likely destination, provided that they can make the money work as Kane carries a $10.5MM AAV. They’ll need double-retention for a deal to happen.
- As for Lafferty, the 27-year-old is in the midst of a career year with 10 goals and 11 assists in 50 games while winning more than 52% of his faceoffs in a little more than 15 minutes a night of action. Signed for one more season with a manageable cap hit of $1.15MM, he should attract interest from several teams.
- The Sharks will be without winger Timo Meier tonight, reports Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). The 26-year-old is having another strong season, notching 31 goals and 21 assists in 57 games and is four goals shy of his career-high which was set last year. Meier is a pending restricted free agent that’s owed a $10MM qualifying offer this summer but only a $6MM AAV this season. Acquiring teams will likely want to get a long-term deal below that but as of yet, San Jose is not believed to have granted interested squads a chance to negotiate an extension with Meier’s camp. He’s currently nursing an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day so it’s unlikely he’ll suit up before the deadline for precautionary reasons.