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Predators Acquire Michael Bunting

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The Predators and Penguins have made a multi-player swap.  Nashville has acquired winger Michael Bunting along with a 2026 fourth-round pick from Pittsburgh in exchange for center Thomas Novak and defenseman Luke Schenn.

Pittsburgh acquired Bunting last season as the most prominent part of the package from the Jake Guentzel trade with Carolina.  However, the 29-year-old has struggled in his first full season with the Pens.  Through 58 games this season, Bunting has just 14 goals and 15 assists.  By comparison, he had 19 points in 21 games down the stretch last year and hasn’t recorded fewer than 49 points over the last three seasons, a streak that seems likely to come to an end.

Nashville will undoubtedly be hoping that the change of scenery will get him back to the level of production he had.  They’re taking on the final year and a bit of a contract that carries a $4.5MM cap charge.  When Bunting is at his best, he’s worth that type of money as a top-six winger who plays with an edge but he’ll be joining a team that has had several veterans underachieve this season.

The move is an interesting one from their standpoint.  While the expectation was that they’d be looking for younger pieces who are longer-term fits, they actually get a little older up front with the swap while losing some club control with Novak still having two years left on his contract after this one.  It suggests that GM Barry Trotz feels his team isn’t that far away from being a playoff contender once again and that a tweak or two to the forward group could propel them back in the right direction next season.  Bunting won’t be able to help in the short term, however, as he is currently on IR after undergoing an appendectomy.

As for Pittsburgh’s return, Novak is the headliner.  He’s a bit of a reclamation project himself as he’s in the midst of a down year as well.  The 27-year-old had two straight seasons of more than 40 points heading into this one, a performance that earned him a three-year, $10.5MM contract a little before the trade deadline last March.

But, like many of Nashville’s players this season, Novak hasn’t been able to produce to expectations.  He has just 13 goals and nine assists in 52 games while his playing time has dipped to just over 13 minutes a night.  Meanwhile, his struggles at the faceoff dot continue as he’s winning just 43% of his draws which has resulted in him spending more time on the wing this year.

Clearly, Pittsburgh feels that a fresh start will be beneficial for Novak.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see him moved back down the middle with a center group that’s on the older side, featuring Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kevin Hayes.  If they can get Novak back to even being a capable third-line option, that would be a solid outcome for a team that clearly isn’t looking to rebuild despite being on pace to miss the playoffs for the third straight year.

Schenn, meanwhile, has been a fixture on the third pairing of several teams in recent seasons.  After faring well with Vancouver and Toronto in the 2022-23 campaign, he signed a three-year, $8.25MM contract with Nashville in the 2023 offseason.  But his role has been more limited with the Predators as he has barely averaged 15 minutes a night since joining them.  While he brings plenty of physicality to the table – he has notched more than 200 hits in four straight years – he hasn’t been able to elevate himself to being higher than sixth on the depth chart.  Meanwhile, he has just five points in 61 outings this season although offense has never been his calling card.

It will be interesting to see if Pittsburgh intends to hold onto Schenn or if they intend to flip him, just like they did earlier tonight with Vincent Desharnais.  Despite Schenn’s struggles, his success at being a late-season addition before coupled with his toughness will undoubtedly have playoff-bound teams kicking the tires on the potential of him being moved once again.  If it doesn’t happen, he’s likely to have the same role on the depth chart with the Penguins on their third pairing.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the players involved while Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was first with the pick inclusion.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

Sharks Acquire Vincent Desharnais

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The Sharks have added some depth on the back end, acquiring defenseman Vincent Desharnais from Pittsburgh in exchange for a 2028 fifth-round pick.  Both teams have announced the trade.

The 28-year-old’s stay with the Penguins was short-lived as he only spent 10 games with them after being acquired from Vancouver last month as part of the Marcus Pettersson trade.  It has been a tough season for Desharnais who has struggled in his first season away from Edmonton.  He has played in 44 games between the two teams but has just three assists along with 68 blocks and 73 hits while averaging 15:37 per game.

Desharnais is in the first year of a two-year, $4MM contract signed back in July following a stint in Edmonton where he worked his way up from a minor league deal to eventually landing a regular spot on their third pairing.  Now, he’ll try to reclaim a full-time spot in San Jose’s lineup.

While it might seem odd for San Jose to be adding to their roster, Desharnais is a low-cost pickup from an acquisition standpoint while the extra year on his contract isn’t an issue for a team projected to have plenty of cap space for next season.  If he can get back to being a full-timer, it’s possible they’ll be better poised to flip him for a stronger return at this time next year.  Meanwhile, Pittsburgh sheds a contract they had to take on to facilitate last month’s swap with the Canucks, opening up some extra cap space which it appears they’ll put to use quite quickly.

Predators Assign Kieffer Bellows To AHL

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The Predators have opened up a roster spot in advance of their game against Seattle on Thursday.  The team announced that winger Kieffer Bellows has been assigned back to AHL Milwaukee.

The 26-year-old got into five games with Nashville after being recalled last month, his first taste of NHL action since the 2022-23 campaign.  Bellows was held off the scoresheet in each of those contests while averaging just under 11 minutes a night of playing time.  For his career, he has 14 goals and 14 assists in 100 NHL outings.

Bellows has spent the bulk of this season in the minors with the Admirals.  Through 41 games with them, he has 14 goals and 15 assists.  Those numbers are below his minor league output from a year ago when he had 27 goals and 22 helpers in 52 outings with AHL Toronto, a performance that earned him a one-year, two-way deal this summer after being strictly on an AHL pact last season.

With the demotion, the Predators now have two open roster spots.  It seems likely that one or both of those will be filled relatively quickly, perhaps as early as Thursday.

Seattle Kraken Recall Ben Meyers, Jacob Melanson

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After trading Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand to the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier today, the Seattle Kraken opened up a pair of roster spots. Newly acquired Michael Eyssimont will take one of those spots, and the Kraken announced they’re recalling Ben Meyers and Jacob Melanson for additional depth.

Meyers has been an infrequent depth option for the Kraken this season. Despite longer-term injuries to Gourde and captain Jordan Eberle throughout the 2024-25 campaign, Seattle hasn’t called upon Meyers too much. He signed a one-year, $775K contract last summer and has gone scoreless in seven games for the Kraken, averaging 8:10 of ice time per game.

He’s a completely different player in the AHL. He’s second on the Firebirds in scoring with 19 goals and 40 points in 45 AHL contests and continues to show the offensive potential he flashed during his last year at the University of Minnesota in 2021-22. At the time of writing, his production this season brings his career totals to 36 goals and 89 points in 107 AHL games.

Meanwhile, today’s roster move is the first call-up of Melanson’s career. Unfortunately, a lower-body injury cost him approximately the first 30 games of the season. Still, he’s performed adequately upon his return, scoring seven goals and 10 points in 27 contests for AHL Coachella Valley.

Should Melanson draw into the Kraken’s lineup tomorrow night, the former 131st overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft will join James Malatesta (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Joshua Roy (Montreal Canadiens) as the only fifth-round picks from that draft to make their NHL debuts.

Sabres, Jordan Greenway Agree To Two-Year Extension

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5:04 p.m.: Buffalo has confirmed the rumored extension, announcing a two-year, $8MM ($4MM AAV) extension for Greenway. According to PuckPedia, Greenway will have a five-team no-trade clause in both years of the deal.

12:07 p.m.: The Sabres are nearing an agreement on a two-year extension with winger Jordan Greenway, according to PuckPedia and confirmed by Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. The total value is expected to fall in the $7-8MM range with a cap hit north of $3.5MM.

Greenway was likely going to be traded before Friday’s deadline without an agreement in hand. A pending UFA, the 28-year-old clocked in at No. 22 on The Athletic’s most recent trade board and No. 14 at TSN. There was a mutual desire to extend their relationship, though. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said over the weekend that talks were underway, and Greenway had publicly expressed interest in sticking in Buffalo.

The Sabres acquired Greenway from the Wild at the 2023 deadline, sending a second-round and fifth-round pick the other way. Buffalo was in playoff contention at the time, at least enough to be conservative buyers, but ended up missing out on a wild-card spot by one point. Greenway was in the first season of a three-year, $3MM AAV extension at the time, but Minnesota was looking to move him to free up cap space after his offensive production fell off a cliff.

The hard-nosed winger hasn’t matched his career-high of 32 points he set in 56 games with the Wild in the shortened 2020-21 season, but he has managed to boost his production from the disastrous 2022-23 campaign that saw him output just 6-5–11 in 62 games. He skated in 67 games for Buffalo last year, averaging a career-high 17:15 per game while scoring 10-18–28. His +11 rating was fourth on the team, while his 65 blocks ranked second among forwards and his 141 hits ranked first. His possession impacts were more mediocre with a 47.9 CF% and 50.3 xGF% at even strength, but they were still among the better showings of his career and he became a fixture on the penalty kill for the first time.

2024-25 hasn’t been as rosy of a campaign for the 6’6″ Greenway. He’s missed most of the season due to injuries, recently returning from a mid-body surgery that sidelined him for over two months. His 3-5–8 scoring line in 26 games has been a little south of his career-average pace, but his possession impacts have blossomed with a 52.4 CF% at even-strength despite seeing more difficult defensive minutes at even strength. Now established as a legitimate top-nine shutdown winger with shorthanded utility even when he’s not scoring, he’ll earn a slight raise to stick around on a Sabres team destined to extend their playoff drought to 14 seasons.

A two-year deal means Greenway will become a UFA upon expiry following the 2026-27 season. 14 of the 23 players on Buffalo’s active roster are now signed through 2025-26.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Devils’ Jack Hughes Done For The Season After Shoulder Surgery

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The New Jersey Devils took a massive blow to their Stanley Cup aspirations. New Jersey announced that center Jack Hughes has successfully undergone shoulder surgery and will be placed on the team’s long-term injured reserve. The team noted he’s expected to fully recover and be ready for next year’s training camp, informally confirming he’s done for the 2024-25 season.

The news is nothing short of a disaster for the Devils. After missing the playoffs last season, the team has rebounded into postseason positioning this year, thanks to a healthier group.

Hughes is the leader of that resurgence, too. The former first overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft was tied for the team lead in scoring with 27 goals and 43 assists in 62 games. Interestingly enough, Hughes will finish the 2024-25 campaign with nearly identical production from last season, scoring 27 goals and 47 assists in 62 appearances.

It also extends Hughes’ recurring injury issues from the last several years. Since the NHL returned to a full 82-game schedule after the 2020-21 campaign, Hughes will have only played in 76% of New Jersey’s regular season contests. The team is objectively better when he’s in the lineup, making the situation all the more unbearable for their playoff hopes.

The loss of Hughes will inevitably shift New Jersey’s trade deadline strategy. The Devils had already been rumored to be scouting the market for an upgrade at their third-line center position. They’ll now need two middle-six centers, assuming captain Nico Hischier steps into the first-line role.

If anything, this should make New Jersey more committed to buying. Although they don’t have their first-round pick for the 2025 NHL Draft, the Devils still have a trio of second-round picks and a few tradeable prospects. Defenseman Simon Nemec comes to mind as an obvious headliner for any trade of magnitude. Since the team is placing Hughes on LTIR, that will open up $8MM in cap space for the team to work with.

Still, it’s difficult to think highly of New Jersey’s chances even if they go big-game hunting. It’s improbable the team will have the capacity to acquire a player of Hughes’ caliber in the next two days.

According to James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now, the Devils have reportedly contacted the Carolina Hurricanes regarding Mikko Rantanen’s availability for this circumstance. The Hurricanes are unlikely to move one of their best players to a divisional-rival and likely postseason adversary. Still, Rantanen is exactly the kind of player New Jersey should be pursuing to get reasonably close to filling the void left by Hughes.

Edmonton Oilers Reassign Matthew Savoie

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Matthew Savoie’s first opportunity with the Edmonton Oilers will be short-lived. The Oilers announced they’ve reassigned Savoie to their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors.

The former ninth overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft was the key player Edmonton acquired in the trade that sent Ryan McLeod to the Buffalo Sabres last summer. Savoie was coming off a sensational final season in the WHL, scoring 30 goals and 71 points in 34 games split between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Wenatchee Wild. His playoff performance was arguably better, as he scored 10 goals and 24 points in 19 games for the Warriors, helping lead the team to a WHL championship and a berth in the 2024 Memorial Cup tournament. 

Savoie also began his professional career last year. He showed promise in a brief stretch with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, scoring two goals and five points in six games. Those happened to be his only appearances in the Sabres organization.

The St. Alberta, Alberta native began the 2024-25 campaign with AHL Bakersfield. His transition to professional hockey couldn’t have gone better. Savoie is third on the Condors in scoring with 13 goals and 37 points in 45 games with a +16 rating. He won’t challenge the lead for rookie scoring, but it’s as good as the Oilers could have hoped for from their new prospect. Savoie registered one assist and a -4 rating in his four-game stint with Edmonton.

Tampa Bay Lightning Acquire Oliver Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gourde

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The Tampa Bay Lightning announced a whopping trade a few days before the deadline. The full trade details are as follows:

  • Tampa Bay acquires F Yanni Gourde (50% retained by Seattle, 25% retained by Detroit), F Oliver Bjorkstrand, the signing rights to D Kyle Aucoin, and Seattle’s 2025 fifth-round pick
  • Seattle acquires F Michael Eyssimont, Tampa Bay’s 2026 first-round pick, Tampa Bay’s 2027 first-round pick, and Toronto’s 2025 second-round pick
  • Detroit acquires a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick (the highest selection between Tampa Bay or Edmonton’s 2025 fourth-round pick)

As a final note on the two first-round picks headed to Seattle, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that both are top-10 protected. If either of the picks are in the top-10, they slide back one year, theoretically meaning they could slide back to the 2028 or 2029 NHL Draft. If that happens to either draft selection, the Lightning will send a third-round pick to the Kraken for any year that it happens.

Tampa opened up some roster flexibility today after waiving forwards Cam Atkinson and Logan Brown on Tuesday, but the moves will only open $900K in cap space. We now know that the Lightning brought in the Detroit Red Wings as a third party for the deal, as they’ll help bring Gourde’s cap hit down to $1.29MM after retention.

Given the package returning to Seattle, this deal will inevitably have a downstream effect on the market. Although Bjorkstrand himself isn’t a rental, it’s a massive price to pay for two players projected to play in the Lightning’s middle-six. It’s a heavy price, but Tampa Bay is gambling that Gourde and Bjorkstrand will be more valuable than two draft picks later in the first round.

Still, aside from the price, it’s not easy to hypothesize better additions for the Lightning. Gourde returns to the organization where he won two Stanley Cup rings in 2020 and 2021 after a four-year hiatus in Washington state.

At the time of writing, Tampa Bay is 10th in the NHL with an 81.05% penalty kill and 18th with a team faceoff percentage of 50.32%. Furthermore, aside from the topical statistics, they are 16th in the NHL with a 50.5% CorsiFor% at even strength. Gourde is expected to help in all three areas.

He’ll carry a 50.8% faceoff rate and a 52.2% CorsiFor% at even strength into his first game back with the Lightning. The move will also allow Tampa Bay to move Nick Paul to the second line and give Gourde third-line minutes next to a combination of different wingers. Given the firepower at the top of Tampa Bay’s forward core, Gourde won’t be counted upon as much for offense, which could even help improve his play on the defensive side of the puck.

The deal’s benefits don’t end there for Tampa. If the Lightning believe Paul is better suited on the third line, Bjorkstrand can immediately step into the second line. Dating back to his tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Bjorkstand can generally be relied upon for 20 goals and 30 to 40 assists a year. Bjorkstrand is only one year removed from the best offensive production of his career, scoring 20 goals and 59 points for the Kraken in 82 contests.

Similarly to Gourde, Bjorkstrand is a solid possession player, evidenced by his career CorsiFor% of 52.0% at even strength. Given that Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli have scored 30 and 20 goals already this season, respectively, Bjorkstrand will be an effective playmaker to put alongside them.

The only roster player headed to Seattle is Eyssimont. He’s spent the last three years as a bottom-six forward for the Lightning and is only one year removed from a career campaign himself. Eyssimont scored 11 goals and 25 points in 81 games for Tampa Bay last season, averaging 11:51 of ice time per game. Unfortunately, he hasn’t lived up to those standards this year, scoring five goals and 10 points in 51 contests, averaging 10:41 of ice time per game.

Meanwhile, the Kraken are on the horizon of complementing an already deep prospect pool. Seattle will have nine picks in the top 64 of the next three NHL Drafts alone. Should the Lightning continue winning, those first-round picks won’t fall till later. Still, it’s always better to have two picks in the first round rather than one.

The impact of this deal on the trade market cannot be overstated. Many have perceived that this year’s deadline has become a seller’s market, and this trade solidifies that notion. Clear-cut buyers such as the Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Winnipeg Jets may have more difficulty improving their roster after this trade. Additionally, teams on the playoff bubble may have an easier time buying and selling before Friday’s deadline.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports images. 

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Tampa Bay was working on acquiring Gourde and Bjorkstrand from Seattle. 

Friedman was the first to report that Seattle was acquiring two first-round picks in the deal. 

TSN’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report a majority of the trade details.

LeBrun was the first to report salary retention details and Detroit’s involvement.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed to this article. 

Red Wings To Recall Carter Mazur

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The Red Wings are recalling left-wing prospect Carter Mazur from AHL Grand Rapids, per Max Bultman of The Athletic. The 22-year-old will be making his NHL debut if he plays tomorrow against Utah. Detroit opened up a roster spot last night by reassigning veteran forward Sheldon Dries to Grand Rapids, per the league’s transactions log.

Mazur has become one of the more unheralded prospects in the Red Wings’ pipeline. Detroit selected Mazur with the 70th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft, just before he began his NCAA career with the University of Denver Pioneers.

He became an effective scorer with the Pios, scoring 36 goals and 75 points in 81 collegiate contests. Additionally, Mazur was rostered on the 2022 National Championship-winning roster, tallying two assists in the championship matchup against Minnesota State.

The Red Wings signed Mazur to his entry-level contract after the 2022-23 NCAA season, and he finished the year with three goals and three assists in six games for Grand Rapids. He continued impressing through his first full season in the AHL, scoring 17 goals and 37 points in 60 games for the Griffins, finishing second on the team in scoring.

Entering the 2024-25 season, there was an outside chance Mazur could crack Detroit’s roster out of training camp. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to break into a saturated Red Wings’ forward core, and he was sent to the Griffins just a few days before the start of the regular season. Injuries have limited Mazur to 20 AHL contests this season, but his scoring efficiency has only improved with seven goals and 15 points.

Given that the Red Wings are fully engaged in the Eastern Conference wild-card race, this shouldn’t be considered an informal tryout with Detroit. The Red Wings hope Mazur’s high motor and offensive talent will translate to the NHL to help them break an eight-year playoff drought.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed to this article. 

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