Sharks Have Shown Interest In Braden Schneider
The Sharks’ forward progress this season means they’ve fully exited the teardown portion of their rebuild. They’re expected to ship out a couple of names from their bevy of pending UFA veteran defenders, but that won’t preclude them from adding pieces too. They already swung to pick up winger Kiefer Sherwood from the Canucks earlier this year and made a play to snag Artemi Panarin from the Rangers. Their talks with New York didn’t stop with Panarin, though. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports San Jose is among the teams to show interest in Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider.
The 24-year-old Schneider certainly doesn’t qualify as adding star power to the mix, but he fills a huge organizational need for a Sharks club whose only long-term weakness is a relative lack of promising right-shot defenders in the system. He’s more of a shutdown threat than a puck-mover but did hit the 20-point plateau last season, now with a 2-9–11 scoring line and a -15 rating in 57 games in 2025-26. That’s come while the physical 6’3″ righty is averaging a career-high 20:19 of ice time per game, in large part due to his elevation into top-pair minutes for long stretches this season while Adam Fox has been dealing with injuries.
Schneider’s underlying numbers aren’t particularly strong. He’s never had a positive relative Corsi For percentage at 5-on-5 and has remained underwater in expected goals for the duration of his career as well. He fits a familiar mold of first-round picks struggling to find their way in New York – but with five seasons and nearly 350 NHL games under his belt, he’s almost a finished product. His toolbox is solid, but it’s fair to wonder if his lack of success in the possession department is a good fit for a Sharks team that already ranks last in the league with a 45.2% Corsi share at even strength.
Still, the Sharks don’t have much of a choice to add young right-shot depth, and Schneider is one of the few names who’s realistically available as New York embarks on a retool of its own. All three of their righties on their active roster, John Klingberg, Vincent Desharnais, and Timothy Liljegren, will be UFAs this summer. They do have 23-year-old Jack Thompson in the minors as a capable call-up option, and 2022 second-rounder Mattias Havelid is tracking to make an impact within the next couple of years, but neither has the size nor skillset Schneider brings. University of Denver standout Eric Pohlkamp is also in their system, but is also on the wrong side of 6’0″.
The Rangers were receiving calls on Schneider as far back as October. Just how long the Sharks have been in the mix remains to be seen, but their search for rights-controlled right-shot defenders operates independently of their immediate likelihood of playoff contention.
Trade Deadline Primer: Washington Capitals
With the Olympic break over, the trade deadline is just over a week away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? After looking at teams at the ends of the standings, we shift our focus to teams fighting for a playoff spot. Next up are the Capitals.
The Capitals have a roster that is too deep and too talented to be sitting where they are in the standings, but that is why teams play the games. Last season, Washington outperformed expectations, and this year, under the weight of those heightened expectations, the team has been inconsistent and has played below its talent level. Despite the struggles, Washington remains in the hunt for a playoff spot, and a strong push out of the Olympic break would go a long way toward reaching the postseason. There is no guarantee they will do it, but at this point, they seem likely to add to their roster rather than remove from it, as they should, given how unlucky they’ve been this season. Their record doesn’t reflect the team in Washington, and it will be interesting to see how they navigate the deadline.
Record
29-23-7, 5th in the Metropolitan
Deadline Status
Conservative Buyer
Deadline Cap Space
$12.66MM on deadline day, 0/3 retention slots used, 46/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2026: WSH 1st, WSH 4th, WSH 4th, WSH 5th, WSH 6th, WSH 7th
2027: WSH 1st, WSH 2nd, WSH 4th, WSH 5th, WSH 7th, OTT 7th
Trade Chips
The Capitals have already borrowed a bit from the future, shipping out their second- and third-round picks this season and their third- and sixth-round picks next season. Those trades have yielded mixed results, but they are the kinds of moves teams make when competing for a playoff spot.
Outside their draft-pick catalogue, the Capitals have a healthy stable of prospects who should continue to make an NHL impact in the coming years. Washington’s system is slightly above average, which is saying a lot for a team that mortgaged its future repeatedly for a decade or more. The Capitals have drafted well recently and have prospects in their system who would make solid trade chips.
As Tom Gulitti of NHL.com reports, if Washington wants to go big and make a splash, it might cost them one of their top prospects, either center Ilya Protas or defenseman Cole Hutson. Capitals general manager Chris Patrick has already said he isn’t interested in moving Hutson, and it’s hard to blame him given the player’s profile. Washington has to think about a future without superstar Alex Ovechkin while also trying to give him a potential final season to remember.
Protas would be an excellent trade chip if the Capitals chose to go that route. Protas is having a solid first pro season in the AHL with the Hershey Bears, tallying 18 goals and 20 assists in 47 games. The 6’5”, 201-lb pivot won’t burn you with speed and doesn’t separate with his legs, but he is quick with the puck and has a good ability to anticipate the play before moving the puck to teammates. His size will be an attractive quality for teams looking to size up down the middle, and he could be a central piece of a package to acquire a top winger.
With Ryan Leonard now fully graduated to the NHL, the Capitals’ top prospect is likely Andrew Cristall, who put up awe-inspiring numbers in the WHL last season, with 48 goals and 84 assists in 57 games. While his transition to the AHL hasn’t been perfect, he is still putting up points in his first professional season, with nine goals and 28 assists in 47 games. Cristall is the definition of dynamic, using his terrific skating to deceive opponents and operate as a setup man for his teammates. Cristall is a bit on the small side by NHL standards at 5’10”, but given his work with the puck on his stick, there would be many teams willing to facilitate a trade if Cristall is part of the return.
Team Needs
A Top Six Winger: The Capitals were reportedly interested in forward Artemi Panarin, which makes sense given their need for top-six help on the wings. Ethen Frank has seen regular shifts in the top six, suggesting that, as currently constructed, Washington is not a serious contender in the Eastern Conference. Gone are the days when Ovechkin, John Carlson and a lethal power play could carry the Capitals’ offense. The stars need help. Nashville Predators forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault are likely available, but do the Capitals want to trade away futures for a couple of aging veterans on expensive deals? Hard to say.
Jordan Kyrou is a name that could make sense, as the St. Louis Blues appear ready to dive deeper into a rebuild. Robert Thomas is also a potential option. Both would require significant commitments in the form of trade assets and cap space, but the Capitals are in a position to make both work if they wanted to.
Depth Forward: Last trade deadline, Washington acquired forward Anthony Beauvillier from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a second-round draft pick. That type of deal was likely an overpay, but Beauvillier is the kind of player Washington could target as they look for help in their middle six. The Capitals have dealt with injuries this season, and some of their depth players haven’t contributed much offensively. In a perfect world, the Capitals could have found a player such as Egor Chinakhov, who is young enough to be part of the future but ready to contribute NHL minutes now. Unfortunately for Washington, he was traded to Pittsburgh earlier this season. The Capitals should have plenty of options should they try to add another depth forward. They could acquire a top-end forward and hope that pushing everyone down the lineup solves the problem, or they could look to a team like Vancouver and perhaps pry away a player like Teddy Blueger, who wouldn’t cost a lot but has looked great in limited action this season.
Avalanche Interested In Nazem Kadri Reunion
The Avalanche have already been busy opening cap space ahead of the trade deadline, taking a slight hit to their blue line depth to swap out Samuel Girard for Brett Kulak in Tuesday’s deal with the Penguins. They’re now projected to have close to $11MM in cap space on deadline day. That leaves them wide-open to acquire a big-name target to bolster their chase for the Presidents’ Trophy and the Stanley Cup.
One of those targets is coming into view: Flames pivot Nazem Kadri, whose career year for the Avs in 2021-22 helped guide them to their only Cup win of the Nathan MacKinnon era, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. That comes amid Kadri’s name rocketing up trade lists following reports that he’s had a change of heart on his willingness to stay in Calgary long-term, plus Pagnotta indicating today that the Flames are open to retaining a portion of Kadri’s $7MM cap hit.
With a 13-team no-trade list, Kadri can block a move to several contenders. The Hurricanes, who were purported to have interest in him earlier this season, were reportedly on that list. It’s a relative certainty, though, that Kadri wouldn’t welcome a return to the destination where he had his greatest offensive success, which he then parlayed into his seven-year, $49MM free agency cash-in with Calgary in 2022.
Now 35, Kadri’s deal still has another three seasons left on it. He’ll be 38 when it’s up. For a cap-strapped team like the Avs, that makes a deal a non-starter without retention because of its long-term impact, even if they have the space to pull it off this season. If Calgary is willing to make him closer to a $5MM or $4MM player through 2028-29, though, that suddenly makes it a workable addition for Colorado. They’re up to $13MM in flexibility for next season after the Girard-for-Kulak trade with seven roster spots to fill. Bringing that figure back under $10MM with a Kadri pickup, assuming they don’t send a significantly-paid roster player the other way, would preclude them from making any major additions this summer as things stand, but it would still allow them to fill out a full roster with depth signings.
The presumption that the Avs wouldn’t send a roster player back may be hasty, though. They’re one of the deepest clubs in the league at every position, their prospect pool notwithstanding, and could easily stand to leverage a third-line name like Jack Drury or an even pricier one like Ross Colton in talks if the Flames have an interest in either.
If there’s a relative weakness on Colorado’s roster, it’s having Drury in the third-line slot down the middle. His eight goals and 19 points in 56 games this season are somewhat underwhelming on a team that scores as much as the Avs for a player averaging nearly 15 minutes per night. He’s nonetheless been incredibly valuable in the faceoff dot, winning 58.6% of his draws.
What Kadri lacks in faceoff acumen, he more than makes up for in what would likely give the Avs one of the best one-two-three punches down the middle in the modern era with MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, and himself. Even in a relatively down year for the late bloomer (at least in terms of him being a true top-six piece), he’s put up 39 points in 56 games to lead Calgary in scoring. That’s a 57-point pace over 82 games, and his recent history remains exceptional, with 35 goals last year and 75 points the year before.
It’s fair to question if a Kadri acquisition would cause the Avs to invest too much into aging assets for too long, though. While Nelson has exploded for 30 goals and 50 points in 56 games, he’s 34 years old and signed for two more years at a $7.5MM cap charge. With Cale Makar‘s next big payday scheduled for 2027, loading up too much past next season could leave them with too little flexibility to get a deal done.
Among the other teams that have expressed some level of interest are the Canadiens, as previously reported, plus Colorado’s Central Division challengers, the Stars and Wild, Pagnotta reports. He also added the Panthers as a team that’s kicked the tires, but that likely hinges on their decision to enter the deadline as buyers at all – something that’s looking less and less likely with a playoff spot now eight points out of reach.
Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.
Capitals Reassign Sonny Milano
Feb. 26: The Capitals announced Thursday that they’ve assigned Milano to Hershey, indicating he cleared waivers.
Feb. 25: The Capitals will place Sonny Milano on waivers Wednesday at 1:00 pm Central, Tom Gulitti of NHL.com reports. Until he’s assigned to AHL Hershey tomorrow or is claimed by another team, he’s been designated as a non-roster player to afford Washington the open spot to activate Connor McMichael from injured reserve as expected.
Milano, 29, initially signed a league-minimum deal with the Caps at the beginning of the 2022-23 season after being non-tendered by the Ducks. He had so much success in a depth role, notching 11 goals and 33 points in 64 games, that Washington quickly moved to get him locked into a three-year, $5.7MM extension with a $1.9MM cap hit. He’s now in the final year of that deal, during which he’s been decimated by injuries. After scoring a career-high 15 goals in 49 games in 2023-24, Milano suited up just three times last season before sustaining a season-ending concussion in November.
Back healthy this year, he’s not the same player. Part of that is simply how little he’s been used. With names like Anthony Beauvillier, Ethen Frank, and Justin Sourdif surpassing him on the depth chart, he’s essentially now the Caps’ 14th forward. He’s been scratched for long stretches and, when dressed, has only averaged 8:53 of ice time per game in 31 showings. Considering that usage, his four goals and eight points aren’t too bad.
He’ll now get his first AHL usage since a brief stint with Hershey after signing with the Caps in 2022. He had two goals and an assist in five games that time around and has 118 points in 171 minor-league games for his career.
Milano is at his best when he’s given top-nine deployment and trusted to do little else but score. With no real fit for him to fill that role in D.C. anymore, he may ride out the last few months of his deal in the minors before reaching free agency this summer. If he goes unclaimed on waivers and remains in the Caps’ system, they’ll be left with a $750K cap charge.
Kraken Place Tye Kartye On Waivers
The Kraken announced that they’ve placed winger Tye Kartye on waivers. He was designated as a non-roster player yesterday to make room for Berkly Catton and Ben Meyers to come off injured reserve, so today’s move offers an explanation for that. He’ll be heading to AHL Coachella Valley tomorrow if he clears.
Kartye, 24, has largely fallen off Seattle’s long-term radar since emerging as an unlikely rookie presence in 2023. The undrafted free agent made his NHL debut in that year’s postseason and racked up three goals and five points in 10 games for Seattle off the bench as the Kraken forced the Stars to seven games in the second round.
His first regular season was full of promise as well. The 5’11”, 202-lb lefty immediately locked down a regular spot – even seeing some top-nine deployment up with Matty Beniers – and hit double-digit goals and 20 points in 77 games. He finished at a respectable 10.1% clip while ranking 10th on the team in shots on goal and leading the Kraken with 229 hits.
Since flashing that potential as a top-nine power forward with some much-needed physical juice, he hasn’t been able to keep up the offensive juice to justify receiving that ice time. Last season, his production fell to six goals and 14 points with a -14 rating in 63 games, becoming a semi-frequent healthy scratch in the process. His ice time dipped below 10 minutes per game as his shot generation nearly halved, although he still held up his end of the bargain in the hits department.
This year has been more of the same from the Ontario native. Through 40 games, he’s posted three goals and eight points with 98 hits. He plays a penalty-killing role when dressed, but that was becoming increasingly rare. He’d played in three straight prior to the break but was scratched for 10 consecutive games before that.
With another season left after this one at a $1.25MM cap hit, Kartye will still incur a $100K charge for the Kraken if he clears and is assigned to Coachella Valley. As Seattle leans into giving more ice time to younger names like Catton, Jacob Melanson, and Ryan Winterton, Kartye could be in line for his first non-conditioning assignment to the AHL since his first pro season back in 2022-23. He had 28 goals and 57 points in 72 games as a rookie that year.
Rangers Activate Adam Fox, Igor Shesterkin, Conor Sheary
12:26 p.m.: Fox, Shesterkin, and Sheary are off LTIR/IR with winger Brett Berard heading to AHL Hartford and goaltender Hugo Ollas heading to ECHL Bloomington in the corresponding moves, the team announced. Both had been recalled as practice players over the Olympic break.
11:03 a.m.: The Rangers will activate defenseman Adam Fox and winger Conor Sheary from long-term injured reserve and goaltender Igor Shesterkin from standard IR before tonight’s game against the Flyers, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters (including Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic). New York has one open roster spot, but will need to open two more before formalizing the moves.
While there will be plenty of starpower re-entering the Blueshirts’ lineup after the Olympic break, it will likely impact the outcome of their season very little. A 2-8-0 slide in their last 10 heading into the pause left them with a 22-29-6 record, leaving them as the only Eastern Conference team below .500 and in an eight-point hole for last place. They have virtually no chance of making the playoffs, but do currently boast 10.4% odds of locking up the first overall pick for the second time in seven years, per MoneyPuck.
Still, getting a pair of household names back in the lineup will make the stretch run far more tolerable for an offensively woeful Rangers team, especially after they offloaded leading point-getter Artemi Panarin in a blockbuster with the Kings at the beginning of the month. Without him, the Rangers have just six names who have crossed the 25-point mark this season with 25 games remaining on the schedule.
One of them is Fox, who’s bounced back in a big way this season after an underwhelming 2024-25 campaign. Of course, underwhelming by the 28-year-old’s standards still meant finishing 12th in Norris Trophy voting, but the 5’11” righty has now reclaimed his place among the few most impactful rearguards in the league – despite what his pre-injury snub from Team USA’s Olympic roster may otherwise indicate.
Various upper-body and lower-body issues have limited Fox to 30 appearances this year, with the latter one costing him 12 games before the break. He’s still managed four goals and 24 assists for 28 points, ranking eighth among NHL defenders with 0.93 points per game. That’s been complemented by Fox having the most offensively-involved season of his seven-year career, averaging 5.30 shot attempts per game, while also recording career-highs in actual (56.4) and relative (11.7) Corsi For percentage at 5-on-5.
Behind him, the Rangers’ right-shot depth is uninspiring. William Borgen is a fine bottom-four shutdown piece, but can’t handle top-pair minutes. Youngster Vincent Iorio was claimed off waivers from the Sharks prior to the break to ease the strain, but he only managed to get into one contest before the schedule paused. They’ve elevated Braden Schneider into top-pairing duties with Vladislav Gavrikov in Fox’s absence this year, but that pairing has controlled just 42.5% of expected goals at 5-on-5 compared to Gavrikov and Fox’s 57.9% mark. That all makes Fox the Rangers’ most valuable skater, at least after Panarin’s departure, by a rather significant margin.
No single player is more tied to the Rangers’ success than Shesterkin, though, as it has been virtually since he entered the league. The 2022 Vezina Trophy winner and Hart Trophy finalist steps back into the starter’s crease after sustaining a lower-body injury against the Mammoth on Jan. 5.
Last season, the 30-year-old didn’t receive any Vezina votes for the first time since his rookie season. That correlated with the Blueshirts missing the postseason for the first time in four years. It’s unclear how his more limited playing time this season due to injuries will impact his standing, but like Fox, he’s had a bounce-back year when healthy.
The 6’1″ Russian is no longer putting up the electric .930+ save percentages we saw early in his career – no one is anymore, for that matter – but his .913 mark and 2.45 GAA are both considerable steps up from last year. He owns a 17-12-4 record through 34 starts and still ranks fifth in the league with 15.5 goals saved above expected, according to MoneyPuck. On a per 60 basis, his 0.464 mark ranks fourth among goalies with at least 30 appearances.
Without Shesterkin, the Rangers have fallen apart with a 5-17-2 record. Aging backup Jonathan Quick has only managed a .890 SV% in 19 starts and one relief appearance, while third-stringer Spencer Martin has a .863 SV% and 4.13 GAA in four starts and two relief appearances. In their 13 games without Shesterkin heading into the break, they only won twice and allowed 4.62 goals per game.
As for Sheary, the 33-year-old winger has had a negligible impact in a bottom-six role after converting a professional tryout in training camp into a two-way deal. Despite averaging 14:35 of ice time per game, his highest deployment in three years, he’s scored just once while adding eight assists for nine points in 37 games.
Dating back to the 2023-24 campaign with the Lightning, the two-time Stanley Cup champion now has just five goals in his last 99 games. After spending most of last season in the AHL, he seems destined to return to a minor-league role next season after failing to make a positive impression in New York. Nonetheless, the Rangers’ dearth of bottom-six forwards and continued injuries to Adam Edstrom and Matt Rempe will mean he returns in a third-line role tonight with Noah Laba and Brendan Brisson. He hasn’t played since sustaining a lower-body injury against the Capitals on New Year’s Eve.
Image courtesy of Brad Penner-Imagn Images.
Canucks Listening On Jake DeBrusk
Canucks winger Evander Kane is a known piece of trade bait after his struggles producing at home in Vancouver, especially given his pending free-agent status, but he’s not the only ‘Nucks winger on the market this spring. Vancouver is also listening to offers on Jake DeBrusk after being informed he is willing to waive his no-movement clause, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.
It’s not at all surprising that the Canucks would listen to offers for DeBrusk, given the way their season has played out and considering their bevy of other bloated long-term commitments. The Canucks signed DeBrusk to a seven-year, $38.5MM contract with a $5.5MM cap hit in free agency in 2024 after he spent the first seven years of his career with the Bruins. DeBrusk was two years removed from a 50-point showing and had hit 25 goals three times in Boston, so he was viewed as an important piece to help replace a Vancouver middle six that had lost Elias Lindholm and Ilya Mikheyev that summer.
Things have gone quite poorly in Vancouver since his arrival, though. Their offense, which scored 3.40 goals per game in their Pacific Division-winning 2023-24 campaign, dropped to 2.84 GF/G last season and further to 2.54 this year. They’re in a seven-point hole in last place in the league coming out of the break and have no hope of re-entering the playoff picture. They’ll want to sell off as much as possible to accelerate the rebuild that began with the Quinn Hughes trade earlier this season, but without any high-end pending UFAs to dangle, moving largely consistent producers with control like DeBrusk has to be a consideration.
While DeBrusk’s 13 goals in 57 games this season are one of the worst per-game outputs of his career, his overall point production – adding 15 assists for 28 points – has been enough to rank third on Vancouver in scoring behind Elias Pettersson and Filip Hronek. He’s also been brought down by a terrible 8.3% finishing rate, nearly half of last year’s mark and well below his career average. Averaging north of 17 minutes per game, he’s generating shot attempts at a career-best rate, although his usually above-water possession metrics leave something to be desired.
All that said, DeBrusk is ripe for an increase in production with a change of scenery. At a $5.5MM cap hit, his career average of 24 goals and 46 points per 82 games becomes attractive in a rising cap environment, especially as he’s cost-controlled for five more seasons with gradually relaxing trade protection. Producers with similar recent offensive track records, like Michael Bunting and Anders Lee, are projected to earn as much or more on the open market this summer.
Considering teams are facing what now looks to be a historically weak UFA class this summer, next week’s deadline could be a chance for clubs to do early bidding to address future holes in their roster. DeBrusk will be of interest to many in need of short and long-term top-nine help. Among the teams to have placed exploratory calls on DeBrusk are the Kraken and Red Wings, plus the Bruins exploring a reunion with him, per Pagnotta, but all of those conversations still appear to be in their early stages.
Golden Knights Reassign Dylan Coghlan, Tanner Laczynski, Kai Uchacz
Feb. 26: The Golden Knights announced Thursday that they’ve returned Coghlan, Laczynski, and Uchacz to Henderson. None of their American or Canadian Olympians played in last night’s 6-4 win over the Kings, with some of them being designated as non-roster players in order to comply with the 23-man limit. Sending the trio down gives the Knights the space to reinstate all of them ahead of their expected return to play tomorrow against the Capitals. All three played last night, with Laczynski having a career-best three-point game – all assists – with a +2 rating.
Feb. 24: The Vegas Golden Knights summoned a trio from AHL Henderson earlier today, as several key players are returning from the Olympic Games, affecting their status for tomorrow’s action against Los Angeles. Dylan Coghlan, Tanner Laczynski, and Kai Uchacz have joined the team and could play tomorrow, each offering some NHL experience.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy, himself returning from assistant coach duty for Team Canada, offered updates on a number of Golden Knights, as reported by Danny Webster of The Las Vegas Review-Journal. Gold medalists Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin will not play, and they’re expected to rejoin the team Friday in time for the team’s game in Washington. The status of silver medalists Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, and Shea Theodore for tomorrow remains to be determined.
Coghlan brings the most NHL pedigree out of the bunch, with 114 games, including a previous stint with Vegas from 2020-22. The 28-year-old defenseman is the club’s top blueliner call-up option whenever in a pinch, subject of several such transactions all season. They haven’t led to much opportunity, however, as he’s skated in just two games so far this season with the Golden Knights, otherwise playing in Henderson. Never recording more than 13 points in a year at the NHL level, Coghlan is much more offensively capable in the AHL, as he’s recorded 24 points in 37 games.
Laczynski, a 28-year-old center, is the Silver Knights’ top scorer, with 43 points in 40 games. The efforts have helped him earn stints with Vegas over the last two seasons, where he has one goal and three points across 17 games, nine of which came this season. The Ohio State University product was a sixth-round choice of Philadelphia in 2016, carving out a strong AHL career and 55 total NHL appearances as a Flyer and Golden Knight. The 6’1″ righty is capable of slotting in down the middle or on the wing in the bottom six.
Meanwhile, Uchacz stands out as the youngest, still just 22 and in his second professional season. Undrafted out of the WHL, the 6’2″ center had a respectable 30-point debut campaign for Henderson last year, so far on a nice step forward as he needs just three points to tie the mark at just 44 to-date in 2025-26. Uchacz made his NHL debut on Feb. 4, also playing the day after, averaging just under 12 minutes in both games and picking up a fighting major. The Calgary native will likely need to lean into that grit as he faces a difficult path to a full-time NHL role, but he’s already a trusted call-up for fourth-line fill-in duty.
Vegas will take on the Kings tomorrow, and aside from what could be a patchwork lineup in white and gold, eyes will be on their opponents, as Artemi Panarin makes his Los Angeles debut.
Updates On Tyler Myers Trade Market
Last night, in the NHL’s return to action after the Olympics, multiple reports indicated that the Vancouver Canucks will be healthy-scratching veteran defenseman Tyler Myers for trade-related purposes. Speculation began surrounding a few teams, but Myers can control his destiny given the no-movement clause in his contract. It was believed at the time of reporting that Myers would be okay with a few destinations.
According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Myers and his representation have targeted the Detroit Red Wings as his preferred landing spot. Dreger noted that the Dallas Stars, among others, remain interested and that Myers is willing to wait a few days to let the process play out. Regardless, Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic shared that Myers hasn’t been asked to waive his no-movement clause yet.
There’s no question that the Red Wings are looking to bolster their defensive core, particularly on the right side. Youngster Axel Sandin Pellikka has shown flashes of his elite potential, but it’s clear that Detroit, particularly head coach Todd McLellan, doesn’t yet trust the rookie in clutch situations. That being said, it would make sense for the Red Wings to acquire a veteran blueliner on the right side as they continue their push to the postseason.
Still, Detroit, or any team acquiring Myers, would arguably be acquiring him at a career lowpoint. The 17-year veteran has registered only one goal and eight points in 57 games for the Canucks this season with a -25 rating. While Myers has never been relied upon for his offensive prowess, that output projects as the lowest-scoring season of his career across a full season.
Additionally, even on the defensive side of the puck, he’s not playing particularly well. His 46.5% CorsiFor% at even strength is the lowest he’s managed since his time with the Buffalo Sabres, and his 88.3% on-ice SV% at even strength is the lowest of his career. If the idea is to replace Sandin Pellikka next to Ben Chiarot on the second defensive pairing, there’s no reason to believe that Myers would be a considerable improvement aside from a few items.
Sandin Pellikka is outscoring Myers by a considerable margin, has superior possession metrics, and has a similar on-ice SV%. Still, Myers is far more willing to sacrifice his body (blocked shots and hits) than Pellikka, and stands nearly a foot taller. If the Red Wings ultimately acquire Myers, they may believe he’ll perform better in an improved environment.
Regardless, since Myers hasn’t been asked to waive his no-movement clause, it’ll likely be a few days to see how it ultimately shakes out.
Canucks Scratching Tyler Myers For Trade-Related Reasons
Feb. 26th: Although early speculation linked Myers to the Edmonton Oilers, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reported that the Oilers are not one of the teams that are interested in acquiring Myers.
Feb. 25th: With the trade deadline now just a week and a half away, we will soon be seeing an uptick in players being held out of the lineup to avoid any injury risk before a potential trade. The Rangers did it with Artemi Panarin before the Olympic break and now the Canucks will be doing so with a veteran as well. Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that blueliner Tyler Myers will be scratched tonight against Winnipeg for trade-related reasons. This comes on the heels of a report from ESPN’s Kevin Weekes (Twitter link) that Vancouver is fielding plenty of calls on the veteran and that he could be on the move soon.
TSN’s Darren Dreger adds (Twitter link) that the Canucks went to Myers with this trade option a couple of days ago. With a full no-move clause, Myers has full control over his situation and he and his camp are still pondering the potential change of scenery. Clearly, even though a deal might not be imminent, the team isn’t taking any chances and is holding him out just in case.
The 36-year-old came into the NHL with plenty of fanfare in 2009 after being the 12th overall pick by Buffalo the year before. With Myers jumping into a top-pairing role right away, expectations were quite high that he could be a legitimate franchise defender.
While he hasn’t been able to live up to that hype and ultimately struggled in a prominent role over the years, Myers has still been a steady second-pairing defender for the better part of the last decade. He’s in the middle of his seventh season in Vancouver, one that has seen his offensive production basically dry up altogether as he has been limited to just a goal and seven assists in 57 games. However, he remains a key defensive defender for them and sits second on the team in blocked shots and third in shorthanded playing time.
Myers is in the second season of a three-year, $9MM contract that runs through the 2026-27 season. With a $3MM cap charge that is certainly affordable for the role he plays (he’s averaging over 20 minutes per game once again), that and the fact he’s not a rental player should certainly have Vancouver well-positioned to command a quality return, especially with a lack of quality right-shot options available.
A move shouldn’t necessarily be considered an automatic, however. Myers has made it known over the years that his desire has been to remain with the Canucks no matter what, which played a role in his below-market contract with them. Assuming the other suitor is a legitimate playoff contender, it will be interesting to see if the allure of making a push for a Stanley Cup is enough to make him agree to be moved.
Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.