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Blues Did Not Trade Pavel Buchnevich, Eyeing Extension

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The Blues did not trade star winger Pavel Buchnevich ahead of the 2 p.m. CT trade deadline, per Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic.

Buchnevich was undeniably one of the market’s top forwards, boasting 24 goals and 48 points in  61 games this season and 191 points in his 197 games since joining the Blues ahead of the 2021-22 season. St. Louis acquired him by sending Sammy Blais and a 2022 second-round pick to the Rangers. It was a cheap sale at the time but Buchnevich quickly made it look downright foolish, scoring a career-high 30 goals and 76 points in his 73 games during his first season with the Blues. His cerebral playmaking and quick shot proved dominant, and he made sure they stayed consistent as well – earning 26 goals and 67 points in 63 games last year. He was also a potent playoff performer, scoring 11 points in 12 games during the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Buchnevich was seemingly the dream of any team in need of a scoring winger, made even better with a modest $5.8MM cap hit through the end of next season. But with high production came a high asking price, with the Blues reportedly looking for as much as two first-round picks for their star winger. And St. Louis is okay standing pat, with general manager Doug Armstrong telling Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic that the team is now eyeing an extension in the off-season. Armstrong said, “He’s eligible for a contract extension on July 1. There’s no real rush for us to get us to get the cart ahead of that horse… He’s been a top player for us… So he’s a valuable piece of our team. In July, we can sit down with he and his representative and make sure he wants to be here and we can work something out.”

A Buchnevich extension likely comes at a high price, with the winger emerging as one of St. Louis’ stars over the last three seasons. But with Buchnevich soon to turn 29, any long-term extension will likely carry him through the majority of his remaining career. The Blues will walk the line between overpaying and overcommitting, as they look to secure a crucial piece of their top line.

Canucks Do Not Sign Phil Kessel

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March 8, 2:02 p.m.: The Canucks have not signed Phil Kessel by the trade deadline, Thomas Drance of The Athletic reports.

March 8, 8:48 a.m.: Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic relays that the signing is contingent on Vancouver opening up enough cap space before the deadline.  Otherwise, it won’t happen.  If they can do so, the agreement is expected to be for the prorated minimum salary of $775K.

March 7: The Canucks are expected to sign free-agent winger Phil Kessel through the remainder of the season before tomorrow’s trade deadline, Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports.

Kessel, 36, had been linked to the Canucks as far back as last summer. It became apparent last month that Vancouver would be his next NHL home after Canucks GM Patrik Allvin announced Kessel had traveled to the area and would be skating with their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford.

Vancouver must sign Kessel by 2 p.m. CT on Friday to make him eligible to play in the postseason. Players not on their team’s reserve list at the trade deadline are ineligible to play in the playoffs.

A three-time Stanley Cup winner, including just last season with the Golden Knights, Kessel still carries value as a depth winger with decent scoring ability. While he was a healthy scratch for most of Vegas’ playoff run, he appeared in all 82 regular-season games, continuing his league-record streak of 1,064 consecutive games played. That streak will remain active until he’s scratched for a regular-season contest while under contract.

Averaging a career-low 12:49 per game last season, Kessel scored 14 goals and added 22 assists for 36 points. However, his possession impacts were subpar for the third straight season – a 46.1 CF% at even strength and a -2.5 expected rating. His 1.82 shots per game were also a career low, although that’s to be expected with a reduction in ice time.

Kessel could see an even further reduced role in Vancouver, as he’s likely to unseat any of Teddy Blueger, Conor Garland or Dakota Joshua for a spot as a third-line winger. He’ll instead likely skate in a fourth-line role, slotting in above the likes of Phillip Di Giuseppe. However, it’s hard to imagine Kessel’s iron-man streak lasting much longer with Vancouver’s already strong scoring depth on the wing.

The 2007 Masterton Trophy winner will be a UFA again next summer.

Jets Acquire Colin Miller From Devils

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The Jets have shored up their defensive depth, acquiring blue-liner Colin Miller from the Devils for a mid-round pick, Darren Dreger of TSN reports.

Miller will now move to his fourth team in the last three seasons, spending last season with the Dallas Stars and this year with the Devils after three years in Buffalo. He’s carved out a hardy role everywhere he’s gone, with his strong puck-moving and heads-up defense lifting up his batterymates well. This has made him a great safety net for rookie defenders, with his most common linemate this season being top prospect Luke Hughes. The pair have recorded a 52.29 xGF% (expected goals-for percentage) per Evolving Hockey (subscription required), a mark that ranks third among New Jersey pairings to play in 150 minutes or more. Miller has managed to stay on the positive side of expected-goals despite managing just eight points, split evenly, in 41 games this season. While he’s never been known for his scoring acumen, this year has marked a notable step down from his standard rivaling of 20 points. His career year came in 2017-18, when Miller scored 10 goals and 41 points in 82 games on Vegas’ second pairing.

Now with Winnipeg, Miller will have to compete with Nate Schmidt and Dylan Samberg for the team’s final lineup spots. Both Schmidt and Samberg have outscored Miller this season, with 10 and 15 points respectively, but Miller’s two-way style could prove a healthy match for the Jets’ pass-heavy system. If he can’t force his way into the lineup, Miller will have to battle with Logan Stanley for the team’s seventh-defenseman role. Stanley has just one point, an assist, in 14 games this season.

Golden Knights Acquire Tomáš Hertl

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The Golden Knights and Sharks have agreed to a deal sending all-star center Tomáš Hertl, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2027 third-round pick from San Jose to Vegas in exchange for center prospect David Edstrom and a 2025 first-round pick, reports Darren Dreger of TSN. The Sharks are retaining 17% of Hertl’s contract, making his cap hit for the Golden Knights $6.75MM.

It’s a true shocker of a deal, given that the Sharks had given no previous indication of selling off their number-one center, who is under contract through 2030. Hertl, 30, had a no-move clause in his deal that he waived to accept a trade to Vegas. He’s on injured reserve after undergoing knee surgery last month but is expected back before the end of the regular season. Before the injury, Hertl had 15 goals, 19 assists and 34 points in 48 games, which led the Sharks in scoring at the time.

While Hertl will be an incredibly important on-ice factor for the Golden Knights in their effort to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, the financial aspects of this deal are also highly consequential. With captain Mark Stone on long-term injured reserve, as well as former starting goaltender Robin Lehner, the Golden Knights have been able to bring in three major targets in Hertl, top-four defenseman Noah Hanifin, and winger Anthony Mantha, albeit with salary retained on all of them by their former teams.

Hertl will be eligible for LTIR after the trade call goes through, but the Golden Knights must have cap space to add him to their active roster before doing so. As of now, they don’t have said space. Per CapFriendly, the team has $5.5MM in their LTIR pool – roughly $1.25MM short of what they need to acquire Hertl. To execute this trade, the Golden Knights will likely assign forwards Byron Froese and Mason Morelli to AHL Henderson briefly, bringing them down to 10 forwards and seven defensemen on the active roster. Their cap hits equate to $1.54MM. The trade will then go through, allowing them to remain cap-compliant while absorbing Hertl’s $6.75MM cap hit before placing him on LTIR, backdated to when he last played in late January, at which point they can bring Froese and Morelli back up. That won’t solve all of Vegas’ problems, though, as they’ll need to free up that space again to take Hertl off LTIR before the end of the regular season.

Hertl can play both center and left wing, although he’s likely to remain down the middle (or on the wing alongside William Karlsson) for the Golden Knights as they attempt to shore up their second line behind Jack Eichel. Chandler Stephenson is amidst a down season, posting 38 points in 59 games with uncharacteristically poor defensive impacts. Hertl is an underratedly competent two-way player, and he should help round out their offense enough to counteract Stephenson’s regression and allow him to drop to a third-line role.

The Prague-born center has remained a consistent two-way force even as the Sharks’ roster has crumbled around him, producing at least 0.70 points per game in every season since 2018. Remarkably, he’s managed a -2.5 expected rating on this year’s Sharks, the first time he’s posted a negative in that stat in his career. That rating was the second-highest among full-time Sharks skaters, save for Ryan Carpenter. He also had a 46.6 CF% at even strength, 4.9% higher than the Sharks’ overall CF% without Hertl on the ice.

Meanwhile, the Sharks have made the surprising choice to use up all three of their salary retention slots for the time being, preventing them from being third-party brokers for any draft-day deal. All three spots will also be occupied next season, as they’re still retaining salary on the contracts of Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson. Burns’ deal expires in 2025, but Karlsson’s lasts through 2027, so only one retention slot will open next summer.

They do land a nice prospect in Edstrom, although the return seems underwhelming considering the length of time they’ll be on the hook for a portion of Hertl’s salary – especially considering they conceded two third-round picks in the trade. Edstrom was the last pick of the first round of last year’s draft, and has posted 17 points in 42 games while on loan to Frölunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League. He projects as a relatively safe high-floor, low-ceiling third-line pivot. The Golden Knights signed him to an entry-level deal over the summer, and he’ll be an RFA in 2026.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie was first to report that Hertl was heading to Vegas.

ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was first to report that the Sharks were retaining a portion of Hertl’s salary.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Rangers Acquire Jack Roslovic

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The Rangers have bolstered their forward depth by acquiring Jack Roslovic from the Blue Jackets, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. A 2026 conditional fourth-round pick is heading to Columbus in return; it upgrades to a third-round pick if the Rangers reach the 2024 Stanley Cup Final and Roslovic plays in more than half of their games, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports. The Blue Jackets will be retaining 50 percent of Roslovic’s $4MM cap hit, per Vince Mercogliano with USA Today.

Roslovic will move to the third team of his eight-year career, after spending four years with both the Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets. He’s proven to be a gritty, middle-of-the-lineup centerman capable of putting up consistent scoring. He scored a career-high 22 goals and 45 points in 81 games during the 2021-22 season, following it up with 11 goals and 44 points last year. He’s maintained that scoring pace despite playing on a Blue Jackets roster that’s been marred with struggles all season long, with Roslovic scoring six goals and 23 points in 40 games this year – a pace of 47 points across 82 games.

Scoring isn’t the only consistent in Roslovic’s game, with the gritty forward continuing to make strong impacts on the defensive side of the puck and always carrying a faceoff percentage of around 45 percent. He will now look to carve out a role in New York, battling alongside newcomer Alexander Wennberg for the team’s third-line center role behind Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck. With Roslovic’s cap hit reduced to $2MM, the Rangers still have $2.1MM in cap space for the rest of the season – plenty of room for call-ups and bonus pay.

Capitals Will Not Trade Max Pacioretty

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The Capitals will not trade veteran winger Max Pacioretty will not be traded ahead of the 2 p.m. CT trade deadline, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports.

Pacioretty is in the midst of an impressive comeback season, returning from the second tearing of his right Achille’s tendon in less than a year. The injury weighed heavy on the veteran forward, who told the Associated Press that rehab limited his ability to live a normal life. But a return to the NHL was always the goal, with Pacioretty sharing,”It’s important for me to do this for myself but also for my family and my kids to kind of show them that we can get through this together… I know I have so much more hockey in the tank.”

He’s proven that statement to be true this season, returning to a consistent role in Washington’s top-nine and scoring 15 points in 26 games. That puts him on pace for 47 points across 82 games – a particularly impressive feat given this season also marked the 35-year-old’s first time playing consistent games with a new team since his four-year stretch with the Vegas Golden Knights. Pacioretty has totaled 881 games through his 16-year career and continuously overcome barriers, winning the Masterton Trophy in 2012 after returning from a broken neck. He’s a flashy, scoring-winger who has passed the 30-goal mark six different times in his career, and scored 60 or more points in five times. Much of his career came during a decade with the Montreal Canadiens, where his 448 points in 626 games ranks third among all Canadiens in scoring since 2000, behind Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Markov.

Pacioretty was a tantalizing trade candidate, given his past precedent of dominant scoring, but teams decided to stay away – despite his $2MM cap hit being one of the cheaper on the open market. His next chance to move will come this summer, when Pacioretty becomes an unrestricted free agent. While he considered retirement after his second major Achille’s tendon injury, his claim that he has plenty of hockey left in the tank could continue his pursuit of 1,000 NHL games into next season.

The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli shares that Pacioretty turned down multiple playoff-bound teams with his no-move clause, opting to instead stay close to his family and finish the year where he started – in Washington. The Capitals were happy to oblige.

Penguins Trade Magnus Hellberg To Panthers

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The Penguins and Panthers have swapped minor-league goalies, per an official announcement. Ludovic Waeber is heading to Pittsburgh along with a conditional 2025 seventh-round pick, while Magnus Hellberg is heading to Florida.

Waeber is in his first season in North America, joining the Florida organization as an undrafted free agent after seven years in Switzerland’s National League. He’s off to a slower start in America, posting six wins and a .887 save percentage in 15 appearances with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. It’s a far cry form the strong performances he managed in Switzerland, where he recorded a save percentage above .910 in each of the last three seasons, including a .920 in 30 games during the 2021-22 season. Across 115 career games in the National League, Waeber managed 54 wins and a .915 save percentage. He also added 27 wins and a .918 in 55 appearances in the Swiss League, Switzerland’s second-tier league.

While Waeber is certainly still getting adjusted to North American hockey, he had lost his role in Charlotte, with his only game in the last month coming with the ECHL’s Florida Everblades. Waeber lost that game, allowing five goals on 21 shots. That performance may have been the final sign for Florida, who now swap him with the more-established Magnus Hellberg. Hellberg, 32, made his pro debut in the 2012-13 season, when he managed an impressive 22 wins and .924 save percentage in 39 games. He’s since totaled 210 games in the AHL, tallying 95 wins and a .914. He has alo garnered plenty of NHL experience, playing in 26 games across six seasons – though his results were limited to a much more modest eight wins and .890 save percentage. Hellberg also took a five-year break form North America, playing in the KHL with the Kunlun Red Stars, SKA St. Petersburg, and HK Sochi. He managed 169 games and a .927 save percentage in Russia.

Waeber certainly offers interesting potential, after dominating Switzerland’s top leagues for so long. But Florida has opted for the safer route, bringing in a veteran pro that could prove to be invaluable depth as the Panthers eye a long playoff run.

Lightning Acquire Matt Dumba

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The Lightning are nearing a trade to acquire defenseman Matt Dumba from the Coyotes, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. There is no salary retention in the trade, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic, and the Lightning are receiving a 2025 seventh-round pick along with Dumba. Tampa Bay is sending a 2027 fifth-round pick to Arizona as compensation. The Arizona Coyotes have confirmed this trade package.

Dumba sat out of Arizona’s Thursday night game for trade-related reasons, alongside fellow veteran and long-time teammate Jason Zucker. Both players were dealt ahead of the Deadline, with Arizona reeling in a sixth and seventh round pick for the pair. Dumba was in his first season with the Coyotes, signing a one-year, $3.9MM contract with the team this summer. It was the first move of his 10-year career, with Dumba spending the last nine seasons in a prominent role with the Minnesota Wild. He quickly proved to be an effective offensive-defenseman, with 11 goals and 34 points in the 2016-17 season cementing his spot in Minnesota’s lineup. The Wild sent Alex Tuch to the Vegas Golden Knights in order to guarantee they wouldn’t select Dumba in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, and Dumba awarded them appropriately, recording a career-high 14 goals and 50 points in the subsequent 2017-18 season. He was continuing his high-scoring into the 2018-19 year, with 22 points in 33 games, but lost his season to an upper-body injury in December, kicking off a nagging injury bug that’s since followed Dumba’s career. He’s only played in 70 or more games once since the 2017-18 season – coming last year, when he scored 14 points in 79 games.

Dumba’s string of injuries also represented a severe dip in scoring, with the defenseman failing to score more than seven goals in any of the last six seasons. He should have ample opportunity to fix that in Tampa, with the Lightning’s defense in shambles after losing Mikhail Sergachev to injury. Tampa has been forced to ice Darren Raddysh and Nicklaus Perbix in top-pairing roles and while each player has managed modest scoring – with 21 and 20 points respectively – they ceratinly don’t bring the pedigree that Dumba’s amassed across his 656 career games. The newest Lightning defenseman could quickly earn a top-pairing role next to Victor Hedman, unless Tampa opts to play him down the lineup, with the hopes of making their blue-line depth more cohesive.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Linus Ullmark Blocked Deal To Kings With No-Trade Clause

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The Bruins reportedly had a trade in place sending 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark out of town before the deadline, but the deal was blocked by Ullmark’s 16-team no-trade list, Kevin Weekes of ESPN said on “The Point” on Friday. According to Weekes, the team was on Ullmark’s no-trade list due to “geography.” Per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Kings were the team close to acquiring Ullmark.

No reports have indicated what other pieces were involved in trade talks. Ullmark’s no-trade list decreases to only 15 teams next season, so it’s unlikely the Kings will be able to circle back on him before he becomes a free agent in 2025. If he was unwilling to waive a no-trade clause, it’s unlikely he’d accept an offer from them in free agency, either.

Ullmark is locked into a $5MM cap hit through next year, a bargain bin value considering his play since joining the Bruins in 2021. This year has been his worst campaign in Beantown, however. He has a 16-7-7 record, .909 SV%, 2.77 GAA, and one shutout through 30 starts and two relief appearances, more pedestrian numbers for a netminder who’s been well above average the past three years. His 5.4 goals saved above average is much closer to the level of play he displayed during his last few seasons with the Sabres – still starting-goalie caliber for most squads, but no longer on the Bruins, who have a budding star in Jeremy Swayman (.922 SV%, 21-6-8 record in 36 games).

The Swedish goalie broke out to record a league-high 40 wins, .938 SV%, 1.89 GAA, and 48.5 goals saved above average en route to a Jennings and Vezina Trophy win last year behind a record-breaking Bruins squad. His individual success had much to do with their overall record, posting one of the best seasons by any goalie in the post-lockout era.

The Kings are looking for stability in the crease, although a ragtag tandem of veterans David Rittich and Cam Talbot has performed well enough to keep them solidly in playoff contention despite some wild swings this year. Neither is signed past this season, however, and their pipeline is thin outside of top AHL rookie Erik Portillo.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Tony DeAngelo, Seven Others Placed On Waivers

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March 8: Katchouk is heading from the Blackhawks to the Senators, Lagesson is going from the Maple Leafs to the Ducks, and Björnfot is going from the Golden Knights to the Panthers. The five other players on waivers yesterday cleared.

March 7: Eight players, including Hurricanes defenseman Tony DeAngelo, were placed on waivers Thursday, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The full list is as follows:

Calgary Flames
D Jordan Oesterle

Carolina Hurricanes
D Tony DeAngelo
F Brendan Lemieux
G Antti Raanta

Chicago Blackhawks
F Boris Katchouk

Florida Panthers
G Evan Cormier

Toronto Maple Leafs
D William Lagesson

Vegas Golden Knights
D Tobias Björnfot

Of note, players who are assigned to the minors after clearing waivers tomorrow will be eligible to play in the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs. Players must be on loan to the AHL at the time of the trade deadline to be cleared to play in postseason action.

The Hurricanes’ trio of waived players is purely for roster flexibility ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic says. It’s unclear if any of the three players will be assigned to AHL clubs if they pass through unclaimed. The Hurricanes are the only NHL team without a dedicated AHL affiliate.

Raanta, a pending UFA with a $1.5MM cap hit, has a decent chance at being claimed by a team looking to add a backup netminder for free by tomorrow afternoon. That could very well include the Flyers, who have struggled to find consistency in the crease outside of breakout starter Samuel Ersson. Raanta has struggled this season with a .872 SV% and 2.99 GAA behind a stout Hurricanes defense, but he’s now posted a SV% above .900 in each of his last three appearances and could be on the upswing at just the right time. With Frederik Andersen returning to health after a months-long absence and both Pyotr Kochetkov and Spencer Martin playing well, Raanta appears unlikely to be back with Carolina this season regardless of whether he gets claimed.

Oesterle will likely head to the minors after being pushed down the Flames’ defensive depth chart. The club has brought in Joel Hanley off waivers and Daniil Miromanov via trade from the Golden Knights this week, eliminating the need for Oesterle as a depth option on the roster for now. The 31-year-old has two assists and a -6 rating in 22 games.

Assigning Katchouk to AHL Rockford will allow Chicago to clear a necessary roster spot ahead of Saturday’s game against the Capitals. Both Andreas Athanasiou and Nikita Zaitsev are expected to play, per Mark Lazerus of The Athletic, and will need to come off injured reserve to do so. The Blackhawks only have one open roster spot, so one more needed to be cleared.

Cormier was not signed to an NHL contract, so the Panthers inked him to a one-year, two-way deal ($775K NHL/$75K AHL) for the remainder of the season before waiving him, per PuckPedia. The 26-year-old has a .868 SV% and 1-2-2 record in five games for AHL Charlotte this season and a .910 SV% and 8-5-3 record in 18 games for ECHL Florida. By signing him to an NHL contract, he’ll be eligible to be on the Panthers’ roster in the postseason as added goaltending insurance if necessary.

Toronto’s waiving of Lagesson was reported earlier Thursday. He’s been designated non-roster while on the waiver wire, creating the necessary roster space for Joel Edmundson, who was acquired from the Capitals today. He’s dressed in 30 games for the Leafs, notching four assists and a +5 rating while averaging 14:31 per game.

Meanwhile, Björnfot, a 2019 first-round pick of the Kings, lands on waivers for the second time this season. Vegas claimed him off waivers from Los Angeles in January, but he played in just two games for them while battling injuries, posting a -2 rating while averaging 14:01 per game. Assigning him to AHL Henderson would create an open roster spot ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline, allowing the Golden Knights to make a potential third acquisition after bringing in Noah Hanifin and Anthony Mantha.

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