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Predators Sign Dante Fabbro, Two Others To Extensions

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Predators GM Barry Trotz has announced the signings of defenseman Dante Fabbro and forward Mark Jankowski to one-year and two-year extensions, respectively (via Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet). Fabbro’s deal sees him earn $2.5MM next season, per a team release, and is paid entirely in base salary. Jankowski’s deal will pay him $775K in 2024-25 and $825K in 2025-26, per the team, translating to an $800K cap hit. Additionally, the team has signed undrafted free agent goaltender Gustavs Grigals to a one-year, two-way deal for the remainder of the season, worth $775K at the NHL level.

Fabbro and Jankowski will be UFAs at the end of their respective deals. Nashville was set for a potential arbitration hearing with Fabbro if he did not re-sign before the summer, while Jankowski was a pending UFA upon completion of the one-year, $775K extension he signed nearly a year ago.

The Predators drafted Fabbro, 25, with the 17th overall pick in 2016. He turned pro at the end of the 2018-19 campaign and has since appeared in 304 games for the Preds, recording 71 points and a +11 rating while averaging 18:10 per game. He’s slipped to a more limited role this year, averaging only 16:34, but he’s been effective in that sheltered even-strength role with 12 points, a +11 rating, and career-best possession numbers in 51 games.

Oddly enough, that career-best-showing hasn’t earned him the full trust of head coach Andrew Brunette. Fabbro was a healthy scratch for Nashville’s season opener and has been on 12 other occasions this season as part of a rotation with Tyson Barrie, Alexandre Carrier, Jeremy Lauzon, and Luke Schenn for depth minutes.

Jankowski, 29, has spent the last two seasons in the Predators organization. The 2012 first-round pick stayed mostly in the NHL in 2022-23, recording seven goals and 12 points in 50 games, but has spent most of this year on assignment to AHL Milwaukee. He’s been a top performer there, notching 47 points and a +29 rating in 40 games, which has earned him some more NHL ice as of late. Aside from a few paper transactions, he’s stayed on the roster since Feb. 12 and has two goals and an assist in 14 NHL contests.

A one-way deal indicates the Predators envision Jankowski on next season’s opening night roster, but if he doesn’t make the cut, he’d have to clear waivers. The Hamilton, Ontario, native has also spent time with the Flames, Penguins and Sabres over his eight-year, 336-game NHL career.

By inking Grigals to an NHL contract, the Predators add a potential Black Ace for the postseason and give themselves the option to retain his exclusive signing rights with a qualifying offer this summer. The 25-year-old Latvian has spent most of the season with their ECHL affiliate, the Atlanta Gladiators, where he has a 3.68 GAA, .898 SV%, 7-15-0 record, and one shutout in 26 games. He fared poorly in his lone AHL showing with Milwaukee on New Year’s Eve, posting a .846 SV% in a 4-3 loss to the Rockford IceHogs. He’s in his first professional season after four seasons with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and a graduate transfer season with UMass-Lowell last year.

Bruins Sign Joey Abate To Two-Way Deal

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The Bruins have signed forward Joey Abate to a one-year, two-way contract for the remainder of the season, a team release states. Abate’s deal carries a cap hit and NHL salary of $775K, however, the team did not disclose his minor-league pay.

Abate lands his first NHL deal after signing on with the AHL’s Providence Bruins in 2022. At least one other team had interest in signing Abate in recent days, New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver reports.

A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Omaha program, Abate has settled into a bottom-six bruiser role on the Bruins’ farm. Since joining Providence last season, Abate has five goals, 16 points, and 166 PIMs with a -11 rating in 75 games. He’s provided a more fair amount of secondary scoring this year, posting two goals and 10 points in 40 games, although it’s still not enough to suggest the 25-year-old winger will be anything more than a fourth-line enforcer in the NHL.

The Bloomington, Illinois, native will be an RFA this summer. He’ll also have arbitration rights because he’s logged at least one season of professional experience and signed his first contract after the age of 24.

Sabres Send Devin Cooley To Sharks For Draft Pick

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The Buffalo Sabres have acquired a 2025 seventh-round draft pick from the San Jose Sharks in return for goaltender Devin Cooley.

Cooley, 26, has been a career minor-leaguer, totaling 66 appearances in the AHL since making his professional debut in the 2020-21 season. That includes the 14 games he’s appeared in with the Rochester Americans this season, where he’s managed six wings and a .891 save percentage. That brings Cooley’s career totals in the AHL up to 32 wins and a .900 save percentage. He has also posted 14 wins and a .916 in 25 ECHL games.

San Jose’s last-minute acquisition of Cooley corresponds with their swapping of Kaapo Kahkonen and Vitek Vanecek. Devils team reporter James Nichols reported that Vanecek could miss the rest of the season with a lower-body injury, some bad news for a Sharks team already down Mackenzie Blackwood to a groin injury. That means the San Jose Sharks will have to ice Magnus Chrona and Cooley as their top two options. Interestingly, the pair of rookie NHL goalies have experience playing together – with a senior-year Cooley backing up a freshman-year Chrona at the University of Denver in the 2019-20 season. The pair combined for 20 wins, before Cooley moved to the pros in 2020-21. Chrona is now in his first pro season, boasting an .830 save percentage in his first four NHL games and a .892 in his first 24 AHL games.

Sharks Trade Kaapo Kahkonen To Devils

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The San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils have completed a goalie swap, sending Kaapo Kahkonen to New Jersey and Vitek Vanecek to San Jose, per ESPN’s Kevin Weekes. The Sharks will also be receiving a 2025 seventh-round pick.

While he’s seen his rights traded, Vanecek may need to wait to make his debut with the Sharks, with Devils team reporter James Nichols reporting that he could miss the remainder of the season with injury. The Devils placed Vanecek on injured reserve with a lower-body injury on February 20th, though his last appearance was on February 10th. He’s since missed New Jersey’s last 13 games.

This could place the Sharks in a unique situation, now without their de facto starter in Kahkonen and Mackenzie Blackwood, who has landed on injured reserve with a groin injury. That leaves the Sharks with Magnus Chrona – a 23-year-old in his first professional season – as their top option. Chrona has played in four NHL games already this season, allowing 17 goals on 100 shots and yet to record his first win. Chrona has moved to the pros after spending the last four years at the University of Denver. He’s accomplished the impressive feat of playing in the ECHL, AHL, and NHL all in one season, ultimately recording five wings and saving 821 of the 922 shots he’s faced, good for a .890 save percentage between the three leagues.

Chrona will likely be backed up by Devin Cooley, who the Sharks acquired from the Buffalo Sabres right at the trade deadline, sending a 2025 seventh-round pick the other way. Cooley, 26, carries more pro experience than Chrona, having played in the minor leagues since the 2020-21 season, but he has yet to make his NHL debut. He’s spent the entirety of the 2023-24 season in the AHL, recording six win and a .891 save percentage in 14 games. Cooley is also an alum of the University of Denver, serving as Chrona’s backup in the 2019-20 season.

While San Jose’s situation is certainly more dire, the Devils will also be faced with a brand new goaltending duo, with Kahkonen likely slotting into the starting role ahead of fellow newcomer Jake Allen. New Jersey sent a third-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for the veteran Allen. Kahkonen has faced a barrage of shots in San Jose, posting six wins and a .895 save percentage in 31 games, while facing an average of 32 shots. Allen’s stat-line has been similar this season, posting six wins of his own and a .891 save percentage in 21 games. He’s seeing a slight decline in his effectiveness, posting an .891 save percentage last season  – the first time he’s posted a save percentage below .900 in his 12-year career. Together, Kahkonen and Allen will look to lift New Jersey back into a playoff spot, after ineffective goaltending and a bad case of injuries pushed the team down the standings.

Flames Sign Kevin Rooney To Extension

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The Flames have inked pending UFA center Kevin Rooney to a one-year, $1.3MM extension, per a team announcement.

Rooney didn’t make his season debut until February 6th, missing the first four months of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery. He’s since slotted into Calgary’s fourth-line center role, recording one point in 13 games – though he hasn’t scored in 11 games – while averaging over 10-and-a-half minutes of ice time each game. Rooney also played in four AHL games during a conditioning stint, scoring one goal. It’s his first year back in a full-time NHL role after spending much of last season in the minors, playing in 51 AHL games and scoring 17 points. It was his first extended stint in the AHL since the 2018-19 season.

Rooney has totaled 240 career games in the NHL, scoring 25 goals and 47 points. He joined the Flames in free agency ahead of the 2022-23 season, signing a two-year, $2.6MM contract. His new deal keeps his cap hit the same, extending him through the end of next year. While the extension shows Calgary’s affinity for Rooney, he’ll still need to find an extra edge if he wants to maintain his lineup spot when Connor Zary and A.J. Greer return from injury, and Martin Pospisil returns from a suspension.

Flames Acquire Nikita Okhotiuk From Sharks

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The Flames have acquired left-shot defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk from the Sharks as the deadline passes, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff confirms. A 2024 fifth-round pick is heading to San Jose in return, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Okhotiuk has appeared in 43 NHL games this season, scoring one goal and eight points and adding 44 penalty minutes and a -22. It’s his official rookie season in the league, though he played in 15 games with the New Jersey Devils across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. He’s totaled three goals and 11 points across his three-year career, also adding x points in 116 AHL games since debuting in 2020-21. The 23-year old was originally drafted in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft, turning pro after three seasons with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s.

Okhotiuk is yet another new face to a Calgary blue-line that’s recently added Joel Hanley, Daniil Miromanov, and Brayden Pachal. Together, the quartet will fill the holes left by Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin, both traded by the Flames ahead of the Trade Deadline. Hanley has earned top-line minutes in the fallout of Calgary’s moves, playing in nearly 18 minutes in his first game with the Flames. The four new defenders will compete with each other for consistent spots in the lineup, though one will likely have to serve as Calgary’s seventh defenseman, unless the team opts to keep Dennis Gilbert in that role.

Maple Leafs Acquire Connor Dewar

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The Maple Leafs have acquired depth forward Connor Dewar from the Wild, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. The Wild are receiving a 2026 fourth-round pick in return, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Forward prospect Dmitry Ovchinnikov is also headed to Minnesota in the deal, per an official announcement from the Wild.

Dewar has settled into a comfortable fourth-line role since making his debut in the 2021-22 season, finding an extra layer to his game this year with a career-high 10 goals, though he’s still four points shy of the 18 points he managed in 81 games last season. Last year marked the first time that Dewar spent all season in the NHL, a trend he’s continuing this year, after scoring 59 points in 105 AHL games between 2019 and 2022. Dewar was a third-round draft pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, playing in the sixth-most NHL games of any player selected after that year’s first round. While his impact isn’t too grandiose, Dewar has shown flashes of strong puckhandling and good fundamentals, helping him fit into the needs of whatever the coach’s system may be.

Minnesota swaps a depth forward for a depth prospect, bringing in Ovchinikov, who is in his first full season in the AHL after splitting the last two years between the AHL and KHL. He’s scored seven goals and 10 points in 20 games this season, adding four penatly minutes and a -1. It’s the second-most that Ovchinikov has scored at a professional level, behind the five goals and 13 points he managed in 68 KHL games last season. Ovchinikov is a slick-moving forward with good puck skills, though his game has lacked direction and poise. He will need to boost his drive to the net, and ability to work with his teammates, if he wants to climb his way up Minnesota’s depth charts.

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.

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