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Avalanche Sign Jeremy Hanzel To Entry-Level Contract

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The Avalanche inked defense prospect Jeremy Hanzel to a three-year, entry-level contract on Thursday, per a team announcement. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Colorado selected Hanzel, 21, in the sixth round of last year’s draft. The Coquitlam, British Columbia, native is in his fourth and final season of major junior hockey with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, where he’s on pace for career highs with 13 goals and 50 points in 58 games.

A strong outlet passer, Hanzel is a left-shot blue-liner who stands at 6-foot-1 and 196 lbs. Initially eligible for selection in the 2021 NHL Draft, he was passed over twice before heading to the Avs last summer. He was a league-leading +70 on a Thunderbirds team that won the WHL championship last season en route to a Memorial Cup appearance.

Given his age, Hanzel’s ELC is not eligible to slide. The contract will begin next season, when he’ll likely be assigned to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, and runs through 2026-27. He’ll be a restricted free agent upon expiry.

Canadiens, Ducks Swap Jan Mysak For Jacob Perreault

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The Canadiens and Ducks have exchanged forward prospects Jan Mysak and Jacob Perreault, both teams announced. It’s a one-for-one swap of U-22 prospects whose development has stalled with their respective minor-league clubs.

Perreault, 21, is a Montreal native and was a first-round pick of the Ducks in 2020 after scoring 39 goals and 70 points in 59 games with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting. Concerningly, his production has declined after a strong rookie season with AHL San Diego in 2020-21 (17 points in 27 games), and he’s tallied seven goals and 18 points in 31 games this season with a -3 rating. He made his NHL debut in January 2022 but has not seen major league action since.

The son of former Canadien Yanic Perreault and the older brother of Rangers prospect Gabe Perreault, Jacob is a natural right-winger. He still has one season remaining on his entry-level contract with a cap hit of $863.3K, so he won’t be a restricted free agent until the summer of 2025.

Unlike Perreault, Mysak can shift to center. The 21-year-old Czech forward was a second-round pick by Montreal in 2020 and had the rare experience of immediately playing pro hockey. Despite being drafted out of a Canadian junior league, he was permitted to suit up for the AHL’s Laval Rocket in 2020-21 because the OHL had paused game action due to COVID. There, he notched two goals in 22 games before returning to the OHL the following year, where he tallied 34 goals and 64 points in 61 games with the Hamilton Bulldogs en route to a Memorial Cup appearance. He’s on an opposite trajectory to Perreault – slowly heating up in the minors with 20 points in 48 games for AHL Laval this year after recording just nine in 40 games last season.

Mysak is also in the second season of his entry-level deal and will be an RFA in 2025. His cap hit is slightly lower at $828.3K, but as both players are assigned to the minors at the time of the trade, the swap has no salary cap impact for either team.

Blackhawks Trade Anthony Beauvillier To Predators

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Forward Anthony Beauvillier is on the move for the second time this season, heading from the Blackhawks to the Predators, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports that Nashville is sending Chicago a 2024 fifth-round pick in return.

The Blackhawks brought in Beauvillier in November, parting with a fifth-round pick of their own to acquire him from the Canucks. The 26-year-old is in the final season of a three-year, $12.45MM contract with a $4.15MM cap hit. There’s been no indication that Chicago is retaining part of Beauvillier’s salary.

Beauvillier’s had a short but difficult tenure in Chicago, missing most of the last two months with a wrist injury. He potted six points in 23 games while averaging 14:22 per game, a slight uptick from the 13:39 per game he saw through the first 22 games of the season with Vancouver.

The one-time 20-goal scorer is now on his fourth team in the past two seasons after heading from the Islanders to the Canucks at last year’s deadline in the Bo Horvat trade. He looked decent in a middle-six role with Vancouver after the trade, posting 20 points in 33 games, but struggled to carry over his momentum and had only two goals and eight points in 22 games to begin this season.

In Nashville, Beauvillier reunites with former Isles head coach Barry Trotz, now the Preds’ GM. He’s a more experienced option for Nashville to insert in their middle six down the stretch and carries much more offensive upside than current third-line left wing Mark Jankowski, whom he could replace in the lineup alongside Luke Evangelista and the newly-extended Thomas Novak for a more formidable depth scoring line.

Chicago’s four months of Beauvillier’s services end up being a wash, parting with the acquisition cost in today’s trade. The Predators had a massive $37.2MM figure in deadline cap space, so taking on the entirety of Beauvillier’s cap hit is no issue, considering he’ll hit the UFA market this summer if not re-signed by Nashville.

Blues Sign Oskar Sundqvist To Two-Year Extension

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Per a team release, the Blues have signed pending UFA forward Oskar Sundqvist to a two-year contract extension. The deal is worth $3MM and has a $1.5MM AAV and cap hit.

Sundqvist, 29, returned to the Blues for his second stint with the club last summer on a one-year, league-minimum contract. He’s punched well above his weight class compared to his $775K salary, recording 21 points in 62 games in a shutdown role while averaging 13:29 per game.

A two-time Stanley Cup champion, Sundqvist was a solid middle-six center for the Blues when they lifted the trophy in 2019. 304 of his 417 NHL games have come in a St. Louis sweater, initially coming to the Blues in a 2017 trade from the Penguins.

While he’s provided solid secondary scoring for his bottom-six role, he’s not as effective as a shutdown center as his usage suggests. His 39.7 CF% at even strength is the worst among full-time Blues forwards this season, and he’s never been above 50 in a full season. He has a 40.4 xGF% this year, and while he remains a decent penalty killer, he hasn’t been able to translate that into shot quality suppression at even strength.

Per CapFriendly, the Blues now have $14.6MM in projected cap space next season with a roster size of 18, on pace to relieve themselves of this season’s cap crunch. Sundqvist will be a UFA when his new deal expires in 2026.

Panthers Extend Gustav Forsling, Jonah Gadjovich

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The Panthers have signed pending UFA defenseman Gustav Forsling to an eight-year extension, GM Bill Zito announced Thursday (via Steve Goldstein of Bally Sports Florida). Winger Jonah Gadjovich has also signed a two-year extension, Zito said (via Colby Guy of the Associated Press). Forsling’s contract carries a $5.75MM AAV ($46MM total value), per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. Gadjovich’s extension is a one-way deal with the league minimum $775K salary in both seasons, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

Per PuckPedia, Forsling’s deal has a no-move clause beginning next season through 2029-30 and a 16-team no-trade clause from 2030-31 to 2031-32. His contract is also paid out primarily in signing bonuses, earning only $1MM in base salary each season.

It’s a monumental extension for Forsling and the Panthers, who each gain important clarity into their long-term futures. Forsling, now under contract through 2032, was one of four pending UFA blue-liners on the Panthers’ roster. Top-four fixture Brandon Montour and last summer’s one-year pickups Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Niko Mikkola remain unsigned past this season.

Forsling has had quite the rise to fame in Sunrise. The 27-year-old was claimed off waivers from the Hurricanes at the beginning of the 2021 season after spending all of 2019-20 in the minors and quickly grew into a top-four role on a strong Panthers squad that received an unfortunate First Round matchup against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Lightning. Last season, Forsling scored a career-high 13 goals, 41 points, and a 23:26 ATOI while playing in all 82 games.

He elevated his game further in the postseason, recording eight points and a +7 rating while logging a remarkable 26:01 per game in Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup Final. He also carried the torch as the Panthers’ number-one blue-liner to begin 2023-24 with both Montour and Aaron Ekblad out with shoulder injuries, and he’s responded with one of his best two-way campaigns yet with 31 points, a league-leading +43 rating, and a 56.1 xGF%, per Hockey Reference.

A fifth-round pick of the Canucks in 2014, Forsling’s signing rights were traded to the Blackhawks the following year in exchange for minor-league defenseman Adam Clendening. He eventually inked his entry-level contract with Chicago in 2016 and immediately joined the organization, splitting all of his three seasons there between the NHL and AHL as he failed to make much of an impact in a depth role. He was then dealt to Carolina in 2019 before being claimed off waivers by Florida.

The differences in his impact between Chicago and Florida are jaw-dropping. In 122 games with the Blackhawks between 2016 and 2019, Forsling posted 27 points, a -8 rating, and a 44.8 xGF% at even strength while averaging 17:04 per game. In his three-and-a-half years in Florida, he’s recorded 126 points, a +120 rating, and a 55.3 xGF% in 258 games, averaging 21:51 per game.

Florida now has a top-pairing caliber player locked up well below market value, at least for the first few seasons of his deal. Forsling was among the top UFA defensemen available this summer.

Gadjovich is in his first season in South Florida after inking a one-year, $810K deal in free agency shortly after the 2023-24 season began. He’s spent most of the season in the majors after an AHL stint in October and November, posting four points and 90 PIMs in 33 games. A strictly fourth-line enforcer with poor possession impacts and little offensive upside at the NHL level, he’ll complement Florida’s bottom-of-the-lineup skaters in a tough-guy role until reaching UFA status again in 2026.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Maple Leafs Acquire Joel Edmundson From Capitals

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The Capitals and Maple Leafs have agreed on a trade to send left-shot defenseman Joel Edmundson from Washington to Toronto, per a team release. Two draft picks – the Islanders’ 2024 third-round pick and the Blackhawks’ 2025 fifth-round pick – are heading back to Washington in the deal. The Capitals are retaining 50% of Edmundson’s already-reduced $1.75MM cap hit, bringing his cap hit down to $875K for the Maple Leafs. In a corresponding transaction to create the cap space needed for the trade, the Maple Leafs moved defenseman Conor Timmins from injured reserve to long-term injured reserve, per CapFriendly.

Edmundson, 30, has slipped to a depth role this season and is a pending UFA. After picking up Ethan Bear on the free-agent market midseason led to a defensive logjam in Washington, Edmundson looked to be on his way out after failing to solidify top-four minutes in his first season with the Caps.

The Maple Leafs have been in the market for blue-line depth for weeks, and they weren’t done after acquiring Ilya Lyubushkin from the Ducks last week for his second stint with the team. For the past few days, they’ve been linked to Edmundson, who can play both left and right defense and stands at a hulking 6-foot-5 and 224 pounds.

Edmundson’s production and possession metrics don’t move the needle much. Still, he does carry a massive advantage in playoff experience over other Leafs blue-liners who have been in their bottom-pairing rotation as of late, like Maxime Lajoie and William Lagesson. He’s sitting on a goal and six points in 44 games this season, and the Manitoba native’s 16:26 average time on ice is the lowest in quite a while. His possession metrics don’t paint him as an extreme liability after a disastrous 2022-23 campaign with the Canadiens, posting a 1.2 relative CF% at even strength and 47.4 xGF% (per Hockey Reference). There were some better shutdown options on the market, though.

Over 521 career games with the Blues, Canadiens, Capitals, and Hurricanes, Edmundson has 29 goals, 81 assists, 110 points, and a +18 rating, averaging 18:30 per game. After winning the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019 and spending the following season in Carolina, he signed a four-year, $14MM contract ($3.5MM cap hit) with Montreal that expires this summer. The Caps acquired him for a third-round and seventh-round pick last offseason, with Montreal retaining 50% of his cap hit. Since Edmundson’s contract had already been involved in a prior retained salary transaction, the Caps and Leafs could not have used a third party to retain additional salary in this trade.

He’s not afraid to use his body, blocking 822 shots and recording 979 hits throughout his nine-year career. However, that hasn’t translated into positive possession quality for Edmundson’s team with him on the ice. He’s recorded an xGF% above 50 twice in his career, not since 2021, when he reached the Stanley Cup Final with Montreal. Last season was an especially difficult campaign for him, recording 23 points in 61 games with a career-worst -29 rating and a 42.9 xGF%.

Edmundson now moves from one team with a defensive logjam to another. Lyubushkin has settled in nicely on a pairing with Morgan Rielly since his acquisition, meaning Edmundson, Timmins, Simon Benoit, Mark Giordano, and Timothy Liljegren will now all compete for the fifth and sixth spots on the Toronto blue line when everyone is healthy.

The Maple Leafs don’t have an open roster spot for Edmundson yet, although CapFriendly reports Lagesson has been removed from the active roster and will likely hit waivers at 1 p.m. CT.

Former NHL and AHL defenseman Jordan Schmaltz was first to report that Edmundson had been traded to Toronto.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was first to report that the Capitals were retaining 50% of his cap hit.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the return.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Trade Notes: Edmundson, Byram, Rangers, Panthers

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Washington Capitals defenseman Joel Edmundson is once again preparing for a trade, with TSN’s Darren Dreger reporting that multiple teams are interested in the 30-year-old. Dreger shares that the Boston Bruins likely lead the pack right now, though the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are also interested.

Edmundson has been traded three times since 2019, though he’s never been moved in-season before. The Capitals brought in Edmundson on July 1st, sending the Montreal Canadiens a third and seventh round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Washington marked the fourth team of Edmundson’s career. He’s served in a modest role for the club, scoring six points in 44 games and averaging just 16-and-a-half minutes of ice time – though he’s played as much as 22 minutes a night when Washington needs him.

The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun pointed out that Edmundson could carry a cap hit as little as $875K, if Washington retains half of his salary. That’s a cheap price to pay for a defenseman with over 500 NHL games and one Stanley Cup under his belt. Edmundson is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, likely making him a depth rental for a playoff contender.

Other trade notes from around the league:

  • Bowen Byram will join the Buffalo Sabres in Nashville for their Thursday night game against the Predators, per Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. Head coach Don Granato also shared that Byram will be paired with star defender Rasmus Dahlin when he’s ready to play. Byram missed the Colorado Avalanche’s last game with an illness, something that could limit him on Thursday as well, though Lysowski reports that Byram is feeling better. The Sabres brought in the 22-year-old defenseman in a one-for-one trade with Colorado, sending Casey Mittelstadt the other way. Byram has 20 points in 55 games this season, playing in nearly 20 minutes a night for the Avalanche.
  • Alexander Wennberg was just the start of the New York Rangers’ deadline moves, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. The Rangers still have their first-round picks in both the 2024 and 2025 drafts, as well as $2.91MM in cap space, per CapFriendly. That’s likely more than enough to land them some of the market’s top names. While the Rangers haven’t been tied to any specific names, they draw a clear connection with interdivision-rival Jake Guentzel and former Ranger Pavel Buchnevich. Both players are garnering plenty of interest ahead of the deadline, each offering dominant, point-per-game scoring on the wing. With the assets and cap space to make most moves work, it will be interesting to see if the Rangers once again shoot for the stars.
  • Seravalli also reported that the Florida Panthers were still searching for a scoring winger, mentioning Max Pacioretty as a potential option. The Panthers were also tied to Guentzel by Pierre LeBrun. Florida just acquired Vladimir Tarasenko from the Ottawa Senators, giving them five forwards in their top-six with at least 40 points this season. They also have Evan Rodrigues and Sam Bennett sporting 36 and 30 points respectively. Adding yet another scoring winger to the mix would give Florida high-production through their third-line, something they may deem necessary to get over teams like Vegas or Carolina. Pacioretty, who has 15 points in 25 games since returning from an Achille’s Tendon injury, would likely be one of the cheapest options on the market and carries a modest $2MM cap hit that would fit into Florida’s books.

Flames Sign Daniil Miromanov To Two-Year Extension

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The Calgary Flames have signed their newest member, Daniil Miromanov, to a two-year, $2.5MM contract extension, per Miromanov’s agent Dan Milstein. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun shares that the new deal will carry an annual cap hit of $1.25MM. Calgary acquired Miromanov alongside a first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick in the Wednesday evening trade that sent Noah Hanifin to the Vegas Golden Knights. He was set to become a restricted free agent this summer, finishing off a two-year, $1.525MM deal signed with Vegas in June of 2022.

Miromanov joined the Golden Knights organization in March of 2021, signing as an undrafted free agent at the end of the KHL season. He recorded two assists across 11 AHL games to close out the year, including the playoffs. The 2021-22 season would more formally kick off Miromanov’s career, and the excitement around him, after the defenseman managed 11 goals and 40 points in 53 AHL games and recorded his first 11 NHL games in spot starts throughout the season. He’s since continued to split time between the AHL and NHL, proving plenty productive in the minor leagues but struggling to carry that scoring to Vegas. Miromanov has 72 points in 84 career AHL games, but just seven points in 29 career NHL games.

An undisclosed injury earned Miromanov a place on Vegas’ season-opening injured reserve. He was activated to play on February 4th and has since played in five AHL games and four NHL games.

The Calgary Flames are clearly excited about Miromanov’s long-term outlook, signing the 26-year-old to a seven-figure extension before he played 30 games in the league. The Flames’ defense has been completely dismantled this season, with the team trading Hanifin, Nikita Zadorov, and Chris Tanev and losing Nick DeSimone on waivers. This has created plenty of opportunity for new defenders to carve out a big role, with Miromanov likely set to compete with former Golden Knights teammate Brayden Pachal for the right-hand spot on Calgary’s third pairing. Calgary currently carries eight defensemen, including recent waiver claim Joel Hanley and healthy scratch Dennis Gilbert.

Golden Knights Acquire Noah Hanifin From Flames

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9:23 p.m.: The Vegas Golden Knights have announced the full trade package – sending a 2025 first-round pick, a conditional 2025 third-round pick, and defenseman Daniil Miromanov to the Flames. The first-round pick carries top-10 protection, while the third-round pick will upgrade to a 2024 second-round pick if Vegas advances to the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Vegas also sent a 2024 fifth-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers to broker the deal. Calgary retained 25 percent of Hanifin’s $4.95MM cap hit, while Philadelphia retained 50 percent, meaning he’ll only count towards $1.2375MM of Vegas’ salary cap. Philadelphia sent the rights to 27-year-old centerman Mikhail Vorobyov to Vegas to facilitate the salary retention.

Vorobyov played in 35 NHL games across the 2018-19 and 2019-20 season, scoring two goals and five points. He’s spent each of the last four seasons in Russia’s KHL, including the last three with routine heavyweight SKA St. Petersburg. Vorobyov has 112 points across 194 KHL games since the 2020-21 season.

5:28 p.m.: Even after acquiring Anthony Mantha from the Washington Capitals yesterday, the Vegas Golden Knights were not done adding to their current roster. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed that the Golden Knights would be acquiring defenseman Noah Hanifin from the Calgary Flames. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that defenseman Daniil Miromanov is heading from Vegas to Calgary as part of the return.

Not only will Vegas be adding a top defenseman to their already loaded defensive core, but Darren Dreger of TSN reports the two sides are working on a contract extension as well, although Friedman did pour some cold water on that scenario later. Since Hanifin will be a member of the Golden Knights before the trade deadline, he is eligible to sign an eight-year deal in Vegas.

With Alec Martinez being placed on the team’s injured reserve earlier this morning, Vegas had an opening next to top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. Factoring in the recent activation of Shea Theodore, the Golden Knights have once again put together a top defensive core leading into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

As the defending Stanley Cup champions, Vegas will likely represent Hanifin’s best opportunity to win Lord Stanley’s trophy for the first time in his career. There are some personal ties as well for Hanifin in Nevada, as he did play with star center Jack Eichel a decade ago on the United States National Junior Development Team.

Suppose the Flames are willing to retain 50% of Hanifin’s salary. In that case, a deal became feasible, as Vegas was only $500k from being able to absorb Hanifin’s full salary for the rest of the season. Still holding on to their first-round pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, and a moderate prospect pool to deal from, the makings of a deal came to fruition rather quickly between the two teams.

Kings Sign Jacob Ingham To One-Year Deal

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The Kings have added another goalie under NHL contract, inking depth netminder Jacob Ingham to a one-year, two-way deal with a $775K cap hit. He was promptly loaned to the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits without being placed on waivers.

Ingham, 23, was a sixth-round pick of the Kings in 2018. He stayed with the Kings’ AHL and ECHL affiliates after turning pro in 2020, but a back injury cost him the entire 2022-23 campaign and caused the Kings not to issue him a qualifying offer when his entry-level contract expired last summer. As such, Ingham became a UFA and could sign a contract with any NHL club.

He remained in the Kings organization nonetheless, inking an AHL contract with their affiliate, the Ontario Reign, to continue developing in the organization. Ingham has responded with his best showing in the pros, posting a 3-2-0 record and .917 SV% in six appearances with the Reign and a career-high .918 SV% and 16-6-1 record in 25 games with ECHL Greenville.

The Kings regain his exclusive NHL rights by signing Ingham to a deal for the remainder of the season. Given his age, he’ll be an RFA this summer if the Kings issue him a qualifying offer, which looks like a likely scenario given his continued development in the minors and their lack of other notable young netminders signed other than former University of Michigan standout Erik Portillo.

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