Trade Notes: Eberle, Kraken, Blues
The Seattle Kraken are making their decisions ahead of the Trade Deadline, now preferring to sign forward Jordan Eberle to an extension, rather than trading him, per TSN’s Darren Dreger. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared the same in the latest 32 Thoughts article, adding that the team could continue extension talks with Eberle beyond the Deadline, pouring cold water on trade rumors surrounding the 14-year pro. Eberle was previously linked to the Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders, and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Eberle is having yet another productive season, scoring 14 goals and 35 points in 56 games. He’s once again scoring at a 20-goal pace, a feat he’s managed in each of his last two seasons with the Kraken. Eberle also managed 63 points last year, the most he’s scored since the 2014-15 season in Edmonton, and ranks third in all-time scoring for the Kraken with 142 points in 217 games. He offers great complementary value in the top six, a strong power-play presence, and the experience of a 1,000-game veteran – all highly-coveted assets on the trade market. But with teammate Alexander Wennberg generating plenty of trade interest of his own, the Kraken are seemingly opting to hang on to Eberle for now.
Other trade notes from around the league:
- Kraken general manager Ron Francis is reportedly content with standing pat outside of Wennberg and Eberle, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in the latest 32 Thoughts. Friedman adds that there has been modest interest in Adam Larsson and Yanni Gourde, though Francis isn’t eager to mess with the team’s core pieces. Seattle has generally refrained from making much of a deadline splash, though they did sell off Mark Giordano, Marcus Johansson, and Calle Jarnkrok at the 2022 Trade Deadline.
- St. Louis Blues defensemen Colton Parayko, Torey Krug, and Marco Scandella are both still available, reports The Fourth Period. The Blues attempted to move Krug to the Philadelphia Flyers this summer but he invoked his no-trade clause, halting the deal. There’s no shortage of teams in need of defensive help this Spring and the Blues have something for everyone – offering stout defense in Parayko, strong offense in Krug, and good all-around play in Scandella. But salary cap will be a likely concern in any negotiations, as both Krug and Parayko carrying a $6.5MM cap hit and Scandella set at $3.275MM. All three carry either full or modified no-trade clauses.
Kraken Receiving Interest In Jordan Eberle, Alexander Wennberg
The Kraken are receiving interest from multiple teams regarding winger Jordan Eberle and center Alexander Wennberg ahead of the March 8 trade deadline, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports.
Both players are again top-six fixtures for Seattle, who have yo-yoed their way in and out of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference all season long. They’re pending UFAs with hefty cap hits of $5.5MM and $4.5MM, respectively, but the Kraken have all three salary retention spots open and could keep money on the books for the rest of the season to facilitate a deal if they do intend on selling at the deadline.
The Oilers have already been linked to Eberle in their pursuit of a complementary top-six winger, with Pagnotta reporting another one of his former teams, the Islanders, as well as the Maple Leafs, have demonstrated interest. The Bruins and Avalanche have called about Wennberg, who’s one of the few quality centers remaining on the deadline rental market.
Whether the Kraken will decide to sell off assets at the deadline is an entirely different question. A recent 3-6-1 stretch now has them six points out of playoff position, but there’s still a shot for Seattle to squeak in for their second consecutive playoff appearance. With a quickly aging group still comprised primarily of expansion draft selections, however, they’d likely do well to recoup value for some veterans and retool around Vince Dunn, Matthew Beniers, and Jared McCann.
Eberle would presumably fetch more value than Wennberg, and rightfully so. He’s having a down season in the goals department – just nine in 49 games, but his 28 points are fifth on the team, and he leads all Kraken players in even-strength Corsi share. He’s been their best two-way skater this season – not just forward – and with eight 20-goal seasons under his belt, he carries immense breakout potential if paired with the skill level of a contending team’s top six.
Thus, a reunion with Edmonton makes the most sense out of the three teams listed. There’s no better breakout potential for Eberle at right wing than alongside Leon Draisaitl on the Oilers’ second unit, and he could do wonders for Draisaitl-anchored lines that have struggled defensively without Connor McDavid.
Wennberg is more of a depth add than an impact pickup for a contender – he’s likely not suited for anything above a third-line role on a team with contending aspirations. He has leveraged major minutes since joining Seattle, logging 18:23 per game over the last three seasons.
Like Eberle, he’s struggled on the scoresheet with eight goals and 21 points in 51 games. Unlike Eberle, he’s shooting above his career average and has some of the worst possession metrics on the Kraken – only Brandon Tanev has a worse Corsi share at even strength among full-time members. His expected -3.6 rating is the worst on the team, and he’s won less than 50% of his faceoffs for the 10th time in 10 NHL seasons. As such, he’s likely a complement to the Bruins’ and Avs’ cast of middle-six centers that lack punch, not a significant upgrade. Even at a half-retained $2.25MM cap hit, his disappointing season might be too much to swallow and a third team may need to retain another 50% of his salary to facilitate a trade.
Oilers Targeting Top-Six Forward Help
Goaltending has been the central theme for trade speculation around the Oilers this season after their netminders got off to particularly rough starts. However, things have settled down nicely since then with Stuart Skinner’s play improving considerably since their early-season coaching change and Calvin Pickard faring quite nicely in the backup role.
It appears that their performances have taken off some of the pressure of seeking another netminder. Instead, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported in the latest TSN Insider Trading segment that GM Ken Holland has turned his focus toward adding a top-six forward. More specifically, the goal would be to find someone better suited to play alongside Leon Draisaitl on the second line.
Speculatively, they may be looking to replace Warren Foegele on that trio. The 27-year-old is well on his way toward having a career year offensively (he’s just four points away from matching his previous career high) but he’s a player who has spent most of his career in the bottom six. Getting him back in that role would certainly deepen Edmonton’s lineup.
LeBrun mentioned a handful of players as possible targets, several of which will be dependent on how their current teams fare in their playoff push in the coming weeks. The Oilers are quite familiar with Jordan Eberle; LeBrun suggests that the idea of bringing him back to Edmonton has grown in the front office recently. Ottawa’s Vladimir Tarasenko (who has full trade protection) and Detroit’s Daniel Sprong and David Perron were also floated as possible targets if those respective teams sell by next month’s deadline. All four players are on expiring contracts and with Edmonton’s long-term cap situation, it would make sense for them to be focusing on rental players if they do try to make a key addition up front.
However, cap space is somewhat limited for the Oilers at the moment. Even with their current 21-man roster, Edmonton projects to have a little over $2.3MM in cap space at the trade deadline, per CapFriendly. An injury or two would eat most of that flexibility up. Sprong is the only one out of that group whose salary would fit into their existing space, even if there was the maximum 50% retention on the other three.
Accordingly, Edmonton may need to send out a roster player to help fit in any top-six acquisition on its salary cap. Foegele, on an expiring deal himself, could very well be an option as could one of Brett Kulak or Cody Ceci, defensemen who are signed beyond this season (two more years for Kulak, one for Ceci); moving one of them would also open up a spot for Philip Broberg to return to the big club.
For a team with the top-end firepower that the Oilers have, they’re not even in the top ten in NHL scoring, sitting 12th in that regard heading into Thursday’s action. Meanwhile, only two teams have allowed fewer goals than Edmonton has. Accordingly, if they believe the structural and goaltending improvements are sustainable, looking to add some more offense may very well be the right approach for Holland to take over the next few weeks.
Kraken Notes: Eberle, Kartye, Wright
Alison Lukan of Root Sports is reporting that Seattle Kraken forward Jordan Eberle will be out of the lineup tonight with a lower-body injury and won’t dress for their matchup tonight with the Los Angeles Kings.This season, it’s been a struggle for the 33-year-old as he has just three goals in 28 games, while also registering 11 assists. Eberle is shooting just 5.2% which is a substantial drop from his career average of 12.7%.
Eberle’s injury means that newly acquired forward Tomas Tatar will draw into the lineup for the Kraken just a day after he was acquired from the Colorado Avalanche for a fifth-round pick. Tatar appears slated to play on the Kraken’s top line alongside Matty Beniers and Jared McCann. Both McCann and Beniers have also struggled this season along with Eberle as all three men have posted offensive numbers well off what put up last year.
In other Kraken notes:
- The Kraken announced today that they’ve reversed a move from yesterday and have recalled Tye Kartye from their AHL affiliate the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Kartye is having a decent rookie season in Seattle as the 22-year-old has posted six goals and five assists in 30 games. It’s not shocking to see Kartye recalled so quickly as he has been productive recently with two goals and an assist in his last five games. Kartye has been a great story this season for the Kraken as he has emerged as an NHL talent after being undrafted just a few years ago. He spent just a single full season in the AHL and was productive last year with the Firebirds tallying 28 goals and 29 assists in 72 games.
- With the move to recall Kartye, the Kraken have also reversed the corresponding move that came along with it and sent Shane Wright back to the AHL. Wright was recalled Friday and spent just over 24 hours on the Kraken roster. The move might seem nonsensical on the surface, but this transaction is likely part of the series of moves Seattle Times writer Geoff Baker was referring to yesterday in his tweet. Baker said that the Kraken would make a series of moves that would be for salary cap purposes and with the Kartye and Wright moves it appears that is exactly what they are doing. Wright has been recalled and reassigned quite a few times this year and this probably isn’t the last time he will be involved in that type of transaction.
Pacific Notes: Golden Knights, Kraken, Laferriere
Over the last two games, the Vegas Golden Knights have been without the trio of Chandler Stephenson, Nicolas Hague, and Nicolas Roy. Over that time, the league-leading Golden Knights have gone 1-1-0, losing to their division rival, Los Angeles Kings, last Wednesday.
In an update from practice today, Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that none of the trio are to be expected back in the team’s game against the Washington Capitals tomorrow night, but issued assurances they could be back by the weekend. Of the three, Roy has had the longest absence, after being put on the team’s injured reserve on October 24th.
Of the three, Stephenson is the most important to get back into the lineup, as he remains on one of the best-value contracts in the NHL. On the last season of a four-year, $11MM contract signed with Vegas back in 2020, Stephenson has scored 53 goals and 121 assists over 224 games as a Golden Knight.
Other notes:
- Some notable additions to the Seattle Kraken practice were Brandon Tanev and Jordan Eberle, who is now without a non-contact jersey, respectively (X Link). Eberle has gotten off to a relatively slow start with the Kraken this year, Eberle has scored four points in 13 games, coupled with a -8 rating already this season.
- According to the AHL transaction log, young NHL enforcer, Alex Laferriere is back on the roster with Los Angeles (X Link). Primarily playing in the team’s bottom six over the course of the young season, Laferriere has scored two goals and one assist through 14 games.
Snapshots: Eberle, Pesce, Perunovich
The Seattle Kraken have shared that Jordan Eberle is doing alright after suffering a deep cut at the team’s Wednesday practice. He won’t play in the Kraken’s Thursday matchup against the Colorado Avalanche but is otherwise considered day-to-day by the team. The Kraken recalled Shane Wright and Ryan Winterton to the NHL lineup in response to Eberle’s injury.
Eberle has appeared in 13 games with the Kraken this season, netting four points, nine penalty minutes, and a -8. He’s appeared in roles throughout the Kraken lineup through the early season, as head coach Dave Hakstol has tried to help Eberle get it going. The 33-year-old winger scored 20 goals and 63 points in 82 games last season, ranking third on the team in scoring and fourth in goal-scoring. It also tied for Eberle’s second-highest scoring season and marked his first time scoring 60 or more points since 2014-15, when he was still with the Edmonton Oilers.
The Kraken received a waiver to the NHL/CHL transfer agreement that would have required Wright to be assigned to the OHL if he didn’t make the Kraken roster out of training camp. As a result, he’s started the season with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, where he’s scored four goals and six points in seven games. He’s tied for the Firebirds lead in goals. Wright will likely draw into the lineup if Eberle can’t go. He appeared in eight games last season, scoring two points.
Other notes from around the league:
- Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour announced that Brett Pesce will join the team on their upcoming two-game road trip and is a game-time decision for their Friday night game against the Florida Panthers. Pesce has played in five games this season, netting two points and four penalty minutes.
- Scott Perunovich will slot back into the Blues lineup after serving as a healthy scratch. He’s only played in two of the Blues’ 11 games this season, going without a point, penalty, or any change in his +/-. Perunovich has fought through a series of injuries over the last few seasons, only playing in 69 games since the end of the 2019-20 season. 28 of those games were in the NHL, where Perunovich has totaled 10 points between the regular season and playoffs.
Kraken Recall Shane Wright And Ryan Winterton
Seattle has added some reinforcements to its roster in advance of their game tomorrow against Colorado. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled forwards Shane Wright and Ryan Winterton from AHL Coachella Valley.
Wright was the fourth overall selection back in 2022 but wasn’t deemed to be ready for full-time action in the NHL. Since he wasn’t eligible to play in the minors on a full-time basis, Seattle gave him spot duty in the NHL (eight games where he had a goal and an assist) plus a one-time conditioning assignment in the minors until the World Juniors. After that event, he was sent back to major junior where he had 37 points in 20 games. Once his Kingston team was eliminated, he became eligible to play in the minors and played in all 24 postseason contests with the Firebirds, notching nine points.
Following training camp, Seattle successfully received a waiver for Wright to play in Coachella Valley this season over returning for what would have been his final season in junior. He’s off to a nice start in the minors this season, picking up six points in his first seven games, putting him tied for fourth on the team in scoring.
As Wright doesn’t turn 20 until early January, the nine-game threshold for junior-aged players still comes into play. Wright can play up to nine times for Seattle this season without officially burning the first year of his entry-level contract. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising if this winds up being a shorter-term recall, one that lets them evaluate where he’s at before returning him to the Firebirds where he’d receive more playing time. Should he play in ten or more games, the next threshold to watch for would be 40 games on the NHL roster at which point he’d receive a year of service time towards free agent eligibility.
As for Winterton, the 20-year-old was a third-round pick by the Kraken in 2021 and he certainly has outperformed that draft slot. While injuries limited him to just 34 regular season games with OHL London last year, he was quite impactful during the Knights’ playoff run. During that time, he picked up 13 goals and 16 assists in 21 games to lead the league in playoff scoring.
Winterton is now in his first professional campaign and is off to a good start as well, collecting three goals and two helpers in his first seven games. Unlike Wright, the nine-game threshold doesn’t matter for Winterton.
Seattle had two vacant roster spots so no corresponding moves needed to be made to add Wright and Winterton to the active roster. One of them seems likely to replace Jordan Eberle; Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times reports that the winger suffered a cut from a skate blade to the upper part of his leg in practice today. He underwent tests to determine the severity of the injury although GM Ron Francis feels the worst-case scenario was avoided.
West Notes: Askarov, Gagner, Eberle
Back at the draft, there was some speculation that the Predators were offering up goaltender Yaroslav Askarov in an effort to move up. GM Barry Trotz acknowledged to Paul Skrbina of The Tennessean that he did put the 21-year-old in play back in June, citing a desire to draft (or acquire) an impact young center but obviously, that didn’t come to fruition. It shouldn’t be construed that with him being available then that he’s available now, however. Trotz said there’s no reason in his mind why the team couldn’t carry Juuse Saros and Askarov as a tandem for the long haul. It’s a decision that’s still a couple of years away as Saros has two years left on his deal while Askarov is likely to need a couple more years in the AHL before being NHL-ready.
More from the Western Conference:
- While Sam Gagner is looking to earn a third stint with the Oilers, he has a tough hill to climb as Postmedia’s Jim Matheson relays that the veteran won’t play in the preseason. Gagner is still working his way back from hip surgery and his doctor has only recommended that he be allowed to practice for the next few weeks. The 34-year-old has expressed an openness to starting the year with AHL Bakersfield and since he won’t be able to make his case for a roster spot in exhibition action, the Condors seem like the most probable landing spot for him.
- Kraken winger Jordan Eberle would welcome a contract extension, notes Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times. The 33-year-old says he has made his stance known about his desire to remain with Seattle and it’s certainly understandable why that’s the case as has had two quality seasons since being picked in the expansion draft. Eberle is coming off a 21-goal, 63-point campaign which could have him in line for a small raise on his current $5.5MM AAV if he gets an early extension from GM Ron Francis.
Snapshots: Three Stars, Strome, Eriksson Ek
The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Nathan MacKinnon taking home the top spot. The Colorado Avalanche superstar scored three game-winning goals, and broke the 100-point mark for the first time in his career. Through 68 games, he has 107 points, a per-game rate that only trails Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Second and third place went to Jordan Eberle of the Seattle Kraken and Alex Lyon of the Flordia Panthers, respectively. Eberle continues to be one of the most “clutch” players in the league, with two-game winning goals last week to bring his career total to 43, and send the Kraken to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Meanwhile, Lyon effectively saved the Panthers’ season by stepping into the crease and posting a .956 save percentage over six starts (all wins).
- The Department of Player Safety has issued a $5,000 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct to Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome for his actions in last night’s game against the Avalanche. Strome threw a water bottle from the bench as Colorado won the game in overtime, and will have to pay a small fee.
- The Ducks have also made a roster move, sending Olle Eriksson Ek back to the minor leagues. This is the fourth time in just a few days that Eriksson Ek has been involved in a transaction, bouncing up and down through the last part of the season as Anaheim tries to get to the summer break.
NHL Announces Player Assignments For Skills Competition
The NHL All-Star Skills competition will take place tomorrow night in Las Vegas, and the league has announced ahead of time which players will participate in which events. The player assignments for the seven events are as follows:
Fastest Skater
Chris Kreider, NYR
Adrian Kempe, LAK
Kyle Connor, WPG
Evgeny Kuznetsov, WSH
Jordan Kyrou, STL
Dylan Larkin, DET
Cale Makar, COL
Connor McDavid, EDM
Save Streak
Jack Campbell, TOR
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL
Frederik Andersen, CAR
Tristan Jarry, PIT
Cam Talbot, MIN
Juuse Saros, NSH
Thatcher Demko, VAN
John Gibson, ANA
Fountain Face-Off
Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA
Claude Giroux, PHI
Jordan Eberle, SEA
Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson
Roman Josi, NSH
Nick Suzuki, MTL
Zach Werenski, CBJ
Mark Stone, VGK
Hardest Shot
Adam Pelech, NYI
Timo Meier, SJS
Victor Hedman, TBL
Tom Wilson, WSH
Breakaway Challenge
Goalies: Manon Rhéaume & Wyatt Russell
Kirill Kaprizov, MIN
Trevor Zegras, ANA
Jack Hughes, NJD
Alex DeBrincat, CHI
Alex Pietrangelo, VGK
Las Vegas NHL 21 in ’22
Nazem Kadri, COL
Auston Matthews, TOR
Joe Pavelski, DAL
Steven Stamkos, TBL
Brady Tkachuk, OTT
Accuracy Shooting
Leon Draisaitl, EDM
Clayton Keller, ARI
Rasmus Dahlin, BUF
Sebastian Aho, CAR
Jake Guentzel, PIT
Troy Terry, ANA
Johnny Gaudreau, CGY
Patrice Bergeron, BOS
Jonathan Marchessault, VGK
Two new events, the Fountain Face-Off and 21 in ’22 will be held outside in the Bellagio fountain and Las Vegas strip respectively. Individual winners of each event will earn $30,000.