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Nick Bjugstad

Arizona Coyotes Sign Nick Bjugstad, Three Others

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The Arizona Coyotes have signed forward Nick Bjugstad to a two-year, $2.1MM deal, per PHNX’s Craig Morgan. Bjugstad spent most of last season in Arizona before a mid-season trade sent him to the Edmonton Oilers. They’re also signing former Coyote Alex Galchenyuk to a one-year, two-way contract with a $775k cap hit $225k AHL salary, and $325k total guarantee according to PuckPedia.

They’ve also added forward Travis Barron to a one-year, two-way deal with a $775k cap hit and $100k AHL salary, per PuckPedia. Arizona also officially announced the signing of goaltender Matt Villalta to a one-year, two-way deal.

Bjugstad returns to the Coyotes after he returned to a top-six role there for the first time in a long time in 2022-23, recording a respectable 23 points in 59 games and showed flashes of the skill he displayed early in his career before injuries limited his long-term ceiling. He could very well find himself in the same role, competing for ice time down the middle with Barrett Hayton, Jack McBain, and Travis Boyd.

The Coyotes have also brought back Galchenyuk, who spent the entirety of the 2021-22 campaign in a Coyotes jersey, recording 21 points in 60 games. He did well when relegated to a minor-league role with the Avalanche last season, though, putting up a point per game, and could certainly find his way back into an NHL role alongside players like Michael Carcone and Liam O’Brien.

Barron and Villalta will spend the entirety of the season in AHL Tucson.

Edmonton Oilers Acquire Nick Bjugstad

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3:15 pm: The details of the trade have been confirmed by the Coyotes, making the transaction official.

2:35 pm: The Edmonton Oilers have added another player to the mix for their playoff run, acquiring Nick Bjugstad from the Arizona Coyotes, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The Coyotes will receive a 2023 third-round pick and Michael Kesselring, while retaining 50% of Bjugstad’s contract. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman also reports that defenseman Cam Dineen is heading to Edmonton in the deal, and he’ll report to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.

Bjugstad, 30, has never quite lived up to the high expectations from his early career in Florida, but has played at a relatively high level for the Coyotes this season. With more regular ice time, some of his offensive production has returned, and he brings size, physicality, and versatility to the Oilers bottom six.

Standing 6’6″ and more than willing to use his frame to lean on defenders, Bjugstad has scored 13 goals and 23 points in 59 games this season. He won’t be expected to do a ton of scoring in Edmonton, but for $450K in cap space, he’s well worth a mid-round pick.

The Oilers are all-in, trying to surround Connor McDavid with enough firepower to win the Stanley Cup. Mattias Ekholm’s addition to the blueline already paid dividends last night, and now Bjugstad can bring a little more punch down the middle. A third-round selection is meaningless to a team like this, other than its value in trade.

For Arizona, though, completing another short-term salary retention to squeeze a draft pick out of Edmonton is good work. The team is up to 22 picks in the top three rounds of the next three drafts, and—if managed properly—could turn that into quite the pile of young talent.

Interestingly enough, as CapFriendly points out, the Oilers had exactly enough cap space to pull off this trade after getting the Nashville Predators to retain salary on Ekholm yesterday. A lot of eyebrows raised when the Predators only held onto 4% of the total, but it ended up being exactly what general manager Ken Holland needed to bring in Bjugstad.

Edmonton Oilers Looking To Add A Forward

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The Edmonton Oilers have been on the hunt for defensive help for the better part of this season. GM Ken Holland was able to put that need to rest yesterday by swinging a trade for Mattias Ekholm. Despite the upgrade, it appears that Holland is not done.

Darren Dreger reported last night on TSN’s Insider Trading that Edmonton is still looking to add a forward and have shown interest in Tyler Bertuzzi as well as Nick Bjugstad.

Bertuzzi would be a tough add for Edmonton as his $4.75MM cap hit could prove problematic given the Oilers cap situation, but Bjugstad’s cap hit is just $900K. Both Bertuzzi and Bjugstad are pending unrestricted free agents playing on teams that appear likely to miss the playoffs.

Bertuzzi has had a down year this season with the Detroit Red Wings. He has just four goals in 29 games after scoring 30 goals last season in 68 games. He has missed considerable time this year and also missed most of the pandemic shortened 2020-21 season. Given his recent history, injury risk could be a concern to any team interested in Bertuzzi’s services. Cost could also be a concern as Detroit is reportedly asking for a first round pick.

Bjugstad on the other hand has dealt with injuries his entire career, but he has remained relatively healthy this season. He has had somewhat of a resurgence with the Arizona Coyotes scoring 13 goals, his first time breaking the 10-goal mark since 2017-18. The former first round pick appeared to be a budding star with the Florida Panthers back in 2014-15 when he scored 24 goals, but since that time he has yet to crack the 20-goal mark.

Any Oilers addition will likely need to be a dollar for dollar move at this point, or require a team or two to retain salary. The Oilers have just $450K of deadline cap space to make a move as they are still dealing with dead cap hits from the buyouts of James Neal and Andrej Sekera, as well as the retained salary from the Milan Lucic trade with the Calgary Flames. Lucic and Sekera come off the books at the end of this season, which should open the door for Holland to add to the Oilers this summer.

Coyotes Scratch Nick Bjugstad, Recall Laurent Dauphin

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The Coyotes announced (Twitter link) that they’ve scratched center Nick Bjugstad tonight for trade-related reasons, joining defenseman Jakob Chychrun on that front.  Taking Bjugstad’s place on the roster will be center Laurent Dauphin who has been recalled from AHL Tucson.

Bjugstad opted to sign a one-year, $900K contract with Arizona last summer in the hopes of playing a regular role and rebuilding some value after three straight quiet, injury-riddled seasons.  The move has turned out to be a good one for the 30-year-old who has posted 13 goals and 10 assists so far in 59 games while winning just over 47% of his faceoffs.  He also is averaging two hits per game.  With a low price tag, Bjugstad is the type of fourth liner that teams will certainly be looking to add to shore up their depth between now and Friday’s trade deadline and the Coyotes are making sure he’ll be available to be traded over risking him getting injured in tonight’s game against Chicago.

That decision gives Dauphin his third opportunity with the Coyotes this season.  The 27-year-old signed a one-year, two-way deal with Arizona in the summer but has only gotten into three NHL contests so far after suiting up in 38 with Montreal in 2021-22.  However, Dauphin has been productive in the minors with the Roadrunners, tallying 16 goals along with 25 assists in 48 games so far.

West Notes: Donskoi, DeMelo, Bjugstad

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After having a largely healthy 2021-22 campaign, Seattle Kraken forward Joonas Donskoi has been on long-term injured reserve (LITR) for the entire season thus far. Based on reporting released today, not only does it seem likely that Donskoi’s stay on the LTIR list will continue, it also appears that the future of his playing career is cloudy.

Donskoi told Finnish outlet Raahen Seutu that he had suffered the seventh concussion of his playing career, and is dealing with persistent symptoms including vision problems, vertigo, and headaches. Lingering concussion symptoms can be incredibly dangerous for any athlete, let alone one as experienced as Donskoi. Similar issues have prematurely ended the career of many NHLers in the past, and one wonders if Donskoi is unfortunately headed down a similar path. While the Kraken are definitely hoping that Donksoi, who has typically been a slam-dunk bet to score at least 30 points in any season, can return to the ice, it seems getting his personal health right is the absolute top priority.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

  • Per the Winnipeg Sun’s Scott Billeck, Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo will be out for the Jets’ next two games with a lower-body injury. DeMelo is an important blueliner for coach Rick Bowness. Not only does the respected defensive defenseman lead the Jets in short-handed ice time per game, but his steady defensive style has provided number-one blueliner Josh Morrissey with the freedom to play a more aggressive offensive game, something that has resulted in career-best production for Morrissey. While his absence for these next two games will not cripple a talented Jets team, it will be something for the team to monitor as they continue their playoff push.
  • Veteran Arizona Coyotes forward Nick Bjugstad has had a bit of a career resurgence in the desert, as his 21 points in 49 games this season are the most he’s scored in several years. His strong performance comes at a cheap price, as he’s playing on just a $900k cap hit for the rest of the season. The combination of Bjugstad’s improved play, cheap price tag, and veteran experience has apparently attracted more competitive clubs seeking to reinforce their forward group. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on tonight’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, the Edmonton Oilers are one of the teams with interest in Bjugstad. The Oilers have recently been running seven defensemen in their lineup, so the addition of Bjugstad could slot him in nicely as their fourth-line center providing coach Jay Woodcroft with a more traditional lineup.

Post-Draft Notes: Wild Free Agents, Nemec, Vlasic

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The Minnesota Wild just wrapped up an impressive eight-man draft class, and now, with the free-agent market set to open next Wednesday, they focus their attention to the upcoming group of free agents. The team has a few players set to hit free agency, although they took one of those players off the market yesterday, re-signing Marc-Andre Fleury to a two-year extension. Two players Wild GM Bill Guerin won’t be giving extensions, as relayed by Michael Russo of The Athletic, are mid-season pickup Nicolas Deslauriers and Minneapolis native Nick Bjugstad.

The Wild acquired Deslauriers, 31, from the Anaheim Ducks for a third-round pick last season, and he added some grit and physicality to the bottom of their lineup. He looked like a decent fit in Minnesota, but with the pressure of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts heavily squeezing Guerin’s financial flexibility this summer, it seems they don’t have the necessary cap room to retain him. Guerin did say that he expects Deslauriers to garner “a lot of interest,” which likely means Deslauriers has priced himself out of a return to the state of hockey. Bjugstad is coming off a year where he was a depth forward for the Wild, and he has not scored double-digit goals or more than 20 points since his impressive 49-point 2018-19 campaign with the Florida Panthers. It’s unlikely that Bjugstad sees the same level of leaguewide interest as Deslauriers when he too hits the market.

Now, for some other notes on information that has come out after the draft:

  • The New Jersey Devils didn’t flinch when they saw long-time consensus number-one prospect Shane Wright surprisingly on the board after the Montreal Canadiens took Juraj Slafkovsky first overall. They stuck to their board and selected Simon Nemec, an extremely talented defenseman and Slafkovsky’s countryman. The Devils made a bold choice, and won’t waste any time getting Nemec into the fold in their organization. As relayed by Amanda Stein of NHL.com, Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald says he spoke to Nemec’s agent and “expects to sign” Nemec to his entry-level contract this week. Stein notes that Nemec expressed a willingness to play in the AHL at the NHL Combine in Buffalo, and Nemec joining the Utica Comets for 2022-23 is beginning to seem like the most likely outcome.
  • Earlier in July, we covered the San Jose Sharks’ situation with defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and whether he would be bought out by the team after 16 seasons in teal. Today, Vlasic told The Athletic’s Corey Masisiak that “it doesn’t look like” he’ll be bought out and that he’s “excited” for a fresh start under a new coaching staff and a new GM in Mike Grier, who he played with for three seasons. Vlasic’s past few years haven’t been up to the standard he established earlier in his career. If the Sharks have any hope of returning to contention next season, as the organization fully intends to do, Vlasic will need to play like the $7MM defenseman he once was.

Minnesota Wild Activate Bjugstad; Move Dumba To IR

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The Minnesota Wild have announced a few important transactions, starting with the activation of Nick Bjugstad from injured reserve. To make room, the team has placed Matt Dumba on IR and waived Victor Rask.

Bjugstad, 29, has played in just 28 games so far this season and was placed on injured reserve earlier this month. The big forward is a long way from the player that scored 24 goals and 43 points in 2014-15 but still represents some valuable depth for the Wild to insert into the lineup. He has four goals and five points this season in those 28 games while averaging just over ten minutes a night.

For a team like Minnesota, who have their sights set on the Stanley Cup, improving around the fringes of the roster can be an important step. Bjugstad isn’t a huge improvement over Rask but he does carry less than a quarter of the cap hit. In fact, his $900K is more than reasonable for a fourth-line player that adds some size and versatility–able to line up at center or the wing.

Dumba, meanwhile, is expected to miss a few weeks with a lower-body injury. He has played just one game since the start of the month and is now on injured reserve, likely retroactive to his appearance on February 12. That mean’s he’s eligible to return in the next few days, though it’s not yet clear when he actually will be ready to get back into the lineup.

Central Notes: Bjugstad, Olausson, Beagle

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There’s bad news coming on the injury front for the Minnesota Wild. Head coach Dean Evason said today that forward Nick Bjugstad will be out “for a while” with an upper-body injury. Things certainly haven’t gone smoothly for Bjugstad in his second season with the Wild. In 28 games, he has just five points, and his defensive game has slipped from last year as well. Bjugstad’s entire career has been marred by injuries, and it’s always tough to see when the Minnesota native experiences another setback. Hopefully, he can recover by the end of the season to help out the Wild on a playoff push.

More notes from the Central Division today:

  • There’s movement on the prospect front for the Colorado Avalanche, as 2021 first-round pick Oskar Olausson was moved in the OHL today, traded to the Oshawa Generals from the Barrie Colts. Olausson joins Bruins prospect Brett Harrison and Oilers prospect Ty Tullio in Oshawa, where they hope Olausson’s talent can add a punch to their team. Olausson had 25 points in 22 games with Barrie.
  • Arizona Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong said today that forward Jay Beagle had lower-body surgery and could miss anywhere between eight weeks and the rest of the season. While a defensive center first and foremost, Beagle had just one point in 21 games with Arizona. He’s in the final year of his contract with a $3MM cap hit.

Nick Bjugstad Re-Signs With Minnesota Wild

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The Minnesota Wild have re-signed another big-bodied forward, inking Nick Bjugstad to a one-year contract. The deal will carry just a $900K salary and keeps Bjugstad from unrestricted free agency.

Given that the 28-year-old forward is coming off a six-year, $24.6MM contract, getting him signed for just $900K seems like a huge win for the Wild. Even if he has struggled to produce the kind of numbers he put up early in his career with the Florida Panthers, he is still a reasonably effective option that has experience at both center and wing. In 44 games this season with Minnesota, he scored six goals and 17 points, adding in one goal in six playoff matches.

That’s a pretty nice value for the Wild, especially since it carries basically no risk as a one-year deal. The entire cap hit could be buried in the minor leagues if necessary, but that seems unlikely given his history in the NHL. As a 22-year-old for the Panthers, the 6’6″ center scored 24 goals, leading to the big extension. A few years later he was moved to Pittsburgh, before eventually coming to Minnesota last fall for, well, nothing. Bjugstad was traded for a conditional seventh-round pick that the Penguins did not receive because he did not meet the conditions.

Now, on such a low-cost deal, Bjugstad can fill a bottom-six role for Minnesota without the pressure or expectations that come with such an expensive contract. Perhaps that leads him to his past success, but at worst, it’ll just cost the Wild a few hundred thousand wasted dollars.

Injury Updates: McAvoy, Hagg, Hischier, Wild

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The Bruins got some more bad news on the injury front as just prior to their game against Philadelphia, the team announced (Twitter link) that Charlie McAvoy was a late scratch due to an upper-body injury.  The 23-year-old has been a key cog on their back end this season, leading the way offensively with 22 points in 35 games while averaging a team-high 24:23 in ice time.  For context, he’s the only regular Boston blueliner averaging more than 20 minutes a night.  Adding help on the back end has seemingly been a goal for the Bruins dating back to last offseason and if McAvoy is going to miss any extended period of time, that need will only intensify.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Flyers defenseman Robert Hagg is a couple of days away from returning to the lineup, relays Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has been out for the last three weeks with a shoulder injury and is averaging three hits a game in 21 appearances so far this season.
  • New Jersey center Nico Hischier has resumed skating as he works his way back from nasal surgery three weeks ago, notes Sam Kasan of the Devils’ team website. It has been a tough season for their new captain as the 22-year-old has been limited to just five games between this, a stint on the CPRA list, and an offseason leg injury.
  • Wild center Nick Bjugstad (upper body) is being evaluated to see if he’s able to play on Wednesday after leaving Monday’s contest early, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). Meanwhile, winger Mats Zuccarello (lower body) skated today and is questionable for Wednesday after missing the last two games due to the injury.  As for Zach Parise, he is expected to be available to play tomorrow, his first appearance since being put into COVID protocols last month.

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