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Morning Notes: NHLPA Poll, Quick, Canadiens

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The NHLPA Player Poll has become a yearly fixture, giving fans an insight into what players have to say in popular public debates. This year’s edition dropped this morning with mostly expected results.

Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy was voted by a wide margin as the goalie players would want in net with one game on the line for the second straight season, while the Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar was voted best defenseman in the league by a landslide. Connor McDavid won “most impactful forward in a must-win game,” no doubt buoyed by last year’s electric playoff performance. Other winners were Patrick Kane for best stick-handler, Leon Draisaitl for best passer, Sidney Crosby for most complete player, Brad Marchand for least enjoy playing against (but want on your team), Joe Pavelski for most effective net-front player, and Aleksander Barkov for most underrated. Marie-Philip Poulin was also voted as the women’s hockey player that NHL players would most like to play alongside, past or present, and the Bell Centre was voted as having the best ice in the NHL for the fifth time.

In off-ice results, Las Vegas was voted the best road city to have an off day, Marc-Andre Fleury was voted best locker room presence, and Auston Matthews was voted as having the best shoe game.

More notes from around the NHL this morning:

  • Now a Vegas Golden Knight, Stanley Cup-winning netminder Jonathan Quick continues to move up the all-time ranks. With last night’s road win against the Vancouver Canucks, Quick moved into sole possession of second place on the all-time wins list for American-born goaltenders, trailing only Ryan Miller. Quick now sits just 16 wins back of tying the all-time record with 375 wins under his belt.
  • In some rare positive injury news for the Montreal Canadiens this season, Jake Evans has returned to practice in a full-contact jersey, while Jesse Ylonen has returned to practice after missing the team’s last game with an illness, per TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. Ylonen hasn’t looked out of place in his first extended NHL look this season, recording five goals and 12 points in 29 games. Evans is nearing a return after missing over two months with a lower-body injury.

Corey Pronman Releases 2023 NHL Draft Rankings

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With the trade deadline now over and the playoffs approaching, the next big transaction frenzy won’t occur until the 2023 NHL entry draft. Several teams have positioned themselves to be active at the draft and today Corey Pronman of The Athletic released his 2023 NHL draft rankings. Pronman considers this to be an above average draft that is heavy on forwards, this is evident in the rankings as he has only defenseman in his top ten.

The top of the draft offers no surprises as Connor Bedard is still the consensus top overall pick. Bedard continues to be viewed as a franchise changing player drawing favorable comparisons to David Pastrnak, Patrick Kane, and Nikita Kucherov. The only knock on Bedard continues to be his size, as he stands just 5′ 9″ and weights 185 pounds. While he does play with a physical edge, Pronman wonders if he eventually gets pushed from center to the wing.

Russian born winger Matvei Michkov is Pronman’s second ranked prospect in the draft. He too is on the smaller size standing just 5’10” and weighing in at just 172 pounds. Pronman considers Michkov to be one of the best draft eligible prospects he’s seen inside the offensive zone. Michkov recently completed the best 17-year-old season in Russia’s junior league history, topping Nikita Kucherov. He is seen as a game breaking elite scorer with a mind that sees the game in a way that few players do. He is currently signed to the KHL until 2025-26, meaning any team that drafts him might have to wait a few years for Michkov to make an impact.

Slotting in at number three in Pronman’s rankings is center Adam Fantilli out of Michigan. He was ranked second back in Pronman’s January rankings and draws comparisons to Jonathan Toews. Fantilli is fresh off one of the best underage seasons in USHL history and is currently having one of the best seasons seen in the modern era by a first-year draft eligible college player. While his speed and hockey sense are ranked as NHL average, his puck skills are seen as elite. Fantilli projects as an elite NHLer and a number one center on a very good team.

Pronman views Bedard, Michkov and Fantilli as first overall pick type of prospects. But obviously there can only be one first overall pick this June in Nashville and it appears as though that will be Connor Bedard.

 

Pronman’s top ten draft eligible players are:

  1. Connor Bedard, Regina (WHL)
  2. Matvei Michkov. Sochi (KHL)
  3. Adam Fantilli, Michigan (NCAA)
  4. Leo Carlsson, Orebro (SHL)
  5. Nate Danielson, Brandon (WHL)
  6. William Smith, USA U-18 (NTDP)
  7. David Reinbacher, Kloten (NL)
  8. Danil But, Yaroslavl (MHL)
  9. Colby Barlow, Owen Sound (OHL)
  10. Samuel Honzek, Vancouver (WHL)

 

Pronman’s full list can be found here.

 

 

New York Rangers Acquire Patrick Kane

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Though it has been evident for a while that Chicago Blackhawks legend Patrick Kane would be joining the New York Rangers, what wasn’t so clear is the price they would be forced to pay for him.  That price is now known as the trade has been finalized with Kane and defenseman Cooper Zech heading to the Rangers as part of a three-team trade that also involves Arizona.  Chicago receives a 2023 conditional second-round pick and a fourth-round pick along with defenseman Andy Welinski from New York along with the rights to blueliner Vili Saarijarvi from Arizona while the Coyotes receive a 2025 third-round pick from the Rangers for brokering the deal by retaining 25% of Kane’s contract after Chicago held back the maximum 50% of his $10.5MM AAV.

The 2023 second-rounder can become a first-round selection if the Rangers make it to the Conference Finals. It would then be conveyed in either 2024 (top-10 protected) or 2025.  The third-rounder going to Arizona will either be the Rangers’ own pick or the better of theirs and Dallas’ if defenseman Nils Lundkvist has 55 points combined this season and next which would transfer the Stars’ 2025 selection to New York.

Just as it played out with Claude Giroux last season, a franchise icon with full no-movement protection essentially dictated his destination, resulting in an underwhelming return. The Blackhawks were not able to land a guaranteed first-round pick in the deal, but will send Kane to his preferred team and still recoup some value.

When it became clear that the Blackhawks were tearing it down to rebuild through the draft, it made little sense for them to re-sign Kane in the offseason. If he was going to leave anyway, getting a second (or first) before he walked out the door only helps the efforts of general manager Kyle Davidson. Kane wasn’t forced out the door, but will now get another chance at the Stanley Cup this season with a loaded Rangers club.

After New York acquired Vladimir Tarasenko earlier this month, it appeared they were out of the running for Kane. They had a tight cap situation and had made their significant acquisition. Even Kane seemed to know he wouldn’t be headed to New York, telling reporters that it seemed like they had “filled their void” with the deal.

But now, with the help of some creative cap gymnastics, the Rangers have made enough room to land both star wingers, giving them a forward group that looks like an All-Star roster.

He also leaves Chicago with a legacy that will be hard to beat. While Kane sits second on the all-time Blackhawks scoring list, many will remember him as the most talented player in franchise history. His 1,225 regular season points came in just 1,161 games, numbers that will have him in the Hall of Fame one day.

Now 34, Kane will be an unrestricted free agent this summer unless he signs an extension with the Rangers. That certainly seems possible, though it will be difficult for New York to fit everyone in, giving some raises they own to some other players. For now, the focus will be on winning the Stanley Cup after loading up as much as they can.

Should they reach the third round, and fork over a first-rounder to Chicago, the Blackhawks would then own seven first-round selections over the next three years. After picking three players at the top of the 2022 draft, their system will quickly be loaded with talent that can mature together. Perhaps they’ll find the next star in that bunch, but simple probability suggests they won’t find another Kane.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report the draft picks while ESPN’s Emily Kaplan was the first to report the conditional element on the second-rounder.  PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan was the first with the return for Arizona’s involvement.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Morning Notes: Cap Circumvention, Chychrun, Kane

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According to Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets, the NHL sent out a memo this morning to teams explaining that they would “closely scrutinize” any trades of injured players with the express intent of keeping them on long-term injured reserve until the playoffs. Gustav Nyquist is a perfect example of this kind of trade chip, as he is not expected back in the regular season.

Scrutiny is one thing, but it’s hard to believe that the league would put a complete stop to these moves. In 2021, the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Riley Nash, knowing he wouldn’t be ready before the playoffs, only to activate him for game one. It might mean a closer look at situations like Adam Henrique, as the Anaheim Ducks forward is not expected to miss the rest of the season, but is still on the shelf for another few weeks. Any acquiring team would likely be expected to activate him (and have the room to do so) well ahead of the playoffs, instead of waiting for the salary cap to disappear on day one of the postseason.

  • More smoke is rising from the Arizona Coyotes, who have one of the biggest trade chips in Jakob Chychrun sitting in the press box. Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports that the Los Angeles Kings, Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Edmonton Oilers are all pursuing the Coyotes defender. Chychrun hasn’t played since February 10 as he awaits his new destination.
  • Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet points out that the New York Rangers don’t actually have to wait until tomorrow to acquire Patrick Kane, only past today’s salary cap threshold. The cap is calculated on the active roster at 4pm CT every day, meaning the Rangers could land Kane a few minutes later and have him applied to Wednesday’s number instead. All signs continue to point to Kane joining the Rangers this week, potentially even in time to take on the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night.

Scratch Notes: Kane, Lafferty, Meier

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With the trade deadline now less than a week away, more teams are starting to sit their players to avoid any risk of injury that could scuttle a pending move or complicate ongoing discussions.  With that in mind, here’s a rundown of players in that situation that are out of the lineup today.

  • The Blackhawks announced (Twitter link) that winger Patrick Kane and forward Sam Lafferty will sit for trade-related reasons. Kane’s agent Pat Brisson relayed a statement to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link) that it was mutually agreed that Kane would sit during this “period of reflection”.  Kane is mulling over whether to leave the only NHL organization he has ever known with the Rangers expected to be the likely destination, provided that they can make the money work as Kane carries a $10.5MM AAV.  They’ll need double-retention for a deal to happen.
  • As for Lafferty, the 27-year-old is in the midst of a career year with 10 goals and 11 assists in 50 games while winning more than 52% of his faceoffs in a little more than 15 minutes a night of action. Signed for one more season with a manageable cap hit of $1.15MM, he should attract interest from several teams.
  • The Sharks will be without winger Timo Meier tonight, reports Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). The 26-year-old is having another strong season, notching 31 goals and 21 assists in 57 games and is four goals shy of his career-high which was set last year.  Meier is a pending restricted free agent that’s owed a $10MM qualifying offer this summer but only a $6MM AAV this season.  Acquiring teams will likely want to get a long-term deal below that but as of yet, San Jose is not believed to have granted interested squads a chance to negotiate an extension with Meier’s camp.  He’s currently nursing an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day so it’s unlikely he’ll suit up before the deadline for precautionary reasons.

Latest On Patrick Kane

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The Patrick Kane trade saga may be nearing its end, according to NHL insider Chris Johnston. In a tweet Friday afternoon, Johnston reported that a resolution to Kane’s situation is expected “in the next 24 hours or so,” well before the trade deadline on March 3.

As of now, Kane has reportedly not waived his no-movement clause to facilitate a deal, per Johnston.

Kane, who has spent his entire 16-year career with the Chicago Blackhawks, has been the subject of trade rumors in recent weeks as the lottery-bound team continues to rebuild. Yesterday, rumors re-emerged about the possibility of Kane ending up with the New York Rangers, even after the team already bolstered their top-six with the addition of Vladimir Tarasenko. Kane, 34, has recorded seven goals and 10 points in his last five games, quieting many doubts about his scoring ability in spite of a bad hip.

However, Kane’s no-movement clause gives him the power to control his destiny, and it’s still entirely possible all the speculation is for not.

Adding to the rumor mill today, NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis reported that Kane was not practicing with the team, taking a maintenance day. Such a vague term is bound to increase speculation about whether Kane is being held out for trade-related reasons, health reasons related to his publicized hip issues, or neither.

Another Blackhawks trade target, defenseman Jake McCabe, also did not practice with a non-COVID illness.

West Notes: Kane, Landeskog, Thompson

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Rumors are flying surrounding Patrick Kane and whether he’ll be traded before the March 3rd deadline, with many speculating that the New York Rangers could be his preferred destination. Such speculation may need to hold off for a little while, though, as it still seems as though Kane hasn’t yet made a decision on his future. Kane’s agent, Pat Brisson, confirmed as much to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, stating that “Patrick hasn’t made any decision at this point.”

Tonight has already featured a significant trade, with the Boston Bruins acquiring two key veterans from the Washington Capitals. Kane could end up the star of this trade deadline season, but seeing as he is in full control of his playing future, any developments will come on a timeline he prefers. We still have a little bit of time before the trade deadline fully hits, although it is definitely possible that the longer he waits, the more likely it is that potentially interested contending teams decide they need to play things safe and explore backup plans.

  • On TSN’s Insider Trading program, LeBrun reported that Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog’s true timeline in his return from injury remains “unclear.” The Avalanche do not yet have a firm sense of when he’ll be ready to return to the lineup, and that uncertainty has major trade deadline implications. As long as there remains the possibility of Landeskog returning in this regular season, the Avalanche cannot use Landeskog’s salary on long-term injured reserve to add to their roster, since they would not have the cap space to activate Landeskog once healthy. If nothing else, the Avalanche will be hoping for some more clarity on Landeskog’s timeline in these next few days so they can really shore up their deadline plans.
  • Vegas Golden Knights netminder Logan Thompson has been placed on injured reserve, as reported by the Las Vegas Sun’s Danny Webster. Thompson has been out week-to-week with a lower-body injury, so this news should come as no surprise. What it does do is make Thompson’s injury absence official from a roster perspective, clearing a spot on the 23-man unit for the team to work with.

West Notes: Karlsson, Kane, Krug

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Edmonton Oilers fans’ dreams of two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson being traded to oil country might have to wait to become a reality. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period is reporting that a deal between the Oilers and San Jose Sharks for Karlsson is considered “unlikely,” for mainly financial reasons. Pagnotta reports that while the Sharks are willing to retain two or three million dollars off of Karlsson’s deal, the Oilers want the Sharks to retain a more significant portion, around $5MM, if not more.

As a result, Pagnotta says that “it sounds like there haven’t been any recent serious discussions between the two clubs as a result” of those financial disagreements. The rationale for the Oilers to want to acquire Karlsson is very real, as he’s a Norris Trophy frontrunner with 76 points in 58 games. But asking San Jose to take on such a large number of dead cap dollars for the foreseeable future is a major ask, and it’s understandable that the Sharks balked at the prospect of making such a deal. According to Pagnotta, the Oilers could be pivoting to new targets, such as Anaheim Ducks defenseman John Klingberg, and Arizona Coyotes blueliner Shayne Gostisbehere.

Some other notes from across the Western Conference:

  • As relayed by NBC Sports’ Charlie Roumeliotis, Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson gave an update on the team’s situation with top trade candidate Patrick Kane. Davidson said that he is in “constant contact” with Kane’s representatives, but hasn’t yet heard a decision on whether Kane wants to be dealt and is willing to waive his trade protection. While Kane has had some health issues and scored less than he’d likely have hoped he would, his decision on a trade is still one of massive importance, as Kane is likely at or near the top of quite a few contending teams’ trade deadline wishlists.
  • The St. Louis Blues announced that defenseman Torey Krug left tonight’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes with a lower-body injury. It’s another stroke of bad luck for Krug, who has dealt with lingering injury issues recently. Krug’s performance this season has mirrored the Blues as a whole: inconsistent and largely disappointing. The veteran defenseman, who is on a $6.5MM AAV contract through 2027, has scored just 22 points in 40 games, a decline from last season when he scored 43 points in 64 games. Hopefully, this injury is not connected to what Krug has been dealing with in recent weeks and this absence was just a precautionary measure.

More Teams Showing Interest In Patrick Kane

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With Vladimir Tarasenko now off the market following his trade earlier this week, Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane is starting to generate more attention.  Earlier this week, he was linked to the Stars and the Rangers (with New York likely out of the picture now following the Tarasenko deal).  Three more teams have been added to that mix as Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus of The Athletic report (subscription link) that the Hurricanes, Wild, and Golden Knights have confirmed interest in the veteran.

Of course, it must also be noted that Kane might not necessarily have interest in any of those teams.  The 34-year-old has a full no-move clause in his deal and if he decides that he’s willing to waive it, it’s expected that the shortlist of options he’d provide Chicago with would be quite small, not unlike what happened with Claude Giroux last season when he okayed a trade from Philadelphia.

Carolina, Minnesota, and Vegas all have a fair amount of cap space which presents an opportunity where they might not need a third team to be involved to retain an extra 25% of the $10.5MM contract, assuming Chicago retains 50% as expected.  For the Hurricanes, Max Pacioretty’s season-ending Achilles injury opened up $7MM in LTIR room while the Golden Knights have plenty of room (at least for the time being) with Mark Stone and his $9.5MM eligible for LTIR; he hasn’t been placed there just yet.  Meanwhile, Minnesota has banked enough cap space (per CapFriendly) that they could absorb Kane’s contract outright.

What’s notable about these suitors – including Dallas from earlier – is that all of them project to be short-term options only for Kane.  With their existing commitments for next season, there’s basically no way they could afford the 16-year veteran at market value.  Would Kane want to go somewhere as a strict rental and then hit the open market in July or might his preference be to land with a team that has the intention to keep him for 2023-24 and beyond?  That will certainly be a question he ponders over the next couple of weeks before notifying Chicago of his intentions.

Trade Rumors: Kane, Chychrun, Oilers/Kings

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Teams around the league could soon get more clarity on the future of Chicago Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane. On today’s edition of TSN’s Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun relayed a quote from Kane’s agent, Pat Brisson, that a decision on whether he’ll waive his no-movement clause is coming “relatively soon.”

As LeBrun says, Kane completely controls his destiny, even if he waives his no-move clause, and he’ll be able to dictate the teams to which he’s willing to accept a trade. If Kane opts for a trade, Brisson says those teams will be notified at least “seven to 10 days” ahead of the March 3 deadline. There does exist a timeline in which Kane rejects a trade and opts to stay put, reconsidering his future in Chicago this summer. Despite just having nine goals in 45 games this season, Kane would still carry a great deal of value at the deadline, although it may not result in a first-round pick at this point.

  • The Boston Bruins could get even scarier. LeBrun also reported on Insider Trading that the team has recently inquired about Jakob Chychrun, which could give them easily the most formidable defense in the league. Even if the Bruins opt to part with Brandon Carlo in any potential Chychrun deal, as his name has begun to enter trade speculation, it would still leave Boston with a top-four defense group of Chychrun, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, and Matt Grzelcyk. With Chychrun locked into a dirt-cheap, sub-$5MM cap hit for multiple seasons, it could pay dividends for years to come if the Bruins can manage to stay competitive.
  • LeBrun also mentioned that the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings seem to be competing for the same trade deadline additions, mainly left-shot defensemen. The two Pacific Division rivals have both been linked to Chychrun, Joel Edmundson, and Vladislav Gavrikov. A potential bidding war for those trade targets would certainly make fans of the Coyotes, Canadiens, and Blue Jackets smile, as the playoff rivals from last season aim to upgrade their group of defensemen.

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