Week In Review

The end of the regular season has arrived, at least for some teams and the coaching carousel is already underway.  However, that news still paled in comparison to the biggest controversy of the week which gets plenty of coverage in our key stories.

Rangers-Capitals: Let’s start with the big one.  Capitals winger Tom Wilson was involved in a pair of incidents of note, one with Pavel Buchnevich which only drew a $5K fine, the max allowable in the CBA.  However, a scrum in which he tossed Artemi Panarin who jumped in to protect his teammate, went without discipline which drew plenty of opinions from those who agreed and disagreed vehemently with that decision.  New York left no doubt as to where they stood on the matter, issuing a statement expressing their disappointment with the lack of discipline on the Panarin situation, noting that the winger’s season came to an end as a result of the incident.  However, the biggest story was that they called for the removal of George Parros as the head of Player Safety, calling the inaction a dereliction of duty.  Not surprisingly, that earned them a $250K fine.

It didn’t stop there, however.  The two sides met up just two days later and decided to take out their frustrations on each other.  There were six fights in the first five minutes and 100 penalty minutes in the opening period.  Six misconducts were handed out in the game with Buchnevich picking up one of them along with a major penalty, earning him a one-game suspension in the process.

Gorton And Davidson Out: In somewhat of a surprising move, the Rangers fired GM Jeff Gorton and team president John Davidson, naming Chris Drury as the successor in both roles.  Gorton had been shepherding the team through their rebuild following their letter three years ago that said they would be rebuilding the core.  Since then, they had brought in several players that are expected to be part of the next young core while landing Panarin in free agency.  Davidson, meanwhile, joined the team less than two years ago, leaving the same role with Columbus to return ‘home’ to a city where he spent the final eight years of his playing career not to mention extended time as a broadcaster.  The fact that Drury is the replacement should come as no surprise.  He eschewed opportunities to interview elsewhere in recent years with the team creating an Associate GM position back in February to elevate his responsibilities and salary.  He’ll now be tasked with finishing off the rebuild and getting the Rangers back to playoff contention.

Tortorella Leaves Columbus: In a move that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, the Blue Jackets and head coach John Tortorella agreed to mutually part ways.  The 62-year-old was at the helm in Columbus for the last six seasons, leading the team to a .568 point percentage along the way while winning the Jack Adams Award as the coach of the year back in 2016-17.  He also helped lead them to a playoff series victory in 2019 and while that may not seem like much, it’s the only one they’ve had in franchise history if you don’t count the play-in victory over Toronto last year as a true playoff winS.  However, his combative style hasn’t always sat well with players and there has been a considerable talent drain in recent years as top free agents have headed elsewhere and some have suggested Tortorella could be part of the season.  Top center Pierre-Luc Dubois demanded a trade earlier this season and Patrik Laine, the key part of the return, had a tough time under Tortorella.  The team won just 18 games this season and will now be on the lookout for a new bench boss.

Forsberg Extension: It wasn’t just doom and gloom over the past seven days.  A nice story in Ottawa emerged when they gave goalie Anton Forsberg a one-year, $900K contract extension.  That alone doesn’t tell the tale though.  He originally started out as Edmonton’s intended third-stringer before being claimed off waivers by Carolina, Winnipeg, and eventually Ottawa in mid-March before he had even played a game.  He has spent more time in quarantine than on the ice this year but did enough in seven appearances to earn some stability for next year and a $200K raise for good measure.  As the old adage goes, good things come to those who wait.  Forsberg had to wait a while before he could even play a game but his patience was rewarded.

Coyotes Make A Change: Tortorella isn’t the only coach looking for his next opportunity as Rick Tocchet is out as head coach in Arizona after four seasons in the desert.  He helped lead them to a .490 point percentage over that span and didn’t have a lot of postseason success with the team making it just once.  While they took out Nashville on the back of Darcy Kuemper in the Qualifying Round last summer, they were quickly dispatched by Colorado after that.  The Coyotes have had trouble scoring throughout Tocchet’s tenure and GM Bill Armstrong will likely be looking for a replacement that can help get the most out of their forward group headed by Clayton Keller and Phil Kessel.

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The calendar has flipped from April to May with last month ending on a high note with the rest of their TV deal finalized and while this month started on a concerning one following some allegations regarding Vancouver’s Jake Virtanen.  Meanwhile, there was some other notable news around the league which are covered in our key stories.

Seattle Joins The League: While we’ve been talking about Seattle becoming the 32nd team for the better part of two years now, their entry to the league was contingent on the full payment of their $650MM expansion fee.  The final instalment has been received and they have now officially become the 32nd NHL franchise.  While that means that they’ll be able to take part in the draft lottery and expansion draft, in the nearer term, it also allows them to begin signing free agents right away.  While NHL players won’t hit the open market until closer to the end of July, college and international free agents are still available and can sign which would help the Kraken built up their prospect pool.

Drouin Takes Leave: After missing the previous three games with what had been listed as an illness, the Canadiens transferred winger Jonathan Drouin to LTIR while granting an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons.  It has been a tough season for the 26-year-old who has scored just twice in 44 games and some time away from the rink will hopefully help his situation.  With the placement being retroactive to his last game played, Drouin technically is eligible to return late in the regular season but obviously there is plenty of uncertainty with his situation with the team asking everyone to respect his privacy at this time.

Miller To Retire: Ducks goaltender Ryan Miller has decided to call it a career, announcing that he will retire at the end of the season.  The 40-year-old has spent parts of 18 seasons in the NHL, predominantly with Buffalo and has been Anaheim’s backup for the last four seasons.  His expected final NHL start came on Saturday and it was a good one as he allowed just two goals on 25 shots in a 6-2 victory over the Kings.  Assuming that he doesn’t see any more game action, he’ll hang up his skates with 391 career victories, the most of any American-born player in NHL history while posting a .914 SV% along with 44 shutouts over 795 appearances.

Roy Wants To Return: Patrick Roy has been out of the NHL since his abrupt resignation from Colorado as their head coach back in 2016 but it appears he is interested in trying his hand at the top level once again.  Roy has signed with Neal Glasberg of PBI Sports & Entertainment with an intention of returning to the NHL as either a coach or GM.  While he has no front office experience in the NHL, he has been the GM of the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL for 13 years over two separate stints (while serving as their head coach for most of those).  With what happened with the Avalanche though, it will be interesting to see if that winds up affecting potential interest in him as vacancies open up over the next few weeks.

Shaw Ends Playing Career: Blackhawks winger Andrew Shaw has battled frequent concussions in recent years and decided that it’s time to hang up his skates as he announced the end of his playing career.  Technically, while he has effectively retired, he still has another year left on his contract so he will land on LTIR again next season alongside Brent Seabrook.  Shaw finishes up his playing days with 247 points (116 goals and 131 assists) in 544 career NHL games between Chicago and Montreal and a pair of Stanley Cup rings with the Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015.

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It was a quieter week around the hockey world with some COVID-related cancellations garnering plenty of attention.  Those can be found among the top stories from the past seven days.

Hartman Extension: Wild winger Ryan Hartman decided to avoid the risk of being non-tendered this offseason, instead inking a three-year, $5.1MM contract extension.  The deal represents a $200K pay cut compared to his current contract but gives him some job security at a time where teams are expected to be more hesitant than usual to qualify role players that have arbitration eligibility.  As someone who has been in that situation before, getting a three-year deal – his longest since his entry-level pact – is something he’ll definitely appreciate.  The 26-year-old is logging nearly 15 minutes a night this season, a career-best.

Cancellations: Last week was somewhat reminiscent of a year ago when leagues and tournaments started shutting down.  This was the case at the junior level on two different fronts as the WHL revealed that they will not hold any playoffs, a decision that will allow NHL-contracted players to be recalled once their regular season comes to an end.  Meanwhile, the OHL announced that their season will not even get underway let alone hold a postseason as COVID-19 case numbers in Ontario have risen quickly in recent weeks.  That means that players that are in the minors because that league wasn’t underway means that they’ll be able to remain there for the rest of the season.  On the international front, the Women’s World Hockey Championships were abruptly cancelled as a result of an escalating COVID-19 caseload in Nova Scotia.  However, there are other cities that have shown an interest in trying to hold the event later in the summer, providing some hope that the tournament will get another shot.

Marleau Sets The Record: All records are supposed to be meant to be broken but some have stood the test of time without an expectation of being broken.  The all-time games played mark was one of those that could be classified as unlikely to be reached but Sharks forward Patrick Marleau has set the new benchmark when he played in his 1,768th career regular season game, breaking the previous record held by Gordie Howe.  The 41-year-old is in his 23rd career NHL season, three fewer than Howe who suited up in 26 NHL campaigns (plus six more in the WHA).  Marleau is set to become an unrestricted free agent in July and will have to decide if he wants to continue to add to his record or retire with his name now atop the record book.

Injuries In Detroit: It has been a tough few days on the injury front for Detroit.  Already without Bobby Ryan for the rest of the season and Robby Fabbri who has been out for three weeks, Tyler Bertuzzi and Frans Nielsen were then ruled out for the rest of the season.  Captain Dylan Larkin was then ruled out for the rest of the year, giving them five forwards on the shelf.  Long out of the playoff picture, head coach Jeff Blashill will have an opportunity to evaluate some younger players and those on the fringes of the roster down the stretch.

Jaskin Eyeing NHL Return: With KHL contracts expiring this coming Friday, there should be some players signing NHL contracts soon after.  One of those could be winger Dmitrij Jaskin whose agent Allain Roy confirmed that the 28-year-old is looking to return to the NHL for next season.  While he was more of a physical energy player in his first stint in North America, Jaskin’s offensive abilities have come to light back at home with 69 goals and 54 assists in 117 games with Dynamo Moscow which should help generate some more interest in his services.  Arizona is known to be one of the teams talking to Roy about a deal for Jaskin for next season.

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The trade deadline has come and gone and while it wasn’t as busy as some had hoped for, some notable players changed teams.  Unsurprisingly, those moves dominate the top stories of the week but the full deadline recaps can also be found below:

East Division
West Division
Central Division
North Division

Mantha To Washington: With Anthony Mantha having a tough season and three years left on his contract, he wasn’t viewed as a likely candidate to be dealt.  Instead, just before the deadline hit, Detroit struck a deal to send the winger to Washington in exchange for Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik, plus first and second-round picks.  One of those selections likely was included to get the Red Wings to take the remaining two years of Panik’s deal after he cleared waivers.  Mantha and Vrana have had similar production over the past few years but Mantha’s size and upside are definitely intriguing and he has made quite the first impression, scoring in each of his first four games.  Meanwhile, our readers certainly like the trade for Detroit with over 79% giving them an A grade in our poll.

Extensions: A pair of potential trade candidates were taken off the market on Monday.  First, the Kings reached a four-year, $16MM extension with Alex Iafallo.  The undrafted college free agent has worked his way onto the top line in Los Angeles and a top-liner for a $4MM AAV is decent value.  Less than an hour later, the Flyers agreed to a five-year, $15MM deal with Scott Laughton.  The 26-year-old has spent his entire NHL career – spanning parts of eight seasons – with the Flyers and while he isn’t a significant offensive producer, he plays a strong all-around game, becoming a useful part of their core in the process.  Later in the week, likely using Laughton’s pact as a template, the Jets then inked Adam Lowry to a five-year, $16.25MM contract.  The gritty center was going to be one of the more intriguing pivots on the open market this summer but instead will stick it out in Winnipeg where he has become an integral part of their third line.

Hall To Boston: Taylor Hall had been viewed as a prominent rental that was going to be on the move at the deadline basically from the moment he signed with Buffalo.  While he has had a rough season and had just two goals with the Sabres and an $8MM price tag, there were several teams interested in his services.  However, Hall was able to leverage his no-move clause to go to his preferred destination in Boston, being traded there along with Curtis Lazar for Anders Bjork and a second-round pick with Buffalo retaining half of Hall’s salary.  Hall should give the Bruins an upgraded second line down the stretch if he does well and he’s off to a good start with two goals and an assist in four games.  Meanwhile, the rebuild in Buffalo continues with the Sabres hoping that a change of scenery can unlock some of Bjork’s potential.

More COVID Issues: The ongoing pandemic claimed some more games on the schedule as Colorado had three of their games postponed after Philipp Grubauer, Joonas Donskoi, and Bowen Byram landed on the CPRA list.  For the time being, the plan is for them to resume skating on Wednesday and their missed contests have yet to be rescheduled.  Meanwhile, Vancouver’s return was also briefly delayed following some concerns being voiced by J.T. Miller; instead of starting on Friday, they resumed play on Sunday.  That resulted in more than a dozen changes to the North Division schedule including the regular season for that division being extended to May 19th.

Carter To Pittsburgh: Another player that wasn’t expected to be on the move was Jeff Carter.  He had spent parts of ten years in Los Angeles and with another year left on his deal at more than $5.2MM, there wasn’t expected to be much trade interest.  However, the Penguins were able to get a deal done and get him to waive his no-trade protection, acquiring the 36-year-old for a pair of conditional draft picks, a 2022 third-rounder and a 2023 fourth-rounder.  The first pick can upgrade a round if Pittsburgh makes the Stanley Cup Final this season with Carter playing in half of their playoff games while the second will upgrade by a round if he plays 50 games next season.  Carter gives Pittsburgh some needed depth down the middle and was a big part of two Cup-winning teams with the Kings.

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The days leading up to the trade deadline have, as usual, produced some notable trades.  As those were the biggest stories around the league over the past seven days, let’s take a look back at the biggest swaps over that span.

Islanders Strike First: With Anders Lee’s injury being a season-ending one, he was able to be placed on LTIR to give the Islanders a chance to spend to add a replacement.  They did just that as GM Lou Lamoriello once again turned to his former team in New Jersey, acquiring Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac from the Devils in exchange for a 2021 first-round pick, a conditional 2022 fourth-rounder, plus two minor leaguers to match contracts.  New Jersey retained half of Palmieri and Zajac’s contracts to facilitate the move.  Palmieri gives New York a top-six winger to take Lee’s spot while Zajac will give them some more skill in the bottom six and waived his no-move clause to join the Isles after declining to do so a year ago.

Colorado Gets A Goalie: For the second time this season, Avalanche GM Joe Sakic felt it was necessary to trade for a goalie.  This time, he brought in Devan Dubnyk from San Jose in exchange for defenseman Greg Pateryn and a 2021 fifth-round pick.  There was no retention in this swap but Pateryn’s presence in the deal effectively offset the salary side of the ledger.  Dubnyk is having a tough season but still represents an upgrade on Jonas Johansson and Hunter Miska who were filling in for Pavel Francouz who has missed the entire season due to a lower-body injury and has been ruled out through the end of the regular season.

Foligno To Toronto: Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas didn’t hide that his desire was to add a key rental forward and he did just that, acquiring Nick Foligno from Columbus (plus Stefan Noesen from San Jose) in a three-team swap.  The Sharks were involved in the deal to retain extra money; with them retaining 25% and the Blue Jackets 50%, Toronto was able to add the veteran winger without sending anyone out though it cost them a first rounder and a pair of fourths to do so.  Thanks to the addition of Riley Nash to create an expanded LTIR pool, they were able to get enough flexibility to do this move and still be able to activate Frederik Andersen off LTIR when he’s ready to come back and get a strong complementary piece in Foligno.

Montour To Florida: The Panthers were on the lookout for a defenseman to try to fill some of the void from Aaron Ekblad’s season-ending injury and picked up an intriguing rearguard in Brandon Montour.  Montour didn’t fit in well with Buffalo but now will have an opportunity to join a surprising contender to rebuild some value heading into free agency.  With Florida not needing the Sabres to retain salary, they only had to part with a 2021 third-round pick to get him.  Considering they already had cap room and cleared out Brett Connolly’s contract to Chicago earlier in the week, they have plenty of cap space to try to add another piece or two by Monday’s deadline.

Savard To Tampa Bay: The Lightning weren’t expected to do much of anything by the deadline but instead, they managed to land one of the top rentals on the market in Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard.  The deal involved double retention again with Columbus holding 50% and Detroit another 25% which made the price tag – picks in the first, third, and fourth round – a bit higher but Tampa Bay now adds a capable top-four defender to an already strong group.  Considering they’re expected to get Nikita Kucherov back for the playoffs as well, they have to be viewed as a strong contender to try to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

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While things were largely quiet on the trade front over the past seven days, there was still plenty of notable news around the league which are highlighted in our key stories.

COVID Outbreak In Vancouver: The Canucks have been hit extremely hard with a COVID-19 outbreak.  As of today, 16 players are on the CPRA list and are in quarantine protocol and that list doesn’t include taxi squad players or coaches.  Their games have been postponed through April 6th but it feels like it’s only a matter of time before that gets extended.  Vancouver has started recalling players from the AHL in order to try to field a full roster whenever they are cleared to resume play but after the North Division schedule was juggled when Montreal had to sit for a week, it will be facing another set of changes.  But for now, the focus is on hoping everyone affected by the outbreak comes out of it healthy.

Palmieri Scratched For Trade: Earlier this weekend, the Devils and Kyle Palmieri were expected to take one last run at hammering out a contract extension.  Evidently, those talks went nowhere as he was held out of New Jersey’s lineup on Sunday in anticipation of a trade.  The 30-year-old is slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and while he’s having a quiet year offensively with just eight goals in 34 games, his track record – at least 24 goals in each of the previous five seasons – should result in several suitors for his services.  With a $4.65MM AAV and an eight-team no-trade clause per CapFriendly, the Devils may have to work with Palmieri to find the right trade while some sort of contract retention will likely be necessary.

Five For Demko: For years, Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko has been touted as Vancouver’s goalie of the future.  He has lived up to those expectations this season and was rewarded for his efforts as he signed a five-year, $25MM contract extension.  The deal represents a substantial raise on his current $1.05MM cap hit but he has certainly earned it with his performance, posting a .917 SV% in 25 starts this season.  That number may not seem too strong on its own but Vancouver is allowing 3.24 goals per game and is in the bottom ten in the league in that department.  GM Jim Benning can now turn his focus to his other two prominent pending restricted free agents in Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson.

Gostisbehere Clears Waivers: It has been a steep fall from grace for Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere over the last few years.  After putting up 65 points in 2017-18, his numbers fell off sharply the following two seasons and this year, he had been a healthy scratch on several occasions.  Things got even worse from there as he cleared waivers on Wednesday.  Obviously, his $4.5MM price tag made a claim from most teams impossible but it’s still a sign of how much of a hit his value has taken.  A few years ago, he would have fetched a sizable return on the trade market but now, Gostisbehere’s deal looks like one where Philadelphia will have to include an incentive to simply find any taker for him.

College Free Agency: Two of the top players in college free agency are now off the market.  First, Jordan Kawaguchi inked a one-year, entry-level deal with Dallas that will be effective next season.  The 23-year-old finished fourth in NCAA Division I scoring this season with 36 points in 28 games after putting up 45 points in 33 games in his junior year to finish second in scoring.  The next day, arguably the top free agent on the market came off the board as the Panthers signed Matt Kiersted to a two-year, entry-level pact.  The 22-year-old was immediately inserted into Florida’s lineup as he made his NHL debut on Saturday as they hope that he’ll be able to help fill a small part of the void opened up with Aaron Ekblad’s season being over.

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While it was relatively quiet on the trade front this past week aside from Colorado adding a bit of goaltending depth, there was still some notable news around the league which receives an extra look in our key stories.

Coyotes Open To Moving Garland: The Coyotes are one of the lower-scoring teams in the NHL and Conor Garland is their leading scorer with 25 points in 30 games.  Despite that, it appears as if Arizona is open to trading the 25-year-old.  The reason would appear to be two-fold.  The first is that he’d yield a good return, especially with a price tag that’s just above the league minimum that even most cap-strapped teams would be able to afford.  The second is that he’s arbitration-eligible for the first time this summer and is poised to land a significant raise.  Arizona’s prospect pool has taken a hit the last couple of years and while they have some veterans that they can move, Garland would undoubtedly allow them to add something of significance to their group.

Krueger Fired: With things going off the rails in Buffalo, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before a coaching change was made.  That time came on Wednesday when the Sabres fired head coach Ralph Krueger along with assistant coach Steve Smith with Don Granato taking over head coaching duties on an interim basis.  Krueger was in his second season with Buffalo but only managed to compile a 36-50-12 record; only six of those wins came in their 29 games this season.  An extensive coaching search is expected as GM Kevyn Adams will now be tasked to find the right person to help lead Buffalo out of what is about to become a decade-long playoff drought.

Lee Out For The Year: The Islanders will be without one of their top forwards with the announcement that Anders Lee is out for the year due to ACL surgery.  It’s undoubtedly a big blow to their attack as the captain is tied for the team lead in goals with 12 while he averages over 17 minutes per game.  However, the potential silver lining is that the placement makes him eligible to go on LTIR, thus allowing New York to bring in someone making up to his $7MM AAV in as a replacement.  They will be limited to shopping on the rental market for a replacement but all of a sudden, they become a team to watch for between now and the trade deadline although the opportunity to add comes with a big price in Lee’s absence.

Roy Extension: The Kings have received a strong contribution from Matt Roy over the past couple of seasons and have rewarded him for his efforts, inking the 26-year-old to a three-year, $9.45MM contract extension.  The $3.15MM AAV is a huge jump on the league-minimum $700K he has made over the last two years but in that time, Roy has established himself as a top-four piece on the back end for Los Angeles.  Notably, the contract also buys out two UFA-eligible years which certainly was factored into the price tag.

Surgery For Chiarot: The Canadiens will be without one of their defensemen for a while as Ben Chiarot underwent surgery to repair a broken hand sustained in a fight earlier in the week.  The expected recovery is six-to-eight weeks although GM Marc Bergevin expressed optimism that the veteran will be able to return before the end of the regular season.  Chiarot is in his second year with the Canadiens and had spent most of the season partnered with Shea Weber in their top-four while logging just shy of 22 minutes a night in ice time.  The fact that he’s expected to return will effectively restrict Montreal from going deep into LTIR to try to replace him.

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Even as we reached the midway point of the season, several of the biggest stories from the past seven days pertain to things for the offseason and beyond.

Draft Notes: The league has proposed some changes to the draft lottery rules.  If ratified by the Board of Governors, teams will only be allowed to pick first overall two times in a five-year span and teams will only be able to move up a maximum of ten spots (down from the current 13).  Those changes wouldn’t come into effect until 2022 while the change that sees only two spots drawn in the lottery instead of three would occur for this year.  Meanwhile, while several teams were hoping for some sort of delay to the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, that does not appear to be happening with the current expectation now being that it will occur in July as scheduled.  With the trade deadline approaching, a formal ruling on this has been anticipated for a while.

Panarin Returns: Rangers winger Artemi Panarin has returned to the team after missing several weeks on a leave of absence following allegations that surfaced back home in Russia.  The 2020 Hart Trophy finalist is a welcome addition to a New York team that currently sits sixth in the East Division and is in the bottom ten in goals scored.  He made an immediate impact upon returning, picking up an assist against Boston on Saturday.

Binnington Extension: Arguably the top UFA goaltender is off the market before even getting there as the Blues and Jordan Binnington agreed to a six-year, $36MM contract extension.  The deal contains a full no-trade clause in the first three seasons before dropping down as low as ten teams in the final season.  The 27-year-old is still relatively untested at the NHL level with just 100 career regular season starts under his belt.  However, he was dominant in his rookie season where he helped lead St. Louis to the Stanley Cup in 2018-19 and established himself as the full-time starter last year.  Suffice it to say, it is quite the turn of events for a goaltender that was loaned to Boston’s AHL team back in 2017-18 after declining an ECHL assignment and now he has a $36MM contract under his belt.

Latest On Kane: As part of Evander Kane’s bankruptcy proceedings, he and the team filed a joint motion in California court indicating that a contract termination is a possibility which would certainly drastically affect his list of assets moving forward.  It’s only one possible outcome and some rulings will need to be made before then (including whether this should be a Chapter 11 or Chapter 7 case) but this is a situation that isn’t going to be resolved quickly.  The case has been delayed until early June which still leaves some time before the free agent market opens up but this is certainly something that we haven’t seen the end of just yet.

Back With ESPN: The NHL has decided to split its rights package in two and the first of those will be with ESPN as the two sides announced a seven-year agreement.  The exact financial terms weren’t formally disclosed but the belief is the deal more than doubles the $200MM average that the league was receiving from NBC while the league still has the second package to sell with NBC joining CBS and FOX in those discussions.  ESPN will get four of seven Stanley Cup Finals in that span along with comprehensive streaming rights.

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The opening week of March featured quite a few notable headlines across the NHL which are highlighted in our key stories.

Stepan’s Season Over: Senators center Derek Stepan had been in trade speculation for the past several weeks.  It was the likely outcome for a team that was expected to flip him to a contender and they were hoping to get him back to the United States where he could be with his family.  He’ll be able to rejoin them now but not by a trade as it was confirmed that he will miss the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury that required surgery.  Stepan’s season ends with just one goal and five assists in 20 games, hardly the level of production he was hoping to have in his final year before becoming an unrestricted free agent.  All of a sudden, Stepan goes from potentially being one of the better centers available to one that will simply be looking to have a bounce-back year.

Tarasenko Returns: Forget about waiting to see what the Blues are able to do at the trade deadline.  No, their best acquisition came on Saturday when Vladimir Tarasenko, their top winger, was activated off LTIR and made his season debut that night.  The 29-year-old has been one of the more dangerous scoring threats in the league when he is healthy and will give a St. Louis attack that’s already tied for third in the league in goals scored another level.  With several other players on LTIR, no corresponding cap-clearing move was required.

Seabrook Hangs Them Up: Heading into the season, Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook was expected to return but was ruled as unavailable with no timeline for a return.  As it turns out, there won’t be a return after all.  Instead, the 35-year-old announced that his playing days have come to an end due to a lingering hip issue.  Seabrook was a key cog on Chicago’s back end for parts of 15 seasons, playing in over 1,100 career regular season games plus another 123 in the playoffs where he helped lead the team to three Stanley Cup titles.  He remains under contract through 2023-24 and hasn’t officially retired which means he will be on LTIR for the rest of this season plus the next three although Chicago will be able to spend over the cap to replace him.

Calgary Changes Coaches: With the Flames scuffling and sitting on the outside looking in at a playoff spot, Geoff Ward’s tenure as head coach appeared to be tenuous and ultimately came to an end as he was relieved of his duties.  While that may not have been too much of a shock, what was quite surprising was his replacement as Darryl Sutter was brought back for a second stint with Calgary, signing a three-year contract.  The 62-year-old was behind the bench with the Flames from 2002 through 2006 during which the team made it to the Stanley Cup Final.  Notably, he’s a direct contrast from Ward’s coaching style as it appears that GM Brad Treliving believes a stricter bench boss will bring out the best from his underachievers.  Sutter had to go through quarantine before joining the team so his debut won’t come until they start a two-game set against Montreal on Thursday.

Wilson Suspended: Capitals winger Tom Wilson drew the ire of the Department of Player Safety again from a boarding incident on Friday night against Boston on a hit on Brandon Carlo.  While boarding penalties themselves typically don’t carry hefty suspensions, Wilson’s track record suggested a sizable one would be coming.  In the end, the league handed him a seven-game ban, one he has opted not to appeal.  It’s the fifth suspension of his career and will cost him over $311K in salary, an amount that would have been substantially higher had it not been more than two years since his previous suspension.

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While it was a quiet week on the transaction front aside from the usual long list of daily taxi movement, there were still plenty of newsworthy stories around the NHL which are highlighted in the key stories of the week.

Skinner Saga: Last season was a tough one for Jeff Skinner as he managed just 14 goals in 59 games, hardly the type of performance they were expecting from a $9MM commitment.  However, his struggles last year pale in comparison to this season as he has just one assist in 16 games.  Things came to a head when he was a healthy scratch for three straight games with his agent, Don Meehan, getting involved on behalf of his client.  Skinner has since returned but Buffalo’s offensive drought continued as they’ve been shut out in two straight games.  While a trade at this point is all but impossible with six more years left on his deal after this one so it will be worth watching to see if they try to put him back in a top-six role to try to get him going or if he’ll be spending more time in the press box before long.

More From Buffalo: Skinner’s situation wasn’t the only notable news.  It was also revealed that defenseman Jake McCabe would miss the next six-to-eight months due to several injuries to ligaments in his right knee, ending his season.  It’s a tough blow for the Sabres who lose a top-four defenseman while McCabe now will be entering unrestricted free agency coming off a season that was limited to just 13 games.  Meanwhile, another pending UFA has hit the trade block in blueliner Brandon Montour.  The 26-year-old looked like a core addition when Buffalo acquired him back in 2019 but he has struggled considerably over parts of three seasons with the team.  With a $3.85MM price tag, the Sabres will either have to retain salary or take a contract back to facilitate a trade.

Canadiens Change Coaches: The first coaching change of the season has taken place with Montreal firing head coach Claude Julien and associate coach Kirk Muller.  Assistant coach Dominque Ducharme was promoted to the top spot on an interim basis for the rest of the season while Alex Burrows was added to the coaching staff after spending parts of three seasons with AHL Laval.  The Canadiens actually got off to a hot start this season winning seven of their first ten games (and picked up a point in two of their losses) but have won just twice in ten games since then.  Julien is 13th in all-time NHL coaching victories (17th in games played) and is still owed $5MM this season and next on his contract.  Meanwhile, this is Ducharme’s first head coaching role in the NHL.

Vancouver-Anaheim Trade Talks: While a trade ultimately didn’t materialize (or hasn’t yet, at least), the Canucks and Ducks were involved in discussions surrounding wingers Jake Virtanen and Danton Heinen.  Making the money work has been a challenge so far despite the fact that the difference in cap hit between the two is only $250K.  It goes to show how tricky making the salary cap element work is going to be with so many teams tight to the Upper Limit of the cap this season.  Both wingers have struggled this season and could certainly benefit from a change of scenery but it doesn’t appear as if they’ll be getting moved for each other just yet.

Panarin Leave Of Absence: Rangers winger Artemi Panarin has been granted a leave of absence from the team following public allegations of an assault on an 18-year-old female during his time with Chekhov Vityaz in the KHL ten years ago.  Panarin denies the allegations, which some believe are politically motivated with his prior public support of opposition leader Alexi Navalny while the Rangers have also issued a statement supporting their star.  There is no timetable for his return.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.