Week In Review

As is often the case, the final week of the regular season around the NHL was a busy one.  Here are the top stories from the past seven days.

Sedins Retire: The Canucks were hoping to get an answer about the playing futures of Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin heading into the summer and they now have that as the twins announced that 2017-18 would be their final season.  The twins wound up playing all 17 of their NHL seasons together with Vancouver and between the two of them, hold franchise records in games played, goals, assists, points, plus/minus, and shots on goal (among others).  They sit first and second in points and considering Alexander Edler is the only other active Canuck in the top-ten and the fact he’s more than 500 points behind each of them, it’s safe to say those two will be at the top for many years to come.

Suter Out For The Year: While Minnesota is off to the playoffs, they will be competing without their top defender as Ryan Suter is out for the remainder of the season after undergoing ankle surgery.  That’s a huge blow for their back end as not only has Suter been quite productive (he tied his career high in points with 55), he also led their team in ice time per game by a considerable margin, logging just shy of 27 minutes per game.  The injury is quite a severe one as well; Suter noted that the severity of it was significant enough that it could have been a career-ender had he played in a different sport instead.  (However, since ankles are tightly secured inside a hockey skate, he should be able to return to action next season.)

Extensions: The Coyotes have locked up their starting goaltender for the next three years as they inked Antti Raanta to a three-year, $12.75MM extension.  While he has struggled to stay healthy this season, Raanta was quite sharp when he was in the lineup, posting a 2.24 GAA and a .930 SV% in 48 games.  That placed him second in the league in both categories behind Carter Hutton of the Blues.  Meanwhile, a long-time Red Wing is also staying put as Detroit signed GM Ken Holland to a two-year extension.  The 62-year-old has been with the organization since 1986 and has held the title of General Manager since 1997.

More Retirements: The Sedins weren’t the only players to announce that they were calling it a career.  Blackhawks winger Patrick Sharp revealed earlier in the week that this was going to be it for him while Panthers winger Radim Vrbata did the same on Saturday.  Sharp finishes up with 287-333-620 totals in 939 games between Philadelphia, Dallas, and Chicago while Vrbata posted 284-339-623 across 1,057 games with seven different organizations (including three separate stints in the desert with the Coyotes).

Coaching News: It took until the final day of the regular season for the first coach to be fired and it was by the Rangers, who relieved Alain Vigneault of his duties.  He spent five years with the Blueshirts and his team made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final back in 2014 before losing to the Kings.  Vigneault has been a head coach every year since 2006-07 and is sure to draw some attention if and when other vacancies open up.  Meanwhile, despite their rough year, there won’t be a change behind the bench in Chicago as the Blackhawks announced that Joel Quenneville will return for his 11th season with the team.  While there has been talk of friction between him and GM Stan Bowman, the latter will also retain his title heading into next year.

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It was a fairly quiet week overall but that should change soon as most college teams have been eliminated which should start to open up the free agent market in the days to come.  Meanwhile, here are the top stories from the past seven days.

Mascherin Won’t Sign With Florida: It’s not very often that a second-round pick will opt to re-enter the draft over signing with the team that picked him but that’s the case with Panthers 2016 pick Adam Mascherin, who informed the team that he will not sign with them.  Florida is now likely to try to trade his rights in the hopes of recouping some sort of asset for him; only first-rounders that do not sign are eligible for compensation picks.  The diminutive winger had his third straight season with at least 35 goals and more than 80 points, putting up 40-46-86 totals in 67 regular season contests.

Rangers Open To Trading A First-Rounder: As a result of the Rick Nash and Ryan McDonagh trades near the deadline, the Rangers have two extra first-round picks in the upcoming draft.  GM Jeff Gorton acknowledged that he would be open to moving one of those selections even though the team is clearly rebuilding.  With New York adding several other prospects in their trades plus their pair of first-round selections from 2017, there is a young core now in place and perhaps that may be what Gorton would be looking for in this type of trade – another young player whose NHL timeline meshes with that group.  They’d be wise to talk to Calgary who is looking to acquire a first-round pick before the draft.

Thornton Could Return In Postseason: The Sharks have done well to position themselves in a playoff spot as they sit second in the Pacific, six points clear of Los Angeles.  Now, they’ve got further good news as center Joe Thornton has been skating for the better part of two weeks now and wouldn’t rule out the possibility of returning at some point in the playoffs.  The veteran has been recovering from MCL surgery back in late January and is no stranger to postseason action as he sits third overall among active players in playoff contests with 160 and tied for third overall in playoff points with 123 (27-96-123).

Marody To Edmonton: It’s rare at this time of the year to see a trade but there was one made between the Flyers and Oilers with Edmonton acquiring prospect Cooper Marody in exchange for New Jersey’s third-round pick in 2019 (previously acquired for Patrick Maroon at the trade deadline).  The Flyers get a nice return on their investment in Marody, who they selected 158th overall in 2015.  Marody recently finished up a very productive year at Michigan, collecting 48 points (16-32-48) in 38 games.  He has one year of college eligibility remaining although it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Oilers try to take a run at signing him.

Draft Lottery Changes: With the addition of Vegas this season, the draft lottery odds needed to be changed as there are now 15 teams that miss the postseason.  The new odds have been agreed upon with the chances of the team finishing last overall actually increasing slightly, from 18% to 18.5%.  Meanwhile, the team with the most points that misses the postseason will have just a 1% chance, down from 1.1%.  Additionally, the odds for teams in the middle of the lottery have been decreased, undoubtedly in response to the results from the 2017 lottery that saw the bottom three finishers all drop three spots in the selection order.

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While activity around the league has quieted down lately (that should soon change with college free agency really getting set to kick off), there were still several key stories around the hockey world this past week.

Kulikov Out Eight Weeks: Winnipeg has had rough luck with injuries all season long and that continued with the announcement that defenseman Dmitry Kulikov will miss the next eight weeks after undergoing back surgery.  While the 27-year-old hasn’t quite lived up to his $4.33MM cap hit this season, he has still provided the Jets with quality minutes on the third pairing and has jumped into a top-four role when called upon as well.  They also got some more bad news with goalie Steve Mason suffering a knee injury that will keep him out for two-to-three weeks.

Carolina’s GM Search: What a strange week this was for Carolina and their search for a new general manager to replace Ron Francis.  First, Mike Futa withdrew his name from consideration.  Paul Fenton was the next to do so and then Tom Fitzgerald and Bill Guerin pulled their names out of the hat.  Not surprisingly, new owner Thomas Dundon is expected to slow the search down a little bit in an effort to make things less public.  Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reports (video link) that money is playing a role in some of these people bowing out, noting that the offer from Dundon is believed to be around $400K per year.

Sign-And-Trade For Tavares? Sign-and-trades aren’t particularly common in the NHL but TSN’s Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger both suggested that it could be a possibility with Islanders center John Tavares.  Doing so would allow the pending unrestricted free agent to get the maximum eight-year term on his next contract (instead of seven if he signed with a new team directly) while New York would be able to recover some sort of asset for facilitating the move.  It’s believed that Tavares will indicate his plans to the team in advance of the NHL Entry Draft in June which would give GM Garth Snow a bit of time to try to work some sort of trade out if their franchise player decides to move on.

Spurgeon Out Four Weeks: Minnesota was dealt a big blow with Jared Spurgeon tearing his hamstring, an injury that will keep him out of the lineup for the rest of the regular season (and four weeks in total).  The 28-year-old sits third on the Wild in points by a defenseman while also logging 24:33 per night in ice time, second on the team.  His absence will certainly be a tough one to absorb as Minnesota continues to battle for a playoff spot in the tightly-contested Western Conference.

Kovalchuk Wants To Return To The NHL: While he is technically retired from the NHL, Russian winger Ilya Kovalchuk reiterated his intent to return to the NHL this summer while noting that he hopes to play there for several years.  The 34-year-old led the KHL in scoring this season with 63 points (31-32-63) in 53 games while picking up a Gold Medal at the Olympics.  As he will be 35 before the start of next season, he will be eligible for performance-based incentives in his contract as long as he signs for one year which could be intriguing to some cap-strapped teams.

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The first full week of March was a quieter one as teams settle in for the stretch run but there was still a fair bit of big news around the league.

Bouwmeester Out For The Year: After a lengthy losing skid and the trade of Paul Stastny to Winnipeg at the trade deadline, the Blues were already in tougher shape for making the playoffs.  That path got even more challenging with the announcement that defenseman Jay Bouwmeester is out for the season with a hip injury that carries a recovery timeline of four-to-six months.  2017-18 was certainly an injury-riddled campaign for the 34-year-old as he finishes it up having played in a career-low 35 games.  However, when healthy, he still logged big minutes for St. Louis and they will certainly miss his presence on the back end down the stretch.

Washington Sits Down Holtby: It’s not very often where a team in contention will announce that they’re sitting their starting goalie down late in the season but that is what happened with the Capitals and netminder Braden Holtby.  Since the start of February, the 28-year-old has posted a 4.44 GAA with a .872 SV%, numbers that are well below the league average.  Philipp Grubauer is poised to run with the number one spot for the time being and has fared well in his first two starts, allowing just two goals on 52 shots.  Considering that he is widely expected to be traded in the summer, this is quite the opportunity for Grubauer to showcase himself to potential suitors around the league.

Francis Out As Carolina GM: New Hurricanes owner Thomas Dundon isn’t wasting much time putting his stamp on the organization.  Barely a week after Carolina was largely inactive at the trade deadline, Dundon removed Ron Francis from his role as general manager and named him president of hockey operations.  The move may sound like a promotion in title but Dundon stated that he wanted a new voice for personnel moves which isn’t exactly a vote of confidence for the moves (or lack thereof) that Carolina has made in recent years.

Rutta Extension: Jan Rutta’s first season in the NHL has been a solid one and the Blackhawks certainly have taken notice as they signed him to a one-year, $2.3MM contract extension.  The 27-year-old has logged over 19 minutes per game this season and ranks second on Chicago in points-per-game from defensemen.  The ‘Hawks now have their top-six defenders all locked up for next season at a combined cap hit of just over $20.4MM.

Whitecloud To Vegas: College free agent season is now upon us and the Golden Knights landed the first prominent player as they signed defenseman Zach Whitecloud to a three-year, entry-level contract.  The 21-year-old put up 19 points in 35 games in his sophomore season at Bemidji State University and drew interest from several other teams around the league including the Kings, Lightning, and Red Wings.  That may have played a role in Vegas deciding to have him skate with the big club for the rest of the regular season although it remains to be seen how much game action he will see.

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As expected, it was quite a busy week around the league with plenty of trades being made before the deadline.  You can catch up on the moves made in our Eastern and Western Conference recaps.  Here are five other key stories from around the hockey world.

Dell Signs Extension: Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell was viewed as one of their top trade chips heading into the trade deadline but he wound up staying put.  One day later, he put pen to paper on a two-year, $3.8MM extension that will keep San Jose’s goaltending duo intact for the next two years.  The Sharks will be spending a lot more on their masked men next season as the combined cap hits of Dell and Martin Jones will jump from $3.625MM to $7.625MM.

Two Canucks Out For The Year: The injury bug hasn’t been kind to Vancouver this season and that continued this past week.  Winger Loui Eriksson suffered a fractured rib and is out for the season while winger Sven Baertschi separated his shoulder and he is also done for the year.  It’s the second time this year that each will miss at least ten games.  For perspective, eight other Canucks skaters have missed at least ten contests in 2017-18.

Hornqvist Extension: There is rarely a dull moment around the trade deadline when Jim Rutherford is around.  After landing Derick Brassard in the days leading up to it, they struck again the day after the deadline by signing winger Patric Hornqvist to a five-year, $26.5MM extension.  The 31-year-old has been a key and consistent part of their attack for each of the last four seasons and should crack the 20-goal mark for the fifth straight season and eighth out of the last nine.  (The one season he didn’t do so was the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign.)  The Penguins now have just over $70MM committed to 17 players for next season.

Bergeron Has Foot Fracture: Although he played in one game after being seen in a walking boot, Bruins center Patrice Bergeron has been shut down due to a fracture in his foot.  He is set to be re-evaluated in two weeks but there is no firm timetable for his return.  Bergeron has played an integral role in Boston’s success so far this season and has been hovering around the point-per-game mark all year.  With the Bruins being safely in a playoff spot, they will at least be afforded the opportunity to be as patient as they need to be to make sure he’s fully recovered for the postseason.

CHL Considering Lifting Import Goalie Ban: One of the more controversial decisions the CHL had made in recent years was back in 2013 where it prevented its 60 teams from selecting European-born goaltenders in the annual Import Draft.  Now, it appears that they are at least considering reversing that decision which could create some opportunities for the top draft-eligible junior netminders to cross the pond once again, something that would certainly appeal to NHL scouts.

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Unsurprisingly, activity around the league has picked up considerably with the trade deadline right on the horizon.  Here are the biggest stories from the past week.

1) The Brassard Kerfuffle: Center Derick Brassard was dealt to Pittsburgh…twice.  After the Pens, Sens, and Golden Knights reached a three-way trade, the deal was vetoed by the NHL.  That led to hours of speculation about whether or not the trade could be reworked.  In the end, a revised swap consisting on three separate trades was agreed on and approved with Ottawa landing a first-round pick along with prospect goalie Filip Gustavsson, defenseman Ian Cole, and Pittsburgh’s 2019 third-round choice.  Vegas, meanwhile, adds rugged winger Ryan Reaves along with and Vancouver’s 2018 fourth-rounder in exchange for retaining 40% of Brassard’s contract plus minor league winger Tobias Lindberg (who also wound up in Ottawa when all was said and done).  In Brassard, Pittsburgh lands a top-six caliber center that they will use on their third line, giving them considerable depth at position for this season and next.  The Penguins also received Ottawa’s 2018 third-round pick in the trade.

2) Extensions: The Islanders have locked up an important unrestricted free agent, agreeing to terms on a new six-year, $30MM pact with winger Josh Bailey.  The 28-year-old has played alongside pending UFA center John Tavares this season and has already put up career numbers across the board, tallying 15 goals and 47 assists in 59 games; his 62 points rank 17th overall in the NHL.  Even if Bailey can’t maintain this level of production moving forward, this should still be a pretty good contract for New York if he can hover around the 45-50 point mark in the years to come.

Meanwhile, Vancouver reached an agreement to keep one of their defenders around for the foreseeable future, inking Erik Gudbranson to a three-year, $12MM pact.  The stay-at-home blueliner has had trouble staying healthy and has seen his role reduced this season but the Canucks believe that he can still be a quality fourth or fifth defender for a few more years.

3) Nash To Boston: As expected, the Rangers parted with veteran winger Rick Nash, sending him to Boston for a sizable package.  In return, New York acquires the Bruins’ first-round pick in 2018, left wing/center Ryan Spooner, winger Matt Beleskey, prospect blueliner Ryan Lindgren, and a 2019 seventh-rounder.  The Rangers are retaining 50% of Nash’s contract while Boston is doing the same with Beleskey which is notable as he is signed at a $3.8MM cap hit through 2019-20.  Nash should bolster Boston’s second line while New York picks up a pair of key young assets in the first-rounder plus Lindgren and could conceivably look to flip Spooner as well in advance of the deadline.

4) Goalie Swaps: After injuries took out both Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth, the Flyers moved quickly to secure a replacement, acquiring Petr Mrazek from Detroit in exchange for a pair of conditional draft picks.  The Red Wings will receive a 2018 fourth-rounder at a minimum; that pick becomes a third if the Flyers make the playoffs with Mrazek winning five games and shifts to a second-rounder if Philadelphia makes the Eastern Conference Final and Mrazek wins six games.  Detroit will also land a 2019 third-round selection if the Flyers re-sign the 26-year-old.

This wasn’t the only goalie move of the week, however.  The Coyotes picked up Darcy Kuemper from the Kings in exchange for winger Tobias Rieder and netminder Scott Wedgewood (who was subsequently waived and cleared).  Kuemper then agreed to a two-year, $3.7MM extension which gives Arizona a bit of stability between the pipes with starter Antti Raanta eligible for unrestricted free agency in July.  Meanwhile, the Kings land a versatile winger in Rieder who should help bolster their attack for the stretch run.

5) Devils/Rangers Deal: For the first time ever, the Devils and Rangers made a trade with each other as New Jersey picked up winger Michael Grabner from New York in exchange for the Devils’ 2018 second-round pick and defenseman Yegor Rykov.  Grabner has been one of the top even-strength scorers this season with 24 of his 25 tallies have come in that situation.  The speedster should slot in as a middle-six winger as the Devils look to lock down a playoff spot in the very tight Metropolitan Division.

Since it has been a very busy last few days, here’s a bonus key story:

6) News From Montreal: It hasn’t been a good year for Montreal and the tough news kept on coming.  After feeling some discomfort in his injured foot when he tried to resume skating, the team has shut him down for the remainder of the season and he will undergo surgery to repair a tendon in his left foot.  He finishes up 2017-18 with 16 points (6-10-16) in only 26 games.  Meanwhile, goaltender Carey Price has been diagnosed with a concussion and is out indefinitely.  For the time being, the Canadiens will go with veteran Antti Niemi (unless he is traded by the deadline) and youngster Charlie Lindgren between the pipes.

Meanwhile, Montreal dealt their one prominent pending free agent in center Tomas Plekanec (along with minor league winger Kyle Baun) to Toronto in exchange for the Leafs’ second-round pick in 2018 plus youngsters Rinat Valiev and Kerby Rychel.  The Canadiens are also retaining 50% of Plekanec’s $6MM contract.  In Plekanec, Toronto gets a strong checking center that should play a key role on the penalty kill plus strengthen their depth down the middle while Montreal picks up their fourth second-rounder for the upcoming draft plus a couple of younger players who could benefit from a change of scenery.

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While there wasn’t a lot of activity on the trade front, there was one deal of note made over the past seven days which is among the top stories of the past week.

Elliott Injured: Philadelphia’s postseason chances took a dip when it was revealed that starting goalie Brian Elliott will miss five-to-six weeks after undergoing core muscle surgery.  For the time being, this means that the Flyers will go with a tandem of Michal Neuvirth and Alex Lyon while there has been plenty of speculation that they will have to turn to the trade market at some point before the deadline.  However, it appears that they have already declined an offer involving Detroit’s Petr Mrazek.

Phaneuf For Gaborik: The most prominent trade of the week saw a swap of veterans with the Kings acquiring defenseman Dion Phaneuf and center Nate Thompson from Ottawa in exchange for winger Marian Gaborik and center Nick Shore.  The Sens are retaining 25% of Phaneuf’s contract through 2021-21.  While the 32-year-old blueliner isn’t a top pairing player anymore, he still is capable of holding down a second pairing role and should help shore up their back end.  Meanwhile, Ottawa, a known budget team, saves some money over the life of the trade although Gaborik’s best days are behind him while Shore is more of a depth player than an impact one.

Seattle Files Expansion Application: Seattle took the next step towards their anticipated expansion franchise by officially filing their application and $10MM down payment to the league.  Considering the NHL has already pre-set the expansion fee and set it so that only Seattle could apply, the expectation is that this will be rubber-stamped.  Presently, the hope is that the renovations to Key Arena will be ready in time for Seattle to join the league in 2020.

Six Years For Backlund: There is one less top-six center set to hit the open market this summer as the Flames signed Mikael Backlund to a six-year, $32.1MM contract extension that also contains a ten-team no-trade list.  The 28-year-old has spent his entire career with Calgary after they drafted him in the first round (24th overall) back in 2007.  While he is having a little bit of a quieter year offensively, he’s still on pace to surpass the 45-point mark for the third straight season.  The deal also gives the Flames some security down the middle as their top-two pivots are each signed through at least the 2022-23 season.

Hunwick On The Block, Cole Off: Pittsburgh’s desire to add help at center is well-known but given their salary cap constraints, they will have to make a move to free up some money first.  While blueliner Ian Cole has long been expected to be the casualty, talk of the pending UFA being dealt has cooled off recently as he has returned to a regular role in the lineup.  Instead, fellow rearguard Matt Hunwick is being made available by GM Jim Rutherford.  While his $2.25MM cap hit is manageable, the fact he has two years remaining after this one may limit the number of teams that pursue him.

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Although the trades have yet to pick up in frequency despite the trade deadline coming quickly, there was still plenty of news around the hockey world.  Here are the top five stores from the past week.

1) Kovalchuk To Test NHL Market: Here we go again.  Ilya Kovalchuk is intending to test the NHL free agent market this summer.  This was the case last year as well but there is one notable difference.  Kovalchuk will soon turn 35 which means that the Devils will no longer hold his rights and teams won’t be required to trade for his rights to try to sign him.  The winger is once again dominating the KHL as he leads the league in scoring with 63 points (32-32-63) in 53 games.  There’s no guarantee he signs this time around but he will be an interesting addition to the free agent market nonetheless.

2) Rangers Letter To Fans: There has been plenty of speculation in recent weeks regarding whether or not the Rangers would be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline.  The team put an end to that themselves, issuing a letter to their fans where they acknowledged that they will be looking to get younger and will be moving out some veterans.  That would indicate that their pending unrestricted free agents will be on the move at the very least and it will be interesting to see if players like Mats Zuccarello and Ryan McDonagh will follow suit or if decisions on them will wait until the summer instead.

3) High Price For Nash: Speaking of pending unrestricted free agents on the Rangers, winger Rick Nash submitted his 18-team no-trade list although he acknowledged he may be willing to go to some of the teams on that list.  For the dozen teams that weren’t on it, they will need to be prepared to pay a particularly high asking price.  GM Jeff Gorton is currently asking for a return comparable to what Buffalo is seeking for winger Evander Kane, a first-round draft pick, a top prospect, plus a lesser draft choice or prospect.  Presumably, New York will be willing to retain a significant portion of Nash’s $7.8MM cap hit (they can retain up to 50%) in order to help facilitate a trade.

4) Five Years For Eller: The Capitals locked up one of their pending unrestricted free agents by signing center Lars Eller to a five-year, $17.5MM contract extension.  The $3.5MM AAV matches what he is receiving on his current contract.  Eller is in his second season with the Caps as their third line pivot and is on pace for a career year in points as he sits just two points behind his career-best 30 with two months remaining in the season.  They still have a prominent UFA to deal with in defenseman John Carlson who is in line for a significant raise on his current deal that carries a cap hit just shy of $4MM.

5) Burrows Gets Ten: Senators winger Alex Burrows was handed a ten-game suspension by the league for his kneeing of Devils winger Taylor Hall (who, fortunately, was not injured on the play).  This was the longest suspension handed down by the Department of Player Safety this season and Burrows will forfeit over $125K in salary.  He also elected not to appeal and will be out of Ottawa’s lineup until March 2nd.

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Although it was a quiet week on the trade front, there was still a fair bit of big news around the league over the past week.

Fisher Unretires: Mike Fisher’s retirement didn’t even last one year.  The long-time center announced that he will be returning to play for Nashville.  No contract has been finalized yet as the 37-year-old will have to get back into playing shape first.  It will have to be signed before the trade deadline in order for him to be eligible to play in the postseason.  While Fisher likely won’t bring much to the table offensively considering how long he has been off, he should slot in their bottom six up front while potentially giving them the flexibility to shift Nick Bonino to the wing.

Trouba Out Long-Term: Injuries haven’t been kind to Winnipeg this season as Mark Scheifele, Dustin Byfuglien, Mathieu Perreault, and Steve Mason (among others) have all missed a sizable amount of games.  Defenseman Jacob Trouba was the next to be added to that list as he will miss the next six-to-eight weeks with an ankle injury.  While his production has been lower than expected this year, he has still played an important role for the Jets while ranking second among skaters in ice time.  As he’ll be out past the trade deadline, there’s a possibility that Winnipeg may look to add another defender in the weeks to come.

Jagr To Kladno: After clearing waivers, the Flames assigned veteran winger to HC Kladno in the Czech Republic.  In doing so, the 45-year-old remains on Calgary’s books and the team will retain the ability to recall him if they so desire instead of running him through unconditional waivers to give him his outright release.  In the meantime, veteran Czech center Petr Nedved came out of retirement to face Jagr in his first game back.  Jagr’s first game back home was certainly a productive one as he recorded three assists while playing more than 20 minutes in ice time.

No Tavares Trade: Islanders captain John Tavares hasn’t put pen to paper on a contract extension which led to some speculation that the team could trade him before the deadline to avoid the risk of potentially losing him for nothing in the summer.  GM Garth Snow put an end to all that by stating that Tavares will not be dealt no matter what before the deadline.  With the Isles in a close battle for a Wild Card spot, it seems more likely at this point that they will try to add a player or two to help their chances of getting into the playoffs while hoping to strengthen their pitch to keep Tavares in the fold beyond this season.

Canucks Prefer To Keep Gudbranson: While Vancouver defenseman Erik Gudbranson has been viewed as one of the more prominent rental defensemen that will be dealt before the trade deadline, GM Jim Benning acknowledged that their preference is to sign him to a contract extension.  Gudbranson has been limited to just 33 games this season due to injuries and has been used in a more limited role than usual; his 17:39 average ice time is his lowest since his rookie season.  If they aren’t able to agree on a new deal before the 26th, the 26-year-old will still likely find himself in another uniform by the end of the month.

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While it was a lighter week on the NHL schedule with the All-Star break beginning, there were still several headlines around the hockey world.  Here are the top stories from the past week.

Olympic Rosters: Both Finland and Russia (officially participating as ‘Olympic Athletes from Russia’) named their rosters for next month’s tournament.  Notable players on the Finnish squad include long-time goaltender Karri Ramo plus a pair of first-round picks from last summer’s draft in Miro Heiskanen (Dallas) and Eeli Tolvanen (Nashville).  Meanwhile, the Russian squad features players from only three KHL teams and features several long-time NHL veterans including Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Slava Voynov as well as Vadim Shipachyov who retired from the Golden Knights earlier this season.

Senators Have Preliminary Arena Agreement: While things haven’t been going well on the ice for Ottawa, they got some good news off of it with the announcement that they have reached a preliminary agreement on a redevelopment project for a new arena.  Although their current one isn’t outdated by any stretch, it’s on the outskirts of the city so owner Eugene Melnyk is hopeful that one closer to downtown as this one will be will help improve attendance.  Although this is an important first step, it will still take several years to finalize everything with an early projection of being ready for 2022-23.

Johansson Concussed, Marchand Suspended: A late-game hit between New Jersey and Boston has resulted in a pair of players missing considerable time as Bruins winger Brad Marchand received a five-game suspension for his elbow on Devils winger Marcus Johansson.  Meanwhile, Johansson is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with his second concussion of the season.  Despite being suspended, Marchand was allowed to participate in the All-Star festivities after being named to the game for the second season in a row.

More Knee Troubles For Thornton: For the second straight season, Sharks center Joe Thornton is dealing with knee trouble.  He is out indefinitely after undergoing an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee upon being diagnosed with an MCL injury.  While this is the opposite knee that he had problems with last season, it could very well hurt his cause come free agency as an aging veteran with recent issues in both knees.  Meanwhile, the Sharks will be down an important piece for the foreseeable future as they look to maintain a playoff spot in the very-tight Pacific Division.

Detroit Ready To Sell: As their playoff hopes continue to fade, the Red Wings have told teams that they are open for business and ready to sell.  While that includes pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Mike Green, they also appear to be open to moving players that are signed beyond this season.  One of those appears to be goaltender Jimmy Howard who is believed to be available although a soft trade market for goaltenders may make that somewhat of a challenge.  Looking ahead, with GM Ken Holland’s contract up at the end of the season, what he does (or doesn’t do) over the next month may play a role in whether or not he is brought back for a 22nd season.

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