Florida Panthers Claim Cole Reinhardt
The Vegas Golden Knights will lose one of their bottom-six forwards. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Florida Panthers have claimed Cole Reinhardt off waivers from Vegas.
Reinhardt, 26, will join the third organization of his career. The Calgary, AB native was selected 181st in the 2020 NHL Draft by the Ottawa Senators, and spent five years playing in the organization before joining the Golden Knights last summer.
Throughout his days in the Senators organization, Reinhardt was mostly an AHL talent. Across his five years with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, Reinhardt scored 54 goals and 131 points in 270 games with 275 PIMs.
Unfortunately, his role as a secondary scorer in the AHL hasn’t translated to the NHL level. He’s played 44 games for Vegas this season, scoring three goals and seven points in 44 games. Across his career, he has registered four goals and nine points in 62 games.
Still, he has remained a physical force. In his 62 career contests, Reinhardt has tallied 123 hits. Since he’s still on the younger side, and can immediately join the Panthers’ bottom-six. Florida is expected to move a few depth pieces ahead of today’s deadline, and Reinhardt will be a stopgap for the time being. He is signed through next season at a $813K cap hit, but will be owed $850K in actual salary.
Tampa Bay Lightning Acquire Corey Perry
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Tampa Bay Lightning are acquiring veteran forward Corey Perry from the Los Angeles Kings. The trade comes a day after Frank Seravalli of Victory+ reported that Perry had made his intention known to Los Angeles that he would be interested in remaining with the organization. Both organizations have confirmed the deal.
Seravalli shared that the Kings would receive a second-round pick from the Bolts in exchange for Perry’s services. Later, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun confirmed it was Tampa Bay’s 2028 second-round pick headed back to Los Angeles.
Last offseason, Perry signed a one-year, $2MM contract with the Kings, with performance bonuses. According to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, Los Angeles recently paid Perry $250K for reaching the 50-game mark. For the remainder of the year, the Bolts will be on the hook for a $125K payment for a Round One win, a $250K for a semi-finals win, and a $125K for a Conference Final win. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period added an interesting twist to his bonus structure, sharing that the Kings are retaining 50% of his salary, which would apply to his bonuses.
It’s a return to Tampa Bay for the 21-year veteran. Perry enjoyed two years with the Lightning from 2021 to 2023, scoring 31 goals and 65 points in 163 games, averaging 12:33 of ice time in a bottom-six role. Since then, he has spent his time in the Western Conference with the Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers, and Kings.
Although he’s far removed from being a constant threat for the Hart Trophy, Perry has remained a productive forward into his 40s. Since leaving the Lightning after the 2022-23 NHL season, Perry has registered 42 goals and 80 points in 185 games with a +5 rating.
Still, Perry’s recent runs in the Stanley Cup playoffs have become something of a running joke around the league. Since being bought out by the Anaheim Ducks after the 2018-19 campaign, Perry has reached five Stanley Cup Finals and lost each one of them.
Regardless, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t remained productive in the postseason. As he has done in the regular season, Perry has been a steady tertiary scorer in spring hockey. Since the 2019-20 postseason, Perry has scored 28 goals and 52 points in 119 playoff contests.
For Tampa Bay, the team didn’t need to add much on deadline day. The Lightning are already one of the best teams in the NHL, but it never hurts to insert additional goal-scoring, especially at the bottom of a lineup. To boot, Perry is a familiar face and will give the Bolts an extra veteran presence to lean on come playoff time.
From the Kings’ perspective, even if Perry had the desire to remain in Los Angeles for another season or two, it didn’t make much sense from an organizational perspective. Yes, Perry is productive, but he’s into his age-40 season, and the team has a decent crop of young talent that could theoretically fill the void on the bottom-six moving forward.
Still, the team is attempting to add significant draft capital. If the second-round selection is within the next two years, the Kings will have seven picks in the first two rounds of the next two drafts, exiting the Anze Kopitar era.
Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.
Stars Activate Roope Hintz From Injured Reserve
March 6th: According to a team announcement, the Stars have activated Hintz from injured reserve. He’ll be back in Dallas’ lineup tonight against the Colorado Avalanche.
March 3rd: Earlier today the Dallas Stars shared that Roope Hintz has landed on injured reserve due to illness, retroactive to February 25.
Since returning from the Olympic break where he represented Team Finland and won bronze, Hintz has yet to play, missing Dallas’ last three games. Impressively they’ve won all three by a combined score of 13-4, while tonight’s action in Calgary marks the fourth straight missing their center.
A player ending up on injured reserve from sickness is rare, and while it may cause concern for his health, the timeline is a factor in the decision. With Hintz off the shelf as he heals up, Dallas has an open roster spot to work with leading up to Friday’s trade deadline. The 29-year-old will be eligible to return then, as his Stars will host the Avalanche; the only team above them in the standings. Dallas is usually active at the deadline, and considering that they’re second in the league with a window as open as ever, it figures that they’ll have some reinforcements coming.
Hintz’s fifth place standing in team scoring (44 points in 52 games) is more of an indication of how deep the Stars are up front. The Finn has an elite 59.2% faceoff win rate this year, a career best by a considerable margin, as he continues to rise as a Selke level player. The scoring has tapered off a bit after back-to-back 37 goal campaigns from 2021-23, but it’s hardly an issue considering his impact in other areas, as well as the Stars’ overall firepower.
Winners of nine straight, Dallas will march ahead without Hintz, likely to return sometime around the weekend.
Panthers Acquire Vinnie Hinostroza From Wild
The Panthers have acquired winger Vinnie Hinostroza from the Wild for future considerations, the teams announced. Michael Russo of The Athletic was the first to report. It clears a bit of a forward logjam for Minnesota, which has already acquired Bobby Brink and Nick Foligno in separate deals this morning.
The Wild could have waived Hinostroza, but if he were claimed tomorrow, he wouldn’t have been eligible to play for his new club in the playoffs since he would have changed teams after the trade deadline. Florida likely won’t be reaching the show anyway, but Hinostroza now at least has the option to suit up if it happens.
Hinostroza arrived in Minnesota off the waiver wire last season via the Predators. He’s in the back half of a two-year, two-way deal he signed with Nashville in 2024 and will be a free agent this summer. The veteran of 460 NHL games had been mostly an AHL call-up option for the past few seasons, but had an exceptional scoring run in Milwaukee last season while on the Preds’ farm that put him back on the map. He broke camp with the Wild last fall as a result and has been a decent depth scoring presence for them this season amid a rash of injuries, posting a 3-7–10 scoring line in 48 games while seeing 10:18 of ice time per night.
With Minnesota’s forward group back near full health and their pair of additions today making him the #15 or #16 forward on the depth chart, it’s unlikely he would have played at all if he remained on the Wild’s roster down the stretch. They’ll instead do him a solid by letting him get some bottom-six reps in Florida, who’s dealing with injuries of their own and are expected to move on from a winger in A.J. Greer today, to keep getting some playing time and boost his chances for a one-way deal as a UFA this summer.
Wild Acquire Nick Foligno
In a tight battle in the Central Division, the Wild continue to add depth pieces. Frank Seravalli of Victory+ reports (Twitter link) that Minnesota is close to acquiring winger Nick Foligno from the Blackhawks. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that Chicago is only receiving future considerations in return. The teams have since confirmed the move.
The 38-year-old is in the final season of a two-year, $9MM contract. Notably, Minnesota will be picking up the full cost of his $4.5MM cap charge as Chicago no longer has any remaining salary retention slots having used two earlier this week on Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy and one last season on Seth Jones. Meanwhile, Chicago will not replace Foligno as their captain for the rest of the season; NHL.com’s Tracey Myers relays (Twitter link) that winger Tyler Bertuzzi will become an alternate captain for the remainder of the season.
Foligno has had a quiet year offensively, notching just three goals and eight assists in 37 games while also missing 21 contests due to injury. Meanwhile, his playing time has dropped sharply for the second straight year. After logging nearly 18 minutes a night in 2023-24 in his first season with the team, Foligno is now down to just 12:28 per night despite seeing playing time on Chicago’s second power play unit and being part of their penalty killing rotation. It stands to reason that his ice time will slide even more with this swap as he’s a strong candidate to be a fourth liner for Minnesota.
This move, assuming it gets finalized, would reunite Foligno with his younger brother, Marcus Foligno, giving them a chance to play together for the first time. Marcus has spent a good chunk of the season on the Wild’s fourth line as well, so on top of getting a chance to play on the same team, they might even wind up on the same line once he returns from his lower-body injury.
Armed with ample cap space at the trade deadline for the first time in a long time, GM Bill Guerin is putting it to use. This will be his fourth forward addition of the week having swung previous trades for Michael McCarron and Bobby Brink, while he also grabbed Robby Fabbri off waivers. With the roster limit no longer being in effect as of today, Minnesota now has considerable forward depth to mix and match with for specific matchups or when injuries arise. Even with those moves, they can still add more than $5MM in full-season salary, per PuckPedia, meaning that they might not be done just yet.
Wild Acquire Bobby Brink
The Wild are addressing their need for additional scoring depth by acquiring winger Bobby Brink from the Flyers, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic and Frank Seravalli of Victory+. Defenseman David Jiříček is the return headed to Philly, both add. There is no extension in place between the Wild and Brink, who’s a pending restricted free agent, Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff reports. The trade has since been confirmed.
Brink is in the back half of a two-year, $3MM bridge deal he signed with Philly in 2024. He’ll be looking for a notable raise this summer. The 2019 second-rounder has grown into a stable top-nine piece during that time, and while he’s not the top-six center that Minnesota has been aiming for, it was clear the Wild were at least looking for a middle-six winger to augment their depth. They reportedly explored acquiring Nick Foligno from the Blackhawks, and while this doesn’t take them out of that race, it is a notable move to replenish some of the scoring upside they lost earlier this season by trading Liam Ohgren and Marco Rossi to the Canucks in the Quinn Hughes deal.
Since emerging as a full-time piece in the Flyers’ lineup back in 2023, Brink has averaged around a half a point per game. That hasn’t changed much this season with 26 in 55 games, but his finishing has taken a step forward, notching a career-high 13 tallies while shooting at 14.4% clip. He was averaging north of 15 minutes per game for Philly, playing mostly on their second line with Noah Cates and Matvei Michkov.
The inclusion of Brink, who’s still only 24, gives the Wild nine double-digit goal scorers on their roster up to this point in the season. They may still be looking for muscle near the bottom of the lineup. Brink certainly doesn’t provide that at just 5’8″ and 169 lbs, but he plays much larger than he is and is on pace for 100 hits.
For the Flyers, it’s a simple swap of young players from a position of excess to a position of need. The right-shot Jiříček now finds himself on his third team in four years since being drafted sixth overall by the Blue Jackets in 2022, but he’ll never have a clearer path to NHL minutes than he has now. The 22-year-old was on an assignment to AHL Iowa at the time of the trade, but with Rasmus Ristolainen likely on his way out of Philly today amid a rush of offers, the Flyers had a pressing organizational need for a righty who can challenge for top-four minutes.
That gives Jiříček a prime opportunity down the stretch to showcase himself in the extended ice time he’s so desperately desired to be effective. In 84 career NHL appearances over the last four years, he has a 2-11–13 scoring line and a -8 rating while averaging just 13:33 of ice time per game. Assuming Philly recalls him in short order, that number should jump closer to 20 with the potential for power-play opportunity, something Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports reports played a role in the move.
Bruins, Flyers Swap Minor-League Skaters
The Bruins and Flyers announced a swap of minor-league skaters on deadline morning. Boston brings in forwards Massimo Rizzo and Alexis Gendron, while Philly lands forward Brett Harrison and defender Jackson Edward.
It’s an AHL and ECHL-bound skater each way. The most notable name is probably Harrison, a 22-year-old pivot who went 85th overall to Boston in the 2021 draft. The Ontario native once held a relatively high spot on the Bruins’ prospect ladder due to its overall weakness, but thanks to Boston’s retooling over the past couple of years, he hasn’t gotten an extended AHL opportunity, and his development has remained stagnant.
Largely a bottom-six piece for Providence, Harrison’s offense has varied very little from year-to-year. He put up 14 points in 47 games as a first-year pro in 2023-24 and has 17 points through 46 games this season. He has good size at 6’3″ and 201 lbs and could have a little more offensive upside to move up the lineup in the Flyers’ system in Lehigh Valley, but he’ll need to add some physicality to his game if he ever wants to get an NHL look.
The Flyers land another big body alongside Harrison in Edward, a 6’2″, 201-lb lefty who was a seventh-rounder in 2022. A pure shutdown threat first and foremost, he spent a good bit of time in Providence last season as a rookie, but has been more of a regular with ECHL Maine this year. In 68 pro games between Providence and Maine over the last year-plus, he’s managed two goals and 16 points with a -3 rating and 61 penalty minutes.
The Bruins’ additions are more offensively geared. Rizzo is 24 and was a seventh-round pick back in 2019, but he made some noise in the Flyers’ system, turning pro out of the University of Denver in 2024. He had 44 points in 30 games as a senior, his second straight point-per-game season, and the expectation was he’d be a significant AHL contributor out of the gate and potentially push for an NHL job.
That never happened. Rizzo only managed six goals and 18 points in 46 AHL games last year before failing to crack Lehigh Valley’s roster entirely for 2025-26. He’s spent the entire year on assignment to ECHL Reading, where he’s recorded a 6-16–22 scoring line in 29 outings with a -6 rating. The B’s are hoping he can turn that momentum into some potentially increased output in Providence.
Gendron, 22, was a seventh-round pick in 2022, taken 20 picks after Edward. The 5’11” winger plays a high-motor game and has the most successful pro track record of anyone in this transaction. He impressed with 20 goals in 63 games as a first-year pro for Lehigh Valley last season, creating some hope that he could end up as a fourth-line depth piece for Philly.
He’s still young enough that his development could come to pass. He’s having an even better offensive showing here in 2025-26 with a 10-12–22 scoring line in 47 outings for Lehigh Valley. He’ll now look to slot into an impact role for a P-Bruins squad that just lost Dans Locmelis for the season due to shoulder surgery.
Sharks Sign Alex Nedeljkovic To Two-Year Extension
The San Jose Sharks have signed netminder Alex Nedeljkovic to a two-year, $3MM AAV contract extension, according to a team announcement.
Nedeljkovic, who is repped by Rich Evans of Wasserman, was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, at the expiration of the two-year, $2.5MM AAV deal he signed in the summer of 2024. The deal contains a $1MM signing bonus for its first year, per PuckPedia.
The Sharks acquired Nedeljkovic from the Pittsburgh Penguins last summer for a third-round pick, with the intent of pairing him with star young netminder Yaroslav Askarov. Nedeljkovic has been the less-used goalie in the tandem, playing in 26 games compared to Askarov’s 38.
Despite the smaller workload, he’s acquitted himself well in San Jose, going 11-9-2 with a .902 save percentage. Those are similar numbers to what he posted in 2023-24 with the Penguins, though he did take a step back in 2024-25, which prompted his trade to California
With Nedeljkovic now signed for an additional two years, it appears the Sharks are content to move forward with their current tandem of him and Askarov. The team does have top goalie prospect Joshua Ravensbergen waiting in the wings, but he’ll likely take a few more years to reach the NHL, with a stop developing in college hockey still to come.
If all goes according to plan, this Nedeljkovic signing will bridge the Sharks to the point where Ravensbergen may be NHL-ready, and give the team a veteran option in the crease while its younger goalies continue to develop.
From a financial perspective, this signing represents a modest pay raise for Nedeljkovic, and is hardly an unfair cap hit for what he provides on the ice. While he has been prone to bouts of inconsistent play at times in his NHL career, he’s shown enough throughout his over 200 contests at the game’s highest level to lend confidence to the idea that he still has several more years of quality play ahead of him. With today’s signing, at least two of those years will now be spent in San Jose.
Sabres Acquire Sam Carrick From Rangers
March 6: The Sabres have officially announced the deal.
March 5: The Sabres are set to acquire center Sam Carrick from the Rangers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. New York receives Buffalo’s third-round pick and Chicago’s sixth-round pick in this year’s draft in return, Friedman added later. Carrick was held out of tonight’s win over the Maple Leafs for asset protection.
Carrick, 34, is just past the midway point of the three-year, $3MM contract he landed in Manhattan as a free agent in 2024. At a cap hit of $1MM, he’s been a legitimately impactful fourth-line pivot for the Rangers for the past year-plus. In 140 games for the Blueshirts, he netted 10 goals and 30 points while averaging 11:17 of ice time per game. He went 54.1% in the faceoff circle and put up exceptional possession numbers for his role as a defensive specialist at 5-on-5.
That last part has been especially true this season. He’s actually managed a cumulative +3 rating despite starting over 75% of his shifts in the defensive zone since arriving in New York, and the Rangers’ most-used fourth-line combo this season of Carrick, Adam Edstrom, and Matt Rempe has controlled 55.6% of expected goals.
While Buffalo’s main goal at the deadline is to add right-shot depth at defense, acquiring a #4 center behind their strong one-two-three punch of Tage Thompson, Ryan McLeod, and Joshua Norris was likely the second checkbox on GM Jarmo Kekäläinen‘s list. They haven’t had a stable option down the middle on the fourth line all year, frequently alternating between Joshua Dunne and Tyson Kozak. Combined, they have 106 games of NHL experience compared to Carrick’s 380.
Longevity aside, Carrick is a legitimate upgrade on both sides of the puck. Dunne has just four points for his career in 46 games, while Kozak has four points in 39 games this year. Dunne hasn’t cracked 100 draws on the year, while Kozak has won a respectable but upgradeable 49.1%. Kozak, in particular, has also posted worse possession impacts than Carrick in comparable defensive/offensive zone splits at 5-on-5.
Carrick also gives the Sabres a plug-and-play option at the position through next season while being a cost-effective 13th forward if he does fall out of the regular rotation. That latter consideration is important for a team that finds itself in unfamiliar territory close to the upper limit, needing to use virtually all their available space for next season to get new deals done for Alex Tuch and Zach Benson.
Ducks Acquire John Carlson
A midnight blockbuster kicks off deadline day. The Ducks announced they’ve acquired two-time All-Star defenseman John Carlson from the Capitals. Washington lands a conditional first-round pick in return, plus Anaheim’s third-round pick in 2027. Anaheim will send its 2026 first-rounder if they make the playoffs this year; if not, then they have the option to send their 2027 pick instead.
Last night, it looked like adding a winger was the Ducks’ deadline priority. That may still be in play heading into sunrise on Friday, but for now, they’ve made a major splash on their blue line to load up on a veteran-heavy right side that already includes imposing shutdown pieces Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba.
They do so by acquiring a name that few believed would ever be on the move. While a pending unrestricted free agent, Carlson has been the face of Washington’s defense group for well over a decade, taking over #1 honors from the high-octane Mike Green around the time of the 2012 lockout. The 6’3″ righty may have lost a bit of a step from his days as a consensus top-10 defender in the league throughout the late 2010s, but he still finished 16th in Norris Trophy voting just last season and has put up even better boxcar stats here in 2025-26.
At age 36, Carlson hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down. He’s put up 10 goals, 36 assists and 46 points in 55 outings this year to rank 13th in the league among defenders at 0.84 points per game. It’s his best offensive showing since finishing 10th in Norris voting in 2021-22 and the fifth-best season of his 17-year career on a per-game basis. He immediately becomes Anaheim’s fourth-leading scorer this season behind their young forward triumvirate of Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson, and Beckett Sennecke, and that’s despite having his minutes in Washington drop to #2 deployment behind dominant lefty Jakob Chychrun. The minute-muncher’s 22:52 average time on ice is his lowest figure since the 2016-17 campaign.
The Caps had hinted at a sell-off yesterday morning by sending Nic Dowd to the Golden Knights. This is a move of an entirely different caliber, essentially closing the book on a disappointing follow-up to last year’s Eastern Conference regular-season championship.
A 3-2 loss to the Mammoth on Tuesday dropped their record to 31-25-7, and after the conclusion of Thursday’s games, they’re only four points back of the Bruins for the playoff cutoff. The Blue Jackets and Senators stand between them, though, and all three clubs have two games in hand on the Caps. With their playoff chances down under 25% as a result, the Caps will continue the on-the-fly retooling mindset that’s kept them competitive following their 2018 Stanley Cup championship by selling off their older assets – as hard as it may be – to continue stocking their cupboards with futures.
Of note, there is no extension in place between Carlson and the Ducks at the time of the deal, and those talks aren’t yet scheduled to take place, per Frank Seravalli of Victory+. There’s a real chance the Ducks, looking to wrestle the Pacific Division title away from the Golden Knights for their first postseason berth since 2018, are taking on the potential Hall-of-Fame defender as a rental.
While Carlson’s reputation is that of a more one-dimensional puck-mover, his two-way game has improved drastically in the later stages of his career. He’s continued to log major shorthanded minutes in D.C. and has had spectacular possession metrics for several seasons now, including a 53.2% Corsi For share at 5-on-5 this season. That’ll fit in well with an Anaheim group that’s completely turned around its two-way play, albeit in a high-event manner, under head coach Joel Quenneville. It also means there’s a natural fit for him to slide in alongside Jackson LaCombe on the Ducks’ top unit to let Trouba and Gudas patrol the ice against lesser competition, ideally boosting the Ducks’ puck possession when LaCombe isn’t on the ice.
The Ducks, with five of their top seven scorers this season aged 25 or younger, won’t miss a first-round choice in the next two years too much. They’re still armed with an above-average prospect pool and still have a decent stable of relatively high picks, including three second-round selections in 2027 that can be packaged to move up. The Caps, who were short on depth picks this year after trading away their second and third-rounders, will now likely end up with a pair of first-round selections that they can either use or flip for NHL-ready talent today or at the draft.
It will still be incredibly jarring to see the Caps’ roster without Carlson for the first time since 2009. A first-round pick the year prior, Carlson ends his time in Washington with 166 goals, 605 assists, and 771 points in 1,143 games. All of those are franchise records for defenders – by relatively wide margins – and he ranks fifth among all skaters in franchise history in points behind Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Bäckström, Peter Bondra, and Mike Gartner.
Image courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the trade.