Jets’ Ben Chiarot Receives Max Fine For Cross-Checking
Even the NHL Department of Player Safety was busy on deadline day. Player Safety has announced that Winnipeg Jets defenseman Ben Chiarot has been issued a maximum fine for cross-checking Arizona Coyotes forward Nick Cousins in Sunday’s game. Per the CBA, Chiarot has been fined $3,763.44, equivalent to about one-fifth of a game check on his $1.6MM salary.
The hit in question came late in the second period with the Jets trailing the Coyotes 3-1. Chiarot delivered a hard cross-check to head/neck area of Cousins and was fortunate to only get a minor penalty on the play. The lack of further in-game punishment was likely a factor in the fine decision. Cousins remained in the game and Arizona held on to win, adding insult to injury in the whole ordeal.
While Chiarot has been known to be a hothead from time to time, it is important to note that Cousins is also a renown instigator. The Coyotes forward uses his ability to annoy the opposition and get them to react as one of the hallmarks of his game. While in this case Chiarot’s response was dangerous and over the top, it’s fair to assume that Cousins initiated the exchange, as he has many times before.
2019 Trade Deadline Day Recap
The trade deadline for the 2018-19 season has come and gone, with teams all around the league loading up for a Stanley Cup run. This year saw a nearly unprecedented level of skill available, though things got started quite early. Before deadline day, names like Matt Duchene, Brandon Montour, Mats Zuccarello, Charlie Coyle, Ryan Dzingel, Gustav Nyquist and Nick Jensen all switched teams. However, the day was no disappointment; a slow pace early on ended in fireworks right before the deadline and as deal trickled in right after. Below is a complete list of the 21 trades featuring all but seven of the NHL’s teams made on February 25th alone (chronologically):
To Anaheim Ducks:
D Patrick Sieloff
To Ottawa Senators:
F Brian Gibbons
To New Jersey Devils:
2022 fifth-round pick
To Columbus Blue Jackets:
G Keith Kinkaid
To Winnipeg Jets:
F Kevin Hayes
To New York Rangers:
F Brendan Lemieux
2019 first-round pick (top-3 protected)
2022 conditional fourth-round pick (if Winnipeg wins Stanley Cup)
To Montreal Canadiens:
F Jordan Weal
To Arizona Coyotes:
F Michael Chaput
To Florida Panthers:
F Cliff Pu
Future Considerations
To Carolina Hurricanes:
F Tomas Jurco (AHL contract)
Future Considerations
To Colorado Avalanche:
F Derick Brassard
2020 conditional sixth-round pick (no pick if Brassard re-signs)
To Florida Panthers:
2020 third-round pick
To Columbus Blue Jackets:
D Adam McQuaid
To New York Rangers:
D Julius Bergman
2019 fourth-round pick
2019 seventh-round pick
Winnipeg Jets Trade For Alex Broadhurst
The two busiest teams at this deadline just had to squeeze in one last deal. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that the Winnipeg Jets have acquired forward Alex Broadhurst from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for future considerations. This is the sixth trade of the day for Winnipeg. Broadhurst will report to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.
Broadhurst, 25, has played exclusively in the minors this season. The two-way center has 29 points through 48 games this year and has produced consistently over his six-year AHL career. Broadhurst is unlikely to play for the Jets this season, but is a decent depth pickup. The Blue Jackets gave Broadhurst a two-game audition in the NHL last season, so he would not be without experience at the top level if called upon by Winnipeg.
Locked in to Group 6 free agency this summer, Broadhurst will have the option of going anywhere in the league if he so chooses. However, if he fits in well with the AHL’s Moose, the former London Knights standout may look to stay in Canada and re-sign with Jets.
Nic Petan Traded To Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have made one move just before the deadline, acquiring Nic Petan from the Winnipeg Jets. In return, the Jets will receive Swedish forward Par Lindholm.
Petan, 23, is another talented offensive player that has failed to get a big opportunity in the NHL. That lack of opportunity may come because of his size, as Petan measures in as one of the smaller players in the NHL at 5’9″ 179-lbs. In Winnipeg, there were just simply too many other options for him to ever really crack the lineup on a consistent basis, a problem he doesn’t exactly escape by moving to Toronto. In 108 NHL games across four seasons, Petan has registered 23 points. In 108 AHL contests across the same timeline, he has 89 points. The second number is what the Maple Leafs are betting on, along with Petan’s exquisite history from the WHL where he twice cracked the 100-point plateau.
None of that production though is guaranteed, especially not when he’ll have to battle another excellent group of wingers for playing time. While Petan does have experience at center, Toronto head coach has seemed to prefer Frederik Gauthier‘s size in the middle of his fourth line, moving Lindholm to the wing whenever both were in the lineup. Toronto also recalled AHL All-Star Trevor Moore today, another player Petan will have to battle for playing time.
For the Jets, they’ve added a more responsible and experienced option in Lindholm for an upcoming playoff run. While he is in his first season in North America, Lindholm has played several years of professional hockey in Sweden and even represented his country at the Olympic Games last year. There isn’t a lot of offensive upside there as proven by Lindholm’s single goal in 61 games this season, but he is an effective penalty killer and can move back and forth between center and wing without losing much defensive caliber.
Notably, Petan will be just a restricted free agent at the end of the season while Lindholm is scheduled to hit UFA status. It’s very reasonable to assume that the Jets were not going to issue Petan a qualifying offer and risk arbitration, so decided to move him to an interested team in exchange for whatever they could get.
Nathan Beaulieu, Bogdan Kiselevich Traded To Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets were in the market for a depth defenseman, and they have found a pair in Nathan Beaulieu and Bogdan Kiselevich. The Buffalo Sabres have traded Beaulieu to the Jets in exchange for a 2019 sixth-round pick, reports TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, while a 2021 seventh-round selection is heading to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Kiselevich, reports colleague Darren Dreger. Both defenders are impending free agents, Beaulieu an RFA and Kiselevich a UFA.
Beaulieu, 26, proved to be a poor fit in Buffalo. After recording 28 points in 74 games in his final season with the Montreal Canadiens in 2016-17, Beaulieu was dealt to the Sabres for a third-round pick. Less than two years later, he had registered just 16 points in a combined 89 games and Buffalo were content to move on for a mere sixth-rounder. Beaulieu has shown to be a capable puck-moving defenseman, but the system and the depth chart worked against him with the Sabres. Now in Winnipeg, Beaulieu is likely to challenge for regular play time with several Jets defenders injured. A strong showing down the stretch or in the postseason could even earn him an extended stay with the team. Beaulieu will be owed a $2.5MM qualifying offer for the Jets to retain his rights and the team is facing a difficult cap crunch this off-season, so Beaulieu will really have to perform well in his brief time with the team.
As for Kiselevich, the 29-year-old is in his first NHL season after coming over from the KHL. Kiselevich has only seen 32 games worth of action to this point with Florida – likely why the team was happy to move him for just a future seventh-rounder – but has actually played well in his limited exposure. Nevertheless, this is very much a deep depth addition for the Jets and Kiselevich may never actually suit up for the team. If he hopes to stay in the NHL beyond this season though, he will try to earn some ice time before the end of the year.
Winnipeg Jets Re-Acquire Matt Hendricks
Veteran checking forward Matt Hendricks is headed back to the Winnipeg Jets. TSN’s Gord Miller reports that the Jets have acquired Hendricks from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a 2020 seventh-round pick. Hendricks spent the 2017-18 season in Winnipeg.
Hendricks, 37, only played in 22 games this season for the Wild after suiting up for 60 games last season with the Jets. While he is unlikely to be a regular feature in the Winnipeg lineup for the rest of the season, Hendricks has the experience and familiarity to be a capable substitution in the bottom-six if need be. The gritty forward is also a good locker room presence and will be well-received in his return.
The Wild continue to move current players off the roster, but moving Hendricks is of little consequence. The impending free agent had spent most of the season watching from the press box and was unlikely to play a role down the stretch. In that case, a seventh-rounder is a fine return.
Winnipeg Jets Acquire Kevin Hayes
The Winnipeg Jets have made their trade deadline addition, once again adding a second-line center for a deep playoff run. The Jets have acquired New York Rangers center Kevin Hayes in exchange for a 2019 first-round pick, 2022 conditional fourth-round pick and young forward Brendan Lemieux. The Rangers will receive the fourth-round pick if Winnipeg wins the Stanley Cup this season.
Hayes is the third-leading scorer on New York this season with 42 points (14-28-42) in 51 games and is on pace to set a new career high in assists and points. He’s also logging over 19 minutes per game and would step in quite nicely on Winnipeg’s second line while pushing veteran Bryan Little down to the third line. He carries a cap hit of $5.175MM which Winnipeg can easily absorb (they have over $24MM in full-season cap space) while still leaving room for other potential additions later in the day. LeBrun notes (Twitter link) that there is no salary retention in the swap which is notable as it means that the Rangers retain their final salary retention slot for the time being.
The 26-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season but that’s not necessarily a negative for Winnipeg. In fact, it may be a positive. The team already has Blake Wheeler locked up to a new extension while wingers Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor, as well as defenseman Jacob Trouba, are all slated to become restricted agents. Accordingly, that’s going to eat up most of their remaining cap space so it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to afford to keep Hayes around.
As for Lemieux, this is the second time already that he’ll be involved in a notable swap after joining Winnipeg as part of the Evander Kane to Buffalo swap back in February of 2015. The 22-year-old has spent the full season with Winnipeg but has spent time as a healthy scratch. Overall, he has nine goals and two assists along with 64 penalty minutes in 44 games in 2018-19 and will figure into New York’s long-term plans as a bottom-six player. He’s in the final year of his entry-level contract with a cap hit of just over $839K and will be a restricted free agent without salary arbitration rights this summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Latest On Mark Stone Trade Talks
Trade chatter continues to increase surrounding the Ottawa Senators and Mark Stone, but TSN’s Bob McKenzie writes that while it may be a longshot, the Senators haven’t ruled out attempting to sign Stone to an extension. Of course, it would require Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk to make a bigger offer to Stone and it would require the 26-year-old to actually agree to stay in Ottawa, both which seem unlikely at this point.
Regardless, while the team is still hoping for a positive outcome, McKenzie adds that general manager Pierre Dorion remains focused on trading Stone and reports that the Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators, Calgary Flames and the Boston Bruins remain the most interested teams, although Ottawa is talking to other teams as well.
The Jets have been mentioned for quite a while and have discussed moving their first-rounder as well as forward Jack Roslovic for starters, but will likely need to offer another significant prospects as well to net him, while Nashville has made it clear they will not be moving prospect Eeli Tolvanen in a rental situation, but are open to moving out some of their other prospects and have quite a bit of young depth ready who could immediately step into Ottawa’s lineup.
Other teams have made it clear they would want to know whether Stone would be willing to sign a long-term deal with them. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun writes that he believes the Calgary Flames would only be interested in acquiring Stone if they believe he will sign an extension with them. The problem is that Calgary would need to send Ottawa some salary back as part of any trade as the team only has $5.77MM in cap room to make a deal, well short of the $7.35MM that Stone makes.
The cost for Stone is currently considered to be very high, suggesting that a Stone trade may go down to the wire as teams will wait for the price to go down. Regardless, McKenzie writes that a potential long-drawn out process shouldn’t slow down other trades as many teams, who feel that they’ve been priced out will likely refocus their sights on New York Rangers’ Mats Zuccarello or New Jersey Devils’ Marcus Johansson.
Trade Rumors: Hart, Elliott, Tolvanen, Rangers, Senators
Some bad news on one player could turn out to be a blessing in disguise in regards to another. The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that rookie sensation Carter Hart will be out at least ten days with a lower-body injury. Hart has been playing phenomenally this season and his absence could end what little hope the Flyers had of reaching the postseason this year. However, it will force the team to start Brian Elliott tonight in their Stadium Series game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philly’s final game before the deadline. Recent acquisition Cam Talbot is still new to the team and unable to jump in net just yet. However, Talbot’s presence makes Elliott expendable and the Flyers are known to be shopping him. The team tried to move Elliott to the Edmonton Oilers as part of the Talbot return, but ended up trading away the younger Anthony Stolarz. However, with playoff-bound teams like the San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights in need of reinforcements in net, Elliott is very much still in play. A strong performance on a grand stage tonight could be enough to convince those kicking the tires to take a shot on Elliott. Moreso, the injury news on Hart could be the final straw for new GM Chuck Fletcher, as he is still allegedly unsure of whether to sell or not at the deadline. With Elliott, Wayne Simmonds, Michael Raffl, and several others drawing interest, Fletcher should be more encouraged to part with those pieces now that his stud goaltender is out for what could be weeks.
- The New York Rangers are one of the most talked-about teams as the deadline approaches, as rentals Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello, and Adam McQuaid and even term players like Chris Kreider and Vladislav Namestnikov are drawing considerable interest. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes that the Nashville Predators are one of the teams in talks with the Rangers, but it appears that one of their best assets may be off the table. Brooks reports that the Predators will not trade 2017 first-round pick Eeli Tolvanen for a rental this season. Nashville does not have interest in Hayes, but has looked into Zuccarello, however they won’t offer up Tolvanen to land him. Brooks believes Tolvanen would only be available to the Rangers in a deal for Kreider. The talented Finnish forward has only seen limited NHL action thus far, but is still coveted by sellers – not only the Rangers – for his potential. In this scenario, it’s the sellers who may have to ante up with a signed player to get the prized prospect. As for the Rangers, they may have better luck getting a top return for Zuccarello elsewhere. Brooks states that the Calgary Flames and Pittsburgh Penguins are among the teams pursuing the veteran winger, while a report yesterday stated some contenders are willing to pay the price to package Zucarello and Hayes together.
- Meanwhile, the price for McQuaid has gone up significantly today following the trade of Ben Lovejoy to the Dallas Stars. McQuaid is arguably the top rental defenseman left on the market, currently ranked No. 21 overall on TSN’s Trade Bait List. With the trade statuses of Alex Edler, Niklas Kronwall, Cody Ceci, and others still unclear, McQuaid looks like the top target for defense-needy teams versus the likes of Michael Del Zotto and Bogdan Kiselevich. McQuaid is by no means a star or season-changing acquisition, but he is likely the best available defenseman even as just a physical, stay-at-home defender. If the New Jersey Devils can draw a third-round pick and young roster player for Lovejoy, the Rangers are suddenly looking at second-round territory with McQuaid. To protect their top trade assets, New York will not play McQuaid, Zuccarello, or Hayes today, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
- Many have felt that the allure of the free agent market for Matt Duchene and Mark Stone and the caliber of return the Ottawa Senators could get for trading them left Ryan Dzingel as the most likely of the trio to re-sign with the team. That certainly isn’t going to be the case. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Dzingel recently turned down a five-year extension offer worth more than $20MM, a significant pay raise over his current $1.8MM cap hit. After that, the team made the definitive decision to trade him before the deadline. Garrioch adds that Stone also rejected the Senators’ last offer, and eight-year pact of unknown value, but the team has not yet completely closed the door on a new deal. They continue to take offers on the star winger though, as Garrioch writes that the Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, and Tampa Bay Lightning are the team’s most involved in Stone talks. He believes the Bruins are also interested in Dzingel. It remains to be seen who ends up with Stone or Dzingel and how the returns compare to that of Duchene, but one way or another the Senators are walking away from the deadline with a complete lack of star power on the roster, but a massive influx of picks and prospects to show for it.
Senators, Devils Hold Top Trade Candidates Out Of Lineup
The match-up between the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils tonight could have somewhat of a preseason feel. When two of the NHL’s three worst teams face off, they will do so without many of their top players. Matt Duchene, Mark Stone, and Ryan Dzingel will not dress for Ottawa and neither will Marcus Johansson and Ben Lovejoy for New Jersey.
Both teams have confirmed that the scratches are “precautionary”, but seeing as all five are impending unrestricted free agents rumored to be on the trade block with the NHL Trade Deadline just four days away, it is easy to read between the lines. While the likes of Duchene and Johansson have been confirmed as on the market and likely to be traded, speculation is set to soar about Stone and Dzingel, as well as Lovejoy. Case in point: TSN’s Frank Seravalli has moved Stone up to No. 1 on the TSN Trade Bait List following this news, stating that “sitting out signals his apparent decision to forego a contract extension with the Senators in favour of testing the open market.” Stone and Duchene are now occupying the top two spots on the list, with Dzingel at No. 9. For New Jersey, Johansson comes in at No. 14 and Lovejoy at No. 41. Tonight’s lineup decisions indicate all five could be headed elsewhere in the coming days.
Fans in attendance tonight will likely be disappointed by the lack of star power, but not as much as the scouts in attendance. TSN’s Gord Miller notes that the many scouts still evaluating Ottawa’s big three – who make up 41% of their scoring this season – will likely be frustrated by the absence of not just Duchene, who sat out last game, but also Stone and Dzingel. This includes the Winnipeg Jets, who have been frequently linked to the Senators’ stars. NJ.com’s Chris Ryan reports that the Jets have three scouts in attendance, yet no Ottawa stars to observe. Ryan states that ten teams have scouts in attendance and some were likely there to see Johansson and/or Lovejoy as well, but instead will only see sellers protecting their assets.