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Winnipeg Jets Acquire Zach Sanford

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The Winnipeg Jets are the next team that will take a chance on Zach Sanford, acquiring him from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 2022 fifth-round pick. Sanford is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.

Sanford, 27, was originally selected in the second round by the Washington Capitals, as his mix of size and skill was quite the attractive prospect. After just 26 games with the Capitals though he ended up traded to the St. Louis Blues in a deal for Kevin Shattenkirk, where he would spend the next few seasons. Another trade took him to Ottawa last fall, and now he’ll get one last chance to show what he can do before hitting the open market. In 62 games this season he’s registered nine goals and 17 points, though is still providing that trademarked physicality, racking up 131 hits in that time.

It’s kind of an odd move for the Jets, given they sold Andrew Copp to the New York Rangers, but there’s certainly still a possibility that they could contend down the stretch. A fifth-round pick isn’t going to hurt the future very much, and it could also give the team a headstart on an extension, should they feel like Sanford fits what they’re trying to do in Winnipeg.

For Ottawa, grabbing a draft pick for Sanford was better than losing him for nothing, as it was becoming clear that the team’s young forward prospects would likely keep him from reaching an extension anyway. With their moves the last few days, the Senators have racked up a good number of draft picks, assets they can use to acquire more talent in the summer or continue to stock the cupboard with prospects.

Darren Dreger of TSN broke the trade on Twitter.

Arizona Coyotes Acquire Bryan Little

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The Arizona Coyotes have made a bit of a creative move. The team has acquired Bryan Little and the rights to prospect Nathan Smith from the Winnipeg Jets for a fourth-round pick. Both teams have announced the deal. Little, 34, has only played in seven games since 2018-19 and does not figure to play in the NHL again due to injuries. He was on long-term injured reserve for the Jets and has a contract worth $5.29MM against the cap through 2023-2024.

For the Jets, this move paves their path to being able to avoid the use of long-term injured reserve in the future. Long-term injured reserve (LTIR) is an incredibly complex area of the NHL’s salary cap and one that is difficult for many to wrap their heads around. One of the major reasons a team would want to avoid the use of LTIR is so they could accumulate cap space throughout a season. The Jets now only have Kristian Reichel and Cole Perfetti on LTIR, two players that are not going to be long-term fixtures on that list, so moving Little allows them to get away from relying on LTIR to be cap compliant.

For the Coyotes, this move is designed to help them navigate what should be a tricky financial situation for the foreseeable future. The team is set to move into an arena far smaller than NHL teams are typically used to, meaning their revenues will likely be hurt by the lower amount of tickets they can sell. The Coyotes have a significant amount of their team on expiring contracts, meaning they have very little money tied to their roster for next season. With that in mind, the team still needs to be able to clear the salary cap floor for next season. By acquiring Little, the Coyotes gain a contract of a player costing over $5MM against the cap, a decently large amount, who will also cost them a relatively minimal amount of actual dollars paid. Little’s contract, according to Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press, is covered by insurance, meaning that the Coyotes will not be on the hook for paying Little most or even potentially all of the cash he is owed. As a result, the Coyotes can inch closer to the required cap floor while minimizing the number of dollars they themselves need to pay.

For their trouble, the Coyotes also receive an intriguing prospect in Smith. By getting Smith as part of the deal, GM Bill Armstrong adds another NCAA prospect on the back of yesterday’s trade for Jack McBain. Smith, 23, was the 91st overall pick in 2018 and has had an immensely productive season at Minnesota State University. He has 18 goals and 49 points in 34 games and is likely close to NHL-ready given his age and college production. Getting potentially NHL-ready NCAA prospects seems to be the strategy for Armstrong, whose team is set to share an NCAA arena as their home for the next few years.

The trade was first reported by ESPN’s Kevin Weekes. TSN’s Bob McKenzie was first on the compensation.

AHL Shuffle: 03/21/22

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It’s certainly a busy day in the NHL today with the trade deadline just hours away plus four games on the schedule.  There will be considerable roster movement on the trade front while there will be plenty of paper moves made prior to the 2 PM CT deadline made to give players eligibility to play in the minors down the stretch.  We’ll keep track of those moves here.

Atlantic Division

 

Metropolitan Division

  • The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that they’ve sent winger Radim Zohorna to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. The 25-year-old has three points in a dozen games this season with Pittsburgh while adding 15 points in 31 minor league contests.
  • The Washington Capitals re-assigned forward Brett Leason to the Hershey Bears of the AHL (link). Leason had just been recalled by the Capitals yesterday, but the re-assignment could be to simply keep Leason’s AHL eligibility for the remainder of the season intact.

Central Division

  • The Predators have sent defenseman Jeremy Davies back to Milwaukee, per the AHL’s transactions log. Davies was brought up on Saturday but with Nashville adding Jeremy Lauzon from Seattle late on Sunday, the 25-year-old can head back to the minors.
  • The Dallas Stars have sent goaltender Adam Scheel back to the AHL after acquiring Scott Wedgewood yesterday. Scheel, 22, has up as an emergency backup and never actually saw any NHL action. The young netminder is in his first full season of professional hockey.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have reassigned Ville Heinola, Jeff Malott, and Kristian Reichel have all been reassigned to the minor leagues, making them eligible. Notably, Cole Perfetti is not with this group, suggesting that his time in the minor leagues is over after impressing so far.
  • After making several trades in the past 24 hours, the Arizona Coyotes have recalled two players from the Tuscon Roadrunners of the AHL: forward Michael Carcone and goaltender Josef Korenar. Carcone has played just two games at the NHL level, both coming this season, however he has been a productive AHL player, tallying 24 goals and 17 assists in 48 games with Tuscon this season. Korenar has not played in the NHL yet this season, but did play in 10 games for the San Jose Sharks in 2020-21 and was moved to Arizona this offseason as part of the Adin Hill trade.
  • Having traded goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to the Minnesota Wild, the Chicago Blackhawks have recalled goaltender Collin Delia from the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. Delia has had a solid season playing for Rockford, but has only appeared in two NHL games thus far in 2021-22.

Pacific Division

  • The Kraken announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Kole Lind from AHL Charlotte. Lind has played in seven games with Seattle this season after being their pick in expansion from Vancouver but has spent most of the year in the minors.  Seattle has also activated winger Joonas Donskoi off injured reserve.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have recalled Brad Malone from the AHL after he played a game with the Bakersfield Condors over the weekend. The 32-year-old is actually the captain of the minor league club, but after converting his contract to an NHL deal has played six games for the Oilers.
  • Jake Leschyshyn and Brayden Pachal are heading back up to the Vegas Golden Knights. Leschyshyn’s seen a lot of NHL opportunities this year, getting into 27 games this year and notching his first five NHL points. Pachal made his NHL debut recently before immediately getting sent back down, but he may get another chance here in some NHL games.
  • The San Jose Sharks announced they have re-assigned goaltender Zach Sawchenko to the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL. In addition to this, the team recalled forward Sasha Chmelevski and defenseman Ryan Merkley from the Barracuda, and activated Radim Simek off of injured-reserve.
  • After placing Michael Amadio and Zach Whitecloud in COVID protocol and trading away Evgenii Dadonov, the Vegas Golden Knights announced they have called up four players: forwards Paul Cotter and Jonas Rondbjerg and defensemen Daniil Miromanov and Zack Hayes. Of this group, only Hayes does not have any NHL playing experience, spending this season and last in the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights, and the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL before that.
  • The Vancouver Canucks also made a flurry of AHL assignments, primarily for the purpose of keeping players’ AHL ability alive. The organization announced it assigned forwards Sheldon Rempal, Vasily Podkolzin, and Nic Petan, as well as defenseman Noah Juulsen to the Abbotsford Canucks. Podkolzin and Petan were immediately recalled back to Vancouver.
  • The Anaheim Ducks announced they have recalled forward Danny O’Regan from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. O’Regan, 28, has played parts of four seasons dating back to 2016-17, including four games this season with Anaheim.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

Penguins Acquire Nathan Beaulieu

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The Penguins have added some low-cost defensive depth as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that they’ve acquired Nathan Beaulieu from the Jets.  In return, Winnipeg receives a conditional seventh-round draft pick.  CapFriendly provides the specifics of the condition – for the Jets to get the pick, Pittsburgh has to make it to the Stanley Cup Final with Beaulieu playing in at least half of their games.

It has been a tough year for the 29-year-old as Beaulieu has played in just 24 games this season while being scratched 21 times.  His role has been diminished when he has been in there as he’s averaging just under 11 minutes per game in those contests, nearly five minutes below his career average while picking up just four assists in that stretch.

On top of that, Beaulieu is currently on LTIR with an undisclosed injury with his placement coming back on March 9th.  That means that he’s out for the rest of the month at a minimum and potentially longer.  His $1.25MM AAV will slide into Pittsburgh’s current LTIR space with Jason Zucker still on there for the time being although he is expected to be activated in the coming weeks.  If Beaulieu does return between now and the end of the season, the Penguins would have to make some roster moves to get cap-compliant but if he’s only able to return for the playoffs, they won’t have to worry about the cap then and they’ll have themselves a veteran of over 400 career NHL games for next to no cost.

Winnipeg Jets Re-Acquire Mason Appleton

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The Seattle Kraken aren’t done. The Kraken have sent winger Mason Appleton to the Winnipeg Jets, the team the Kraken selected him from in the Expansion Draft. In exchange, the Jets are trading the Kraken a 2023 fourth-round pick. Both teams have announced the deal. With tonight’s trades of Appleton and Jeremy Lauzon, two more members of the Kraken’s original Expansion Draft roster are no longer with the team. The Kraken now have 23 picks in the next two NHL drafts, up from the normal 14 (one per round) allotted automatically to each club, and it is clear that GM Ron Francis has decided to prioritize building a strong prospect pool for his franchise over keeping players who could help his team in the short and medium-term.

Appleton himself did seem to be a player who could help Seattle not only this year but in the next few seasons as well. The Green Bay, Wisconsin native is a pending restricted free agent (with arbitration rights) currently costing his club $900k against the salary cap. His play this season has not led many to believe he would be deserving of a significant raise, which means the motivations for moving Appleton likely could not have been financial. Instead, this trade seems to be about cementing Francis’ front office going full-steam ahead in the direction of building a draft pick stockpile that can rival the Central Division rival Arizona Coyotes’ impressive hoard. The Kraken’s roster is undoubtedly made worse for this season and next by the loss of Appleton, but in trading him they do get to add another pick to help them build a prospect system they hope will become the envy of the league. Ultimately, finding a third or fourth-line winger who plays energetically to fill the role Appleton is vacating is not the hardest task in the offseason, so if the Kraken didn’t believe that Appleton specifically was worth keeping long-term, adding a fourth-rounder is a nice way to fill out an unsurprisingly barren prospect cupboard.

For the Jets, this trade helps them this season and next as they anticipate the exit of middle-six staple Andrew Copp. Appleton is an energetic, fast bottom-six winger who plays relentlessly on the forecheck and can add a little bit of offensive touch. Appleton had his first campaign as an NHL regular last season, scoring 12 goals and 25 points in 56 games, and his success was what led him to be selected by the Kraken in the first place. This season, as the Kraken overall struggled to find their form, Appleton’s production suffered, and has only six goals and 17 points in 49 games. If Appleton can return to being the player he was in Winnipeg, this will be a solid use of a 2023 fourth-rounder by Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. The Jets have been a disappointment this season, and one of their better forwards in Copp is set to depart sooner rather than later, but this trade reinforces Cheveldayoff’s long-held belief that his team is not too far off from re-establishing themselves as a contender. Adding Appleton is another minor piece of evidence reinforcing the generally-held idea that the Jets don’t plan on rebuilding any time soon, and that 2022-23 is going to be a big year in determining the future of the franchise. With this trade, Appleton will again play a role on the Jets and will now have a say in how the team fares in that all-important year.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported Appleton returning to Winnipeg. TSN’s Darren Dreger was first on the draft pick compensation returning to Seattle. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Jets Sign And Waive Phillipe Desrosiers

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March 19: With there being just two days before the trade deadline, there should be an uptick of waiver activity before then.  That started today as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Philippe Myers (Predators), Gerry Mayhew (Flyers), and Phillipe Desrosiers (Jets) are all on waivers.

As for Desrosiers, his placement means that he has agreed to an NHL deal with Winnipeg with the team announcing it will carry a $750K cap hit.  The 26-year-old has played in three games with their AHL affiliate in Manitoba this season but has spent the majority of the year with Trois-Rivieres of the ECHL.  He’ll continue to serve as extra depth for them but will now be eligible to be recalled if they need him.  The Jets had 10 open contract slots out of the maximum of 50 so there’s no risk in them handing out this contract.

Winnipeg Jets Recall Jeff Malott

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  • The Winnipeg Jets announced that they have recalled forward Jeff Malott from the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. If he plays, the 25-year-old Mallot would be making his NHL debut after spending the last two seasons with Manitoba. Previously, Mallot spent four years at Cornell University before turning professional for the 2020-21 season. With the addition to their roster, the Jets would now be able sit one of either Paul Stastny or Andrew Copp ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline (or both if they are willing to play 11 forwards and 7 defensemen).

Market Developing For Andrew Copp

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  • Also on Hockey Night in Canada, Friedman noted that talks around Winnipeg Jets’ forward Andrew Copp were intensifying, with the Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, and New York Rangers most in the mix. Many have speculated that whoever was most interested in Claude Giroux, that did not acquire him, would likely turn to the Jets to try to bring in Copp. Both the Avalanche and the Rangers had made a push for Giroux, but Giroux appeared to only be willing to waive his no-trade clause for the Florida Panthers. In Copp, teams can expect a strong, gritty 200 foot player with a scoring touch. The forward currently holds a $3.64MM cap hit and is set to become a UFA this summer. Also of note out of Winnipeg, if a team is unable to acquire Copp, the Jets could also look to move veteran Paul Stastny, who has 31 points in 51 games this season to go with a $3.75MM cap hit that expires this summer.

Kristian Vesalainen Sent To AHL Manitoba

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  • The Jets announced (Twitter link) that they’ve sent winger Kristian Vesalainen to Manitoba of the AHL.  The 22-year-old has played in 53 games this season with Winnipeg but has just two goals and three assists.  Once viewed as a top prospect after he was picked 24th overall in 2017, the assignment should allow Vesalainen to play a much bigger role compared to the 8:30 ATOI he has this season.

Trade Deadline Primer: Winnipeg Jets

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As we enter the middle of March, the trade deadline is inching closer. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make?  We continue our look around the league with the Winnipeg Jets.

A revamped back end for Winnipeg over the summer provided some cause for optimism heading into the season.  After a quick exit in the second round to Montreal, the additions of Nate Schmidt and Brendan Dillon were supposed to steady the blueline and help the Jets take that next step forward.  They’ve certainly helped on that front but unfortunately for them, Connor Hellebuyck has struggled and the end result is that they find themselves right in the middle heading into next week’s deadline – too close to automatically give up but too far away to realistically spend assets to try to make a run.

Record

28-23-10, 6th in the Central

Deadline Status

Toss-up

Deadline Cap Space

$669K today, $669K in full-season space (using LTIR), 0/3 retention slots used, 40/50 contracts used per CapFriendly

Upcoming Draft Picks

2022: WPG 1st, CBJ 3rd, WPG 5th, WPG 6th, WPG 7th
2023: WPG 1st, WPG 3rd, WPG 4th, WPG 5th, WPG 6th, WPG 7th

Trade Chips

The good news for Winnipeg is that if they do decide to sell, they have two veterans at a position that will be in high demand.  One of those is Andrew Copp, whose specific case we looked at in some detail over the weekend.  He’s currently out with a head injury and while it’s not believed to be too serious, it could put a hold on talks for the time being.  While his production has tapered off in recent weeks, he’s a two-way player that can play all three positions and do so in both offensive and defensive roles.  Pretty much every contender would have a use for that type of versatile player although, with a $3.64MM AAV, not all of them will be able to afford him.

The other center that would be available if they sell is Paul Stastny.  The 36-year-old has actually improved his offensive numbers from last season with 17 goals and 13 assists in 50 games, giving him his best point per game average since the 2018-19 season.  Stastny has spent a lot of this season on the wing with Winnipeg having Mark Scheifele and Pierre-Luc Dubois on their top two lines but he was a full-time middleman as recently as last season.  He’d fit in well on the third line for several contenders with an ability to move up in a pinch although his price tag of $3.75MM will take some creativity for some of them to fit the veteran onto their roster.

Nathan Beaulieu is currently on LTIR and will be out until next month but if there’s a team looking to add a bit of depth, his $1.25MM cap hit isn’t overly high and the 29-year-old has held his own on the third pairing in the past although his role has been reduced this year.  The return would be minimal – a conditional draft pick based on games played at most – but there’s at least a small possibility that he’d move.

On the other side of the coin is David Gustafsson.  The 21-year-old pending RFA actually cracked Winnipeg’s lineup as a 19-year-old but had a very limited role that year and in the two seasons since then, his NHL time has been extremely limited, including just two appearances this season that totaled less than five minutes of action.  He has played well with AHL Manitoba with 20 points in 33 games but as someone that needs waivers next season and doesn’t appear to have the confidence of the NHL coaching staff right now, he’s someone that GM Kevin Cheveldayoff might be comfortable parting with in a smaller move if he decided to try to add a small piece to try to help get the Jets into the second Wild Card spot.

Then there are the blank spots on their roster.  Only one team (Seattle) has fewer players signed to NHL contracts and there are a dozen teams that are three or less away from the limit of 50.  Winnipeg is in a position where they could add some extra AHL depth and perhaps a late draft pick to take a contract from one of those teams that has to free up a slot to make a move.  It wouldn’t be worth much but the empty slots effectively are a trade chip for the Jets.

Others To Watch For: D Tyrel Bauer (unsigned prospect), F C.J. Suess ($725K, UFA)

Team Needs

1) Draft Picks – If Winnipeg sells, they need to stock up on picks.  They haven’t had a full set of draft choices since 2017 and have had just four selections in each of the last two seasons.  At the moment, they only have two choices in the first 140 spots which is hardly ideal.

2) Depth Forward Upgrades – As a result of keeping their top forwards intact from last year and adding to their back end, Cheveldayoff had to go really cheap at the bottom of the depth chart.  The results haven’t been great for the most part.  They need low-cost improvements both now and in the long term, making this a team need that needs to be addressed regardless of which direction they ultimately wind up taking over the next few days.  While there are other needs to fill, it’s unlikely they’ll be addressed here with the Jets either selling or basically standing pat

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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