Although the holiday roster freeze shut down the trade market for the majority of the week, there were still several headlines around the league. Here are the top five.
Oleksiak To Pittsburgh: There were three smaller trades made before the freeze kicked in with the most prominent being the Penguins acquiring defenseman Jamie Oleksiak from Dallas in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2019. The 14th overall pick in 2011 could never really find his footing with the Stars and had been a frequent healthy scratch this season. With Pittsburgh, Oleksiak will battle for third-pairing minutes while giving them some extra depth, something they’ve been seeking for a while after being forced to shuffle AHL players back and forth as injuries came up.
Ellis To Return Shortly: Nashville’s big four on the back end have yet to play together this season. That is set to change in the very near future as Ryan Ellis is targeting a return date of January 2nd. He underwent knee surgery in the offseason. Ellis took a big leap forward last season with career-highs in goals (16), points (38), and ice time (23:57 per game) and once he gets back into game shape, he will provide the Predators with another threat from the point while allowing them to shuffle Alexei Emelin back into a third-pairing role.
Weber Shut Down Indefinitely: If Montreal plans to get back into the playoff picture, they will be doing so without the services of their top defenseman in Shea Weber for the foreseeable future. He has been shut down indefinitely as a foot injury sustained in the season-opener against Buffalo is not healing as the team hoped it would. Not only will they miss his presence from the point (particularly his booming shot), they will also be in tough to account for the 25-plus minutes per game he has logged so far this season. This could also play a role in Montreal’s plans for Victor Mete once he returns from the World Juniors in early January.
Islanders Win Belmont Park Bid: The Islanders got some great news on their arena front as their proposal for a new 18,000-seat arena at Belmont Park has been approved. This gives the team some long-term stability especially with their current situation in Brooklyn not going as well as anyone had hoped. Unlike a lot of new facilities, team owner Jon Ledecky stated that this will be built with private funds and not public. There will still be some short-term decisions to be made as to where they will play for the next couple of years after this one given that the arena will need to be built. The team can either try to negotiate a short-term agreement in Brooklyn (they’ll opt out of their current deal next month) or perhaps look to return to their old home at Nassau Coliseum instead.
Burmistrov Retires From NHL: Earlier this month, Canucks center Alexander Burmistrov voiced his frustration with his role with Vancouver as he has been primarily a depth player. It turns out that he has had enough of his time there as he has retired from the NHL with an eye towards going back home to Russia. He’s expected to sign with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL in the coming days. He finishes his NHL playing days with 101 points (37-64-101) in 348 games between Vancouver, Arizona, and Winnipeg/Atlanta.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.