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Sharks Hire Ryan Warsofsky As Head Coach

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Sharks assistant coach Ryan Warsofsky is getting a big promotion. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, he’s filling their head coaching vacancy after being passed over for the title two years ago. San Jose promptly made the hiring official via a press release.

“We’re very excited to announce Ryan as the 11th head coach of the San Jose Sharks,” said general manager Mike Grier. “His track record of success at nearly every level of hockey as a head and assistant coach speaks for itself. Ryan knows our existing group well, has the respect of the players who he will be working with, and will be a great teacher for the young players who will be joining our organization.”

Grier made the call to fire former head coach David Quinn, who they tabbed for the role over Warsofsky during their last search in 2022, in April. Quinn compiled a 41-98-25 record (.326 points percentage) while overseeing some of the darkest days of a tough but needed rebuild in the Bay Area.

Warsofsky, a Massachusetts native who had a collegiate career with Sacred Heart University and Curry College, landed his first professional coaching job as an assistant with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays in 2013, one year after ending his playing career.

He was then promoted to head coach and director of hockey ops for the club in 2016, staying there for two more seasons before the Hurricanes tabbed him as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, their top minor-league affiliate at the time. Yet again, he was promoted in short order, taking over as head coach in 2019 and remaining with the Hurricanes organization when they switched their AHL affiliation to the Chicago Wolves for 2020-21.

In Carolina, Warsofsky was a part of two Calder Cup-winning clubs, first as an assistant with the Checkers in 2019 and then as a bench boss with the Wolves in 2022. That latter title, in which he led a veteran-laden team including Josh Leivo, Stefan Noesen and Alex Lyon to the pinnacle of minor league hockey, earned him consideration for multiple NHL coaching vacancies the following offseason, including the Sharks’.

He had to settle for an assistant role, but two years later, his time has come. At 36 years old, Warsofsky becomes the youngest bench boss in the league and the youngest since Jeremy Colliton was tabbed as head coach of the Blackhawks in 2018 at age 33.

Warsofsky beat out ex-Sharks winger Marco Sturm, another potential first-time NHL head coach, for the role. Sturm, who’s coached in the Kings organization for the past six seasons, was deep in the interview process as late as early this week.

With Warsofsky’s hiring, all head coaching vacancies this offseason have been filled.

Senators Listening To Offers For Seventh Overall Pick

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The Senators fell short of expectations again this season by finishing 13 points out of a playoff spot. Naturally, entering their first offseason with Steve Staios as general manager, they’ll be looking to make a major roster shakeup to finally get back to postseason play in 2024-25.

According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, Ottawa is listening to offers for their seventh overall pick in this month’s draft in order to do so.

As Garrioch points out, the likeliest area for a big trade is between the pipes. He reported earlier in the week that the team is aggressively pursuing a goaltending upgrade. They’ve been in conversation with the Flames about Jacob Markström, made a push for the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark and contacted the Predators about Juuse Saros.

If the Sens parted with the seventh-overall pick in a trade, they wouldn’t be out of action on the first night of the draft entirely. They also own the 25th overall pick, originally sent from Boston to the Red Wings in last year’s Tyler Bertuzzi trade deadline deal and again from Detroit to Ottawa for Alex DeBrincat.

Still, parting with a top-10 selection in one of the deeper early first rounds in recent memory is a tough pill to swallow for a team that’s largely exhausted the prospect pool it has built up from years of rebuilding. Their three first-round picks in 2020, Tim Stützle, Jake Sanderson and Ridly Greig, have all graduated to NHL roles and look to all be on their way to hitting their ceiling. That’s great, but they haven’t managed to draft any true impact prospects since then, and there’s little help on the way.

Garrioch said a trade involving seventh overall may not see them surrender the pick entirely – moving back in the first round to make an immediate roster upgrade is also an option. But that would still see them acquire a significantly lower-quality prospect than the top-six forwards and even top-pair defenders that will still be available at No. 7 unless it’s only a few spots.

“There are so many questions about this early group,” senior vice president of hockey operations Dave Poulin said. “It’s very hard to nail down. Very often, you know who is going to go No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. This group is all over the board. By all accounts, Macklin Celebrini will go No. 1, and after that, it’s wide open.”

Garrioch relays that Poulin also said at a season ticket-holder event last night that the club had offers on the table for short-term upgrades back at the trade deadline. But with the new-look front office coming into shape throughout the season (Poulin wasn’t hired until New Year’s, for example), they weren’t comfortable making any major transactions without more time to develop a long-term plan as a cohesive group.

One thing is clear – the spinning-tires days of the Pierre Dorion era are over, at least ideologically. Whether Staios, who’s months into his first GM job at the NHL level, can execute that remains to be seen.

Aside from seventh overall, they may end up with another high-value trade chip in defenseman Jakob Chychrun. Entering the final year of his contract, they’ll need to suss out quickly whether he’s willing to re-sign.

If not, expect the 2016 16th-overall pick to be on the move for the second time in the last two years. The 26-year-old’s value is high after staying healthy for all 82 games this season, smashing his previous career high of 68 while posting 41 points and averaging 22:23 per game. His possession metrics, while not elite, were far better than his -30 rating would suggest (51.2 CF%, 50.2 xGF% at even strength).

Snapshots: Hronek, Henriksson, Silayev, Klippenstein

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Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek is one of the more prominent pending restricted free agent blueliners this summer.  The 26-year-old had a career year in 2023-24, recording 48 points in 81 games while logging over 23 minutes a night, numbers that would serve him well in an arbitration hearing.  However, Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Province reports that there has been little action on contract talks on a new deal for several months.  Vancouver has to issue a $5.28MM qualifying offer later this month, something they should have no concerns about doing.  However, with the arbitration filing deadline coming early in July, it stands to reason that they should start discussions with Hronek’s camp in the near future.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • It looks like pending Rangers RFA Karl Henriksson could be heading back overseas next season. Smalandsposten in Sweden reports that SHL Vaxjo is showing interest in signing the 23-year-old.  Henriksson has spent the last two seasons with AHL Hartford and had 11 goals and 13 assists in 64 games in 2023-24.  He already has a fair bit of experience in Sweden’s top level, playing in 94 games in parts of four seasons with Frolunda before coming to North America.  Even if he signs back home, New York can still retain Henriksson’s NHL rights with a qualifying offer later this month.
  • While some of the expected top picks in the upcoming draft could jump to the NHL right away, that won’t be the case for Anton Silayev. He’s already signed through the 2025-26 season in the KHL and there’s no transfer agreement in place between that league and the NHL that could allow him to come sooner.  However, as Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis relays, NHL teams feel the big blueliner doesn’t intend on signing another deal in Russia after this one and instead intends to come to North America in 2026.  Given some of the uncertainty surrounding Russian prospects, his reported intention to come over two years from now should help his draft stock.
  • The Avalanche will soon be looking for a new Director of Amateur Scouting. Notre Dame College announced (Twitter link) announced that they’ve hired Wade Klippenstein as their new Director of Hockey Development.  Klippenstein has been in Colorado’s scouting department since 2016, serving as their top amateur scout for the past three seasons but Colorado Hockey Now’s Evan Rawal reports that Klippenstein was informed that his contract would not be renewed, leading to this move.  He won’t be with them at the draft later this month.

Offseason Checklist: Vegas Golden Knights

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The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams who are still taking part in the playoffs.  For the rest, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Vegas.

To say the Golden Knights took a big swing at the trade deadline would be an understatement.  However, it didn’t result in the immediate success they were hoping for; while they snuck into the playoffs and gave Dallas a real run for their money, they were eliminated in the first round.  Now, GM Kelly McCrimmon will look at making some tweaks while trying to keep as much of the core intact as possible.  Here’s what they will likely be looking to try to do this summer.

Create Cap Space

Before Vegas can do anything when it comes to adding to its roster or even trying to re-sign some pending free agents, they need to get some cap flexibility.  As things stand, they have barely $1MM in regular cap space, per CapFriendly.  Only one team (Philadelphia) has less.  Granted, Robin Lehner and his $5MM price tag is quite certain to remain on LTIR but unless the Golden Knights can make the perfect LTI placement in the fall, they probably won’t be able to utilize all of that amount.  They can get close but few teams are able to use it all.

Even if we suppose they get the perfect placement, that gives them a little over $6MM to work with.  That’s not much to work with when you’re hoping to re-sign some of Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, Michael Amadio, William Carrier, and Anthony Mantha up front.

Assuming they have designs on retaining several of those players, they’re going to have to free up some money.  It’s also reasonable to suggest they don’t want to move their higher-paid core pieces which limits their options.  On the back end, Zach Whitecloud feels like a possible trade candidate.  He was a regular for most of the year but spent time as a healthy scratch after Noah Hanifin was acquired.  For someone who is more of a third-pairing option, a $2.75MM price tag might be too much of a luxury for them to afford.  Replacing him with a cheaper player would open up a little more spending room.

Meanwhile, up front, Nicolas Roy would be a popular trade target for teams if Vegas elected to try to fill his spot with a lower-cost center as three years at $3MM per season is affordable for most…just not necessarily the Golden Knights.  A smaller move would be to move the final year and $1.9MM of Brett Howden’s contract, replacing him with someone making closer to half of that.  The trade return probably wouldn’t be the strongest but if that helped add enough extra space to re-sign a more prominent piece, it’d be worth doing.

McCrimmon won’t be able to open up enough cap space to keep everyone but he knew that before acquiring and extending Hanifin while adding Tomas Hertl and his long-term deal.  But if they can keep one of their top options and perhaps one of their bottom-six free agents, that would still be a good outcome for them.

Try To Re-Sign Marchessault

The most prominent of those pending unrestricted free agents is Marchessault.  One of the few remaining original members of the Golden Knights, the 33-year-old followed up winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2023 by posting a career-high 42 goals in 2023-24.  Not a bad platform heading into free agency, that’s for sure.

Both sides have openly discussed a willingness to get a new deal done although talks were late getting started; it’s believed discussions only got underway in recent days.  Part of the hold-up could simply have been Vegas needing to get a better handle on what they have (or won’t have) to spend come July 1st before engaging but it still seems a little odd they waited this long.

Nonetheless, Marchessault is well-positioned for a nice raise on a multi-year agreement.  After making $5MM in each of the last six seasons, he could conceivably push for $7MM while getting three or four years if he makes it to the open market.  It’s possible that he could leave some money on the table to stay with the Golden Knights who likely can’t afford that type of contract given their salary structure but with this likely being his last big contract, that can’t automatically be assumed either.

Regardless of what happens, Marchessault’s later-career breakout has him on the upswing heading into free agency which will have him rated highly on our Top 50 UFA list to be released later this month.

Extension Talks

While McCrimmon will have some pressing matters to attend to when it comes to his group of pending unrestricted free agents, he’ll likely be looking ahead to 2025-26 as well.  A little over a year from now, three important players will be eligible to test the open market, making them eligible for contract extensions as of July 1st.

Shea Theodore is another one of the few remaining original members of the franchise and, when healthy, has been a key cog on their back end for the past seven seasons, logging over 20 minutes per game in each of them.  However, he has missed 62 games over the past two years which won’t help his cause when those talks begin.  Having said that, the 28-year-old will be viewed by numerous teams as a top-pairing player and the market for those players is quite significant.  At a minimum, it’s well above the $5.2MM AAV of his existing contract.  Alex Pietrangelo ($8.8MM) and Hanifin ($7.35MM) are on pricey contracts and Theodore should end up in that range whether it’s this summer or next.

Then there are the goaltenders.  Adin Hill went from being a depth addition between the pipes when he was first acquired to a player who was dominant in their run to the Stanley Cup in 2023.  That helped earn him what amounted to a second bridge deal, albeit with a sizable raise this time around.  That contract, one that carries a $4.9MM AAV, is set to expire next year and it will be interesting to see if he can beat that next time out.  Hill set a career-high in appearances in 2023-24 but still only played in 35 regular season games.  If he doesn’t see a number one workload, it will be difficult to justify giving him any sort of considerable raise.  That makes his situation a tough one to work through in terms of finding a number that works now for both sides.

That isn’t necessarily the case for Logan Thompson, however.  The 27-year-old has led Vegas in goalie games in his two full NHL campaigns and was the starter going into the playoffs.  If that holds true next season, that will be three seasons of at least closer to a starting workload which will help his case if he gets to the open market.  At this point in time, a contract for him likely starts above Hill’s current price tag and one thing is for sure, with the way their team is constructed, they won’t be able to keep both in the fold beyond next season.

Whether it’s Hill or Thompson, if they can determine which one to keep and get that deal worked out in the next couple of months, it’ll be one big item off of next year’s list.

Mine The Margins

Vegas has gotten quite accustomed to not being able to afford to carry a full-sized 23-man roster and next year should be no exception.  However, there are a couple of spots on the big club that could be up for grabs depending on what happens with their pending free agents that they may want to turn to the open market for.

However, they won’t be able to get involved in any sort of bidding war.  Instead, they’ll almost certainly be limited to offering minimum-salary deals ($775K) due to their cap situation.  Those contracts aren’t often signed on the opening day of free agency.  However, there are often bargains to be found with some patience so they may have to wait for the secondary free agent market to open up closer to training camp before filling those spots.

It would also be wise for them to get some NHL-capable pieces to be stashed at AHL Henderson.  The upside isn’t typically too high for two-way free agents but getting some players who have shown they can handle limited roles can’t hurt for when injuries arise.  These are the types of deals they can get aggressive on early as they’re likely to carry a $775K NHL cap charge with the only differences in offers from other teams being the minor league portion.  Landing some of the better players on that side of the market could prove fruitful as the year goes on but they’ll have to work through what’s set to be a very large list of players to find the best fits.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Atlantic Notes: Cooper, Senators, Seger, O’Connell

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Lightning head coach Jon Cooper will have some extra duties coming his way in the near future.  In his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link), Pierre LeBrun reports that Tampa Bay’s bench boss is expected to be named as Canada’s head coach for the upcoming 4 Nations Cup as well as the 2026 Olympics.  LeBrun adds that Hockey Canada considered having a separate head coach for each event but, like the United States with Mike Sullivan, has ultimately settled on having the same one for both.  Cooper has coached internationally at three events in the past.  He was Canada’s head coach at the 2017 Worlds, coached Team North America at the World Cup that same year, and was an assistant for the U.S. at the 2007 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • Speaking at a season ticket holder session, Senators Senior Vice President Dave Poulin indicated that they have fielded trade interest in the seventh-overall selection, per Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link). Ottawa underachieved considerably this season as instead of pushing for a playoff spot, they were well out of the mix early, resulting in changes both in the front office and behind the bench.  The Sens have to forfeit one of their first-round picks between now and 2026 as part of the punishment for failing to disclose Evgenii Dadonov’s no-trade clause to Vegas in 2021, eventually resulting in a failed trade to Anaheim the following year.  However, with this pick being so early, they wisely decided not to make this the year they lost the selection.
  • The Red Wings’ farm team has added one of the more intriguing remaining college free agents as AHL Grand Rapids announced the signing of Gabriel Seger to a one-year deal. The 24-year-old had a breakout showing in his final collegiate campaign, leading Cornell in scoring with 14 goals and 30 assists in 44 games although it wasn’t enough to land him an NHL deal in recent weeks.
  • Arizona State University associate coach Albie O’Connell is expected to leave the program to pursue an NHL opportunity, relays PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan (Twitter link). College Hockey News’ Mike McMahon adds (Twitter link) that O’Connell is expected to be hired by the Canadiens.  If that holds true, it will be his second stint with the organization after serving as a college scout for Montreal back in 2022-23 before returning behind an NCAA bench this past season.

Senators Re-Sign Angus Crookshank

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The Senators have taken care of one of their pending restricted free agents with an early contract.  The team announced that they’ve re-signed forward Angus Crookshank to a one-year, two-way agreement.  The deal pays $775K in the NHL and $120K in the minors.  GM Steve Staios released the following statement on the signing:

Angus has established himself as a reliable point producer in Belleville. He’s a strong competitor and a proven goal scorer who doesn’t back down, especially when it comes to getting to the opponent’s net. We’re pleased with his progress and expect further improvement from him next season.

The 24-year-old played on the final year of his entry-level deal in 2023-24, spending most of it in the minors with AHL Belleville.  With them, as Staios alluded to, Crookshank was quite reliable offensively, posting 24 goals and 22 assists in just 50 games.  That performance helped earn him his first NHL opportunity as he got into 13 games with Ottawa where he picked up two goals and an assist while logging just over 10 minutes a night.

Crookshank still has a year of waiver exemption remaining, something that doesn’t happen too frequently for players exiting a three-year rookie deal.  That means he’s likely earmarked to start with Belleville once again in 2024-25 but if he can produce at a similar level next season, he should be one of Ottawa’s first recalls when injuries strike.

Bruins Name Jay Leach Assistant Coach

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Now taking his third trip through the Boston Bruins organization, Jay Leach will return to the team as an assistant coach for the 2024-25 NHL campaign. The Bruins announced the hiring of Leach this afternoon as well as the promotion of Joe Sacco as an associate coach.

Leach began his tenure in the Original Six organization in the 2003-04 season as he suited up in three games for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. Leach would not get his first taste of NHL action until 2005-06, registering two games in Boston without any points.

Over the next five years, Leach played on four additional teams before retiring as the captain of the Albany Devils after the 2013-14 AHL season. Shortly thereafter, Leach began his coaching tenure with Adler Mannheim of the DEL as an assistant coach before a brief stint in the same role with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins the following year. Ahead of the 2016-17 AHL season, Leach returned to the Bruins organization for a second stint as an assistant coach of Providence before being named the team’s head coach ahead of 2017-18.

Leach earned his first opportunity in the NHL after a four-year run in Providence in which the team produced a 136-77-26 record under the then-rookie head coach. Shortly after the inception as the league’s 32nd franchise, Leach was hired as an assistant coach by the Seattle Kraken to join Dave Hakstol’s staff. With the Kraken looking to re-create their coaching staff after a disappointing 2023-24 season, Leach was granted the opportunity to pursue other options.

Sacco, on the other hand, is seeing a well-deserved promotion after spending the last decade as an assistant coach for the Bruins. During his tenure, Boston has made it to one Stanley Cup Final appearance while also winning two Presidents’ Trophies as the top team in the regular season.

Columbus Blue Jackets Aiming To Trade Patrik Laine

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On this week’s rendition of TSN’s Insider Trading, an interesting player has reportedly hit the trade block. Pierre LeBrun indicates that one of the major goals of the offseason for the Columbus Blue Jackets is to move on from struggling forward Patrik Laine.

Laine has been an interesting player, to say the least during his time in Columbus since being acquired by the organization in a trade during the 2020-21 NHL season. In 174 games for the Blue Jackets, Laine has scored 64 goals and 138 points as the team hoped he would be a solid compliment to Johnny Gaudreau on the first line.

This past season was far and away Laine’s worst in Ohio, as he only managed six goals and nine points in 18 games. To add insult to injury, head coach of the Blue Jackets, Pascal Vincent, healthy scratched Laine for the first time in his career in mid-November before Laine finally landed in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program for the rest of the season in late January. Seemingly disgruntled on both sides of the relationship, it appears Laine and Columbus will work on a mutual move at some point this summer.

As desperately as both sides may want a formal split, Laine’s contract has quickly become one of the hardest to move in the league. The acquiring team will be on the hook for $8.7MM (~10% of the salary cap) for the next two seasons unless Columbus is willing to retain money in the trade. Still, with the lack of production on his current deal and the stop in the Player Assistance Program, most teams may be hesitant to add Laine to the roster.

Being a high-salary reclamation project, it should be a relatively easy task ironing out a list of potential suitors for Laine. Given that he only brings offensive contributions to the lineup, there are several rebuilding clubs with plenty of cap flexibility and a need for more offense. The Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks all come to mind as clear choices to pursue a trade for Laine this summer.

All three options allow Laine a fresh start to his career two years before he hits unrestricted free agency. If Laine can rebuild is former label as a high-level goal-scoring threat throughout the league, the acquiring team may even be able to sell high on him at the trade deadline after next season.

Nathan Todd Clears Unconditional Waivers; Signs In KHL

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6/12: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Todd has cleared waivers this morning. The Sharks organization can now release Todd making him an unrestricted free agent, and they will open up a contract spot before a busy summer. Instead of pursuing an AHL contract this summer, reports from the Kontinental Hockey League indicate Todd has already signed a deal with HC Salavat Yulaev for the 2024-25 KHL season.

6/11: Beat writer for the San Jose Sharks, Curtis Pashelka is reporting that the organization has placed forward Nathan Todd on unconditional waivers for contract termination. Although the move does not carry significant weight at the NHL level, it will impact the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.

As an undrafted free agent, Todd spent much of his first four professional years in the ECHL before making the full-time jump to the AHL in 2020-21 for the Manitoba Moose. After securing nearly a point-per-game season with the Moose, Todd left to join the Springfield Thunderbirds for the next two seasons. In his first year with the Thunderbirds, the team would make it to the Calder Cup Final before finally being ousted by the Chicago Wolves in five games. During that postseason, Todd became a quality depth scorer, putting up four goals and 11 points in 18 games.

Last offseason, Todd signed on with the Sharks organization to a two-year, two-way contract. Playing the entire year for the Barracuda, Todd rewarded the team nicely, scoring 19 goals and 55 points in 69 games which is far and away his most productive season to date. Todd tied for 27th in the AHL in total scoring while also leading the Barracuda in assists and points.

Assuming Todd is not picked up on waivers over the next 24 hours, he will hit the open market to search for another AHL franchise to call home this summer. After failing to make the Calder Cup playoffs in the last two years, Todd’s breakout year in the minor leagues may earn him a spot on a much more competitive roster next season.

Atlantic Notes: Red Wings Draft Plans, Barkov, Gregor

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In an article today from Max Bultman of The Athletic (Subscription Required), he theorizes three hypothetical options for the Detroit Red Wings during the 2024 NHL Draft: stay put, trade down, and trade up. After it took until the last game of the regular season for the Red Wings to be eliminated from the postseason, there are several different directions that General Manager Steve Yzerman could take in Vegas.

If Detroit stays put, one of the most common mock picks at 15th overall is Michael Brandsegg-Nygård of Mora IK in the Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan. Brandsegg-Nygard would be a very safe pick at 15th overall, given that he is one of the most mature players in the draft already, meaning it shouldn’t take him too long to crack the Red Wings roster. However, if Detroit does stay put, with a decent amount of organizational depth at the forward position, they could look for a high-risk high-reward prospect at 15th overall such as Cole Eiserman or Michael Hage.

Yzerman’s second most likely option would be to trade down a few spots to clear some cap space for the offseason. The Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks represent likely trade options in this scenario, given the bevy of cap space each team has. The Red Wings may be able to move the 15th overall pick and Justin Holl’s contract to the Blackhawks in exchange for the 18th overall pick, or send the 15th overall pick and potentially both Holl and Ben Chiarot to the Ducks in exchange for the 31st overall pick if they want to get aggressive.

Lastly, since the Red Wings are unlikely to trade into the top 10 of the NHL Draft, their most likely partners in a trade-up scenario would be the Philadelphia Flyers or Buffalo Sabres. With the Flyers amid their rebuild, and the Sabres unlikely to trade with a division rival, would it make sense for Detroit to move up three spots? The price would be too high for Yzerman to trade up, and they may be left with similar options with the 15th overall pick regardless.

Other Atlantic notes:

  • With plenty of eyes on the status of Aleksander Barkov ahead of Game 3, Jameson Olive, the Senior Digital Content Manager of the Florida Panthers reported that Barkov looked and felt good today. They will continue to monitor his status during the team’s skate in Edmonton tomorrow. After taking an elbow to the head from Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl towards the final minutes of Game 2, Barkov’s status has already led to a fair amount of controversy in the Stanley Cup Final.
  • Touching on several different members of the Toronto Maple Leafs heading into the offseason, Joshua Kloke of The Athletic (Subscription Required) passes along that Noah Gregor’s time with the organization has likely ended. With the emergence of forward prospects and depth pieces down the stretch, Gregor’s role was severely diminished towards the end of the regular season, and the Maple Leafs will likely use his roster spot for other purposes. Throughout the regular season, Gregor managed six goals and 12 points for Toronto over 63 games but only managed one goal in his last 35 contests.

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