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Archives for March 2025

Rangers Sign Urho Vaakanainen To Two-Year Extension

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The Rangers announced they’ve signed defenseman Urho Vaakanainen to a two-year extension. The deal is worth $3.1MM with a $1.55MM cap hit, Arthur Staple of The Athletic reports. He was a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.

The extension marks a yearly raise of $450K for Vaakanainen, whom the Rangers acquired from the Ducks in the Jacob Trouba deal in December. The 26-year-old Finn is now on his third team after being drafted in the first round by the Bruins in 2017 and later dealt to Anaheim in 2022’s Hampus Lindholm trade.

After sitting on the fringes of the lineup with Anaheim to begin the season, Vaakanainen has enjoyed expanded usage in New York. He served as a healthy scratch for 11 of the Ducks’ first 16 games before sustaining an upper-body injury – an unfortunately common theme throughout his career – that lasted through his trade to the Blueshirts. After making his Rangers debut, he’s missed a pair of games due to illness but has otherwise remained in the lineup. He’s a bottom-pairing piece, averaging a shade under 16 minutes per game, but has contributed 2-7–9 in 30 games with a plus-two rating.

Vaakanainen was the 18th overall selection to the Boston Bruins in the 2017 NHL Draft. The stocky defender made his NHL debut two seasons later and quickly found a spot at the top of Boston’s call-up list. He was never a hot scorer, netting just two points across his first 16 games and three seasons in the NHL. Those top-flight appearances were intercut with 28 points in 84 AHL games between 2018 and 2020.

The Bruins opted to trade Vaakanainen to the Anaheim Ducks at the 2022 Trade Deadline in their acquisition of top defenseman Hampus Lindholm. Vaakanainen continued his depth role through his first two seasons in Anaheim – tallying four points in 36 games. After years of platooned roles, he finally earned his first shot at a daily lineup role last year – netting a stout 14 points and 26 penalty minutes in 68 games.

Vaakanainen has matched his point totals from last season in just 30 games with the Rangers. He seems to finally be on the right track after seven years of depth roles. The Rangers have taken the step needed to solidify Vaakanainen’s spot in the lineup, extending him to a cost-controlled two-year deal. He should continue to serve as a bottom-pair or seventh-defender option for the Rangers while they sort of a heap of new arrivals on the back-end.

PHR’s Gabriel Foley contributed to this article.

Devils To Acquire Cody Glass From Penguins

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The New Jersey Devils are set to acquire young centerman Cody Glass from the Pittsburgh Penguins, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The full trade sends Glass and Jonathan Gruden to New Jersey in exchange for prospects Chase Stillman and Max Graham, as well as a 2027 third-round pick.

Glass was playing through his first season with the Penguins. Pittsburgh acquired him from the Nashville Predators alongside a third-round and sixth-round draft pick this summer in exchange for depth minor-leaguer Jordan Frasca. The move was intended to give Glass a much-needed change of scenery after his years in Nashville were derailed by injury and inconsistent ice time. But Glass’ struggle to earn lineup attention has continued with the Penguins. He has just four goals and 15 points in 51 games this season.

Glass has made up for that low scoring with more well-rounded play away from the puck, posting a career-high 52.7 faceoff percentage, 43 hits, and 31 blocked shots. Those defensive stats have helped Glass hold onto a menial role in Pittsburgh’s bottom-six. He’s averaged just 13:25 in ice time this season, exactly one second lower than his average with Nashville last year.

The 25-year-old centerman is still working to vindicate the top-10 draft acclaim he earned when the Vegas Golden Knights selected him sixth-overall in 2017. Glass became the first draft pick in Golden Knights history after scoring a dazzling 94 points in 69 WHL games in his draft year. He followed it with 102 points in 64 games, then 69 points in 38 games – painting the picture of a tireless and capable playmaking centerman. He seemed to keep that up when he turned pro at the end of the 2018-19 season, netting five points in his first six AHL games.

The ramped up scoring earned Glass his NHL debut in the 2019-20 season, but he quickly lost his grip on elite scoring. He scored just 12 points in 39 games as an NHL rookie, and proceeded to tally just 11 points in 35 games over the next two seasons while splitting time between the major and minor leagues. Midway through achieving those totals, Glass was traded to Nashville in a three-team trade that sent Nolan Patrick to Vegas and Ryan Ellis to Philadelphia.

Nashville opted to return Glass to the minors soon after acquiring him, in hopes that he’d rediscover his top scoring. He certainly did – with 62 points in 66 games with the Milwaukee Admirals. Those numbers gave Glass the boost needed to score a career-high 14 goals and 35 points in 72 games of Nashville’s 2022-23 season. He seemed geared up to finally find his NHL stride headed into last season, but nagging injuries quickly got the best of him. Glass played in 41 games and scored just 13 points last year, prompting a move to Pittsburgh in advance of this season.

Now, Glass will prepare for another move. He’ll join a hot New Jersey Devils offense in need of a scoring boost after news that superstar Jack Hughes will miss the remaining season with an upper-body injury. Glass should be one of the many beneficiary of Hughes’ near 21 minutes of average ice time suddenly opening up. He’ll compete with Erik Haula and, potentially, Dawson Mercer for minutes in the middle lane. New Jersey will also need to find more support on their power-play, which could give Glass the set up he needs to rediscover the commendable scoring he managed in Nashville.

Pittsburgh will land sly additions in Stillman and Graham. Stillman has struggled to find his footing in the AHL this year, with just nine points, 26 PIMs, and a minus-14 in 46 games. He was far more productive as an AHL rookie last year, when he managed 14 goals, 24 points, 72 PIMs, and a minus-two in 54 games. The Devils originally drafted Stillman in the first-round of the 2021 NHL Draft. He followed his draft with two more years in the OHL, capped off by an OHL Championship win with the Peterborough Petes in 2022-23. Stillman had 48 points in 59 games that season, bringing his juniors totals up to 131 points in 176 games and three seasons. He is the son of 16-year NHL veteran Cory Stillman, who is currently the head coach of the OHL’s Guelph Storm. Chase’s brother Riley Stillman is also a defender for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Graham has found himself in a similar position to Stillman, racking up the penalty minutes in juniors in the face of right around point-per-game scoring. He has 35 points and 79 PIMs in 34 games with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets this season, following up on his 42 points and 135 PIMs in 67 games last year. Graham was a fifth-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft and seems headed for the track of a hard-nosed grinder when he turns pro next season.

Blackhawks Acquire Joe Veleno From Red Wings

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The Detroit Red Wings announced that they’ve traded forward Joe Veleno to the Chicago Blackhawks for netminder Petr Mrázek and forward Craig Smith.

Thanks to his performance this season, Veleno became an interesting trade candidate from the Red Wings’ perspective. The former 30th overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft recently achieved back-to-back 20-point campaigns in Detroit in a bottom-six role but hasn’t performed up to that standard this season. Veleno has registered five goals and 10 points for the Red Wings in 56 games, averaging 11:57 of ice time per game.

The native of Montreal, Quebec, hasn’t translated well to Todd McLellan’s system. In 26 games under the new head coach, Veleno has underperformed, scoring only one goal and accumulating four points, with a disappointing shooting percentage of 4.3%. Even as his physicality has increased in the last several years, Veleno hasn’t added much value in a bottom-six role for Detroit.

Still, he’ll have plenty of runway to produce with Chicago. He’s signed to a reasonable $2.275MM salary through next season and could make for a decent change-of-scenery candidate with the Blackhawks. As a natural center, Veleno allows Chicago to move Lukas Reichel or Nick Foligno to the wing in the team’s bottom six.

Veleno’s inclusion in the deal is the only non-puzzling portion for the Red Wings. Mrázek is signed to a relatively expensive $4.25MM contract through next season and becomes the third NHL-caliber goalie on Detroit’s roster. Additionally, since July 1st last summer, Mrázek has become the fourth goalie brought in by general manager Steve Yzerman in the past eight months.

Although the Red Wings’ tandem of Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon have disappointed recently, Mrázek won’t be much of an improvement should he maintain his production from the Blackhawks. Without factoring in his W/L record, Mrázek has a .890 SV% and 3.46 GAA in 33 starts this year with a 93rd-ranked goals saved above expected, according to MoneyPuck.

Meanwhile, Smith probably wouldn’t have been on Detroit’s radar if rookie Carter Mazur wasn’t injured in last night’s contest. Mazur was expected to fill the void of Christian Fischer in the team’s bottom-six after they lost him on waivers to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The veteran winger has recorded nine goals and 16 points in 40 games for Chicago this season, losing a handful of games to a nagging back injury.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report on the deal. 

Waivers: 3/6/25

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March 7: All five players cleared waivers today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

March 6: In addition to yesterday’s action on the waiver wire, five more players have been exposed, as reported by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.

F Ryan Reaves (Maple Leafs) – In a clear move to cut cap space from the active roster, Toronto has placed Reaves and his $1.35MM salary on waivers. It could be time for a change of scenery from the longtime enforcer, but there’s little expectation a team will want him on their roster at that price point. Although he’s paid for having hard hands rather than soft ones, Reaves has tallied two assists in 35 games for the Maple Leafs this season, averaging 7:48 of ice time per night. It’s the least utilized he has been in his role since his brief 58-game run with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2017-18.

D Riley Stillman (Hurricanes) – Today’s waiver placement marks the second time Stillman has been exposed on the wire this season. He didn’t start his 2024-25 campaign until mid-November thanks to a lower-body injury, and he was waived then upon his activation from Carolina’s injured non-roster list. Despite being limited to two games with the Hurricanes this season and frequent taxiing with their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, Stillman has reached the collective 30 days spent on Carolina’s roster requiring waivers for any future reassignment.

G Evan Cormier (Panthers) – Cormier’s inclusion on waivers presumably means the Panthers have signed the netminder to an NHL contract. Florida has had plenty of moving parts between the pipes recently, and Cormier gives them additional depth should they need it. The 27-year-old goaltender has yet to debut in the NHL, spending the last several years in the ECHL. Cormier has managed a 14-9-2 record in 27 games for the Savannah Ghost Pirates this season with a .881 SV% and 3.56 GAA.

F Cameron Hebig (Utah) – Hebig signed with the Utah Hockey Club this morning, requiring waivers for reassignment. [Article Link]

F Tyler Pitlick (Bruins) – Pitlick signed with the Boston Bruins this morning, requiring waivers for reassignment. [Article Link]

Bruins, Avalanche Swap Charlie Coyle, Casey Mittelstadt

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The Avalanche are acquiring center Charlie Coyle from the Bruins, Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic reports. Center Casey Mittelstadt is headed from Colorado to Boston in the deal, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The Bruins are also receiving forward prospect Will Zellers and a second-round pick in the deal, according to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff. LeBrun adds the Avs are receiving a 2026 fifth-rounder along with Coyle, while the second-round pick heading to Boston is in this year’s draft.

The deal swaps middle-six centers heading in completely opposite directions. Coyle, fresh off his 33rd birthday, posted a career-high 60 points in Boston last season but has scored just 15-7–22 in 64 games this year with a career-worst -14 rating. He’s signed through next season at a $5.25MM cap hit, a big risk for the Avs if there’s no salary retention and his play can’t rebound in what’s sure to be a reduced role behind Nathan MacKinnon and yesterday’s pickup Brock Nelson down the middle.

Coyle does bring an upgrade to Colorado’s third line in terms of overall experience and past performance, which is what the Avs are banking on despite his poor showing on a thin Bruins offense this year. He also brings some slight cap savings down the line – he costs $500K less against the cap than Mittelstadt and is signed for one less season. It’s worth noting he’s been quite the playoff performer in his career, posting 25-27–52 in 119 postseason games. He’s yet to miss the playoffs, going in six straight years with Minnesota and then another six with Boston. He’ll extend it to 13 years in a row in Denver.

Boston lands a much younger pivot in Mittelstadt, who hasn’t quite reached Coyle’s 60-point pinnacle but did reach 59 and 57 points the last two seasons. He hasn’t taken nearly as large a step back as Coyle this season, but it’s still been quite the difficult season. Mittelstadt has 11-23–34 through 63 games for the Avs, who acquired him at last year’s deadline in a major swap with the Sabres for Bowen Byram. Only 25 of those points have come at even strength, he’s won just 42.4% of his faceoffs, and his relative possession impacts are the worst they’ve been in five years. He wasn’t the reliable second-line center Colorado hoped they were getting last year, so they opted to acquire the veteran Nelson and Coyle while flipping Mittelstadt less than a year after signing him to a three-year, $17.25MM deal.

The mismatch in futures heading to the Bruins from the Avs is still surprising. Mittelstadt is seven years younger than Coyle and still has 60-point potential, and he’s a skilled sniper with a nearly 12% shooting rate. While a less reliable two-way presence than Coyle, who landed Selke Trophy votes for the first time last season, his age and contract align better with Boston’s now clear plan to retool their roster over the coming years. With Trent Frederic already out the door, Mittelstadt should easily fit into a top-six role for Boston down the stretch, although his poor faceoff showings may necessitate a shift to the wing to get him that ice time.

Boston picks up a fairly intriguing prospect in the 18-year-old Zellers. Selected in the third round of last year’s draft by the Avs out of prep school Shattuck St. Mary’s, the 5’11” center/winger jumped to the United States Hockey League for major junior play this year and hasn’t disappointed. In 40 games with the Green Bay Gamblers, the speedy forward leads the team in scoring with 37-21–58. He’s the high-energy, high-scoring type of prospect sorely missing from the Bruins’ system, even if he’ll be a long-term project developmentally.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Blue Jackets To Acquire Luke Kunin From Sharks

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TSN’s Pierre LeBrun is reporting that the Columbus Blue Jackets have acquired forward Luke Kunin from the San Jose Sharks. A return hasn’t yet been shared. The Sharks held Kunin out of their Thrusday night game in anticipation of a move. In return, San Jose has received a 2025 fourth-round pick, per an official team report from Columbus.

Kunin will head to the Blue Jackets after two tough seasons as San Jose’s third-line center. He scored 11 goals and 18 points in both seasons with the Sharks – achieving the feat in 77 games last year and 63 games this year. That scoring has been coupled with frequent penalties and a low plus-minus. Kunin recorded 83 PIMs and a minus-30 last year and has 46 PIMs and a minus-24 this year. He also leads the Sharks in hits this year with 163.

Kunin was originally drafted 15th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild. His selection came after a standout freshman season at the University of Wisconsin, marked by 19 goals and 32 points in 34 games. He took a step forward with 22 goals and 38 points in 35 games as a sophomore, and opted to turn pro at the end of the year. Kunin joined the AHL’s Iowa Wild for the end of the 2016-17 season and quickly flashed scoring upside. He scored five goals and eight points in his first 12 AHL games, then followed it with 10 goals and 19 points in 36 games of his formal rookie season. That was enough to earn Kunin an NHL call-up partway through the 2017-18 season. He took some time to find his scoring touch, with 21 points across the first 68 games of his career – split between 2017-18 and 2018-19. The slow start pushed Kunin back to the minors for part of the latter season, but he quickly proved the decision moot with 12 goals and 20 points in 28 games. Minnesota brought Kunin back to the NHL roster for the full 2019-20 season, and 15 goals and 31 points in 63 games was enough to solidify his spot.

Kunin has been in the NHL since 2019, though Minnesota moved him to the Nashville Predators after his breakout season. They recouped Nick Bonino and the selection used on Marat Khusnutdinov, while Kunin struggled to carry his newfound scoring touch across the Central Division. He scored just 10 goals and 19 points in his first 38 games with Nashville. Lower-body injuries cut his first year in Tennessee short. His struggle to score continued into his return in 2021-22 – but Kunin did find a different layer to his game that year. He scored just 13 goals and 22 points, but managed a career-high 99 penalty minutes as he embraced the role of a bruiser.

That hard-hitting role made Kunin an enticing pickup for the Sharks in the summer of 2022. Nashville acquired John Leonard and a draft pick for Kunin, who went on to fully embrace his hard-nosed style on an underperforming Sharks lineup. He recorded 42 penalty minutes in 31 games of his first season in San Jose, which was again cut short by injury. But the physical style proved much more repeatable, and Kunin returned with 83 PIMs in 77 games last season. His goal-scoring touch has faded the further he gets from his prime minor-league days – but Kunin still brings the heft of a six-foot, 200-pound depth centerman. He’ll be a strong depth option as the Blue Jackets gear up for what’s sure to be a hard-fought playoff run, in the mix with major Stanley Cup candidates in the Eastern Conference.

Kunin carries a $2.75MM cap hit through the end of the season. He will enter unrestricted free agency this summer without a new deal.

Sabres Agree To Terms On Two-Year Extension With Jason Zucker

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12:47 p.m.: The Sabres have confirmed the two-year extension for Zucker. He’ll make $9.5MM in total, which is good for a $4.75MM AAV in each year of the contract.

9:53 a.m.: Believed to be a strong trade candidate as a pending unrestricted free agent, the Sabres were looking to get Jason Zucker off the market entirely.  They’ve accomplished just that as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that the sides are in agreement on a two-year, $9.75MM contract extension.

The 33-year-old had to settle for a one-year contract last season, spending time between Arizona and Nashville, who acquired him in a low-cost trade deadline rental move. However, he was only able to notch 14 goals and 18 assists in 69 games between the two sides which was certainly not a good for his open market value.  Accordingly, Zucker ultimately accepted another one-year pact in July, signing for $5MM.

That has worked out well for both sides.  While Buffalo has struggled and is set to miss the playoffs once again this year, Zucker has bounced back nicely.  Through 54 games this season, he has 18 goals and 26 assists, giving him a realistic shot at a 50-point campaign, a plateau he has only reached once in his career.  With the 44 points he has now, he sits fifth on the Sabres in scoring.

Zucker made it known back in January that he was interested in extending his stay with Buffalo and he was true to his word.  Even with a big jump in the salary cap coming, he winds up taking a small pay cut with the AAV of this new deal checking in at $4.75MM.  If he had a good finish to his season – in Buffalo or elsewhere – it’s possible that he could have landed at least a small raise on the open market while also potentially getting a multi-year deal.  Instead, he opts for some stability with where he’s comfortable.

While the Sabres now won’t be getting anything for what was likely to be one of their better trade chips, there’s certainly value in keeping Zucker around.  All rebuilding teams need quality veterans and Zucker certainly has been one of them and he’ll now fill a spot in their top six for a couple more years.

With the signing, Buffalo now has a little under $24MM in cap room for next season, per PuckPedia with 15 players under contract.  While they have a prominent pending RFA to contend with in Bowen Byram, the Sabres should still have ample cap space to try to add another quality veteran or two to their roster this summer.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

Winnipeg Jets Acquire Luke Schenn

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12:02 p.m.: Both teams have confirmed the trade.

11:40 a.m.: TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that the Winnipeg Jets are acquiring defenseman Luke Schenn from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins recently acquired Schenn in a trade with the Nashville Predators.

Dreger quickly followed up, reporting that Pittsburgh is receiving a second- and fourth-round pick in return. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff added that the second-round pick will be in 2026 and the fourth-round pick in 2027.

Now that Schenn has been moved to Winnipeg, the Penguins have essentially acquired Thomas Novak, a 2026 second-round pick, and a one-year punt on a fourth-round pick for Michael Bunting. The added draft capital gives Pittsburgh 30 total picks in the next three drafts.

The 17-year defenseman complements the already solid Jets’ defensive core. Schenn is far removed from scoring 20+ points a year as he did in 2022-23, but he’s zeroing in on totaling more than 250 hits for the seventh time of his career.

He’s a quality shutdown option Winnipeg can safely play in their bottom pairing. He’s averaged a 91.5% on-ice save percentage throughout his career, and that number should continue to grow in front of the league’s top netminder.

Thanks to Connor Hellebuyck’s stellar play, the Jets are already at the top of the league for GA/G. However, Winnipeg could use some help on the penalty kill. They rank 15th in the category with a 79.25% kill rate, ranking below their Central Division peers such as the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche. Schenn should help improve this area of Winnipeg’s game and make them more difficult to play against in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Sabres, Senators Swap Joshua Norris, Dylan Cozens

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The Ottawa Senators have confirmed one of the biggest deals of deadline day. Ottawa is trading Joshua Norris and Jacob Bernard-Docker to the Buffalo Sabres for Dylan Cozens, Dennis Gilbert, and a 2026 second-round pick.

In what has quickly become one of the surprise trades of the deadline, the Sabres are taking a major gamble in Norris. His talent is undeniable, as the former 19th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft has scored 90 goals and 156 points in 236 games with the Senators. Unfortunately, his battles with injury have defined much of his career.

Norris last completed a full campaign in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. The University of Michigan product scored 17 goals and 35 points in 56 games, leading to a fourth-place finish in Calder Trophy voting. He had some maturing to do on the defensive side of the puck, but his 1.28 hits-per-game showed Norris wasn’t afraid to get involved physically.

The 2021-22 campaign became his true breakout season. Norris finished the season with 35 goals and 55 points in 66 games, averaging 18:35 of time on ice. He led the Senators in goal-scoring as a 22-year-old and handled himself well in the faceoff dot with a 51.1% success rate — something quite rare for young centers.

Ottawa was rightfully impressed by Norris’s sophomore season. Upon the expiration of his entry-level contract, the Senators signed Norris to an eight-year, $63.6MM contract, with a 10-team no-trade clause kicking in at the start of the 2026-27 season.

Unfortunately, it’s been mostly downhill for Norris since signing that contract. Due to multiple shoulder injuries, Norris has been limited to 49.3% of Ottawa’s regular-season contests since putting pen to paper on his current deal.

Still, he’s only missed eight games for the Senators this season. He’s scored 20 goals and 13 assists in 53 games, averaging 18:20 of ice time with a 53.8% faceoff rate. Norris has improved his physicality too, registering 133 hits on the year, leading all Senators’ forwards by a significant margin. His possession quality has taken a step back with a 48.8% CorsiFor% at even strength, but much of that can be explained through his 60.0% defensive zone start percentage.

Should he remain healthy, Norris gives Buffalo a grittier option at the second-line center position without sacrificing too much on offense. The Sabres already ranked 11th in the league with a 3.18 GF/G, so moving Cozens for Norris is an acknowledgment from the team about their discrepancies.

Cozens was in a similar situation to Norris, but it wasn’t because of any injury concerns. The Whitehorse, Yukon native broke out in a big way during the 2022-23 season, scoring 31 goals and 68 points in 81 games. Believing that he had become a long-term center option in the team’s top-six, Buffalo extended Cozens to a seven-year, $49.7MM contract later that season.

He hasn’t been worth that salary since. In 140 games with the Sabres since signing the contract, Cozens has registered 29 goals and 78 points, averaging 17:13 of ice time in a second-line role. His 47.7% success rate in the faceoff dot is nothing to scoff at, and his 51.1% CorsiFor% is on par with Buffalo’s team average of 51.2% this season.

Unfortunately, outside of JJ Peterka, Cozens has arguably become the least responsible forward on the Sabres’ roster on the defensive side of the puck. His 86.6% on-ice save percentage at even strength is the second-worst on the team, just like his -13 rating.

Still, he’s a physical player like Norris and has similar point production despite the down year. Cozens has been far more available than Norris in the last several years, making this a safer trade for Ottawa. Isolating the deal to Norris and Cozens, the Senators will save $850K between the two centers.

Meanwhile, the swap of Bernard-Docker and Gilbert will only affect the team’s depth options on defense. Despite being a first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, Bernard-Docker has yet to fully break out at the NHL level. He’ll finish his tenure in Ottawa with five goals and 20 points in 129 contests, averaging 15:06 of ice time and carrying a -4 rating.

Gilbert has consistently provided mild value throughout his career as a depth defenseman for the Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, and Buffalo Sabres. In 107 career games, he’s scored three goals and recorded 19 points, averaging 12:10 of ice time per game with a -18 rating.

ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was the first to report Norris and Bernard-Docker were being traded to Buffalo. 

TSN’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report that Cozens was headed to Ottawa. 

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the full details of the trade. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports images. 

Kings To Acquire Andrei Kuzmenko

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The Los Angeles Kings have reportedly acquired forward Andrei Kuzmenko from the Philadelphia Flyers (as per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet). The deal will see a third round pick in 2027, and a 2025 seventh round pick (as per team release) headed back to the Flyers (as per Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports) who will also retain 50% of Kuzmenko’s cap hit for the remainder of the season (as per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period). Kuzmenko is in the second season of a two-year, $11MM contract that carries an annual cap hit of $5.5MM. With the 50% retention, Los Angeles will only be adding $2.75MM to their cap spreadsheet. Kuzmenko is set to hit unrestricted free agency at the end of the season.

It’s the second trade in two months for the 29-year-old Kuzmenko who was dealt from Calgary to Philadelphia back on January 30th along with Jakob Pelletier and two draft picks in exchange for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. It’s been a quiet season for Kuzmenko who has been unable to find stability among all of the movement. In 43 games this year, Kuzmenko has registered just six goals and 14 assists.

An undrafted free agent signing in July 2022, Kuzmenko had a monstrous rookie season with the Vancouver Canucks in 2022-23, posting 39 goals and 35 assists in 81 games. However, his sophomore season saw a dramatic drop off in production as Kuzmenko tallied just 22 goals and 24 assists in 72 games and was dealt midseason to Calgary in the Elias Lindholm trade.

Kuzmenko leaves Philadelphia having played just seven games with the Flyers. He was quite good in Philadelphia after struggling in Calgary, posting two goals and three assists in his abbreviated stay. He could prove to be a steal for the Kings if he can get on a heater. Kuzmenko has been streaky throughout his NHL career and has responded well following trades in the past. Last year after joining Calgary mid-season, Kuzmenko went on to notch 14 goals and 11 assists in his final 29 games after a sluggish start to his season. If Los Angeles gets production anything close to that it will have been worth the cost of the third-round pick.

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