Evening Notes: Smith, Blue Jackets, Protas
Already having sent out Michael McCarron, another pending free agent Predator could be on the move soon. Forward Cole Smith took just a three second shift in tonight’s game against Columbus, at one point leaving for the locker room, but eventually returning to the bench, still not playing. Insider Frank Seravalli reported that Tampa Bay is showing interest.
The undrafted 30-year-old has become a mainstay on Nashville’s fourth line over the past four seasons, where he’s played a total 230 games with 62 points. At 6’3”, he is a relentless penalty killing winger likely to bring back later-round draft capital.
A high character player, the Minnesota native would be missed by Nashville, but cashing in on their depth pieces while keeping the bigger stars still gives them a shot in the playoffs, although they’ll have to overhaul their shorthanded unit.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Along with their opponents making news today, the Blue Jackets are missing two key pieces tonight as captain Boone Jenner and star Zach Werenski were inactive, as noted by Jeff Svoboda, official team reporter. Such news can raise eyebrows in early March, but it’s absolutely not for any suspicious reasons. Werenski is thought to be ill, while Jenner is day-to-day for maintenance, as confirmed by the team. Both could return as soon as Thursday, their Jackets set to host Florida as they continue their push toward the postseason. Until then, Kent Johnson, a scratch in recent days, re-enters the lineup.
- As another headline which could be misinterpreted, Capitals star Aliaksei Protas is absent tonight, but it’s due to personal reasons, as reported by Tom Gulitti of NHL.com. The 25-year-old has missed three games this year, otherwise posting 42 points in 59 games, and reaching the 20 goal mark last week. His Capitals, just shy of Wild Card range, are back in action Saturday in Boston, likely to welcome Protas back then.
Canucks Place Thatcher Demko On LTIR, Pierre-Olivier Joseph To IR
The Vancouver Canucks shared that goaltender Thatcher Demko has been placed on long-term injured reserve, and defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph has also landed on injured reserve, retroactive to March 2. Later on, GM Patrik Allvin announced that Victor Mancini has been recalled from AHL Abbotsford in a corresponding transaction (Twitter Link).
The star netminder’s ailment is well known to this point, as he’s not played since January 10 unfortunately dealing with ongoing hip issues. On the other hand, Joseph left last night’s action with an undisclosed injury, and he’ll be forced to miss Vancouver’s next four contests at least.
Thomas Drance of The Athletic added that the plan is for Demko to go on season-ending LTIR pending league approval. For now the club gains $3.82MM in cap space, but assuming the placement is approved the Canucks will have $5MM in relief. Prior to the Olympic Break it was already confirmed that the Canucks were shutting down Demko for the rest of the year to undergo surgery on the hip.
As his fate was already known, the cap savings could come in handy shortly if the Canucks take on any unfavorable expiring contracts as part of their sell off. Sitting dead last in the league, Demko’s three year extension worth $8.5MM per season takes effect next season just in time for what could be hardcore rebuilding days ahead. Suffice to say, it’s a contract which shows the dramatic turn for the Canucks compared to last summer’s optimism. His campaign comes to an untimely end after just 20 games played, winning eight.
Owner of another contract which no longer aligns with the team’s new direction, Kevin Lankinen will hold things down between the pipes for the time being. The 30-year-old received an extension worth $4.5MM per year, running through 2029-30. The Finn is no stranger to backstopping a non-contender as he broke into the NHL with the Blackhawks in 2020. Lankinen’s stats this year are career worsts at a .874% save percentage and 3.69 goals against average, but his Canucks are the worst NHL team by a considerable margin.
Coming back up, Mancini has been in the AHL for just under a month, last playing January 27 against San Jose. With no stats other than a fighting major in 10 games as a Canuck this season, he’s been more productive for Abbotsford, with 12 points in 34 games. The 23-year-old will be a restricted free agent this summer, and he figures to have more opportunities with the Canucks next year.
Roster management aside, hopefully Demko can use the time to finally heal up with brighter days ahead. Still just 30, the California native is nothing short of elite when healthy. He’ll have to look ahead to 2026-27, but Joseph could return as soon as March 12 against Nashville, eager to prove something as his contract expires this summer with restricted free agent status.
Wild Acquire Michael McCarron
Moments ago, the Nashville Predators announced that center Michael McCarron wouldn’t play tonight against Columbus for what they called “roster management purposes”. Sure enough, he has been dealt to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a 2028 second round pick, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. The Wild as well as the Predators have officially announced the trade.
Once a first round pick in 2013 by the Montreal Canadiens, the 30-year-old McCarron grinded away in the AHL for several years, emerging as a full time NHLer in his late twenties. At 6’6″, he is strong at the face-off dot, currently with a 52.8% win rate, coming in north of 54% last season.
McCarron showed unusual scoring touch in 2023-24, recording 12 goals and 22 points in his best season, but since then has put up numbers synonymous with a pure fourth liner. He has five goals and 12 points in 59 games across the campaign. At even strength, McCarron’s possession metrics are unsurprisingly below average, hovering around the 46% mark in recent years. Yet GM Bill Guerin is not adding the Michigan native with those traits in mind.
Minnesota inherits McCarron’s reasonable $900k cap hit which expires this summer. Rumored to be after a top six center, Guerin still has the space to make another splash, but the Wild are limited in assets as they go all in. After tonight’s deal, they don’t have a second round pick in the next three drafts, also losing this year’s first in the Quinn Hughes blockbuster.
Acquired by Nashville from Montreal in 2020 in exchange for Laurent Dauphin, a top AHL scorer who departed the Habs organization but has actually returned to Laval, McCarron became a fan favorite in Nashville. Even if they move forward on a rebuild, they could have re-signed the towering grinder as he fills an important role. However, in a seller’s market, a second round pick was enough to entice GM Barry Trotz to send McCarron to a divisional rival, although they’ll have to wait two years to use it.
The Predators lack anybody in the cupboard to replace McCarron’s role, but October waiver claim Tyson Jost figures to slot in at 4C from here on out. Nashville will likely shop for a new physical face-off specialist this summer in free agency.
A steep price to pay, Minnesota has again supplemented their bottom six, having claimed Robby Fabbri off waivers from St. Louis yesterday. The Wild have struggled with defensive zone face-offs, and McCarron offers more of a mean streak than Nico Sturm. He has reached the 100 penalty minute mark in each of the last two seasons, and currently at 73, it’s not impossible he could keep the streak going especially while motivated to endear himself to the Wild faithful.
Wild head coach John Hynes likely gave the green light on the acquisition, reuniting with McCarron, who broke through in 2021-22 with 51 games as a Predator under Hynes. He could also play alongside Yakov Trenin, a teammate then, the two hitting everything in sight.
McCarron could make his Wild debut as soon as Friday, as the group travels to Vegas.
Image Credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images
Rangers Place J.T. Miller On Injured Reserve, Announce Several Roster Moves
New York Rangers captain J.T. Miller is headed to injured reserve with an upper body injury, reported earlier today by Peter Baugh of The Athletic. In a series of corresponding transactions, the team announced that Jaroslav Chmelar and Juuso Pärssinen have been recalled from AHL Hartford. Meanwhile, Brendan Brisson and Scott Morrow are headed back down.
Miller played just shy of 20 minutes last night, so it’s not immediately clear what happened, however ESPN’s Emily Kaplan confirmed that it’s not related to the upper body issue which sidelined him from late December into early January. However long Miller may be out, it’s just another in the latest of several injuries throughout what has become a forgettable year for the Blueshirts.
Becoming a polarizing figure in New York, Miller has held his own this year when healthy. He’s ranked third in team scoring with 38 points in 51 games, behind the club’s other two 32-year-old centers in Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck. Miller’s -24 is a glaring indicator of the team’s struggles this year, but despite the career worst mark by a wide margin, he still holds a respectable 51.6% corsi for at five on five, his best since 2022-23.
Meanwhile, a pair of forwards are set to come up and audition as the Rangers’ season winds down. Chmelar, 22, made his NHL debut back in November, playing in six total games before going back to the AHL where he’s been since mid December. The Czech has not yet recorded a point, but he’s looking like a solid find in the fifth round of the 2021 draft. Standing at 6’4″, Chmelar offers bottom six upside, showing progress in his second full professional season, with 25 points in 46 games for the Wolfpack.
Also, Pärssinen returns having not played with the big club since November. The 25-year-old was a seventh round selection of Nashville, emerging as a potential steal. Since then, he’s bounced around, ending up with New York where he has six points in 11 AHL contests, and three in 14 at the NHL level in 2025-26. Pärssinen is signed through next season, but he’ll be eager to earn more ice time, averaging just 8:56 under coach Mike Sullivan this year, a career low.
Losing two top forwards, Hartford’s lineup is supplemented with Brisson. A former first rounder of Vegas, he came to New York just shy of one year ago in the Reilly Smith deal. With 23 points in 46 games for the Wolfpack, the 24-year-old’s production has stalled out in the past few years. In recent days, he made his Ranger debut, recording one assist in three contests. Brisson is a restricted free agent at season’s end.
Finally, Morrow, the team’s top defensive prospect, is a player fans would like to see at this point without anything to lose. However, New York is being patient with the 23-year-old who has six helpers in 29 games on the year on 15:40 a night. Morrow will join the 20th-ranked Wolfpack as a top blue liner, and it’s likely he will get some more action in New York before the season comes to an end.
Back in action Thursday as they host Toronto, the hope is that Miller won’t need to miss much time. Yet as they sit 30th in the league, the Rangers can get some younger players into the lineup as they look to the future, not exactly desperate for wins.
Image Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Kings Reassign Erik Portillo, Angus Booth
March 3: The Kings returned Portillo to AHL Ontario after he backed up Anton Forsberg last night, per John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor. Defenseman Angus Booth joins him on the road back to the AHL after scoring in his debut last night with a +1 rating in 12:18 of ice time.
March 2: The Los Angeles Kings have recalled goaltender Erik Portillo from their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. The move comes as the incumbent No. 1 netminder Darcy Kuemper is set to miss at least tonight’s game against the Colorado Avalanche with an illness, per team reporter Zach Dooley.
This isn’t Portillo’s first opportunity to serve as a fill-in for an unavailable Kuemper – over the Olympic break, the Swedish netminder was recalled to practice with the team while Kuemper was in Italy representing Canada at the Olympic tournament. Today’s recall is in a similar vein, although there is an actual game to be played in this case, and Portillo is set to serve as the backup.
A 2019 third-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres, Portillo has developed well over the last two-and-a-half years as a member of the Kings organization. Once a high-end goaltender both in the USHL with the Dubuque Fighting Saints and NCAA with the Michigan Wolverines, Portillo has become a solid goaltender at the AHL level. He made his professional debut in 2023-24, posting a .918 save percentage across 39 games with the Reign. Portillo earned a greater share of starts than most goalies can typically expect in their first season in the pro ranks, and Portillo appeared to respond well to the increased responsibility and workload.
The following season, Portillo’s numbers took a step back, regressing from a .918 save percentage in 2023-24 to an .889 in 2024-25. It’s possible the trickle-down effect of the Kings’ addition of Kuemper may have played a role. In 2023-24, David Rittich‘s stellar play kept him in the NHL, meaning the Kings didn’t have a veteran to pair with Portillo until they signed Aaron Dell in late January of 2024. That allowed Portillo to play a regular starting netminder’s schedule, something he got used to (albeit with a smaller pool of total available games) when he was at Michigan.
In 2024-25, Kuemper arrived, and emerged as a Vezina Trophy candidate with the Kings. Having Kuemper and Rittich entrenched in the NHL forced Pheonix Copley, who had played in 37 NHL games in 2022-23, and spent most of 2023-24 injured, off the Kings’ NHL roster. As a result, he received the lion’s share of starts in Ontario, and Portillo had to settle for a backup goalie’s schedule of starts, rather than a starter. Many goalies have commented on the difficulty posed by a backup’s schedule, in terms of being less capable of finding a rhythm that paves the way to on-ice success. Being a backup isn’t something Portillo had to deal with in several years, and it’s therefore not a huge surprise that his numbers fell back as he tried to make that adjustment.
So far this season, Portillo appears to have largely rebounded from his difficult 2024-25. He’s come close to splitting starts with Copley, with 20 games played compared to the veteran’s 26. He’s winning frequently, with a 14-3-1 record and .905 save percentage, well above Copley’s .891 mark. With another season on his deal at a $783K cap hit, the time could be quickly approaching where the Kings look to Portillo as a legitimate NHL option, although it’s important to note that both Kuemper and Forsberg remain under contract through next season as well.
Islanders Linked To Conor Garland
4:24 p.m.: Myers is no longer part of conversations between the Islanders and Canucks, Rosner reports. Whether that’s because he invoked his no-movement clause is unknown.
3:11 p.m.: The Islanders are in “serious discussions” to acquire winger Conor Garland from the Canucks, Stefen Rosner of NHL.com reports. Defenseman Tyler Myers could also be headed to the Isles in the deal if he’s willing to waive his no-movement clause, something that’s been holding up a deal ever since he was removed from Vancouver’s lineup to avoid an injury risk last week.
The Isles aren’t alone in their push to acquire Garland this week, particularly among their competitors in the Eastern Conference playoff race. CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal had the Isles’ pursuit of Garland this morning, along with the Bruins and Senators as interested parties. As we covered over the weekend, there’s a connection between Garland and Sens head coach Travis Green, who used to oversee him in Vancouver.
Nonetheless, Rosner’s reporting indicates the Islanders have at least emerged as frontrunners, even if it’s not a done deal. The Isles have been looking to add players with term after adding Ondrej Palat and Carson Soucy in a pair of trades before the Olympic break, and are open to moving a first-round pick to do so, general manager Mathieu Darche said in January.
The Isles have persisted through a pair of early-season blows that saw defender Alexander Romanov and winger Kyle Palmieri – both important supporting pieces – sustain season-ending injuries (although Romanov could be an option to return in a first-round playoff series). Soucy and Palat emerged as cheap replacements weeks later, but the Isles have gone 6-2-0 since acquiring them to boost their playoff chances up to around 75%, per MoneyPuck.
That has Darche looking to reward his team for pushing through the blows dealt by the Romanov and Palmieri injuries, and he’s comfortable sparing the assets to do it with the success he had in restocking the organization’s cupboards at last year’s draft. Now armed with a franchise cornerstone on defense in Matthew Schaefer, he’ll need to assess what he’s willing to move to boost an offense that ranks 21st in the league at 2.92 goals per game.
Garland would go a long way toward doing that and, with the six-year, $36MM extension he signed last summer yet to kick in, is far from a rental option. In addition to boosting their forward corps this season, he becomes a controllable insurance policy for next year and beyond in case they can’t manage to come to agreements with pending UFAs Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau before July 1.
That’s assuming the 29-year-old’s struggles this season are more a product of him being on a last-place team in Vancouver rather than individual decline. The 5’10” winger has never been an exceptional finisher, relying more on consistent shot volume to hover around 20 goals a year. Even so, his shooting percentage is down to 6.8 this year, resulting in him only lighting the lamp seven times through 49 games. On the whole, his 25 points make for his worst per-game showing since his rookie year in Arizona back in 2018-19.
Between 2019 and 2025, though, Garland was incredibly consistent. Aside from a career-best 0.80 points per game rate in the shortened 2020-21 season, his average stayed in a relatively small window between 0.57 and 0.68. Just last season, his 19 goals and 50 points were only a few short of setting a career high in each category.
Myers isn’t a pure rental either, but is a shorter-term pickup with another year left after this one at a $3MM cap hit. His shutdown ability is less of a need with the Isles already boasting the fifth-best defense in the league, but they could view him as a short-term upgrade over Scott Mayfield , who’s struggled to control possession in his third-pairing role. That’s in spite of Mayfield having better boxcar stats across the board this season, but Myers has dealt with a much more difficult workload in higher deployment.
If the Isles were to acquire both, they’d have to move out a contract if Vancouver isn’t retaining any salary, even with Garland’s current $4.95MM cap hit before it jumps to $6MM next season. That could be winger Anthony Duclair if he’s willing to waive his no-trade clause – David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported over the weekend that they were shopping him.
Kings Circling Back On Patrik Laine
The Kings were reported to have a degree of interest in Canadiens winger Patrik Laine last month after losing Kevin Fiala to a season-ending leg injury at the Olympics. Those talks quickly fizzled out, but after another rash of injuries in L.A., they’ve demonstrated renewed interest in the former 40-goal scorer, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.
As things stand, the Kings’ injury list has effectively derailed their chances of making the playoffs, even after swinging a trade for Artemi Panarin last month. One of their better scoring options, Andrei Kuzmenko, had surgery to repair a torn meniscus last weekend and is effectively done for the regular season. They also recently lost Joel Armia to injured reserve and are now dealing with an upper-body injury to Quinton Byfield.
That’s a third of the Kings’ regular forwards unavailable, not including Trevor Moore, who’s currently dealing with an illness. To no surprise, they’re 1-3-0 coming out of the break while only averaging 2.25 goals per game. They fired head coach Jim Hiller on Sunday and promoted associate coach D.J. Smith as the interim head coach to finish out the year, but lost 4-2 to the Avalanche in their first game under Smith last night.
As things stand, the Kings are only four points out of a playoff spot with a game in hand, but have three teams – the Predators, Sharks, and Oilers – to leapfrog in that order – to get back into the picture. The crowded field leaves them with a 27.7% chance of making the playoffs at this stage, per MoneyPuck.
Scoring isn’t just a recent problem for the Kings, though. L.A.’s offense has clicked at just 2.52 goals per game, fourth-worst in the league. Their 16.8% success rate on the power play isn’t much better at 26th out of 32 teams. Panarin has yet to score since his acquisition, but does have three assists in four games.
Still, the situation is untenable with Fiala and Kuzmenko now out long-term. That’s led general manager Ken Holland to consider a reclamation hail-mary project like Laine, who will carry little to no acquisition cost thanks to his exorbitant $8.7MM cap hit destroying most of his trade value. The Habs, in desperate need of cap flexibility to augment their roster at the trade deadline, have been trying to move him for weeks to no avail. He hasn’t played since late October due to core muscle surgery, but has been practicing in a non-contact jersey since January, so he’s on the verge of a return and could be simply held out of the lineup for trade protection at this point.
Laine was a non-factor to start the year with one assist and a -3 rating in five games. He was nonetheless an effective secondary scoring presence in a more limited role in Montreal last season despite missing nearly 30 games with a left knee sprain. He had 20 goals and 33 points in 52 games for the Habs last year. That works out to a 0.38 goals per game figure that would currently lead the Kings.
If healthy, the pending free agent could get a long leash in the Kings’ top nine and feature on their top power-play in an effort to give them enough offense to eke out a heater over the last few weeks.
Panthers To Activate Tomas Nosek From LTIR
Panthers center Tomáš Nosek will draw into the lineup tonight against the Devils, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters, including the team’s Jameson Olive. He’ll need to come off long-term injured reserve to make his season debut, but that will be a smooth move after Luke Kunin cleared waivers yesterday and headed to AHL Charlotte, which opened up a roster spot.
Nosek, 33, was close to testing free agency last summer after initially signing with the Cats in 2024, serving as a fringe fourth-line option in their second of back-to-back Stanley Cups. On the morning of July 1, he opted to stay in South Florida on a one-year, league minimum deal. With the Panthers losing Nico Sturm in free agency, he was expected to step back in as their full-time fourth-line option down the middle. That all changed when Nosek didn’t report to training camp due to what the team called a significant offseason knee injury that required surgery, saying he would miss several months.
While several months turned into nearly the entire regular season, Nosek will get back into the fold for the stretch run before having the chance to test free agency again in July. The veteran of nearly 500 games suited up 59 times for the Cats last year, recording a goal and nine points with a +4 rating while averaging 9:49 of ice time per game.
The Czech pivot has never been anything more than a bottom-of-the-lineup piece, but is a well-respected role player who saw significant shorthanded deployment earlier in his career, particularly in his two-year run with the Bruins from 2021-23. He averages seven goals and 19 points per 82 games for his career – along with 92 hits – and is quite strong in the dot at 54.0%.
With Florida now needing a miracle to break through a crowded East wild-card race, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see Nosek flipped for a depth pick if a contender has interest. If not, he’ll be a much-needed additional veteran piece to aid an ailing Florida bottom-six group that’s without Jonah Gadjovich and Cole Schwindt.
Blues Leaning Toward Trading Jordan Binnington
This week is shaping up to be a transformative one for the Blues. Amid mounting interest for forward cornerstone Robert Thomas, they’ve also been fielding more sparse interest in starting goaltender Jordan Binnington over the last several months. That appears to be coming to a head now as NHL Network’s Brian Lawton reports they’re “ready to move on” from Binnington and that it “feels like a move is a forgone [sic] conclusion.”
That’s a sharp change in direction from the feeling surrounding Binnington as of late, which was that they were listening to offers but weren’t close to seriously considering a move. He’d been left off most trade boards or ranked rather low on them as a result. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta had him as a “bubble player” outside of his top-40 as of an update this morning. He was down at 24th on TSN’s most recent Trade Bait list and 43rd on Chris Johnston’s list for The Athletic yesterday.
In all likelihood, his and Thomas’ futures in St. Louis go hand in hand. It makes little sense for a team teetering between a moderate retool and an aggressive rebuild to move one player of either’s caliber and importance but not the other. As such, it’s natural that there would be an increased willingness to shop Binnington amid some intriguing offers for Thomas in the last few days from the Mammoth and Sabres, which has general manager Doug Armstrong seemingly leaning toward a move in that department as well.
Binnington’s trade value is hard to gauge. On one hand, he’s on a desirable contract for an established but inconsistent starter with a cap hit of $6MM that expires after next season. He’s also coming off exceptional performances as Team Canada’s starter on the international stage in back-to-back years. guiding Canada to a championship at last season’s 4 Nations Face-Off and putting up a .917 SV% in five games en route to a silver medal at last month’s Winter Olympics. He’s also a Cup champion and Calder Trophy finalist with a largely above-average track record in the playoffs.
That shouldn’t completely shroud the fact that Binnington has been the NHL’s worst starter this season, bar none. The Blues’ skater core has been below-average but not catastrophic defensively. Binnington’s .867 SV% and 8-18-6 record in 31 starts this year are more individually damning than representative of the team in front of him, especially when considering backup Joel Hofer‘s .899 SV% in a similar workload. The analytics back that up – Binnington’s -23.8 goals saved above expected are the worst in the league, per MoneyPuck.
The latter’s hot streak as of late and intriguing track record as a prospect only make moving on from Binnington a more natural position to take, especially if St. Louis has a chance to squeeze more return value out of him now with an acquiring team getting to take two swings at a playoff run with him before he reaches free agency. Hofer has another year left at $3.4MM before becoming an arbitration-eligible free agent. He’s now up to even in GSAx on the year after a rough start similar to Binnington’s and has a 14-11-3 record to show for it. That includes a .905 SV% in his last 15 outings, matching his career average to this point.
Sabres Making Aggressive Push For Robert Thomas
The Sabres are a late but aggressive entrant in talks to acquire center Robert Thomas from the Blues, reports Darren Dreger of TSN. Their offer contains multiple first-round picks or equivalent pieces, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic relays. However, talks haven’t progressed far enough yet for the Blues to ask Thomas to waive his no-trade clause, per Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic.
Thomas is the best player still available at the deadline, both in terms of short-term and long-term impact. It was viewed as pure speculation by many that he’d actually be made available amid St. Louis’ retool, but the Blues have evidently received multiple offers strong enough to their liking in recent days to seriously consider pulling the trigger on a move. The Mammoth is the other club that’s been consistently tied to Thomas over the past week.
Even amid something of a down season for Thomas, it’s hard to imagine his trade value has taken much of a hit. He’s still put up 12 goals and 35 points in 42 games. That’s similar on a per-game basis to what other top options Nazem Kadri and Vincent Trocheck have done this season, but Thomas is significantly younger and has consistently been one of the league’s assist leaders for several years now.
The 26-year-old is in year three of eight on his contract, which carries a fair-value cap hit at worst of $8.125MM. He had full trade protection kick in this season – the first year he was eligible to receive it – so all of this hinges on Thomas greenlighting a move to the Sabres, who currently have an 88.6% chance of ending their playoff drought at 14 seasons, per MoneyPuck.
Buffalo doesn’t have any additional first-rounders past their own, but they do have a plethora of recent first-round draft choices to leverage in trade talks. Among forwards alone who are still on entry-level deals, there’s Zach Benson, Jiri Kulich, Noah Ostlund, Isak Rosen, and Konsta Helenius. Helenius, the 14th overall pick in 2024, has shown enough at the AHL level already to paint himself as a potential long-term replacement for Thomas as St. Louis’ first-line center. Whether the Sabres would be willing to leverage either Bowen Byram or Owen Power from their long list of top-four-capable left-shot defenders remains to be seen, but that shouldn’t be ruled out either if they’re looking to keep cap space open for looming extensions for Benson and Alex Tuch.