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Snapshots: Rantanen, Husso, Poitras

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The Avalanche’s final offer to winger Mikko Rantanen in extension negotiations earlier this season was an eight-year, $93.2MM deal worth $11.65MM per season, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic confirmed today. While that obviously wasn’t an offer Rantanen agreed to, it was close enough to encourage the winger’s camp to keep negotiating throughout the rest of the regular season – a plan foiled when Colorado instead opted to deal him to the Hurricanes. LeBrun reaffirms the notion at the time that Rantanen and his camp were blindsided by the deal, instead believing they were close enough in talks to continue ironing out a deal to keep him in Colorado. He also confirmed that the Canes’ offer to Rantanen was an eight-year, $100MM deal as previously reported, but that he ended up taking less in last week’s trade-and-sign with the Stars because he “just wasn’t feeling the fit in Carolina.”

More from around the league today:

  • The Ducks announced they’ve reassigned goaltender Ville Husso to AHL San Diego. The veteran third-stringer, acquired from the Red Wings last month, backed up Lukáš Dostál for the second straight contest in last night’s win over the Islanders while John Gibson remains sidelined with a lower-body issue. They’ve sent him to the minors on off-days during Gibson’s absence, so today’s move isn’t necessarily an indication Gibson will be ready to return when Anaheim hosts the Capitals tomorrow. Husso has yet to play for the Ducks since the swap, but the 30-year-old has a .894 SV%, 3.27 GAA, one shutout, and a 3-1-0 record in four showings for San Diego.
  • While the Bruins’ reassignment of Matthew Poitras on Friday was expected to be a short-term one to make him eligible for the AHL playoffs, Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald reports that isn’t the case. The 21-year-old center remains in Providence as this week gets underway and will remain there for the foreseeable future, potentially the rest of the regular season. The 2022 second-rounder has 1-10–11 in 33 NHL appearances this season after notching 5-10–15 in the exact same number of showings last year.

Sharks Recall Jimmy Schuldt

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They waited a few days after sending him down Friday for AHL playoff eligibility purposes, but the Sharks announced today they’ve added defenseman Jimmy Schuldt back to their roster. They now have an extra defenseman available for tomorrow’s game against the Predators after rolling without one for Saturday’s loss to the Islanders.

Schuldt, 29, suited up in San Jose’s final game before the trade deadline after they recalled him from the minors earlier in the week. It was the 6’1″ lefty’s first NHL appearance in nearly six years and just the second of his career after debuting in April 2019 as a member of the Golden Knights.

Signed by Vegas as an undrafted free agent that year out of St. Cloud State, the Minnesota native has spent the last six years as a farmhand for the Knights, Sabres, Kraken, and now Sharks. A two-way defender with good puck-moving skills, he’s now the captain of San Jose’s AHL club after signing a two-way deal last summer with an $800K cap hit and $400K guarantee. He has 5-13–18 in 54 games for the Barracuda this season, ranking second on the club with a +15 rating.

Schuldt logged 14:15 in his Sharks debut against the Avalanche last week and posted three shots on goal with one hit. He had a good showing in sheltered minutes, controlling shots 9-3 at 5v5 and scoring chances 7-4, per Natural Stat Trick.

The fledgling Sharks would love to continue getting that play out of Schuldt as a third-pairing fill-in down the stretch. San Jose will have increased opportunity for depth blue-liners down the stretch after trading No. 1 option Jake Walman to the Oilers last week, creating space for young names like Shakir Mukhamadullin and Henry Thrun while also providing more playing time for depth vets like Schuldt. San Jose now has 22 players on their active roster and has used up one of their four post-deadline recalls.

Latest On The Pittsburgh Penguins

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Josh Yohe of The Athletic writes that the Pittsburgh Penguins never came close to dealing forward Rickard Rakell prior to the NHL Trade Deadline. The Penguins reportedly didn’t care to deal Rakell and were happy to hold onto him, despite receiving several offers for his services. Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas doesn’t want the Penguins to tank over the next few years and instead hopes to mirror the retool that the Washington Capitals recently went through.

Dubas did make plenty of moves leading up to the deadline, but didn’t move any of the bigger names such as Rakell or Erik Karlsson. Yohe believes that the Penguins would like to move Karlsson in the summer and are willing to retain as much as $3MM to facilitate a move. Karlsson hasn’t been terrible in Pittsburgh, but his style of play has not meshed well, and he has not been the Norris Trophy defenseman that Pittsburgh thought they were trading for in the summer of 2023.

If the Penguins move on from Karlsson, it will put more pressure on defenseman Kris Letang. Although it’s questionable as to whether he will stick around. Yohe speculates that Dubas will approach Letang to see if he still has interest in remaining in Pittsburgh during their roster turnover. Letang has a full no trade clause and three years remaining on his contract at a $6.1MM AAV. His actual salary in those three years will be $4.8MM per year, which could be appealing for teams on an internal budget. Letang is having arguably the worst season of his professional career but remains a top four NHL defenseman. He hasn’t publicly expressed any interest in moving on from the Penguins.

Yohe expects teams to call Pittsburgh this summer about forward Bryan Rust as his full no movement clause expires. While teams will be interested, Yohe doesn’t believe the Penguins want to move the veteran, who is playing some of the best hockey of his career with 21 goals and 26 assists in 55 games this season.

Given the nature of the Penguins’ deadline, and a desire to keep high character veterans in the fold, it looks as though the Penguins intend to turn things around quickly rather than enduring a five-year rebuild. Yohe acknowledges that next year will be tough for Pittsburgh, but the Penguins are hoping to contend for a playoff spot again in the next two years.

Utah’s Juuso Välimäki Undergoes ACL Surgery, Out 8-9 Months

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Utah announced today defenseman Juuso Välimäki underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL and will need eight to nine months for recovery. As a result, the 26-year-old’s season is over. He’ll also miss the first one to two months of the 2025-26 campaign.

It’s a brutal end to a forgettable season for the Finnish defenseman. He hasn’t been on the NHL roster since Feb. 24, when he cleared waivers and was subsequently sent to AHL Tucson for his first minor-league assignment since the 2021-22 campaign. Välimäki sustained the ACL tear in his first game with Tucson on Feb. 28.

While the 2017 first-rounder has finally emerged as a fringe top-four option on the Coyotes’ blue line before the team was sold and moved operations to Salt Lake City, he’s tumbled down the depth chart in Utah despite early-season injuries to Sean Durzi and John Marino creating additional opportunities for depth players for much of the campaign. Touted as an offensive defenseman, the 6’2″ lefty has just 2-3–5 in 43 NHL showings this year. That’s down considerably from the heights of his 34-point campaign in 78 games for Arizona two years ago, when he featured heavily on their power play and led Coyotes defenders with 30 assists (19 EV, 11 PP).

Välimäki’s role this season was naturally going to decrease with their offseason pickups of Marino, Ian Cole, and Mikhail Sergachev, and his role was further reduced when Utah acquired (and now extended) countryman Olli Määttä early in the season. Not being available during training camp next season also doesn’t bode well for his hopes of re-emerging as a regular. Signed through next year at a $2MM cap hit, Välimäki is already the seventh defenseman under contract on a one-way deal next year after the Club recently extended Määttä and Cole. While veterans Nick DeSimone and Robert Bortuzzo are pending UFAs and questionable to return, they’ve also got 2022 first-rounder Maveric Lamoureux in the system who should be pushing for an opening-night roster spot after skating in 15 games earlier this year.

Thus, Välimäki may not have an NHL job waiting for him when he returns to health next year. He costs $850K against Utah’s cap when buried in the minors. He’s destined for unrestricted free agency when his deal expires in 2026 and, save for an unexpected resurgence in 2025-26, won’t be re-signing unless he desires a minor-league role.

More concerning is the Finn’s history with ACL tears and lower-body issues. He missed significant chunks of his early development in the Flames organization, including the first half of the 2018-19 campaign with a lower-body injury and all of the 2019-20 season after undergoing ACL surgery during training camp. He’s managed to stay mostly healthy since then, though. It’s not known whether the tears occurred in the same knee.

Jonathan Toews Pushing For NHL Comeback

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Former Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews remains serious about an NHL comeback at the age of 37 even though he hasn’t played a professional hockey game in almost two years (as per Mark Lazerus of The Athletic). The three-time Stanley Cup Champion has been plagued by health issues for several years now but says he is in a good place both mentally and physically and has even begun skating in Arizona as he begins an attempted comeback.  Toews never officially retired when he wrapped up his time in Chicago and refers to his time away from the game as a “hiatus.”

With Toews ready to give hockey one last shot, many people will wonder about potential suitors for his services. One team that he will not play for is the Blackhawks as they have made it clear in the past that they were ready to move on from Toews and hand the keys over to their new core. Toews holds no hard feelings over this and acknowledged that he understands their reasoning.

Toews had skated just once since last playing in the NHL back on April 13th, 2023, dressing in a charity exhibition game in Slovakia. He returned to the United States last month and had his hockey gear sent to him in Arizona. Since then, he’s been doing skill work and conditioning skates but admits he doesn’t have his legs under him yet, which is understandable given the length of his absence. Toews tells Lazerus that he is excited to skate with other NHLers when their seasons end and will have a better idea at that time whether or not an NHL comeback is feasible.

Toews returning to the NHL would make for an exciting story, given the challenges he has dealt with. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native has nothing left to prove at any level of hockey but does admit that the desire to play in the NHL again is still burning strong.

Canadiens Recall Joshua Roy, Assign Owen Beck To AHL

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The Montreal Canadiens announced that they’ve recalled forward Joshua Roy on an emergency basis and sent forward Owen Beck to the Laval Rocket of the AHL. Due to the nature of the recall, Roy will not count against Montreal’s team limit of four recalls. The Canadiens play a back-to-back this week on Tuesday and Wednesday in Vancouver and Seattle and needed a change at forward.

It’s the second time this season that Roy has been recalled from the AHL. In his first NHL stint, the 21-year-old dressed in four games and was held pointless. With Laval in the AHL, Roy has tallied 20 goals and 15 assists in 40 games and was named an AHL All-Star last month. He’s been on a heater as of late with goals in three straight games, and four in his last five.

Beck is also an AHL All-Star this season and was named as a late replacement for Roy of all people.  The Peterborough, Ontario native has dressed in 12 NHL games this season with the Canadiens but has had limited success with just a single assist and a -2 plus/minus. The 2022 second round pick (33rd overall) has seen limited ice time, skating less than 10 minutes per game, but has decent underlying numbers and has made his presence known with 23 hits. Beck is in his first season as a professional and has posted solid AHL numbers with 13 goals and 19 assists in 47 games. His demotion will allow him to play more minutes and re-capture his scoring touch with a top AHL team.

Five Key Stories: 3/3/25 – 3/9/25

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The trade deadline has come and gone and as is always the case, deadline week was a whirlwind across the NHL.  We’ll compile as much of the news as we can into our key stories.

Busy Week For Utah: While Utah wasn’t overly active on the trade front aside from unloading Shea Weber’s contract to Chicago to open up cap space for next season, they were the busiest team in the league on the contract extension front.  They went into the week with five full-time regulars as pending unrestricted free agents and came out of it with just one.  Getting new deals were center Alexander Kerfoot (one year, $3MM), defensemen Ian Cole (one year, $3MM including bonuses) and Olli Maatta (three years, $10.5MM), plus goaltender Karel Vejmelka (five years, $23.75MM).  As a result of their moves, Utah now has over $22MM in cap room for next season, per PuckPedia, with only a few roster spots to fill.  The team also lost goaltender Connor Ingram to another stint in the Player Assistance Program; he will be out indefinitely.

Atlantic Shuffle: The top three teams in the Atlantic Division already have some separation from the pack in the standings and all three made moves to shore up their rosters.  After adding blueliner Seth Jones from Chicago last week, the team moved winger Matthew Tkachuk to LTIR for the rest of the season and used that cap space to add winger Brad Marchand for a second-round pick that could become a first-round selection depending on Florida’s playoff success and Marchand’s usage in those games.  Meanwhile, their cross-state rival in Tampa Bay paid a pair of first-round picks and more to Seattle to pick up winger Oliver Bjorkstrand and center Yanni Gourde, making their forward group a lot deeper in one swap.  Toronto elected to make a pair of moves to keep pace, first sending a first-rounder and winger Nikita Grebenkin to Philadelphia for center Scott Laughton and a pair of later-round selections.  They then dealt a first-round pick and center Fraser Minten to Boston for blueliner Brandon Carlo while flipping rearguard Conor Timmins and center Connor Dewar to Pittsburgh to clear up the salary cap space to make the move.

It wasn’t just the contenders who were making moves.  On top of moving Marchand and Carlo, Boston’s sell-off continued as they swapped centers with Colorado, acquiring Casey Mittelstadt and a second-round pick from the Avs in exchange for Charlie Coyle (other smaller pieces were also in the swap).  Lastly, Buffalo and Ottawa got in on the fun, making a rare in-division swap of core centers.  The Senators picked up Dylan Cozens, defenseman Dennis Gilbert, and a second-round pick for Josh Norris and blueliner Jacob Bernard-Docker.  Both Cozens and Norris are 25 or younger and on long-term contracts with a cap hit starting with a seven.  Ottawa then used the cap space to make a literal last-minute move (agreed to 27 seconds before the deadline) that saw them pick up winger Fabian Zetterlund from San Jose as part of a six-piece swap that saw winger Noah Gregor, center Zack Ostapchuk, and a second-round pick go the other way.

Rantanen Moves Again: After Colorado struck a deal to make a big splash up front when they added Brock Nelson from the Islanders for a first-round pick and prospect Calum Ritchie, the Stars found a way to make an even bigger splash.  After the deal was off-and-on throughout deadline day, Dallas picked up winger Mikko Rantanen from Carolina in exchange for winger Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, and two third-round selections.  As part of the swap, Rantanen immediately agreed to an eight-year, $96MM contract extension, the richest contract given to a winger in terms of AAV in NHL history.  Rantanen wasn’t able to agree to terms with Colorado on a new deal which saw him flipped to Carolina in late January.  He didn’t seem to be willing to sign with them before the deadline so the Hurricanes made sure they didn’t lose him for nothing while a deep Dallas squad just got even better, landing the top player available.

More Extensions: Rantanen’s extension wasn’t the only big one Dallas gave out.  While they were initially trying to sign center Wyatt Johnston to an eight-year deal, they had to pivot following Rantanen’s acquisition, ultimately settling on a five-year, $42MM agreement.  Meanwhile, many other extensions were agreed on throughout the week.  In terms of rentals signing to be pulled off the trade market, Montreal inked center Jake Evans (four years, $11.4MM) while Buffalo signed wingers Jordan Greenway (two years, $8MM) and Jason Zucker (two years, $9.5MM).  Other notable deals from teams that weren’t likely to move the players had an agreement not been reached included Washington signing goaltender Charlie Lindgren (three years, $9MM), Columbus re-signing winger Mathieu Olivier (six years, $18MM), and New Jersey re-upping defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic (five years, $20MM).

Bad News for New Jersey: While they were happy to get Kovacevic’s deal done, not much else went right for the Devils this past week.  First, they lost star center Jack Hughes for the remainder of the season and playoffs after he underwent shoulder surgery.  He was immediately moved to LTIR to give the club more cap flexibility although they weren’t able to use much of it.  Next, defenseman Dougie Hamilton was listed as out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.  Lastly, they learned that blueliner Jonas Siegenthaler’s lower-body injury will keep him out for at least the rest of the regular season.  Those three key absences will make locking down a playoff spot considerably tougher.  New Jersey made a handful of moves to add some extra depth before the deadline with the more notable moves being the acquisitions of defenseman Brian Dumoulin from Anaheim and center Cody Glass from Pittsburgh.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

Snapshots: Hintz, Lavoie, Canucks, Husso

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Stars forward Roope Hintz has returned to Dallas to be further evaluated after sustaining an upper-body injury on Saturday against Edmonton, notes Robert Tiffin of D Magazine (Twitter link).  Head coach Peter DeBoer stated that the early indications are that the injury isn’t a long-term one while it appears as if a fracture has been ruled out as well.  Hintz had been on quite the hot streak recently; going into yesterday’s game, he had 17 points in his last eight appearances and was anchoring the top line.  While it appears the worst-case scenarios are going to be avoided, they’ll be without him tonight against Vancouver and likely a little longer than that.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • The Golden Knights have placed winger Raphael Lavoie on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, relays Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Twitter link). After an adventurous stint on the waiver wire to start the year, the 24-year-old has played primarily with AHL Henderson, tallying 21 points in 32 games.  Lavoie has made nine appearances with Vegas on a pair of recalls but has been held off the scoresheet while logging just over 10 minutes a game.  Lavoie’s placement will keep him out of the lineup until at least Thursday.
  • The Canucks have reversed their goalie move from yesterday, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled Arturs Silovs from AHL Abbotsford while sending Nikita Tolopilo to Abbotsford. The move allowed Silovs to start yesterday against San Jose where he allowed four goals on 28 shots.  Silovs has a 3.85 GAA with a .858 SV% in nine outings with Vancouver and is set to be the primary backup with Thatcher Demko back on injured reserve.  But to keep him fresh, the Canucks could send him down periodically to get a spot start in with Abbotsford.
  • A day after sending him back to the minors, Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in San Diego announced that the Ducks have once again recalled goaltender Ville Husso to the big club. He was acquired for future considerations last month to add some goalie depth and has a 2.84 GAA along with a .908 SV% in 17 AHL contests this season while compiling a 3.69 GAA and a .866 SV% in nine NHL contests.  Husso is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Post-Deadline Notes: Armia, Ferraro, Blue Jackets, Flames

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The Canadiens elected to stand pat at the trade deadline, a small sign of confidence in their group that has gotten back to the edge of the playoff picture since the 4 Nations Face-Off.  But in doing so, it appears as if they opted not to make at least one move of some significance as Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports that they could have landed a second-round pick for winger Joel Armia.  The 31-year-old has 11 goals and 14 assists in 63 games this season but also has been one of the most-used players shorthanded while carrying a $3.4MM cap charge (which they may have had to pay down to make the move).  Armia is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Other notes from the recently passed trade deadline:

  • Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro had been in trade speculation going all the way back to last season but remained with San Jose through the deadline. Part of the reason for that might have been the asking price as Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now suggests that GM Mike Grier was seeking a first-round pick plus another asset for the 26-year-old.  Ferraro has 11 points along with 101 blocks and 136 hits in 65 games while logging over 21 minutes a night and has one year left on his contract that carries a $3.25MM AAV.
  • Going back to the start of training camp, Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell had talked openly about being willing to take on a contract or even act as a third-party retainer to add some assets. Neither of those wound up happening.  He told Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch that they had a pair of trades lined up on Thursday that would have seen them be a third-party retainer fall through plus another on Friday so it wasn’t for a lack of effort that they weren’t able to utilize any of those retention slots.
  • The Flames were hoping to act as a third-party broker heading into the deadline, relays Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Herald. However, it doesn’t appear that any options were available to Calgary on rental contracts.  While they had options to act as a retainer for a contract that ran through next season, Calgary was not willing to take on dead money beyond this year, keeping their salary cap flexibility as much as possible.

Blackhawks Notes: Donato, Soderstrom, Sorensen

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On Friday, the Blackhawks rekindled discussions about a possible contract extension with pending unrestricted free agent forward Ryan Donato and while an agreement wasn’t reached, Chicago elected to hold onto him anyway.  Scott Powers of The Athletic reports (subscription link) that the deal that the team put on the table was a three-year offer worth somewhere around $4MM per season.  That would effectively double his current price tag while the term is low enough that he’d be off the books when some of their younger core will be heading toward pricey second contracts.  The 28-year-old has a career-best 23 goals and 25 assists through 62 games this season despite not even averaging 16 minutes a night.  He’ll now have to weigh if he can do better than that on the open market or if he’s better off staying in a place he knows he fits with.

More from Chicago:

  • Also from Powers’ piece, he notes that the Blackhawks will look at signing defenseman Victor Soderstrom for next season. Acquired as part of the trade that saw Chicago pick up Shea Weber’s contract earlier this week, the 24-year-old returned to play in Sweden this season and has fared quite well, tallying 36 points in 48 games with Brynas.  Soderstrom has 53 career NHL games under his belt with Phoenix (who drafted him 11th overall in 2019) and 170 outings in the AHL.  But if Chicago views him as more of a depth option on a two-way deal, Soderstrom could elect to stay and play a prominent role at home.
  • During his post-deadline press conference (video link), GM Kyle Davidson noted that with the deadline now gone, they will turn their focus to a decision on their head coach. Anders Sorensen is the interim bench boss following the early-season dismissal of Luke Richardson but the team doesn’t have an inclination of what route they intend to go with Sorensen just yet.  The team has played to a 12-19-7 record, good for a .408 points percentage compared to the .346 they were at before the change.

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