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.
