11:50 a.m.: The Winnipeg Jets aren’t done adding grit to their lineup. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that the Jets are acquiring bottom-six forward Brandon Tanev from the Seattle Kraken for a 2027 second-round pick.

After a six-year hiatus with the Kraken and Pittsburgh Penguins, Tanev returns to the organization that signed him as an undrafted collegiate free agent in 2016. The speedy, hard-hitting winger has scored 24 goals and 51 points in 195 games with the Jets from 2016 to 2019, adding a whopping 601 hits to his resume.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Jets utilize Tanev during his second time with the team. Winnipeg already has a relatively deep bottom-six with Nino Niederreiter, Mason Appleton, Morgan Barron, and Alex Iafallo on the wings. Tanev doesn’t have much experience down the middle, so the team will likely shift Barron back to center on the fourth line.

Tanev’s exploits in the NHL are well known. He’s an effective penalty killer who plays with a physical edge. Outside of an impressive 16-goal, 35-point performance in 2022-23, Tanev is likely to score between 20 and 29 points most years. He’s scored nine goals and 17 points in 60 games for the Kraken this season, averaging 13:56 of ice time per game.

At the time of writing, Winnipeg ranked 21st in the NHL in hits given with a total of 1147. Factoring in Luke Schenn’s acquisition, the Jets should have no issues upping their physicality through the final stretch of the regular season and playoffs.

The trade was fairly simple from Seattle’s perspective. As a pending unrestricted free agent, Tanev had value as a trade candidate for a team well outside the playoff picture. With another second-round pick in their arsenal, the Kraken have nine picks in the first two rounds through the 2027 NHL Draft.

Tanev is in the final season of a six-year, $21MM contract carrying a $3.5MM AAV.  The 33-year-old had a breakout offensive year in 2022-23, a campaign that saw him set new personal bests in goals (16), assists (19), and points (35).  However, he hasn’t been able to reach that point total in the last two seasons combined as he has reverted to his more typical level of production.

This season, Tanev has nine goals and eight assists through 61 games.  Of course, physicality is his main calling card and he’s once again averaging over two hits per contest.  He’s also Seattle’s most-used forward on the penalty kill which will make him more appealing to Toronto and other playoff contenders.  He has a 10-team no-trade list which could come into play depending on where he’s moved, assuming the Kraken find a swap to their liking.

Kunin, meanwhile, is the most versatile player out of this group as he can be deployed at all three forward positions.  The 27-year-old has only reached the 30-point mark once in his career, that being back in 2019-20 when he had 31 points in 63 games.  He has equaled his line from last year, tallying 11 goals and seven assists in 63 contests while chipping in with 163 hits.  Like Tanev, Kunin is also heavily used on the penalty kill.

He’s in the last year of his contract, one that carries a $2.75MM AAV.  Notably, San Jose does not have any remaining retention slots while Toronto doesn’t quite have enough money to bring him in, even if Reaves is off the roster.  So if the Maple Leafs are to land Kunin, they’ll either have to open up some more cap space or a third team will need to get involved to retain a chunk of the contract.

As for Laughton, he’s more of a higher-end bottom-six piece.  Through 59 games this season, he has 11 goals and 16 assists, his second straight season of a decline in per-game production.  Of course, the 30-year-old is known for his sound defensive game and brings the size, physicality, and penalty killing acumen that many teams are known to be coveting.

Notably, Laughton has another year left on his contract on a deal that carries a $3MM AAV.  Between that and the dearth of centers available, Philadelphia is believed to have set a high asking price for Laughton’s services, a package that includes a first-round pick.  If Toronto GM Brad Treliving wants to make a longer-term splash over going for a rental, he’ll have to pay a pretty hefty price to do so.

Tanev has played for three different clubs in his 10-year career, but the heat of trade rumors is a new feeling. He’s never been traded before, instead making his moves through free agency and NHL expansion drafts. Tanev broke into the pros after scoring 28 points in 38 games of his senior season at Providence College. That convinced Winnipeg to sign Tanev to a one-year, undrafted free agent contract out of college and promote him directly to the NHL. He received a handful of games across the next three seasons, each time performing well enough in a bottom-six role to convince the Jets to re-up his contract. But he struggled to muster much production, with just 22 points and 44 penalty minutes in the first 116 games and three seasons of his NHL career. But continued trust from the Jets organization paid off in the 2018-19 season. Tanev lapped his previous totals that year, posting 14 goals, 29 points, and 41 penalty minutes in 80 games.

With a burgeoning bottom-six, Winnipeg opted to let Tanev walk to free agency after his breakout year. After four years of one-year contracts and with one substantial performance under his belt, Tanev landed a six-year, $21MM contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins on the open market. He held up his performances in his first year with Pittsburgh, netting 11 goals and 25 points in 68 games – but routine absences quickly became troublesome. Tanev would play in just 62 games of the next two seasons. He scored an encouraging 16 goals and 31 points in those appearances – and seem well set up for a breakout year whenever he found his way back to full health.

That’s exactly what happened in Seattle after the Kraken chose the hard-nosed winger with their expansion draft selection from Pittsburgh. Tanev managed a career-high 16 goals, 35 points, and 44 penalty minutes in 82 games of Seattle’s 2022-23 season. It was another breakout for the hard-hitting wing, though he’s failed to live up to it in the two years since – with 33 points and 61 penalty minutes in his last 126 games. Tanev is still a hard-working, physical, and strong bottom-six winger with a flash of goal-scoring upside. He’s in the final year of his multi-year extension originally signed in Pittsburgh, and could offer a cheap and physical rental option on a market now without former Bruins center Trent Frederic.

In an interview with Daren Millard and Ryan Wallis of the VGK Insider Show, Golden Knights’ general manager Kelly McCrimmon was quoted saying, “We’ve sort of said from the outset that we don’t anticipate being real busy this week, I still maintain that. That was the position we felt we were in right from the beginning of the season.”

If they maintain that approach through this year’s deadline, it would be a notable deviation from years past. Much to the dismay of many fans around the league, the Golden Knights have infamously acquired Tomáš Hertl, Noah Hanifin, Anthony Mantha, Jonathan Quick, Teddy Blueger, and Ivan Barbashev over the last two deadlines. It would remove a consistent buyer from the market if they’ve preemptively decided to sit this deadline out.

Other trade notes from the Pacific Division:

•  Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre shared a quote from the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, Patrik Allvin, saying, “You’re always trying to make the team better. But I think we’re in the position this year where. . . I don’t envision any (rental) pickups like last year. We’re just going to continue to build and get better.” This would have been a confusing quote as recently as a few weeks ago given the Canucks acquired then-rental Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor from the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, Vancouver quickly extended both players. Allvin’s quote doesn’t necessarily mean the Canucks are done trading but it likely indicates most of their heavy lifting is complete.
• According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Seattle Kraken have indicated they’re willing to retain 50% of Brandon Tanev’s $3.5MM cap hit. If Tanev’s market wasn’t already robust, the news should open up his market to most, if not all, of the contending teams this season. The 10-year veteran would instantly improve any team’s bottom six and should command a second-round pick in a strong seller’s market.

Ottawa’s drive to add further in advance of the deadline is likely driven by a pair of factors. Available options are quickly dwindling after a slew of major swaps over the past week, and they’ve lost a depth option for potentially the rest of the season after Garrioch reports Nick Cousins underwent knee surgery Friday, extending his previously issued six-to-eight-week return timeline.

Tanev would be a more direct replacement for Cousins in a bottom-six role, albeit one with more offensive utility. Donato, however, would provide head coach Travis Green with another option to deploy in second-line usage alongside Drake Batherson and Josh Norris amid a career-best season.

The 28-year-old Donato is a pending unrestricted free agent, likely to land at least a marginal raise on his current $2MM AAV on the open market this summer. That’s because he ranks third on the Blackhawks in scoring with 15 goals and 15 assists for 30 points in 50 games, trailing only Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teräväinen.

Donato has produced at a 49-point pace despite averaging 14:47 per game, seventh among active Chicago forwards. His 46.6 CF% at even strength leads Hawks forwards after Taylor Hall’s departure via trade last month, and only five of his 30 points have come on the power play. His 14 even-strength goals lead Chicago by a margin of five.

He’s a historically inconsistent but versatile secondary scoring piece who’s flourished amid a lack of support in the Windy City, not all too dissimilar to Max Domi in the 2022-23 campaign. He notched 49 points in 60 games after signing as a free agent and fetched them a second-round pick from the Stars at the deadline.

The Senators should expect to pay a similar price for Donato, especially after the rental market was set over the weekend. Mikael Granlund and Marcus Pettersson both fetched first-rounders for the Sharks and Penguins. Donato’s utility down the middle won’t matter much for the Sens in their current state with Norris, Tim Stützle and Shane Pinto as their top three centers, but knowing he can slide over from the wing is good to have in case of injuries.

The type of forward they choose to acquire likely depends on how David Perron performs over the coming days. The veteran winger is getting an audition alongside Norris and Batherson after a lengthy personal leave and a back injury have limited him to one assist in 14 games. An uptick in production likely means they go for a more physically involved checking winger to replace and upgrade over Cousins, but otherwise, adding a more scoring-inclined weapon to the league’s 21st-ranked offense will be at the top of general manager Steve Staios’ wish list.

Tanev would also be a rental, checking in at a more expensive $3.5MM cap hit. He also has some control over where (and if) he goes at the deadline with a 10-team no-trade list.

The 33-year-old left-winger has been with the Kraken since their inception, selected from the Penguins in the expansion draft two seasons into a six-year, $21MM extension. He missed over half of the 2021-22 season and a good chunk of the 2023-24 campaign due to injuries but has been mostly healthy this season, playing in 51 of Seattle’s 53 games.

While Tanev was once an option to score double-digit goals, those days may be behind him. He had a career-high 16 goals, 35 points and a +21 rating while skating in all 82 games during the Kraken’s lone playoff-bound season in 2022-23, but has 15 goals and 31 points in 117 combined games since then.

Nonetheless, he’s still among the league’s most fervent checkers. He leads all forwards with 82 blocks and ranks third on Seattle in hits with 107.

Tanev also remains an option to log heavy shorthanded usage, but his even-strength possession metrics have nosedived this season. His 43.2 CF% ranks last on the team among qualified skaters, and his -8.6 expected rating is trailed only by Jamie Oleksiak and Chandler Stephenson.

Ottawa should be able to land Donato without salary retention but may need a little help from the Kraken if they zero in on Tanev. They project to have $3.33MM in deadline space, per PuckPedia, a figure that could change once goaltender Linus Ullmark comes off long-term injured reserve in the days leading up to the 4 Nations Face-Off.

It was just a few years ago that Klingberg was considered a top-pairing offensive defenseman, however, those days are over, but if he is healthy Klingberg could certainly give a boost to a playoff team without costing an asset other than cap space. Through 633 NHL games, Klingberg has racked up 81 goals and 331 assists while playing with four different teams.

In other morning notes:

• The Seattle Kraken announced last night that forward Brandon Tanev would miss their game with an apparent illness. Tye Kartye took Tanev’s spot in the lineup Thursday against Winnipeg and played just 7:12. The 33-year-old Tanev last dressed on Tuesday against Pittsburgh and played 13:14 in that game. The Kraken are back in action tomorrow night against Los Angeles and it seems likely they will have an update on Tanev before the puck drop. The Toronto, Ontario native has eight goals and seven assists in 44 games this season.
• Colorado Avalanche forward Casey Mittelstadt has gone through a miserable slump this season and has now found himself demoted from the second-line center role and could find himself on the trade block soon (as per Avalanche reporter Adrian Deter). Mikko Rantanen took his spot in last night’s game against Edmonton, with Mittelstadt skating just 14:54 and playing on the third line. Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar has reportedly become unhappy with Mittelstadt’s play, after the 26-year-old looked like a true second-line center to start the season, posting 13 points in his first ten games. However, since that hot start, Mittelstadt has just 13 points in his last 36 games.

May 3: Hockey Canada has released its roster of 22 players who will wear the maple leaf at the 2024 World Championship, which begins next week in Ostrava and Prague, Czechia. There are three open spots left to be filled throughout the tournament as more teams are eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Much like the initial World Championship roster that USA Hockey released weeks back, it’s almost completely made up of NHL talent – a rarity for the top-level countries at this tournament recently. The return and promise of future best-on-best international tournaments in the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off and the 2026 Winter Olympics has players and front offices looking at this year’s Worlds as a tune-up and initial evaluation for those events.

In fact, the only non-NHL player on Canada’s tournament-opening roster will be in the league next season. That’s presumptive 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini, who continues his 2023-24 campaign after taking home the Hobey Baker Award for the top collegiate player in his freshman season with Boston University. Their offense is highlighted and led by Blackhawks rookie phenom Connor Bedard and Kraken sniper Jared McCann, while Sabres defenders Bowen Byram and Owen Power highlight the back end. Blues netminder Jordan Binnington is expected to serve as the team’s starter.

The full roster is as follows:

F Connor Bedard (Blackhawks)
F Michael Bunting (Penguins)
F Macklin Celebrini (2024 draft-eligible)
F Dylan Cozens (Sabres)
F Adam Fantilli (Blue Jackets)
F Ridly Greig (Senators)
F Dylan Guenther (NHL Utah)
F Andrew Mangiapane (Flames)
F Jack McBain (NHL Utah)
F Jared McCann (Kraken)
F Dawson Mercer (Devils)
F Brandon Tanev (Kraken)

D Bowen Byram (Sabres)
D Kaiden Guhle (Canadiens)
D Jamie Oleksiak (Kraken)
D Colton Parayko (Blues)
D Owen Power (Sabres)
D Damon Severson (Blue Jackets)
D Olen Zellweger (Ducks)

G Jordan Binnington (Blues)
G Nico Daws (Devils)
G Joel Hofer (Blues)

Hakstol also shared that goaltender Philipp Grubauer will join the team on the road trip. Grubauer was placed on injured reserve in early November and activated off of it on November 18th. He played in two games after being activated but then suffered an undisclosed injury that held him out of the team’s last two games. If Grubauer slots in for the road trip, fans can expect Chris Driedger to be reassigned to the AHL.

The early season injury has held Tanev out of all but eight games this season. He managed two goals in those games, also recording nine penalty minutes and a -3. He scored 35 points in 82 games with Seattle last season. Grubauer has played in 12 games this year, setting a .885 save percentage and 3.36 goals-against-average. Both metrics are a step down from his totals last season when he recorded a .895 save percentage and 2.85 GAA in 39 games.

More injury news from around the league:

• The San Jose Sharks have announced that forward Filip Zadina is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Zadina left the team’s Friday night game against the Montreal Canadiens and is out of their Saturday game. The Sharks also shared that Jan Rutta and Alexander Barabanov have returned to practice. Both players have been working back from upper-body injuries.
• The New York Islanders have shared that defenseman Sebastian Aho has suffered an upper-body injury and is out indefinitely. The defender left the team’s Friday night game early on. He has played in 19 games this season, scoring four points and recording six penalty minutes.

In an update from practice today, Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that none of the trio are to be expected back in the team’s game against the Washington Capitals tomorrow night, but issued assurances they could be back by the weekend. Of the three, Roy has had the longest absence, after being put on the team’s injured reserve on October 24th.

Of the three, Stephenson is the most important to get back into the lineup, as he remains on one of the best-value contracts in the NHL. On the last season of a four-year, $11MM contract signed with Vegas back in 2020, Stephenson has scored 53 goals and 121 assists over 224 games as a Golden Knight.

Other notes:

• Some notable additions to the Seattle Kraken practice were Brandon Tanev and Jordan Eberle, who is now without a non-contact jersey, respectively (X Link). Eberle has gotten off to a relatively slow start with the Kraken this year, Eberle has scored four points in 13 games, coupled with a -8 rating already this season.
• According to the AHL transaction log, young NHL enforcer, Alex Laferriere is back on the roster with Los Angeles (X Link). Primarily playing in the team’s bottom six over the course of the young season, Laferriere has scored two goals and one assist through 14 games.

After the game, Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan was visibly frustrated with his team’s play, and while he didn’t talk about roster decisions going forward, General Manager Kyle Dubas has been. Dubas spoke with NHL On TNT just a few nights ago and said he wanted the bottom six forwards to be tougher to play against and added that he didn’t feel the group was there yet. Dubas’ comments sparked speculation that the Penguins could be looking to make a move in the bottom six and they did by waiving Jansen Harkins and re-calling Zohorna before last night’s game. The Penguins also health-scratched defenseman P.O. Joseph in favor of Ryan Shea who made his NHL debut on the Penguins’ third pairing.

Kyle Dubas stocked up on fringe NHL talent in the offseason and has stashed many of those options in the AHL specifically for a moment like this. The Penguins AHL affiliate has so many veterans in fact that Alex Nylander and Andreas Johnsson had to be veteran scratches for last night’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins game. On top of Nylander, Johnsson, and Harkins, the Penguins also have Vinnie Hinostroza, Rem Pitlick, and Colin White as former NHLers who could be called up to shuffle the furniture in the Penguins bottom six.

Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote in his 10 Postgame Observations piece that Sullivan typically doesn’t make major changes after a loss, but given the team’s recent record and his comments, he implies that it could happen. The Penguins third line of O’Connor, Eller and Zohorna was very good last night, however, the fourth line of Matthew Nieto, Jeff Carter and Noel Acciari has offered very little to the team and appears to be constantly chasing the play. That group is at the bottom of the Penguins lineup in almost every analytical statistic and has a combined zero points in five games together. Sullivan has been apprehensive about scratching Carter in the past and became defensive with the media last season on multiple occasions when the topic was asked about.

It might be just five games into the season but given that the Penguins are 2-3 against five teams that didn’t make the playoffs last season, there could be big changes brewing in Pittsburgh as Dubas and company try to find an identity for the bottom six forwards. A competent bottom-six has been something the Penguins have lacked since they lost Brandon Tanev (and Jared McCann via trade) in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft and it was one of the big reasons they missed the playoffs in 2023.

This is difficult news for Tanev, who was heavily limited during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, playing fewer than 35 games in each year. His 2020-21 season was cut short with upper-body injuries and a bout with COVID-19, and an ACL tear ended his 2021-22 campaign.

But despite past injuries, Tanev was able to appear in all 82 games for the Kraken last season. He tallied 16 goals and 35 points in that span, both career-highs. He also added 44 penalty minutes in those games, while playing in just over 14 minutes of ice time. Tanev was a stout member of Seattle’s roster, even earning a top-30 nomination for the 2023 Selke Award. This was the third time that Tanev has received Selke votes in his nine-year NHL career, speaking to the value he brings to an NHL lineup.

Seattle has yet to make any roster moves in response to Tanev’s long-term injury designation. Tye Kartye has served as the fill-in since Tanev’s injury, representing the first two games that he’s played during an NHL regular season. Kartye appeared in 10 postseason games with the Kraken this Spring, netting five points. He has yet to score this season but seems to be the team’s current go-to in Tanev’s absence.

In the short term, expect a domino effect for the Golden Knights. With winger William Carrier also injured in their season-opening win, head coach Bruce Cassidy said earlier today that Pavel Dorofeyev will draw into the lineup tomorrow against the San Jose Sharks after serving as a healthy scratch last night. With Howden suspended, Cassidy also said the team will recall forward Jonas Røndbjerg from AHL Henderson.

Howden was assessed a match penalty by officials on the play. NHL DoPS ruled that Howden made the head the principal point of contact “on a hit where such head contact was avoidable.” The 25-year-old forward has no previous fines or suspensions on record with DoPS.

Howden skated 11:57 before being removed from the game, recording the primary assist on Chandler Stephenson’s game-opening goal. The 25-year-old signed a two-year, $3.8MM contract to remain a Golden Knight this summer after notching 10 points in 22 postseason games on the team’s run to the 2023 Stanley Cup.

Past winners of the award include Carey Price (2022), Oskar Lindblom (2021), Bobby Ryan (2020), Robin Lehner (2019), Brian Boyle (2018), Craig Anderson (2017), and Jaromir Jagr (2016).

Below are the nominees from each team:

Anaheim Ducks – Jakob Silfverberg

Arizona Coyotes – Clayton Keller

Boston Bruins – Nick Foligno

Buffalo Sabres – Craig Anderson

Calgary Flames – Mikael Backlund

Carolina Hurricanes – Jordan Martinook

Chicago Blackhawks – Alex Stalock

Colorado Avalanche – Andrew Cogliano

Columbus Blue Jackets – Boone Jenner

Dallas Stars – Jamie Benn

Detroit Red Wings – Robby Fabbri

Edmonton Oilers – Derek Ryan

Florida Panthers – Patric Hornqvist

Los Angeles Kings – Pheonix Copley

Minnesota Wild – Mason Shaw

Montreal Canadiens – Alex Belzile

Nashville Predators – Cody Glass

New Jersey Devils – Dougie Hamilton

New York Islanders – Zach Parise

New York Rangers – Jimmy Vesey

Ottawa Senators – Derick Brassard

Philadelphia Flyers – Nick Seeler

Pittsburgh Penguins – Kris Letang

San Jose Sharks – Nikolai Knyzhov

Seattle Kraken – Brandon Tanev

St. Louis Blues – Sammy Blais

Tampa Bay Lightning – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Toronto Maple Leafs – Mark Giordano

Vancouver Canucks – Brock Boeser

Vegas Golden Knights – Phil Kessel

Washington Capitals – John Carlson

Winnipeg Jets – Sam Gagner

Like he did previously in Winnipeg and Pittsburgh, Tanev had quickly become a fan favorite in Seattle thanks to his all-out hustle and endless energy. The 29-year-old forward had nine goals and 15 points in 30 games, a career-best offensive pace despite playing around the same number of minutes. Three of those nine goals had been game-winners, an impressive achievement on a team that only has ten wins on the entire season.

Now on the shelf for the rest of the season, Tanev won’t be able to add to that total or help the Kraken turn around their inaugural season. The expansion team will have to find someone else to take over his role on the penalty kill, though it will be difficult to replace Tanev’s fearless nature. He led all Kraken forwards in blocked shots, led the entire team in hits, and actually ranked fifth in shots on goal.

The team also announced that Mason Appleton has entered the COVID protocol, robbing them of another important forward for the time being. Appleton had been playing more recently, averaging more than 16 minutes a night since the start of December.

The root of this unexpected lack of change at the goalie position lies in the salary cap. Even with the departures of Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev, the Penguins are still right up against the upper limit. To this point, high-priced trade chips Jason Zucker, Marcus Pettersson, and Mike Matheson have yet to move, which leaves the team with little wiggle room in the free agent market. With what small space they had, the team opted to replace Tanev and McCann with Brock McGinn and Danton Heinen rather than address the goaltender position.

If and when the team is able to clear some space, perhaps adding a goalie will return to the forefront of their off-season objectives. The free agent market has largely been left bare, but the team could target a trade option such as Dallas’ Ben Bishop or Anton Khudobin, while Joonas Korpisalo, Alexandar Georgiev, and Malcolm Subban are other options believed to be available.

However, the team appears to no longer feel that they absolutely must add a goaltender before next season. Speaking with NHL.com’s Wes Crosby, Hextall stated that he believes Jarry is “going to bounce back” to starter quality for the Penguins this season. The 26-year-old did post a .921 save percentage and 2.43 GAA just a year ago, but those numbers fell to .909 and 2.75 this season. Most jarring was Jarry’s poor performance in the playoffs, in which he looked totally outmatched. Yet, Hextall – a former goalie himself – is confident that Jarry can return to form even without competition from a veteran addition. It seems he trusts DeSmith, who should be recovered from off-season surgery in time for the new campaign, as the backup again as well. This newfound confidence could be a product of the lacking talent available elsewhere or perhaps even some optimism for highly-regarded college free agent addition Filip Lindberg. Whatever the reason, the front office has changed their tune and Penguins fans have to hope that it all works out for the team as their championship window begins to close.