More from out West:

• Heading into the season, Flames winger Andrei Kuzmenko felt like a probable trade candidate. It was expected that Calgary would be rebuilding and they hoped he’d bounce back after a tough 2023-24 performance.  Neither has happened, however, as the Flames are in a battle for the playoffs and Kuzmenko has struggled even more.  Accordingly, even though they’d likely welcome the open roster spot, Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Herald opines that the 28-year-old is unlikely to move.  At $5.5MM, Calgary would have to retain salary to move him and since he only has one goal and nine assists in 32 games, they may not get more than a late-round pick even with retention, meaning it might be the best usage of a retention slot and money.  Kuzmenko had 74 points in 2022-23 and 46 last season; even getting to half of that this year is now in question.
• Kraken center Yanni Gourde has yet to progress to on-ice work as he continues to battle a lower-body injury, head coach Dan Bylsma told reporters including Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). However, that shouldn’t be construed as a lack of progression as Bylsma said Gourde’s recovery is still moving along.  Gourde has been battling this injury off and on this season and it appears they’ll give him ample time for it to try to heal once and for all.
• Nashville’s farm team in Milwaukee has claimed winger Chase De Leo off waivers from Charlotte, the AHL announced. Waivers are extremely rare in the minors but if a player plays overseas and then signs as a free agent as De Leo did (with stints in the KHL and Switzerland), he has to go through waivers before playing.  De Leo has 349 points in 494 career AHL games, giving the Predators a quality veteran for the Admirals with this claim.

The first blockbuster of the draft has hit, as Tampa Bay parts with a top-line defender and moves out $8.5MM in cap space. That should make their pursuit of franchise centerman Steven Stamkos a bit more manageable. Stamkos was reportedly set for the open market on July 1st, with the Lightning holding just $5.335MM in cap space. That number is now up to $16.5MM – a massive difference – after the Lightning also moved Tanner Jeannot and his $2.665MM cap hit to the Los Angeles Kings.

And while the cap space is surely what Tampa was looking for, they’ll reel in a strong return for parting with Sergachev. That includes Moser, who’s filled a strong second-pairing role for the Arizona Coyotes since his second-round selection in 2021. Still just 24, Moser has already totaled 205 career games and 72 points – including 26 points in 80 games this year. He’s a swift, confident defender on and off the puck, showing a knack for controlling traffic along his own blue line.

Tampa also receives top prospect Conor Geekie, the 11th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. He’s since played through his final two seasons in the WHL, recording 99 points in just 55 games split between the Wenatchee Wild and Swift Current Broncos this season. Not to be outdone, Geekie also added nine points in nine postseason games. He’s a big-frame forward, standing at 6-foot-4 and 197 pounds. He’s improved his ability to move that weight around substantially since his draft year looking much more fluid moving with the puck on his stick this season. Geekie signed his entry-level contract following the end of Swift Current’s year, setting him up for his first pro season in 2024-25.

And in return for their pretty penny, Utah receives a true top defenseman – finally ending a search that’s taken them through Jakob Chychrun, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Sean Durzi. None of the options could fill the role, though, leading Utah to pull in the understudy to Lightning star Victor Hedman. Sergachev has served in a vital role for the Lightning since a 2017 trade for forward Jonathan Drouin. He recorded 40 points in 79 games in his rookie season with Tampa Bay, quickly claiming a large share of ice time that he hasn’t relinquished since. Sergachev recorded at least 30 points in each of his next four seasons before posting a career-high 10 goals and 64 points in the 2022-23 season. It was the breakout that fans had been waiting for – though his encore this season was cut short by a pair of long-term leg injuries. He’ll now have to carry on his performance in a new jersey, joining the NHL’s newest franchise.

Per the current CBA, an NMC means that a player cannot be waived, assigned to minors, or traded without their consent, and they also must be protected in the event of an Expansion Draft. An NTC is straightforward — giving the player protection from being traded without their approval. Lastly, a modified NMC or NTC sets an arbitrary number of teams and a time frame when a player can use this protection. In just over a week, an assortment of players will receive trade protection on their current contracts, and CapFriendly has broken it down.

No Movement Clauses
D Charlie McAvoy (Boston)
F Sebastian Aho (Carolina)
D Devon Toews (Colorado)
F Roope Hintz (Dallas)
D Gustav Forsling (Florida)
F Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota)
F Joel Eriksson Ek (Minnesota)
F Jesper Bratt (New Jersey)
F Timo Meier (New Jersey)
G Ilya Sorokin (NY Islanders)
F Pierre-Luc Dubois (Washington)

No Trade Clauses
F Ross Colton (Colorado)
D Nick Seeler (Philadelphia)
D Vince Dunn (Seattle)
F Clayton Keller (Utah)
D Erik Cernak (Tampa Bay)
D Mikhail Sergachev (Tampa Bay)

Modified No Trade Clauses
F Jordan Greenway (Buffalo) – eight-team no-trade list
F Tage Thompson (Buffal0) – five-team no-trade list
D Rasmus Andersson (Calgary) – six-team no-trade list
D Samuel Girard (Colorado) – nine-team no-trade list
F Miles Wood (Colorado) – six-team no-trade list
F Alex DeBrincat (Detroit) – 16-team no-trade list
F Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles) – 10-team no-trade list
F Nico Hischier (New Jersey) – 10-team no-trade list
D John Marino (New Jersey) – eight-team no-trade list
D Jonas Siegenthaler (New Jersey) – 10-team no-trade list
F Mathew Barzal (NY Islanders) – 22-team no-trade list
D Thomas Chabot (Ottawa) – 10-team no-trade list
F Tanner Jeannot (Tampa Bay) – 16-team no-trade list
F Kyle Connor (Winnipeg) – 10-team no-trade list

With McDonagh’s $6.75MM cap hit now on the books, the Lightning are down to roughly $5MM in projected cap space for next season, per CapFriendly. There could always be a cap-clearing move coming, although BriseBois didn’t hint at one in his media availability today.

That implies Stamkos taking a serious discount to remain in Tampa. With a bare-minimum roster of 18 skaters, the Lightning still have two open forward spots next season – one for Stamkos, one for someone else. If they add a forward making the $775K league minimum against the cap to fill one open spot, the most they could offer Stamkos for an average annual value would be $4.25MM. Evolving Hockey’s contract projections indicate his market value could inch up toward the $8.5MM range if he hits the open market, so he would be taking a 50% discount to stay in Tampa for that number – albeit likely for more term on his contract as a trade-off.

Other notes from the Bolts today:

• Adding a top-four defenseman was BriseBois’ top priority this summer, he told Krenn, and McDonagh ended up being the most desirable because of his familiarity with the roster and his two-year term. He indicated that he was unwilling to dish out the contract length required to land one of the marquee defensemen on the free agent market, even if he was willing to spend the upward of $6MM annually it takes to get McDonagh back on the team. Back in Nashville, Predators GM Barry Trotz told reporters, including the Tennessean’s Alex Daugherty, that McDonagh asked the Nashville front office to explore a trade back to Tampa this summer. McDonagh has a full no-trade clause.
• With McDonagh back in the fold, don’t expect Lightning head coach Jon Cooper to bump Mikhail Sergachev back to a third-pairing role like he served during the team’s Stanley Cup wins in 2020 and 2021. Instead, BriseBois indicated the team is likely to explore loading up their top two pairings with McDonagh, Sergachev, Erik Černák and Victor Hedman, with the lefty Sergachev moving to his off-side to accommodate (via Bally Sports Florida’s Gabby Shirley). That would leave a third pairing (for now) of Nick Perbix and Darren Raddysh, both right-shot defenders, although they could easily add a depth left-shot blue liner for league minimum to rotate in on the third pair.

Sergachev, 25, hasn’t played a full game in over four months. He sustained a lower-body injury against the Blues on Dec. 19 that kept him out of game action through the All-Star break and sustained the freak double-break in his left leg while attempting to lay a hit on Rangers winger Alexis Lafrenière in his first game back.

Those injuries limited the top-four fixture to 34 appearances in the regular season, his fewest as a Lightning. Before his initial injury, Sergachev was struggling to recapture his 2022-23 form that earned him Norris Trophy consideration for the first time. Offensively, his points per game pace dropped from 0.81 to 0.56, and his possession metrics dipped slightly as well. The latter was to be expected, though, after a salary cap crunch forced the Lightning to part with many key depth players after last season.

He was actually on the ice for fewer expected goals against per game at even strength than he was last season, something you wouldn’t glean from his -16 rating. That was tanked due to the majority of Sergachev’s playing time coming while starting netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy was out recovering from preseason back surgery, forcing inexperienced backup Jonas Johansson into most of the starts to begin the year.

Line rushes indicate he’ll be paired with Erik Černák as the Lightning begin to try and climb out of a 3-0 series deficit. The two were routinely partners when Sergachev was healthy this season, playing 238 minutes together in 31 games. Per MoneyPuck, the pair controlled 48% of expected goals when deployed together.

They’ll operate as Cooper’s second defense pairing behind Victor Hedman and Mathew Dumba in Game 4. Dumba moves up alongside Hedman as Darren Raddysh is a late scratch with an undisclosed injury. Raddysh took just two shifts in the third period of Game 3.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

The Senators originally drafted Pinto with the 32nd-overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft – then a second-round selection. He made his NHL debut in 2020-21, after two years at the University of North Dakota, and has since managed 70 points in 140 career NHL games. The 23-year-old centerman has proven capable of scoring, though he’s yet to find a consistent groove. He’s entering this off-season as a restricted free agent, meaning he’s likely due for a reunion with Ottawa, even if negotiations take some time.

Other notes from around the league:

• Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper has shared that Mikhail Sergachev will miss at least Round One, says Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Sergachev hasn’t played since breaking his leg on February 7th. It was a freak injury that occurred in Sergachev’s first game back from a separate lower-body injury that held him out for two months. He was limited to just 34 games last season, though he did manage a solid 19 points. Sergachev has remained a top defender for the Lightning, averaging over 22 minutes of ice time this season. The Bolts will hope he can return as soon as possible to patch up what is currently a weaker defense group.
• Colorado Avalanche defender Samuel Girard has returned to full practice, wearing a regular jersey at the team’s Sunday morning skate per Colorado Hockey Now’s Evan Rawal (Twitter link). Girard has been battling a concussion that held him out of the team’s final two regular-season contests. They seem to have benefited from taking their time with the defender, who is now possible for Sunday’s Game One – though nothing has been confirmed. Girard has once again provided stout depth for Colorado, scoring 18 points in 59 games and averaging over 19 minutes of ice time.

Meanwhile, Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times adds (Twitter link) that blueliner Mikhail Sergachev also skated in a regular (full contact) jersey.  He has already been ruled out for the start of the playoffs since undergoing leg surgery back in February but this is certainly a key step toward potentially returning later in the opening round.  Sergachev logged over 22 minutes a night for the Lightning this season and his potential return down the road would undoubtedly give their back end a significant boost.

Other injury news heading into the opening games of the playoffs:

• Jets center Morgan Barron won’t be available for their series opener against Colorado tomorrow, relays Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press (Twitter link). The 25-year-old left Tuesday’s win over Seattle in the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return.  Barron was a quality fourth liner for Winnipeg this season, chipping in with ten goals despite logging just 10:30 per night.  One of David Gustafsson and Cole Perfetti will likely take Barron’s spot in the lineup.
• Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin practiced today in a non-contact jersey, notes NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has missed the last two weeks with an upper-body injury and with the non-contact designation, it seems unlikely he’ll be able to suit up in the series opener against the Rangers on Sunday.  Sandin was an important part of Washington’s back end this season, logging over 21 minutes a night while collecting 23 points in 68 games.
• Sandin wasn’t the only injured Washington blueliner who took to the ice today as Gulitti adds (Twitter link) that Nick Jensen also practiced in a non-contact jersey. Jensen suffered an upper-body injury last week against Tampa Bay and was stretchered off the ice.  The 33-year-old spent a lot of time on the Capitals’ second pairing this season, picking up 13 points while averaging a little under 20 minutes a night.  Like Sandin, the non-contact designation likely means he won’t be available on Sunday either.

Notably, the return of Sergachev indicates that the top defenseman may be ready to go in Round One as the Lightning look to take on either the Boston Bruins or the Florida Panthers. In a season to forget for the top-pairing blue liner, Sergachev has only been able to register two goals and 19 points for Tampa Bay this year. Sergachev missed 17 games for the Lightning from a lower-body injury suffered in late December, and would then fracture both his fibula and tibia in his first game back on February 7th.

For the other players, although Tampa Bay would like to be as healthy as possible heading into the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, their organizational depth has helped keep the team afloat while other regular members of the lineup have missed time. Both Mitchell Chaffee and Emil Martinsen Lilleberg have managed more than 25 games at the NHL level this season, keeping some continuity within the roster for the Lightning.

Other Atlantic notes:

• In an update from Colby Guy of The Associated Press, both Aleksander Barkov and Oliver Ekman-Larsson could return to the lineup tonight as the Florida Panthers look to put themselves in the best position possible to capture the Atlantic Division crown. As both players are dealing with minor injuries sustained in their most recent game against the Buffalo Sabres on April 13th, the Panthers may opt to keep them out until the playoffs if they are not completely recovered. Nevertheless, the game tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs will likely serve as a preview of one of the Round One matchups of this year’s playoffs.
• During the team’s game last night against the Lightning, the Sabres lost forward Tage Thompson for most of the game due to a lower-body injury, officially ending his 2023-24 NHL season (X Link). With Buffalo’s season officially over, Thompson is not in any danger of missing any regular season action but could miss the IIHF World Championships for Team USA over the summer. Seeing a massive dip in his production from last year, Thompson will finish the season with 27 goals and 56 points over 71 games for the Sabres this year.
• In a similar fashion to Thompson, the Ottawa Senators announced yesterday evening that recent call-up Bokondji Imama would miss the rest of the game against the New York Rangers. Placed on the roster from an emergency loan on April 8th, Imama will likely finish the year with zero points in six games at the NHL level, with three goals and 10 points over 53 games at the AHL level spent with the Belleville Senators.

The 25-year-old has played just once since December 19th and has been out of the lineup since fracturing his tibia and fibula back on February 7th in his first game back after suffering a foot injury that kept him out of the lineup for nearly two months.

In 34 games this season, Sergachev has recorded two goals and 17 assists but is a -16.

In other evening notes:

• Ben Pope of The Chicago Sun-Times tweeted that the conditional 2026 seventh-round pick that the Chicago Blackhawks sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for depth forward Rem Pitlick carried the condition of Pitlick playing 30 NHL games and will not be sent to the Penguins. Pitlick has only dressed in nine games for Chicago, meaning the Blackhawks will keep their pick for the 2026 draft. The Penguins were likely okay with losing Pitlick for nothing as he was collecting a $1.1MM salary while playing for their AHL affiliate.
• Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now is reporting that the Colorado Avalanche will be without forwards Miles Wood and Mikko Rantanen for tomorrow night’s game against Minnesota. Wood will miss his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury and is mired in a 23-game goalless drought. In his first season with Colorado the 28-year-old has nine goals and 15 assists in 72 games. Rantanen on the other hand may skate with the team in the morning but will not play. He is reportedly feeling better after being in concussion protocol and missing last night’s game as well. Rantanen has topped 100 points for the second consecutive season as he has 40 goals and 62 assists in 77 games this season.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

• Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev announced on Instagram that he has resumed skating as he works his way back from a leg injury sustained last month. After he underwent surgery, head coach Jon Cooper indicated that the blueliner was at least out for the rest of the regular season and likely a good chunk of the playoffs so Sergachev is still a long way from being able to return but the fact he’s back on the ice already is certainly an encouraging sign for Tampa Bay.
• Predators prospect Gunnarwolfe Fontaine has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 23-year-old was a seventh-round pick by Nashville back in 2020 (202nd overall) and has been a capable producer in his four seasons at Northeastern, capped off by a 27-point showing this past season.  He’ll now try to beat that with another school for his fifth and final college campaign.
• While we often talk about college free agents and undrafted CHL free agents at this time of year, there is another group of prospects that could sign deals in the coming days, from U Sports, Canada’s collegiate level. Edmonton was first out of the gate with their signing of Connor Ungar.  49 Sports’ Ben Steiner provides an overview of some of the players that could ink pro deals in the coming days and weeks including several players who were drafted but ultimately didn’t sign with the team that picked them.

Hamilton’s injury dealt a huge blow to a Devils team that had dreams of contending for the Stanley Cup this season. Hamilton has received Norris Trophy consideration in six of the last seven seasons and was playing well for New Jersey this year with five goals and 11 assists in 20 games.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

• Ruff also offered an update on Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler who has been sidelined since January 6th with a broken foot. No specific timetable was given at the time, but the 26-year-old did take part in practice today dressed in a regular jersey. The Zurich, Switzerland native lined up on the team’s fourth defensive pair alongside Nick DeSimone and will be a big boost for the Devils’ defense core when he is ready to return to the lineup.
• New York Rangers forward Blake Wheeler left tonight’s game with a lower-body injury and will not return. Wheeler was hit by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble and fell back awkwardly and appeared to trap his right leg under his body as he hit the ice. Wheeler was in visible pain on the play which looked eerily similar to the injury of Tampa Bay defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. Wheeler reached for his knee in obvious discomfort and was ruled out for the evening. If Wheeler has suffered a similar injury to Sergachev it is possible he could be done for the rest of the regular season. Wheeler is having one of the worst offensive seasons of his career, but he has provided the Rangers will depth scoring and would need to be replaced if he is sidelined long-term.

Johnson was the 2006 first-overall pick, and although he never reached the levels scouts had predicted for him. He has remained a stable defensive defenseman and solid penalty killer throughout his career. He was a good offensive contributor early in his career but hasn’t topped 27 points in a year since the 2013-14 season.

Things could change for Johnson, but at this point, he told Harrington that his focus is on Buffalo, and he doesn’t want to abandon the team midseason. Johnson signed a one-year contract in the off-season as a free agent with an AAV of $3.25MM.

The Sabres entered the season with hopes of competing for a playoff spot but currently sit in 14th place in the Eastern Conference and are 10 points back of the Detroit Red Wings for the final playoff spot.

In other morning notes:

• Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic wrote today that newly acquired Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Lindholm and the team are both comfortable with waiting to see how he adjusts to the team and how the rest of the season and the playoffs go. It makes for both sides given that Lindholm is just four and a half months away from unrestricted free agency and the Canucks have to also consider a potential long-term extension for superstar Elias Pettersson. LeBrun adds that he believes the Canucks want to sign both players long-term and have coveted Lindholm for quite some time. The 29-year-old had an incredible debut with Vancouver, notching two goals in a 3-2 win. However, his second game was a disaster as Lindholm went -4 in a 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins.
• Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic wrote today that he believes that the injury to Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev could prompt Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois to enter the market for a defenseman as there is a possibility that Sergachev could be out for the rest of the regular season due to injury. If the young defenseman is done playing until the playoffs it would open the door for BriseBois to go $8.5 million to go above the cap on LTIR. The issue Tampa Bay might run into is having the assets to make the move given that they don’t have a first-round pick until 2026 and their farm system is one of the worst in the NHL.

Sergachev has only appeared in 34 of Tampa’s 50 games this season, though his 19 points rank second among the team’s defensemen in scoring. He’s been clearly valuable to the team when he’s healthy, averaging over 22 minutes a night for the third season in a row. The 25-year-old is in the eighth season of his NHL career, totaling 475 career games and 257 career points. All but four of those games have come with Tampa Bay, who acquired the defenseman in a one-for-one swap with the Montreal Canadiens in 2017, sending Jonathan Drouin the other way.

Tampa Bay has leaned on multiple defensemen to fill in for Sergachev’s absence, with Calvin De Haan the most likely to slot in right away. De Haan has seven points through 45 games this season, playing in just over 16 minutes a night. The Lightning could also have Haydn Fleury as an extra on the NHL roster. Fleury has four points through 12 games this season. He’s also appeared in five AHL games, going without a point and recording six penalty minutes.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

• Islanders center Casey Cizikas has been upgraded to a game-time decision for Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay, notes NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner. The 32-year-old has missed the past 10 games because of a lower-body injury, landing him on LTIR in the process.  New York will have to make some roster moves to get cap-compliant before they can bring Cizikas onto the active roster.  Cizikas has 11 points in 39 games so far this season.
• Linus Karlsson’s frequent roster shuffling continues as today, the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that the center has been returned to AHL Abbotsford. It’s the fourth re-assignment to the minors in a little over three weeks, even with the All-Star break.  Karlsson has played in four games with Vancouver so far while often being recalled to serve as the emergency option should a forward become unavailable close to game time.  Meanwhile, in the minors, the 24-year-old has 27 points in 30 games.
• Sharks prospect Brandon Svoboda is on the move as USHL Fargo announced that they acquired the center from Youngstown. San Jose picked the 19-year-old in the third round last June but his production has been limited this year with just 11 points in 25 games so far.  Svoboda is committed to Boston University for next season and will be looking to finish up his USHL career on a high note as he’s joining the league-leading Force.

Cernak has been out since January 11th with an upper-body injury and has missed seven games. He was knocked out of action after taking a hit from New Jersey Devils’ forward Nathan Bastian in what was the third instance of Cernak being knocked out of action due to a hit in less than a year. Cernak was also injured after a Josh Anderson hit knocked him out of action for three games back on December 31st. Most famously, Cernak was hit in last year’s NHL playoffs by then Toronto Maple Leafs forward Michael Bunting, the hit knocked Cernak out of the playoffs and earned Bunting a three-game suspension.

This year Cernak has five assists in 39 games and is averaging just over 19 minutes a game in ice-time.

Sergachev has been out of the Lightning lineup since December 21st, a period of 17 games. The 25-year-old has been activated off the long-term injured reserve and will dress tonight. The former ninth overall pick in 2016 has two goals and 17 assists in 33 games this year while he has averaged almost 23 minutes of ice time per game. He was struggling before his injury after posting career-best numbers last year.

There is a possibility that Tampa Bay will elect to pair Sergachev and Cernak together on the Lightning’s second defensive pairing as the duo have practiced together in recent days.