Minor Transactions: 3/3/18
With an eight-game schedule set up for Saturday and another seven games scheduled for Sunday, teams might need to make some moves to fix their roster as teams are fighting for playoff spots.
- With defenseman Victor Mete (hand) and winger Max Pacioretty (lower body injury) both returning to Montreal for further evaluation, the Montreal Canadiens recalled defenseman Rinat Valiev from the Toronto Marlies Saturday, according to CapFriendly. The 22-year-old defenseman was acquired last week from Toronto in the Tomas Plekanec deal. Stuck in Toronto behind a crowded depth chart, Valiev has a better chance to break into the NHL with the Canadiens. In 40 games with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL, he had five goals and 10 assists. He’s played just one game for the Laval Rocket, picking up an assist in that lone game. He is not expected to play today.
Evening Notes: Flames, Hammond, Valiev, Blues
While the Flames had a pretty quiet trade deadline day with their only pickups being depth moves (winger Chris Stewart off waivers from Minnesota and center Nick Shore in a trade with Ottawa), Postmedia’s Eric Francis reports that Calgary had kicked the tires on several prominent forwards. He notes that Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher was among those the team inquired about, a group that also included Montreal’s Max Pacioretty, Ottawa’s Mike Hoffman, and Evander Kane, who was eventually moved to San Jose.
GM Brad Treliving acknowledged that he also looked into the goaltending market but that the potential moves “just didn’t make any sense”. With Mike Smith out with a groin injury, the Flames are currently running with rookies David Rittich and Jon Gillies as they look to hold onto a playoff spot in the tightly-contested Pacific Division.
Other notes from around the league:
- It turns out Penguins goalie Matt Murray isn’t the only goalie to be diagnosed with a concussion after the deadline. BSN Denver’s AJ Haefele reports (Twitter link) that Avalanche netminder Andrew Hammond is now in concussion protocol, joining Jonathan Bernier in that situation. As a result, Spencer Martin has been recalled from San Antonio of the AHL.
- Defenseman Rinat Valiev was part of the swap over the weekend between Montreal and Toronto that saw Tomas Plekanec head to the Maple Leafs. The blueliner acknowledged to LNH.com’s Anthony Marcotte that he had requested to be traded. Toronto has had several other young rearguards move ahead of Valiev on the depth chart over the last little while so his preference was to head to a team that didn’t have as many players potentially blocking his path to an NHL roster spot.
- While on the surface, the Blues’ trade of center Paul Stastny yesterday suggests that St. Louis was in selling mode, GM Doug Armstrong told reporters, including Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, that he was involved in trade talks that would have seen the first-round pick they acquired in that swap flipped for a more proven player. However, they weren’t able to find a match, nor were they willing to part with their top prospects to bring in someone that would help for just the next 12-18 months so instead, they will look to try to get back on track without any additions outside the organization.