Cannon Blasts: Trade Deadline Open Thread

The NHL trade deadline is here, with teams having until 3 p.m. EST to make their final moves before the final push to the playoffs.

The Metro division has already been active, with the Penguins acquiring Jason Zucker, the Capitals acquiring Brendan Dillon, and the Islanders acquiring Andy Greene. The Devils have been sellers, already shipping off Greene and Blake Coleman.

What other moves may come? The Hurricanes may need to rent a goalie, with both Reimer and Mrazek out (more on that below). The Rangers have been expected all year to trade Chris Kreider, but now they’re just four points out of a playoff position, so they may stand pat, aside from trading one of their three goalies.

Other sellers to watch around the league: Montreal, Buffalo, Ottawa, Detroit, Chicago, San Jose, Anaheim, Los Angeles.

What about our beloved Blue Jackets? With Oliver BJORKSTRAND joining the already stacked injury list, it seems that playoffs are slowly falling out of our grasp. Will a rental pick-up make a difference? Do we have enough draft picks and prospects to make a move? Can we afford to trade any NHL player since the roster is depleted enough as is? Not to mention the poor Monsters and their increasing inability to ice a full roster.

So, for the next day and a half use the comments to discuss any news, rumors, or proposals. Be sure to include a link when posting any news or rumor you come across.

For further deadline reading:

MrSwift outlined the three paths the Blue Jackets could take at the deadline.

Ryan has advice for how CBJ fans should spend the deadline.

The week that was

Game #61: PHI 5 CBJ 1
Game #62: PHI 4 CBJ 3 (OT)
Game #63: NSH 4 CBJ 3 (SO)

Another week without a win, but two more points salvaged. That’s little comfort considering the Jackets had a lead in two of those losses. Even worse: leading goal scorer Oliver BJORKSTRAND took a nasty spill at the end of regulation on Thursday and will miss the remainder of the season with a broken ankle.

For those keeping score at home, the Jackets are currently missing:
Top defenseman
Two additional top 6 defensemen
Last year’s top goal scorer
This year’s top goal scorer
The team’s best power forward
An All-Star goaltender
And several other useful forwards

And despite all that they’re tied in points with the wild card teams, just a point behind last year’s team at this point.

The Cannon Cast discussed the slump as well as how the Monsters are coping.

Speaking of Monsters, Elaine profiled the two who were called up this week: Stefan Matteau and Calvin Thurkauf.

Those Monsters lost to Syracuse, then rebounded with an overtime win over Rochester in Joonas Korpisalo’s first game back from injury.

MLB pitcher Derek Holland is from Newark and remains a big fan of his hometown team, even as he joins the Pittsburgh Pirates for spring training. Way to represent, Derek!

On Deck

Monday: vs. Ottawa
Tuesday: at Minnesota
Friday: vs. Minnesota
Sunday: vs. Vancouver

Another busy week, with a back-to-back then two more home games before embarking on the Western Canada road trip (which fortunately has several much-needed off days built in)

Still looking for tickets for tomorrow’s game against the Senators? Come on, you know you want to be there when the Jackets finally break the losing streak. Get those tickets here.

(Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.)

Around the League

Despite the league’s and NBC’s best efforts, the big story of the weekend was not Alex Ovechkin hitting 700 career goals, it was the Carolina Hurricanes having to use an emergency backup goalie, that goalie being a 42 year old zamboni driver for the Toronto Marlies, and then that EBUG earning the win against his hometown Maple Leaves, the first ever emergency backup to record a win in NHL history. Sure, he came in with a 4-1 Hurricanes lead, but he only allowed two goals on 10 shots and the Canes scored two more of their own.

Play me out

My mood on Friday was having to cry after hearing the diagnosis of BJORKSTRAND’s injury