Welcome to the trade deadline! With our partners at Draft Kings listing the Columbus Blue Jackets as +50,000 to win the Eastern Conference and +100,000 to win the Stanley Cup, the sale should be on. Dale went over the possibilities on his preview on Friday. Teams have until 3 p.m. on Monday to submit their trades to the league (remember that the news of some trades trickles out after that deadline).
On the 32 Thoughts podcast on Friday, there were a couple more interesting tidbits. According to Elliotte Friedman, Edmonton is a team that has had interest in Dean Kukan. Washington was mentioned as a destination for Max Domi. Another interesting point is that, in addition to renting cap space, Jarmo Kekalainen could be interested in taking on a player with term, such as Arizona’s Jakob Chychrun.
We’ll keep this space updated with trades involving the Blue Jackets or other Metro teams or major names.
Here are some of the big ones from the weekend (CapFriendly’s tracker is, as always, indispensable):
Mark Giordano (50% cap hit retained) and Colin Blackwell from Seattle to Toronto for a 2022 2nd round pick, 2023 2nd round pick, and 2024 3rd round pick
Is it just me, or does this seem like a light return? Two NHLers and retaining salary, and there’s not a first round pick thrown in? Ron Francis may not be very good at this.
Travis Hamonic from Vancouver to Ottawa for a 2022 3rd round pick.
Ottawa buying? Huh? They also picked up Mathieu Joseph in a trade involving Nick Paul to Tampa.
Claude Giroux (50% cap hit retained), German Rubstov, Connor Bunnaman, and 2024 5th round pick from Philadelphia to Florida for Owen Tippett, 2023 3rd round pick, and 2024 1st round pick.
Giroux played exactly 1000 games for the Flyers, and his last one was both a celebration and a goodbye. The return seems a little underwhelming given how much he meant to the Flyers, but he was a pending UFA and Florida is the only destination he was interested in (despite rumors that Colorado made an effort to get him). The Panthers now do not have a first round pick until 2025. Bill Zito is going hard for this season, and I don’t blame him for striking while the iron is hot. They’re a scary team.
Hampus Lindholm (50% cap hit retained) and Kodie Curran from Anaheim to Boston for John Moore, Urho Vaakanainen, 2022 1st round pick, 2023 2nd round pick, and 2024 2nd round pick.
Lindholm immediately signed an extension with Boston for eight years and an AAV of $6.5 million. Good haul of picks for Anaheim, but most noteworthy is former Blue Jackets first round pick John Moore being thrown in. This is the third time in his career that he has been a piece going back the other way in a blockbuster trade. First was 2013 in the Marian Gaborik deal with the Rangers, then in 2015 when the Rangers acquired Keith Yandle from Arizona.
Feel free to talk about all things trade related in the comments. If you see a credible rumor or confirmed announcement, post a link to the article or tweet in your comment (just paste the URL and the new commenting system will format it).
Finally, congratulations to the Ohio State women’s hockey team on winning the national championship, the first in program history. It was a joy to watch them play in the semis and final. Credit to head coach Nadine Muzerall for elevating the program to this level. Now it’s past time to build a modern, dedicated hockey facility at OSU!
.@OhioStateWHKY wins the NCAA women’s ice hockey national championship 🏆
The Buckeyes’ first title in program history! pic.twitter.com/0KAgReD61r
— ESPN (@espn) March 20, 2022