The Penguins made two trades on Saturday. First, they traded John Marino to the Devils for Ty Smith and a 2023 third-round pick. For the Devils side of the trade, you can check out the Fantasy Take here.

Where's the Pittsburgh side, you ask? Well, I included it in there at first. Then the Penguins decided to quickly outdate what I had just written and make another trade, acquiring Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling from Montreal for Mike Matheson and a 2023 fourth-round pick. That means you can read the entire Penguins side and the Canadiens side here. I'm having difficulty figuring out what the Penguins are doing because they appear to have more defensemen than they need. In the end these moves will likely bolster their defense, and I'd have to assume that they are still not yet done.  

The Habs also signed Rem Pitlick to a two-year, two-way contract worth $1.1 million. Pitlick finished the season with 37 points in 66 games split between Minnesota and Montreal. He had an especially strong third quarter, scoring 15 points in 20 games, which included significant power-play minutes for a significantly undermanned roster. He will likely be more of a depth scoring option for the Habs, although it appears he can move up the lineup as well if needed.

Some other signings:

Chris Tierney signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Panthers. He recorded 19 points (6 G, 13 A) in 70 games in 2021-22 with the Senators.

Jansen Harkins signed a two-year, one-way contract with the Jets. He scored 13 points (7 G, 6 A) in 77 games with the Jets.

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Here's the latest on the Nazem Kadri situation:

I consider this to be positive news if you have him on your keeper team, even if you have to wait a bit to find out where he is playing. Since this has the possibility of dragging on late into the summer, this is another example of why I don't like the idea of having fantasy drafts until September at the earliest.

Something that stands out with Kadri this past season is his shots-per-game total. Although his 247 shots are quite high (top 30 in the league), that total wasn't the highest of his career (260 SOG in 2015-16). Kadri took 3.5 SOG/GP in 2021-22, which is significantly higher than the 2.5-3.0 SOG/GP that he has averaged over the previous few seasons. He came close to that during his 2015-16 season, when he took 3.4 SOG/GP. Unfortunately, he scored just 17 goals that season with a 6.5 SH%. His shooting percentage in 2021-22 was 11.3%.

Kadri received the opportunity to take more shots playing for a strong possession team like Colorado. Based on what Avalanche beat reporter Baugh is saying, Kadri isn't going to sign with a weaker team that could sign him today with all the cap space they have. I still sort of view Kadri's past season (87 PTS in 71 GP) as an outlier, as impressive as it was. If he's due for regression, it won't matter what team he plays for. Yet the fact that he will wait for a contender to make room for him should help maximize his fantasy value wherever he plays next season.

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As for John Klingberg, it sounds like he could sign with the type of team that Kadri is trying to avoid. If you would have asked me a few days before free agency, I would have guessed he would pick Carolina. However, the Hurricanes ended up trading for Brent Burns. So maybe a team like Seattle, Detroit, or Ottawa? The Senators in particular have improved their team and could even push for a playoff spot this season. I don't think Detroit is there yet, although they have also improved their team and should be better. Seattle? They've still got a way to go.

Assuming Klingberg is gone, Miro Heiskanen could be store for a slightly better season. The Stars defenseman has hovered around the 0.5 PTS/GP pace for the past three seasons, although he was basically a point-per-game player during the Stars' run to the cup final in 2020. I say "slightly" because as I mentioned during the Mason Marchment Fantasy Take, Peter DeBoer tends to spread out his power-play minutes somewhat evenly between the first and second units. Heiskanen should play a lot of minutes regardless, with any increase in points likely to be at least partially concentrated in power-play points.

Also assuming Klingberg moves on, Thomas Harley could also be in store for a bigger role. He split last season between the NHL and the AHL, with most of his NHL games later in the season. His AHL numbers (11 PTS in 27 GP) don't jump off the page, but there could be an opening for him for second-unit power-play time along with increased minutes. It looks like he'd need some time before developing into a fantasy impact player, though. For more on Harley, see his Dobber Prospects page. Or purchase your copy of the Fantasy Prospects Report.

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I'm taking a much-needed vacation next weekend, so I'll be back again in a little under two weeks. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.