Ramblings: Trade Deadline Today! Kane, Chychrun, Barrie Debut with New Teams, Pasta Extension (Mar 3)

Ian Gooding

2023-03-03

We've gotten so used to boring trade deadlines, so at least you can say this season has been a fun deadline with all the deals that started to flow in last weekend. Although the big names like Patrick Kane, Timo Meier, and Jakob Chychrun have all been moved, I wonder if today will have a surprise or two in store. Because of all the deals that are completed with days to spare, trade deadline day doesn't have the excitement of Day 1 of free agency. There is still something suspenseful about the ticking clock for teams facing time pressure to upgrade their rosters.

Don't forget to follow along on our Trade Deadline Tracker. This page not only shows the list of trades, but also links to player profiles, the forum threads, and the fantasy analysis.

The Bruins will continue to receive heaping helpings of Pasta for the foreseeable future, allowing their fans to breathe a sigh of relief. David Pastrnak has agreed to an eight-year contract worth $90 million total, which works out to a $11,250,000 AAV. One key reason for the Bruins' success is the willingness to take hometown discounts for the team, with no forward on the books for more than $7 million. Pastrnak obviously deserves what he is receiving, and the cap ceiling should eventually increase in a meaningful way, but Boston may find it a little more difficult to dominate starting next season. Pastrnak is an elite scorer, so his value should not dip that much in cap leagues.

By the way, Pastrnak is the first Bruin to reach 80 points this season. No other Bruin has reached 55 points, demonstrating how critical he is to the Bruins' attack.

Pastrnak was robbed by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on the play below, but he later scored a goal and added two assists in the Bruins' 7-1 win. Pastrnak has 43 goals this season, which is second only to Connor McDavid.

I had no idea that Dmitry Orlov's offensive production would explode upon being traded to Boston. Yet Orlov scored another three points (1 G, 2 A) on Thursday, giving him eight points in his three games as a Bruin. Orlov might be experiencing the same effect that Hampus Lindholm did upon jumping to the Bruins, where he simply produces better numbers as a result of playing for a superior team – no deep dive explanation. Lindholm has reached his first 40-point season in his first full season with the Bruins in spite of offensive zone starts that are about 6-7% lower this season than they were in his previous two seasons mostly spent with Anaheim.

Just because it's the trade deadline doesn't mean the games are paused. Unfortunately, neither are the injuries. Brad Marchand left Thursday's game with a lower-body injury. The Bruins are already down Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno, so they could be very thin at left wing. Good thing they acquired Tyler Bertuzzi earlier in the day, although he was not in the lineup on Thursday.

Patrick Kane and Jakob Chychrun both made their debuts with their new teams in the same game on Thursday, which turned out to be a 5-3 win for the Senators over the Rangers.

Kane was held without a point with a minus-2 and four shots, playing on a line with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck. My inclination is that matching former Blackhawks teammates Kane and Panarin on the same line would be the best approach. Kane was also on the top power play, bumping fellow recent acquisition Vladimir Tarasenko from that top unit. Expect Kane to salvage some of his draft-day value in single-season leagues now that he has moved to team that is playing for something beyond pride.

Tarasenko's power-play assist on Wednesday was his first power-play point since late December, which was a span of 14 games without a power-play point. Tarasenko is settling in with the Rangers, though, scoring goals in back-to-back games, including this cool Forsberg goal.

Chychrun was also held without a point on Thursday, starting out on the third pair with Nick Holden. Erik Brannstrom was the odd man out as a healthy scratch, so he might lose some fantasy value initially. Although this may change as Chychrun becomes more familiar with the Senators, Thomas Chabot remained on the first-unit power play. Chychrun was on the second unit with Jake Sanderson.   

Claude Giroux scored a goal for the third consecutive game. He now has 10 points in his last four games, vaulting over the point-per-game mark (63 PTS in 61 GP). He's on his highest point-per-game pace in four seasons. The move to Ottawa seems to be agreeing with him.

Tyson Barrie made his new team debut as well on Thursday, being held without a point in just under 22 minutes while being paired with Ryan McDonagh. Barrie did not see any power-play time, although the Predators only needed seven seconds to score on their only power play of the game. This might be a who's left in Nashville after all the trades, but the power play featured Roman Josi, Matt Duchene, Cody Glass, Tommy Novak, and Luke Evangelista. The rookie Evangelista was playing in just his second game, but the power-play usage bodes well for him going forward. He was recently recalled after scoring 41 points in 49 games in the AHL.

Another debut – this one Mikael Granlund on the Penguins. Granlund quickly joined his new team, debuting on the third line with Jeff Carter and Danton Heinen. No points for Granlund in just over 16 minutes of icetime, and unfortunately practically no power-play time. But that could change, of course. Read the Fantasy Take for more on Granlund's situation.

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Roope Hintz recorded a hat trick on Thursday, which gives him goals in four consecutive games. He's been firing the puck a ton recently averaging nearly six shots per game over those four games. Hintz took seven shots on Thursday, with two of his goals on the power play. As Mike pointed out in his Max Domi trade take, the Stars haven't been scoring a ton recently, so this burst of scoring from Hintz is much needed.

As if Eric Daoust doesn't need something else to mess up searches on Frozen Tools. With Jake Oettinger needing a rest after starting the night before, Scott Wedgewood injured, and Anton Khudobin moving his gear to the Blackhawks dressing room (maybe only hypothetically) in the Domi trade, Matt Murray was brought up from the AHL to start on Thursday. No, not the Matt Murray on the Leafs. Murray stopped 19 of 21 shots from what is left over in the Hawks lineup in earning a 5-2 win. This Murray was reassigned to the AHL after the game, so you might not want to look him up just yet.

Domi, by the way, didn't play on Thursday due to the salary cap implications of the trade.

On those Blackhawks, Tyler Johnson, Andreas Athanasiou, Taylor Raddysh, and Philipp Kurashev all received first-unit power-play time. Feels like an expansion team. No, not the Golden Knights or even the Kraken version of one. More like the Senators in their first year. Or the inaugural version of the Vancouver Grizzlies, if I can throw in a basketball reference. The only difference is that the Blackhawks have been around for nearly 100 years. But when you have a chance to draft Connor Bedard, you just have to take it. As the song below says.

(I thought Puck Over Glass was catchier, but this is quite the production as well.)

Oliver Bjorkstrand entered Thursday's game without a point in his last five games, but he broke that slump in a big way. Bjorkstrand scored twice, including the overtime winner in the Kraken's 5-4 win over Detroit. Bjorkstrand also tied his season high with seven shots. Bjorkstrand is still only on a 43-point pace, which is well off his 55-65-point pace of his previous three seasons. The good news if you've been waiting on him: Bjorkstrand's 8.6 SH% stands to improve, which could result in a few more games like the one on Thursday.

Luke Schenn and Erik Gustafsson both made their Leaf debuts on Thursday. Schenn played 10:42 while registering four hits, while Gustafsson played 9:52 while receiving some second-unit power-play time. Both defensemen will likely lose fantasy value in what looks like a crowded Leafs blueline after all of their recent moves. Gustafsson will lose the power-play time he gained in Washington as a result of the John Carlson injury. Schenn won't be relied on as much with the Leafs as he was with the Canucks, so expect a lower volume of hits from the league leader in that category. Both might even be in danger of being healthy scratched at some point as well.

With four assists on Thursday against San Jose, Pavel Buchnevich has eight points over his last four games. In spite of various injuries and the decline of the Blues, Buchnevich is still scoring at a point-per-game pace (51 PTS in 46 GP).

Filip Gustavsson might be the more reliable Wild goalie this season, but Marc-Andre Fleury has been heating up recently. In stopping 21 of 22 shots in a 2-1 win over Vancouver, Fleury has wins and quality starts in each of his last three games. He's also allowed just three goals over that span. Fleury is just outside the top 10 in quality starts (21 QS), but he is also tied for a top-10 spot in really bad starts (8 RBS). All of this means that Fleury has been a pretty average goalie this season, although you don't really know what you'll get from him from one game to the next.

Enjoy trade deadline day! Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.

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