Fantasy Take – Latest NHL Moves

There was news on Friday afternoon that Columbus had extended Patrik Laine for four years with an average annual value of $8.7M. That put the Blue Jackets in excess of $6M over the cap and while being over the cap is fine in the offseason, it’s often better to take care of the trades necessary [...]

One of the more notable free agents left on the board signed on with a new team on Thursday morning. Nino Niederreiter, the recent Carolina Hurricane winger, latched onto Nashville for a two-year deal carrying an average annual value of $4M. Here is the breaking news from Elliotte Friedman: https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1550133872070987776 Let’s get to what this [...]

The Montreal Canadiens have traded defenseman Jeff Petry and forward Ryan Poehling to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Mike Matheson and a 2023 fourth-round pick. This is the second trade involving defensemen that the Penguins made on Saturday, as they also sent John Marino to New Jersey for Ty Smith and a 2023 third-round pick earlier [...]

Note: Because the Penguins made another trade after this one, this article was updated after being published to account for only the New Jersey side of the trade. The Pittsburgh analysis on both trades can be found here. The Pittsburgh Penguins have traded defenseman John Marino to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Ty Smith [...]

One of the most shocking non-qualified RFAs to come out of the 2021-22 season was Dylan Strome from Chicago. It seemed certain Strome would catch on somewhere, likely with a top-end team that would need a middle-6 scoring centre. That’s exactly what ended up happening: https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1547695918522064897 Let’s get to this signing. What Washington Gets When [...]

The Florida Panthers were up against the cap this offseason, which is one reason why both Claude Giroux and Mason Marchment moved on to other teams. They would be looking at cheap depth signings which is why they got guys like Marc Staal and Colin White on low-cost one-year deals. They continued their bargain hunting [...]

The New Jersey Devils have signed winger Ondrej Palat to a five-year contract worth $6 million per season. Palat had a down regular season by his standards, scoring 49 points (18 G, 31 A) in 77 games. He elevated his game in the playoffs, scoring 21 points in 23 games. In fact, only two players [...]

The Anaheim Ducks have signed center Ryan Strome to a five-year contract with a $5 million cap hit. A former fifth overall pick (2011), Strome’s career didn’t start to pick up until the Rangers signed Artemi Panarin in 2019 and matched the two on the same line. Over an 82-game season, Strome was on pace [...]

The Washington Capitals have acquired Connor Brown from the Ottawa Senators for a second-round pick in 2024. Brown scored 39 points (10 G, 29 A) in 64 games for the Sens in 2021-22. He’s been a remarkably consistent scorer during his three seasons in Ottawa with an 82-game pace of around 50 points each season. [...]

The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed winger Johnny Gaudreau to a seven-year contract with an AAV of $9.75 million. Whoa. Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Long Island were believed to be Gaudreau’s preferred destinations after he informed Calgary that he would not be re-signing there. However, the Blue Jackets swooped in with an offer that Gaudreau [...]