Rakell_Ducks_TradeDeadline-bug

The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline day has come and gone. After weeks of speculation and reports, a total of 33 trades were made on Monday by NHL teams looking to get in a better position for a Stanley Cup Playoff run or help get a head start on the future. NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen had the news and all day long, with reporters in place across the League.

8 p.m. ET

The deadline has long since passed, more than four hours ago, but there was such a logjam of trade calls through NHL Central Registry that some that were reported and we learned about before 3 p.m. ET are only now becoming official.
In all, there were 33 trades involving 54 players made on Monday, capping a busy day and weekend.
There were months of speculation about whether goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and forward Claude Giroux would agree to be traded. Both eventually said the opportunity to win the Stanley Cup ruled their decisions.
Fleury was traded to the Minnesota Wild from the Chicago Blackhawks. Giroux was traded to the Florida Panthers from the Philadelphia Flyers.
The New York Rangers filled some holes in their lineup, acquiring forward Andrew Copp from the Winnipeg Jets, forward Tyler Motte from the Vancouver Canucks and defenseman Justin Braun from the Philadelphia Flyers without giving up a player off their active roster.
Copp and forward Artturi Lehkonen, who was traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Colorado Avalanche, might be the two best pickups for contending teams that aren't named Fleury and Giroux.
They're each versatile forwards who can play anywhere in a lineup and on both special teams units.
The Tampa Bay Lightning somehow made the most of little NHL salary cap space to maneuver their way into forward Brandon Hagel from the Blackhawks, forward Nicholas Paul from the Ottawa Senators and forward Riley Nash from the Arizona Coyotes.
Hagel and Paul in particular will likely fit into the Lightning's bottom six forward group and make it better.
The Anaheim Ducks and Seattle Kraken were the big sellers.
The Ducks traded forwards Rickard Rakell (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Nicolas Deslauriers (Wild), and defenseman Hampus Lindholm (Boston Bruins) and Josh Manson (Colorado Avalanche).
Anaheim has four picks in the first two rounds of each of the next two drafts, including two first-round picks in the 2022 NHL Draft.
Rakell might be the perfect wing to play with Penguins center Evgeni Malkin.
The Kraken traded defensemen Mark Giordano (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Jeremy Lauzon (Nashville Predators), and forwards Calle Jarnkrok (Calgary Flames), Mason Appleton (Winnipeg Jets), Colin Blackwell (Maple Leafs) and Marcus Johansson (Washington Capitals).
Seattle has 25 picks in the next two drafts, starting with 12 in 2022, including four in the second round.
The New Jersey Devils did not trade defenseman P.K. Subban and the Arizona Coyotes did not trade forward Phil Kessel. Each are pending unrestricted free agents who were thought to be on the move to help contending teams, but they're staying put.
And right before posting this one more trade went through, with the Vegas Golden Knights sending forward Evgeni Dadonov and a second-round pick in 2023 or 2024 to the Ducks for defenseman John Moore and Ryan Kesler.
The Golden Knights are looking for cap flexibility and moving Dadonov and his $5 million salary cap charge that carries through next season will do it.
Kesler is on long-term injured reserve. Moore has cleared waivers so there is some cap relief on his contract too if he plays in the American Hockey League.
The Ducks got a player they can insert into their lineup and yet another quality draft pick, giving them 12 in the first two rounds of the next three drafts.
And that's a wrap for this blog. Until next year.

6:15 p.m. ET

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas and Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson could be having an interesting conversation at some point to discuss how and why the details of a trade that would have involved goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and forward Brandon Hagel became public.
Fleury and Hagel were not traded by the Blackhawks to the Maple Leafs. Instead, Chicago traded Hagel to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Fleury to the Minnesota Wild.
But TSN's Darren Dreger reported on Saturday that the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks were engaged in discussions about a bigger trade that would send Fleury and Hagel to Toronto for goalie Petr Mrazek, forward Matthew Knies and first-round picks to Chicago.
Dreger reported that the trade never reached the point where Fleury was asked to about going to Toronto.
"I'm disappointed that that conversation is public," Dubas said Monday. "I've never had that before where the specifics like that have been made public. Frankly, it's probably a question to ask Kyle Davidson at his availability in Chicago."
Davidson was asked for his response to Dubas' comments.
"I'm aware of his comments and that'll be something I address with Kyle at the right time," Davidson said.
The NHL general managers are scheduled to meet in Florida next week.

5:50 p.m. ET

The Pittsburgh Penguins gave up two players from their roster as part of the package to acquire forward Rickard Rakell. It's a worthwhile price for the value Rakell could bring to them.
Pittsburgh sent forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Dominik Simon to the Anaheim Ducks along with goalie Calle Clang, a third-round pick (No. 77) in the 2020 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
The Ducks are also retaining 35 percent of Rakell's salary. He's signed through the end of this season with a $3.789 million NHL salary cap charge. He can become an unrestricted free agent after this season.
But Rakell makes the Penguins better than they were with Aston-Reese and Simon in the lineup. He has scored 28 points (16 goals, 12 assists) in 51 games and hasn't played since March 12 because of an upper-body injury. The Ducks were considering him day to day.
He can play on the Penguins' second line with center Evgeni Malkin. He can play on either of their power play units. He can score. He's reliable defensively. He's a veteran too, having played 550 regular season games and 46 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Aston-Reese has scored 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 52 games and Simon nine points (three goals, six assists) in 55 games. Neither can give the Penguins anything close to the production Rakell can and Pittsburgh still has enough depth in the lineup too.

5 p.m. ET

The New York Islanders were not sellers in advance of the deadline. Instead, they stood pat and re-signed two of their four pending unrestricted free agents; forward Cal Clutterbuck to a two year contract and forward Zach Parise to a one-year contract.
Andy Greene and Zdeno Chara remain pending UFAs, but Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello said the veteran defensemen each expressed a desire to stay with one team for this season, a conversation that has been ongoing since it started.
The Islanders likely wouldn't have gotten much more than a late-round pick for either of them anyway.
New York also did not trade goalie Semyon Varlamov, who has one year remaining on his contract after this season.
Re-signing Clutterbuck and Parise is a sign that the Islanders feel they can get right back in the mix for the Stanley Cup Playoffs next season and they value each as being a part of it. Keeping Varlamov preserves a potential player the Islanders can use in a trade during the offseason that could help them by bringing back a player they can use right away.
The Islanders are looking more for hockey trades, player-for-player moves that can improve the roster immediately because they do not want to rebuild. They need help on defense and they need at least one if not two scoring forwards.
They were quiet at the deadline, but the Islanders will be one of the most interesting teams to watch in the offseason.

4:50 p.m. ET

The New York Rangers trade for forward Andrew Copp is now official, with details of the return to the Winnipeg Jets.
The Rangers traded forward Morgan Barron, two conditional second-round draft picks, of which one can become a first-round pick, and a fifth-round pick in the 2023 draft for Copp and a sixth-round pick in 2023.
The conditions of the two second-round picks are as follows:
1. The Jets will get the Rangers own second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. However, that pick becomes the Rangers first-round pick in 2022 if New York reaches the Eastern Conference Final and Copp plays in at least 50 percent of its playoff games.
2. The Jets will either get the St. Louis Blues' second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, which the Rangers acquired when they traded forward Pavel Buchnevich to St. Louis in the offseason, or New York's own second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
In the end, the Rangers may have given up a first-round pick for Copp, a 27-year-old pending unrestricted forward, but for that to happen they would first have to get to the Eastern Conference Final and Copp would have to play a role in that happening. And if that were to happen, nobody should be complaining about the Rangers giving up a late first-round pick.
Copp can play anywhere in New York's lineup and on both special teams units. He has scored 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) in 56 games this season. He's averaging 19:48 of ice time per game, including 2:25 on the power play and 2:28 on the penalty kill.

3:45 p.m. ET

The Carolina Hurricanes made two significant moves in advance of the deadline, re-signing forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an eight-year contract worth $4.82 million annually and reportedly acquiring forward Max Domi in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Columbus' return for Domi is not yet known, but Sportsnet reported that the Florida Panthers are involved as a third team to help facilitate the NHL salary cap situation so the Hurricanes can fit Domi in.
Domi is in the final year of a two-year, $10.6 million contract ($5.3 million AAV). He can become an unrestricted free agent after the season.
Kotkaniemi has scored 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in 59 games in his first season with the Hurricanes, who signed him to an offer sheet in the offseason that wasn't matched by his previous team, the Montreal Canadiens.
Domi has scored 32 points (nine goals, 23 assists) in 53 games with the Blue Jackets.
He could move right into the Hurricanes' top six forward group as a winger. He can also play center, but with Sebastian Aho, Vincent Trocheck, Jordan Staal, Kotkaniemi and Derek Stepan, the Hurricanes don't have a need down the middle. They do on the wing.

3:20 p.m.

Rickard Rakell is going to the Pittsburgh Penguins, according to multiple media reports. The return to the Anaheim Ducks, who are trading the forward, will include a player off the Penguins' roster, a prospect and a second-round pick, according to TSN.
Rakell has scored 28 points (16 goals, 12 assists) in 51 games. He hasn't played since March 12 because of an upper-body injury. The Ducks were considering him day to day.
Rakell might be a natural fit to play right wing on a line with center Evgeni Malkin. He has the skill to play with Malkin and he can play a side-to-side, slow-it-down and speed-it-up type of game.
The Penguins could have a line with Rakell, Malkin and Jason Zucker playing behind Sidney Crosby with Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust, leaving Jeff Carter to center a third line that also features Danton Heinen and either Evan Rodrigues or Kasperi Kapanen.
Zucker (hernia) is on long-term injured reserve but he's rehabbing and is expected to return soon.

3:05 p.m. ET

The New York Rangers filled their need at forward with two acquisitions in advance of the deadline, acquiring Andrew Copp from the Winnipeg Jets and Tyler Motte from the Vancouver Canucks, according to multiple media reports.
The details of the trades are not known yet. Copp and Motte are each 27 years old and pending unrestricted free agents.
Why did the Rangers go this route after acquiring defenseman Justin Braun from the Philadelphia Flyers for a third-round pick in the 2023 draft?
For starters, Copp and Motte are perfect fits for the Rangers in terms of their grinding yet fast style of play. Each will be able to play the up-and-down game the Rangers like to play and they fill needs in what has been a top-heavy lineup for the balance of the season.
Copp can play center or wing. He has scored 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) in 56 games this season after scoring an NHL career-high 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists) in 55 games last season.
The Rangers can use Copp or Frank Vatrano, who they acquired from the Florida Panthers last week, on a line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. Kaapo Kakko could fill that role with Panarin and Strome once he's back from his upper-body injury.
Copp could also play center or wing on the third line. Filip Chytil has been New York's third-line center throughout this season, but Copp could push him to the wing or the fourth line. Or Chytil can stay there and Copp can play on the wing.
Motte is also going to be a bottom-six forward for the Rangers. He has scored 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in 49 games this season.
Kevin Rooney will also return from his upper-body injury eventually, which will only make the Rangers' forward depth stronger.

2:35 p.m. ET

The Colorado Avalanche made another acquisition to improve their forward depth, getting Andrew Cogliano from the San Jose Sharks, according to multiple reports.
Cogliano is a 34-year-old pending unrestricted free agent who skates well, an important factor if you're going to play with the Avalanche, who are arguably the fastest team in the NHL.
The Avalanche earlier acquired Artturi Lehkonen from the Montreal Canadiens for defenseman prospect Justin Barron and a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
With Lehkonen and Cogliano, the Avalanche have added two players who should go right into their bottom-six forward group.
Colorado already had Logan O'Connor, Alex Newhook, Nico Sturm, J.T. Compher, Darren Helm, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Kurtis MacDermid as options in the bottom six once forward Gabriel Landeskog returns from knee surgery and goes into the top six.
Lehkonen is an option to fill Landeskog's role in the top six until his return. But if healthy, the Avalanche have more options for a bottom six forward group now than they did when general manager Joe Sakic woke up Monday.

2:20 p.m. ET

The St. Louis Blues got faster on the back end by adding defenseman Nick Leddy in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings.
The Blues also got defenseman Luke Witkowski and sent defenseman Jake Walman, forward Oskar Sundqvist and a second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft to the Red Wings.
The key players in this trade are Leddy and Sundqvist.
In Leddy, the Blues get a mobile 31-year-old who can jump into a top-pair role and play with Colton Parayko, allowing the Blues to drop Marco Scandella into a third-pair role with Robert Bortuzzo. They could also reverse it and have Leddy play with Bortuzzo and keep Scandella with Parayko. The options are good for the Blues.
Leddy will help them in multiple ways, but most notably with transitioning the puck out of the defensive zone. He can also play on the St. Louis power play.
Leddy is a pending unrestricted free agent so he could be just a rental for St. Louis. He has scored 16 points (one goal, 15 assists) in 55 games this season. He has played in 121 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Sundqvist is not a rental for the Red Wings. He is signed through next season with a salary-cap charge of $2.75 million. He has scored 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in 41 games this season.
Sundqvist won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019 playing in a fourth line role. He is likely a bottom-six forward and penalty killer with the Red Wings too. That's where he's most effective.

2:10 p.m. ET

The Colorado Avalanche improved their forward depth with the acquisition of Artturi Lehkonen from the Montreal Canadiens for defenseman prospect Justin Barron and a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Lehkonen has scored 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) in 58 games for the Canadiens this season. His single-season NHL career high is 31 points, which he scored in 2018-19. He has scored 149 points (74 goals, 75 assists) in 396 games, all with Montreal.
Why did the Avalanche want Lehkonen?
Colorado can obviously score. It is second in the NHL and first in the Western Conference with 3.84 goals per game. But forward Gabriel Landeskog is out of the lineup after having knee surgery and Lehkonen could help fill that hole right away.
Once Landeksog returns, which could happen before the regular season ends, Lehkonen could drop into a third-line role and give the Avalanche another versatile depth scorer who can fill a role on the penalty kill too. He averaged 2:10 of shorthanded ice time per game with Montreal.
The Avalanche are 18th on the penalty kill at 78.4 percent.

1:55 p.m. ET

The Boston Bruins filled a need by acquiring defenseman Josh Brown and a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft from the Ottawa Senators for forward Zach Senyshyn and a 2022 fifth-round pick.
Brown is a right-hand shot defenseman who played 46 games for the Senators this season scoring six points, all assists. The 28-year-old is a pending UFA in the last year of a two-year, $2.4 million contract.
Why is this an important addition to the Bruins?
Boston already has Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Connor Clifton on the right side. Brown (6-foot-5, 217 pounds) gives them the option to go with a bigger lineup if they wanted to use him instead of Clifton (5-11, 191).
The Bruins already improved on the left side by acquiring Hampus Lindholm from the Anaheim Ducks and signing him to an eight-year contract worth $6.5 million annually. But their right side needed that infusion of depth and they got that plus size in Brown.
Boston now has eight NHL defensemen with four lefties (Lindholm, Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort and Mike Reilly) and four righties (McAvoy, Carlo, Clifton and Brown). It's the type of depth every contending team wants to have on its back end.

1:30 p.m. ET

Ninety minutes until the deadline and still plenty of work to be done.
Here is a list of some of the rental players who could be traded that are still available:
FORWARDS: Rickard Rakell (Anaheim Ducks), Cal Clutterbuck (New York Islanders), Andrew Copp (Winnipeg Jets), Paul Stastny (Jets), Max Domi (Columbus Blue Jackets), Phil Kessel (Arizona Coyotes), Andrew Cogliano (San Jose Sharks)
DEFENSEMEN: P.K. Subban (New Jersey Devils), Andy Greene (Islanders), Calvin de Haan (Blackhawks)
GOALIES:Craig Anderson (Buffalo Sabres), Thomas Greiss (Red Wings), Joonas Korpisalo (Blue Jackets), Martin Jones (Flyers)

1:05 p.m. ET

Marc-Andre Fleury to the Minnesota Wild is now official.
The Chicago Blackhawks have traded the 37-year-old goalie to the Wild for a conditional first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
The Blackhawks will receive the first-round pick in the event the Wild advance to the Western Conference Final and Fleury is the winning goalie in a minimum of four games in the first and second rounds combined.
If both conditions aren't met, the Blackhawks will get the Wild's second-round pick in the 2022 draft.
Chicago is retaining 50 percent of Fleury's contract.
The Wild had two 2022 second-round picks after acquiring one from the Arizona Coyotes earlier Monday for the rights to forward Jack McBain.
Fleury could be with the Wild on Monday as the backup to Cam Talbot for Minnesota's game against his former team, the Vegas Golden Knights, at Xcel Energy Center (8 p.m. ET; TVAS, BSN, BSWI, ATTSN-RM, ESPN+, NHL LIVE).
The Wild also traded Kaapo Kahkonen, who was Talbot's backup, and a fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft to the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Jake Middleton.
Kahkonen is 12-8-3 with a 2.87 GAA and .910 save percentage in 25 games this season.
But this is more about Fleury and this season, and acquiring him and trading a 25-year-old promising goalie like Kahkonen is a risk worth taking for the Wild.
The Wild need help in net. Talbot is 24-12-1, but his .907 save percentage is 26th in the NHL and his 2.92 goals-against average is 24th among goalies who have appeared in at least 25 games.
Fleury is 19-21-5 with a 2.95 GAA and .908 save percentage, but the difference is the Wild are a better overall defensive team than the Blackhawks and their offense is stronger too, helping to prop up the goaltending.
Minnesota is third in the NHL in scoring, averaging 3.67 goals per game, compared to Chicago's 2.60, which is tied for 26th with the Ottawa Senators.
The Wild are 22nd in goals against per game (3.20); Chicago is 25th (3.44). But the Wild are 11th in shot attempts percentage (51.6) and the Blackhawks are 28th at 46.7 percent.
The point is the Wild spend less time defending than the Blackhawks but are only slightly better in keeping the puck out of the net. A big reason has been less than stellar goaltending.
Minnesota is better with Fleury, and he could also push Talbot because now it's more of a 1A and 1B situation as opposed to a clearcut No. 1 and No. 2.
Adding Middleton (6-foot-3, 219 pounds) will help too. He's a rugged defenseman who has scored nine points (three goals, six assists) in 45 games this season.
The Sharks already have James Reimer and Adin Hill signed through next season, so something will have to give with them at the goaltending position too with the addition of Kahkonen, who can become a restricted free agent after this season.

12:10 p.m. ET

Filip Forsberg may not sign a new contract with the Nashville Predators before the deadline but it's unlikely the pending unrestricted free agent forward will be traded, according to Sportsnet.
That makes perfect sense.
Forsberg might want to explore the free-agent market in the offseason, which is his right.
But the Predators are in position to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, currently as the first wild card from the Western Conference, and trading their leading goal-scorer (33) and third-leading scorer (58 points) would send the wrong message.
Nashville wants to contend for the Stanley Cup this season and understands the value Forsberg brings. The Predators would not be able to get a player back of equal value to Forsberg because he would be a rental acquisition. The return would likely be draft picks and/or prospects.
It makes the most sense for the Predators to keep Forsberg and treat him as their own rental and try to make a run with him. They also can continue to try to re-sign him. If they can't, they can trade his negotiating rights before he came become a UFA on July 13.

#

11:55 a.m. ET

Forward Marcus Johansson is going back to the Washington Capitals, traded by the Seattle Kraken for forward Daniel Sprong, a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and a sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft.
Johansson has scored 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) in 51 games for the Kraken this season. He started his NHL career with the Capitals and played with them from 2010-17, scoring 290 points (102 goals, 188 assists) in 501 games.
The Capitals were in the market for a middle-six forward, someone who could play in their top-six but might be more inclined for a third-line role. They found it in Johansson, a player they know well too.
Johansson could slide into the left wing spot on the third line with center Lars Eller and potentially Conor Sheary, leaving the Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson, Anthony Mantha, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie as the Capitals' top six forward group.
Nic Dowd, Garnet Hathaway, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Connor McMichael are candidates for the fourth line.
The Capitals had a need for another forward because of the uncertainty surrounding Carl Hagelin and his eye injury. Hagelin's return, the timing of it and if will happen at all, is unknown.
The Kraken now have 25 picks between the 2022 NHL Draft and 2023 NHL Draft.

11:50 a.m. ET

An update on the Minnesota Wild's goaltending shakeup.
It's not official yet, but the Wild will acquire Marc-Andre Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks for a conditional second-round draft pick that can become a first-round pick, per multiple media reports.
The Wild are making room in their net by trading Kaapo Kahkonen to the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Jacob Middleton and a to-be-determined draft pick, according to Sportsnet and The Athletic.
It'll be Fleury and Cam Talbot in the Wild net for the rest of this season at least. Fleury is in the last year of a three-year, $21 million contract. He is 19-21-5 with a 2.95 GAA and .908 save percentage with the Blackhawks this season.
Talbot is 24-12-1 with a 2.92 GAA and .907 save percentage in 38 games this season.
Middleton (6-foot-3, 219 pounds) is a rugged defenseman who has scored nine points (three goals, six assists) in 45 games this season.
The Sharks already have James Reimer and Adin Hill signed through next season, so something will have to give with them at the goaltending position too.
Kahkonen is 12-8-3 with a 2.87 GAA and .910 save percentage in 25 games this season. The 25-year-old can become a restricted free agent after this season.

11:20 a.m. ET

Marc-Andre Fleury is being traded to the Minnesota Wild from the Chicago Blackhawks, per multiple media reports.
The 37-year-old goalie is in the final season of a three-year, $21 million contract. The return for the Wild is reportedly a conditional second-round draft pick that could become a first-round pick, according to Sportsnet.
The Athletic is also reporting that the Wild are trading goalie Kaapo Kahkonen in a separate trade.
Fleury is 19-21-5 with a 2.95 GAA and .908 save percentage with the Blackhawks this season.
Fleury would join Cam Talbot as the Wild's new goalie tandem.
Minnesota is third in the Central Division with 76 points in 60 games.
More to come.

10:45 a.m. ET

The Minnesota Wild picked up some extra currency for a potential bigger move by acquiring a second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft from the Arizona Coyotes for the rights to forward
Jack McBain
.
The Wild now have two second-round picks in the 2022 draft along with a first-round pick. They have eight picks in total.
If the Wild don't want to trade a first-round pick to acquire a rental player, perhaps they would be willing to part with one or both of the second-round picks to facilitate a trade.
The Wild, as mentioned in a previous blog entry, are reportedly interested in Chicago Blackhawks goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Sportsnet has reported the Blackhawks want a first-round pick in a trade for Fleury and the Wild are not willing to do that.
McBain, a third-round pick (No. 63) by Minnesota in the the 2018 NHL Draft, played four seasons at Boston College. He did not sign with the Wild, which is why they were able to trade his rights.
The Coyotes now have to sign McBain, but indications are that they will, or else why would they give up a second-round pick to get him?

10:30 a.m. ET

That Jake DeBrusk signed a two-year contract (average annual value $4 million) with the Boston Bruins does not mean the forward is off the trade market, according to reports from Sportsnet and TSN.
DeBrusk asked the Bruins to trade him earlier this season, a request that was confirmed by Boston general manager Don Sweeney on Nov. 30.
That trade request has not been rescinded, Sportsnet reported, but the key is the cost certainty involved because of the contract, because any team looking to acquire DeBrusk now knows exactly what it will cost them against the NHL salary cap for the next two seasons.
Sweeney said in November that the Bruins were looking for a trade that makes sense for them and DeBrusk, but nothing has materialized since and it's possible the contract situation was holding it up.
DeBrusk has been playing regularly for Boston, scoring 26 points (15 goals, 11 assists) in 57 games this season.
Analysis: DeBrusk is easier to trade now because the contract is finalized. His market is also not limited to playoff contenders because he's not a rental.
The Bruins will want a player who they can put in their lineup right away if they trade DeBrusk before the deadline. If they can't get what they want, they'll hold onto him for the stretch run and playoffs and reevaluate the situation in the offseason.

10:20 a.m. ET

The Minnesota Wild are reportedly trying to acquire goalie Marc-Andre Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks, according to Sportsnet and The Athletic.
Here's why the Wild are interested in Fleury:
Cam Talbot, the No. 1 goalie for the Wild this season with 38 games played, is 26th in save percentage (.907) and 24th in goals-against average (2.92) among goalies who've played at least 25 games this season.
Of the 16 teams currently in a Stanley Cup Playoff position, only the Edmonton Oilers have a No. 1 goalie, Mikko Koskinen, with a save percentage (.904) lower and a GAA (3.04) higher than Talbot.
Kaapo Kahkonen, Minnesota's backup who has played 25 games, is 19th in save percentage (.910) and 23rd in GAA (2.87) among goalies to play at least 25 games.
Talbot is 5-0-0 in his past five starts, but that includes allowing four goals in a 5-4 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 3 and five in a 6-5 shootout win against the Detroit Red Wings on March 10. He has a .900 save percentage during his personal five-game winning streak.
Fleury is 19-21-5 with a 2.95 GAA and .908 save percentage this season, but that's with the Blackhawks, a team that hasn't been in the playoff mix.
The Wild average 3.67 goals per game; the Blackhawks average 2.60.
Fleury has also played 162 postseason games, whereas Talbot has played 32 and Kahkonen has no NHL playoff experience.

9:45 a.m. ET

The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired some extra depth for their back end by getting defenseman Nathan Beaulieu from the Winnipeg Jets for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
Beaulieu, a pending unrestricted free agent, is on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury and will remain there, the Penguins said. He is eligible to come off LTIR before the Penguins play the Minnesota Wild on March 31.
Beaulieu has four assists in 24 games for the Jets this season. He has played 419 NHL games for the Jets, Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens, scoring 94 points (12 goals, 82 assists).
Analysis: This is a minor move for the Penguins, but they were in the market to add another NHL defenseman with some size (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) and toughness and they got one at the bargain bottom price of a conditional seventh-round pick.
The Penguins have been healthy on the back end for a good part of the season, using primarily the same six defensemen in Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, John Marino, Mike Matheson, Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel. Mark Friedman has played 20 games too.
Of the top six, Matheson's eight games missed because of injury are the most. But having an extra NHL defenseman is always a plus and now the Penguins have eight with the addition of Beaulieu.
His addition will not prevent Pittsburgh from trying to add a middle-six forward, which could also be on general manager Ron Hextall's shopping list.
The Penguins are a team to watch.

9:15 a.m. ET

The Seattle Kraken already have 23 picks between the 2022 NHL Draft and 2023 NHL Draft, and there could be more coming their way before the deadline.
TSN reported the Washington Capitals have interest in Kraken forward Marcus Johansson, who is a pending unrestricted free agent and in play as a rental option.
Johansson has scored 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) in 51 games for the Kraken this season. He started his NHL career with the Capitals and played for them from 2010-17, scoring 290 points (102 goals, 188 assists) in 501 games.
Johansson would be a depth forward for Washington, possibly filling the hole in the lineup created by forward Carl Hagelin's eye injury. When Hagelin will return is unknown.
The Kraken have six picks in the first three rounds of the 2022 draft; one in the first round, four in the second and one in the third.
Seattle has already traded defenseman Mark Giordano and forward Colin Blackwell to the Toronto Maple Leafs, forward Calle Jarnkrok to the Calgary Flames, forward
Mason Appleton
to the Winnipeg Jets and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon to the Nashville Predators.
The Kraken got draft picks back in all four trades.
Seattle forward Riley Sheahan is also a pending unrestricted free agent and a potential trade option.

8:30 a.m. ET

The goalie market centers on Marc-Andre Fleury of the Chicago Blackhawks and his availability, but there are others to consider.
Semyon Varlamov (New York Islanders), James Reimer (San Jose Sharks), Joonas Korpisalo (Columbus Blue Jackets), Martin Jones (Philadelphia Flyers), Anton Forsberg (Ottawa Senators), Thomas Greiss (Detroit Red Wings), Craig Anderson (Buffalo Sabres) and Alexandar Georgiev (New York Rangers) are other goalies who have had their names tossed around as potential trade targets in advance of the deadline.
Fleury is the No. 1 option if he's available, because if traded, the team acquiring him most likely would be getting him to be its new No. 1 goalie for a playoff run this season.
However, it's not often that a goalie traded by the deadline helps a team go on a long playoff run. The last to do it was Dwayne Roloson with the Edmonton Oilers in 2006.
The St. Louis Blues were hoping to catch that same lightning in a bottle from Ryan Miller in 2014, when they acquired him from the Buffalo Sabres before the deadline. Miller struggled and the Blues lost the Western Conference First Round in six games to the Blackhawks.
Varlamov and Reimer each have one season left on their contract, which opens their availability to all teams if they're moved before the deadline. If not, both could be traded during the offseason.
Korpisalo, Jones, Forsberg, Greiss and Anderson are all pending UFAs. Georgiev, who made 44 saves in a 2-0 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, is a pending restricted free agent.

8 a.m. ET

The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline is in seven hours and some big names remain on trade boards across the NHL despite significant activity over the weekend.
Marc-Andre Fleury is the headliner in the rental market, but it's not clear if the Chicago Blackhawks goalie will be moved before the deadline. He allowed five goals on 31 shots in a 6-4 loss against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.
Arizona Coyotes forward Phil Kessel is likely to be traded. The Coyotes are rebuilding, and Kessel is a 34-year-old pending unrestricted free agent who doesn't appear to fit into their future plans.
Anaheim Ducks forward Rickard Rakell is likely to be moved too.
The Ducks have already traded defensemen
Hampus Lindholm
(Boston Bruins) and Josh Manson (Colorado Avalanche) along with forward Nicolas Deslauriers (Minnesota Wild). They're selling and Rakell is a pending UFA like Lindholm, Manson and Deslauriers.
The Jets have forwards Andrew Copp and Paul Stastny, each pending UFAs. The Jets are not defined sellers based on where they are in the standings, four points out of a playoff spot, but Copp and Stastny could be traded.
New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Max Domi, New York Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck and defenseman Andy Greene, and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Justin Braun are all expected to be traded.