NHL | Ten exchanges under the magnifying glass

Despite several transactions concluded this weekend or in the previous weeks, hockey fans had things to eat on Monday, the day of the NHL trade deadline. Here are 10 deals broken down.

Mathias Brunet
The Press

Marc-André Fleury as reinforcement in Minnesota

The Wild have big ambitions heading into the playoffs, but weren’t happy with the performance of goaltenders Cam Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen. Talbot is coming off two good games, but he’s allowed 34 goals in his previous nine games. Fleury, 37, does not know the season of his life, but he plays for a lousy club and he knows the tobacco in the playoffs. He agreed to waive his no-trade clause to join the Wild. We took the opportunity to trade Kahkonen for a robust defenseman, Jacob Middleton, from the San Jose Sharks. Chicago gets a 2022 second-round pick for this potential rental player, but that pick will turn into a 2022 first-round pick if Minnesota reaches the semi-finals and Fleury wins at least four games in the first two rounds . But if that were the case, the first-round pick would be between 29^and and the 32^and rank.

An irresistible offer for Brett Kulak

Not too long ago, Kulak was a supporting defender unable to secure his place in the lineup every game. He was a regular this year, but improved his game after the arrival of Martin St-Louis, like most of his teammates. Kulak was the same mobile and dependable defenseman, but seemed more confident and creative with the puck. The Oilers desperately needed depth on defense. Getting a second-round pick in 2022 (or 2023 if Edmonton reaches the final) is an unexpected offer. The Oilers are also sending an ordinary defenseman, William Lagesson, to Montreal to balance their payroll.

Jets bury big contract in Arizona

Kent Hughes was hoping to trade Shea Weber’s contract to give himself salary flexibility. He did not succeed. The Winnipeg Jets had better to offer the Arizona Coyotes. Kent Hughes also confirmed that Winnipeg had probably pulled the rug out from under the Canadian. Bryan Little, whose career is over due to injuries, is under contract for two more seasons for an annual salary of 5.3 million. The Coyotes offered the Jets a fourth-round pick, but also received a very productive 23-year-old NCAA player, Nathan Smith. The Coyotes will thus be able to reach the salary floor for the next two years, the time to put interesting players under contract. With Weber, they would have had four years at 7.8 million.

Artturi Lehkonen pays off big!

Many Canadiens fans chuckled when rumors suggested strong interest from opposing teams in Artturi Lehkonen. The hilarity has waned recently with Lehkonen’s offensive renaissance, but getting a 20-year-old right-handed defenseman and a second-round pick in 2024 remains a huge comeback for a third- or fourth-line player since the start of his Montreal career. Justin Barron is not a spectacular defender, but complete and mobile, and he launches from the right, a rare commodity among CH hopes. Kent Hughes liked Lehkonen, but he should have paid him at least 3.5 million a year for the next few seasons and he sold him when his value had never been so high. The Avalanche are fortunately well equipped in defense. They just traded two 20-year-old right-handers, Drew Helleson and Barron, for playoff backup.

A nice sale overall for the Ducks

We would have expected a better return for Rickard Rakell, 28, a former scorer of 30 or more goals with the Ducks at the dawn of full autonomy. The Ducks got two support players, Dominik Simon and Zach Ashton-Reese, and a 2022 second-round pick from the Penguins for his services. Especially since Rakell still has 16 goals on the clock. But the Ducks nevertheless get little better than what the CH received for Brett Kulak. At least new GM Pat Verbeek redeemed himself in the previous days with young defenseman Urho Vaakanainen, a first-round pick (2022) and two second-round picks (2023 and 2024) for Hampus Lindholm and prospect Drew Helleson and a second-round pick (2022) for Josh Manson.

Columbus will not have kept Domi for long

Josh Anderson will be the Canadiens’ first right winger for several more years, along with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. The player obtained in return for his services in Columbus, Max Domi, has just been traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for Aidan Hreschuk and Egor Korshkov. He would become an unrestricted free agent. Hreschuk, a 19-year-old defenseman, was drafted in the third round in 2021. He had 8 points in 37 games in his freshman year at Boston College. Better offensive production is expected from a defenseman under six feet. Korshkov, 26 this summer, played briefly in the Maple Leafs organization before returning to the KHL in 2020. He has 22 points in 44 games this season. Defenseman Samuel Knazko, 19, drafted in the third round with the choice offered in the trade for Anderson, is probably the most interesting asset of the three. But the bar is not very high.

Jack McBain bets on Arizona

Jack McBain, 22, a big 6-foot-4 center drafted in the third round by the Minnesota Wild in 2018, was in the Canadian sights. He did not want to sign a contract with the Wild and could thus have benefited from complete autonomy at the end of the summer. His 33 points, including 19 goals, in 24 games in his senior year at Boston College made him an interesting player for a club less well off in the center. It was still necessary, to acquire him, to make sure that he wanted to get along with his new team. We don’t know if the CH tried to seduce him, but the Arizona Coyotes succeeded, and offered the Wild a second-round pick, the one obtained from the Vancouver Canucks recently, to get their hands on him. . It also remains to be seen if Montreal was ready to sacrifice its own second-round pick in 2022 since it will most likely be among the top three in this second round. McBain, who participated in the Olympics with Canada despite his young age, will now have to prove that his lack of mobility will not be a handicap in the NHL.

Reinforcement in defense in Toronto… but no goalkeeper

On the eve of the trade deadline, the Toronto Maple Leafs got some back-up at a great price by snapping up Seattle Kraken captain, defenseman Mark Giordano, and support player Colin Blackwell for second draft picks. round in 2022 and 2023 and a third-round pick in 2024. Giordano is still capable of producing offensively at 38, as evidenced by his 23 points in 55 games. However, the Leafs have not solved their problem in net. They thought they had struck a big blow when they got their hands on KHL-smoking Harri Sateri, 32, in Novosibirsk, but they had to put him on waivers first under NHL rules and the Arizona Coyotes played them a dirty trick by claiming it. The Leafs will therefore have to continue to rely on Jack Campbell, currently injured, and weak since January, Petr Mrazek, awful this season, and a certain Erik Kallgren, recently recalled from the minors.

The Bruins solidify their defense

Boston just landed a first-pair left defenseman for the next eight years. But Hampus Lindholm cost a first-round pick in 2022, second-round picks in 2023 and 2024 and young defenseman Urho Vaakanainen, drafted in the first round in 2017. But the Bruins wouldn’t have paid that much if they didn’t. could not offer a contract extension to Lindholm, 28, before he took advantage of his autonomy this summer. Lindholm isn’t a big point-producer, but he’s beefy at 6-4, 216 pounds, can still contribute offensively and most importantly take on the opposition’s top lines, averaging 23 or 24 minutes per game. He will receive 6.5 million per season until 2030.

The Panthers are not kidding

After getting Ben Chiarot and Robert Hagg on defense recently, the Panthers have added a third rental player to their roster and not the least, Flyers captain Claude Giroux. Still, they paid top dollar for it: a 2024 first-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick and 23-year-old winger Owen Tippett drafted in the 10th^and rank in 2017, still slow to unlock in the NHL, but 18 points in 12 games in the American League. Giroux, 34, 42 points in 57 games this season, should find himself in the first line with Aleksander Barkov, and distribute Jonathan Huberdeau on the second line with Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart on the third. Big luxury in anticipation of the series!