Good morning Hockey fans,
Hope all is well with you. We are back with more news from around the league with the Trade Deadline coming up.
- The Vancouver Canucks have signed their superstar Elias Pettersson to an 8-year, $92.8 million dollar contract extension (with an AAV of $11.6 million). It will include a no-movement clause and comes after large speculation on whether Pettersson would stay or be traded (as reported by Eliotte Friedman). Management wanted to know where he stood and there had been limited engagement from Pettersson’s camp but it seems the young 25 year old centre will remain a cornerstone piece for the Canucks. Pettersson is also having another great season putting up 29 goals and 46 assists in 62 games as the Canucks sit first in the Pacific Division. It also dispels the myth that NHL superstars don’t want to play in Canada.
- The Washington Capitals have placed forward Evgeny Kuznetsov on the same day that he returned from the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Kuznetsov, 31, has only 6 goals and 11 assist in 43 games this season, a huge drop this season, and still has a cap hit of $7.8 million through next season. He has cleared but it seems like the relationship might be strained with the Capitals organization and things may end this off-season.
- The Arizona Coyotes have terminated Adam Ruzicka’s contract after a problematic social media video surfaced online of the young player. Ruzicka, 24, was claimed off waivers from the Calgary Flames on January 25 and has only played in 3 games for the Coyotes this month.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin sustained a head injury in Saturday’s 4-3 win over the New York Rangers, and will be out for concussion protocol. This comes after Brad Treliving traded for Ilya Lyubushkin from the Anaheim Ducks last Thursday in a three-team trade also involving the Carolina Hurricanes. The Anaheim Ducks received Toronto’s 3rd round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, while Carolina received Toronto’s 6th round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Toronto received Carolina forward prospect Kirill Slepets.
- Calgary also finally was able to trade Chris Tanev to the Dallas Stars in exchange for prospect defenceman Artem Grushnikov, a 2024 2nd round pick and a conditional 3rd round pick in 2026 from Dallas. Calgary will retain 50 percent of Tanev’s salary, who is in the final year of his 4-year, $18 million dollar contract (with an AAV of $4.5 million). Tanev, 34, has 1 goals and 13 assists in 56 games and is more of a defensive defenceman. It shows the rest of the league that Dallas is going all in. Calgary now turns to figure out where to trade Noah Hanifin as Jakob Markstrom has been pulled from the market. They also honoured Miikka Kiprusoff over the weekend, as Calgary faced off against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
- In PWHL news, the Toronto team have won seven straight games in a row, as they beat Ottawa on the road on Saturday night in a 5 to 2 victory in front of a sold out crowd. Toronto returns home for a Wednesday night game against Boston to try to make it 8 in a row.
- Finally, the New York Rangers have extended veteran goaltender Jonathan Quick to a 1-year, $1.275 million. Quick, 38, has had a resurgence of a season by going 13-5-2 thus far with a 2.45 goals against average and a .916 SV% and has won four of his last five starts. He has helped stabilize the backup position for the Rangers, who also have Stanley Cup aspirations.
Thoughts? Questions? Suggestions? Then remember to tune in each week to get all the latest news in the world of hockey. For more hockey news, different takes or if you want to chat about anything hockey give me a follow @hockey_two on TWITTER and give us a follow on YouTube, or at https://twoguysandhockeytalk.com/.
- Pawel ‘The Cat’
