Welcome back everyone, for another week of news from around the world of hockey and around the league. Some of the news from the past week is:
- We have a huge trade to announce. The Carolina Hurricanes have acquired forward Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall in a blockbuster trade with the Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Jack Drury and Martin Necas, along with a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and a 4th-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft from Carolina, while Chicago acquired a third-round pick in the 2025 Draft from Carolina and they retain 50% of Rantanen’s salary for the remainder of the team. The best player in the trade, Rantanen, has played all 619 games of his NHL career with the Avalanche and has 287 goals and 394 assists for a total of 681 points. He was selected at #10 by Colorado in the 2015 NHL Draft and helped Colorado win the Stanley Cup in 2022, when they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning. This is a huge trade and brings about two contenders who switch some players, as Colorado would like to have some extra cap space for other moves. Carolina, on the other hand, seems to be all in this season to try and win their 2nd cup, but also will try to resign Rantanen.
- The Washington Capitals have also signed goaltender Logan Thompson to a 6-year, $35.1 million contract extension (with an AAV of $5.85 million). Thompson, 27, who came over from Vegas, is playing out the final season of a three-year, $2.3 million contract and is having a Vezina Trophy season with a .925 save percentage and 2.09 goals against average for a total of 22-2-3 record. He has helped the Washington Capitals be strong and be one of the best teams this season.
- The St. Louis Blues and Brandon Saad have mutually terminated his contract after being placed on waivers on Wednesday, before this is made official. Saad, 32, will be walking away from $5.425 million in cash owed to him, according to PuckPedia and reports are saying that Doug Armstrong and the Blues had tried to trade Saad over the last several months, but did not find any interest. Saad has just 7 goals and 9 assists in 43 games this season. We will see if there is interest out there.
- The Utah Hockey Club has announced that they are down to 3 options for permanent names for their new organization: the Utah Hockey Club, the Utah Mammoth and the Utah Wasatch, and two potential logos (one logo that would accompany Hockey Club and Wasatch and the other linked to Mammoth) and will ask fans the opportunity to choose the best one. It will be interesting to see how they are doing as the team has been doing well on the ice this season going 21-21-8 and are 5th in the Central. Which name would you pick?
- Aleksander Barkov has been named captain for Team Finland for the 4 Nations Face-Off on Thursday. Barkov, 29, became the first Finnish captain to hoist the Stanley Cup in June after the Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. He tied for the Panthers lead in points in the playoffs with 22 (eight goals, 14 assists) in 24 games. He is an excellent leader on and off the ice.
- Speaking of the 4 Nations, defenceman Alex Pietrangelo is withdrawing from the 4 Nations Face-Off due to an ailment he is dealing with and prepare for the remainder of the regular season with Vegas, and be ready for the postseason. Now there has been a lot of talk about who will replace Pietrangelo in the 4 Nations tournament, there is debate as to why other players might also choose to opt out, given that there are no consequences for doing so.
- Finally, in some sad news Former radio broadcaster Shawn ‘Simmer’ Simpson has passed away, at the young age of 56. Born in Vancouver and raised in Gloucester, Simpson was a goalie with the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds when he was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1986 NHL entry draft by the Washington Capitals.
- As always, there is a lot more news so make sure to tune in for our aired Season 6, Episode 20 of Two Guys & Hockey Talk next Wednesday. We dive into some of these great topics, and so much more.
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’
