CarterHud

 

       The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired forward Nick Foligno from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a three team deal with the San Jose Sharks. Toronto also brought in forward Stefan Noesen from San Jose, while trading a 2021 1st round pick and a 2022 4th to Columbus, and a 2021 4th round pick to the Sharks. The Blue Jackets retained 50% of Foligno\’s salary, while the Sharks retained 25%, or 50% after the half from the Blue Jackets. 

This is a confusing trade, but it is very similar to a trade made by Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen yesterday, as he sent David Savard to Tampa Bay through Detroit. While it could be argued that Savard should have netted a first round pick and a third round pick, Foligno should not have fetched up that much. He has great leadership qualities, as he captained the Blue Jackets, and is solid defensively, but still not worth over a first round pick. Foligno only scored more than 20 goals twice in his career, most recently in 2016-17. He is a physical player, but better suited for a third line role. The Maple Leafs will likely move him to the second line, so he could play with John Tavares and William Nylander, a hole that the Leafs have had for a long time. Toronto has little cap space, so by adding the Sharks into this trade, they only take on 25%, or $1.375 million of Foligno\’s $5.5 million cap hit. They also get Noesen in this trade. He is a former first round pick who has bounced around in the NHL, but has mostly been in the AHL this year. 

Foligno, 33, has scored seven goals with nine assists for 16 points in 42 games with 109 hits for the Blue Jackets this year. In his NHL career for Columbus and the Ottawa Senators Foligno has scored 203 goals with 279 assists for 482 points with 2030 hits in 950 games. 

Noesen, 28, has no points in five NHL games this year, and two goals with four assists for six points in 12 games for the AHL\’s San Jose Barracuda. In his NHL career for the Sharks, Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks, Noesen has scored 31 goals with 24 assists for 55 points in 204 games. 

There are no more players left in the deal, but still plenty of value. Most of that goes to the Blue Jackets, who add their third first round pick of this year\’s draft, including their own and Tampa Bay. Foligno is one of the best players in franchise history, finishing third in games played, goals, assists and points. He fell just one game shy of 600 in a Blue Jackets uniform. Getting a first round pick for Foligno, a pending UFA, is robbery by Kekalainen. They do have to take back some of Foligno\’s salary, for $2.75 million. 

The Sharks are in the exact same boat as the Red Wings were yesterday. They have to take on a few hundreds of thousand dollars more than Detroit did, but they still receive a 4th round pick for what feels like pennies on the dollar. Noesen has played 4th line minutes for them, but he is not worth a fourth round pick, so they get a good deal. 

 

       The Montreal Canadiens have acquired defenseman Jon Merrill from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a 2021 5th round draft pick and forward Hayden Verbeek. The pick is from Ottawa, acquired by Montreal in January 2020 for Mike Reilly. 

The Canadiens get a really good defensive defenseman for cheap here. Merrill is arguably better than Patrik Nemeth, who the Red Wings got a 4th round pick for. Merrill had elite expected goal rates since being picked in the expansion draft four years ago, but that has fallen to 48.31% this year. His defensive numbers have been good, it is just his offensive stats that ruin his xGF%. The Canadiens have a bunch of defensemen, but they waived Victor Mete today, and Merrill will step in as a solid third pairing player. The price is not that high, as Verbeek is not a big prospect. Merrill is a pending UFA with a cap hit of just $925k. 

Merrill, 29, has five assists with 58 blocked shots in 38 games for Detroit this year. In his NHL career for the Red Wings, Vegas Golden Knights and New Jersey Devils, Merrill has scored 12 goals with 54 assists for 66 points and 494 blocked shots in 392 games. 

The Red Wings are obvious sellers, so the only surprising thing about this trade is who Merrill would be going to. The return is subpar. The 5th rounder will be an early one, as it is from the Senators. Verbeek is an undrafted forward who has spent time between the AHL and ECHL since 2018-19. At this point he is an NHL long shot. He played in Slovakia this year, with two goals in four games.

Verbeek, 23, has one goal with two assists for three points in seven games for the AHL\’s Laval Rocket this year. In his AHL career, Verbeek has scored five goals with five assists for 10 points in 61 games. 

 

        The New Jersey Devils have acquired defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 2021 3rd round pick. 

New Jersey makes a nice move here as they anticipate losing pending UFAs Ryan Murray, Sami Vatanen and Dmitry Kulikov at the looming trade deadline. Siegenthaler can step in and replace one of them. The Capitals have a lot of defensemen, so Siegenthaler has been a healthy scratch for most of this season. He has put up strong expected goal numbers in the past, with a 51.38 xGF% last year and 57.45% the year before. He is young and showed last year that he could be an above average defensive defenseman. A third rounder is a bit of a high price considering Siegenthaler\’s lack of experience, both in total and this year. The Devils did have two third rounders, and could add another by trading a pending UFA. Siegenthaler is cheap, with a $800k cap hit before becoming an RFA at the end of the year.

Siegenthaler, 23, has no points and 10 blocked shots in seven games this year. In his NHL career in Washington Siegenthaler has scored twice with 11 assists for 13 points with 159 blocked shots in 97 games. 

The Caps have eight defensemen, and Siegenthaler has easily played the least among them. He has some potential, but the contending Capitals open up a roster spot without having to waive someone. They get a third rounder, which is solid value for a player with less than 100 career games. Plus, they can flip it for a rental soon. 

 

        The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired defensemen David Savard from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a three team deal with the Detroit Red Wings. The Lightning also acquired defenseman Brian Lashoff from Detroit, while sending a 2021 first round pick and a 2022 3rd round pick to the Blue Jackets, and a 2021 4th round pick to Detroit. The Blue Jackets retained 50% of Savard\’s salary, while Detroit retained 25% of his original salary. 

The Lightning have a ton of strong left-handed defensemen, but they lacked defenders on the right side. Savard is a great defensive defenseman, and while he does not bring much to the table offensively, he should be a great fit to play on the right of Norris candidate Victor Hedman. The three draft picks, including a first is a steep price, especially for a pending UFA. But, Tampa Bay\’s cap situation got them into this. Considering this year\’s buyer market, it is odd that they had to give up a first and a third for Savard, but the Lightning have shown that they are willing to overpay for fits. Last trade deadline they dealt recent first rounder Nolan Foote and two first rounders for Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow and a 3rd round pick in two separate trades. Savard will definitely help them in their own zone during their run to a second Stanley Cup in a row. However, he played second pairing minutes in Columbus, and that could now be jacked up. They will pay just $1.062 million, or 75% of Savard\’s $4.25 million cap hit towards the veteran, although it will be less in actual money. Lashoff has NHL experience, and played in 75 games in 2013-14, but he is just an AHLer at this point. He will stay put in Grand Rapids, Detroit\’s AHL team, as Tampa Bay is re-assigning him there.

Savard, 30, has one goal with five assists for six points in 40 games plus 89 blocked shots and 95 hits in 40 games for the Blue Jackets this year. In his NHL career, all in Columbus, Savard has scored 41 goals with 125 assists for 166 points with 958 blocked shots and 1117 hits in 597 games.

Lashoff, 30, has scored one goal with two assists for three points in 13 games for the AHL\’s Grand Rapids Griffins this year. In his NHL career, all in Detroit, Lashoff has scored two goals with 13 assists for 15 points in 136 games. 

The Blue Jackets are big winners here, getting a first and a third for Savard when he is a pending UFA, and the market seems to be low. The first round pick could very well be in the 30-32 range overall, as Tampa Bay looks stacked again. It seemed unlikely that they could get a first, and they ended up getting a third round pick as well. Savard was a 4th round pick back in 2009, and he ended up playing nearly 600 games for the Jackets, good enough for 4th in franchise history, two behind captain Nick Foligno, who could soon leave as well. 

Detroit are the real winners of this trade, just in pure value. They spend $1.062 million against the cap (about $242k in real life) just for this year so they can buy a 4th round pick. That is great value, and while they do give up Lashoff, they don\’t need him in the NHL, and he can still go to Grand Rapids, so it doesn\’t affect AHL team chemistry. 

 

       The Colorado Avalanche have acquired goaltender Devan Dubnyk from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for defenseman Greg Pateryn and a 2021 5th round draft pick. 

The Avalanche have had a backup goalie issue all season, as Pavel Francouz has been out with an injury. They recently traded a 6th round pick to Buffalo for Jonas Johansson, who has been successful so far, with a .920 save percentage through four games. But, they get a more experience backup for Philipp Grubauer, plus Johansson had a 3.79 GAA for the Sabres this year. Dubnyk is far from perfect, but there were not many great rental goaltending options available, and the price here is low. He has had a rough past two seasons, which are probably a result of being overworked. David Rittich and Ryan Miller would have been better rental options. Colorado brought in Patrik Nemeth last night, so Pateryn moved down the depth chart. After being acquired for Ian Cole earlier this year, he did not play a big role for the Avalanche. Dubnyk is a pending UFA, with a $2.16 million cap hit. San Jose did not retain any money, but Minnesota did when they traded him to the Sharks in the offseason. 

Dubnyk, 34, has an .898 save percentage with a 3.18 GAA and a -4.6 GSAA in 17 games for the Sharks this year. In his career for the Sharks, Minnesota Wild, Edmonton Oilers, Arizona Coyotes and Nashville Predators, Dubnyk has a .914 save percentage with a 2.60 GAA and a 26.5 GSAA in 537 games. 

The Sharks are sellers for the second year in a row, and they get a draft pick back for Dubnyk, plus some defensive depth. This trade leaves them with an even scarier goaltending tandem than before, with Martin Jones starting and 22 year old Alexei Melnichuk likely backing him up. Pateryn will be a 7th or 8th defenseman for the Sharks, and the pending UFA is mainly acquired so the Avalanche can balance out the salaries. Pateryn has a $1.175 cap hit, so the Sharks save just under $1 million. Pateryn and Dubnyk were teammates in Minnesota in 2018-19 and 2019-20. 

Pateryn, 30, has two assists in 11 games for the Avalanche and Wild in 2020-21. In his NHL career for the Wild, Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadiens, he has scored four goals with 37 assists for 41 points in 278 games.