This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
Huh, slow news week. Anything you guys want to talk about?
I jest, I jest – we are of course now on the far side of NHL Trade Deadline Day, an arbitrarily capitalized day that will live in… what's that? Everyone's already forgotten about it? Yeah, if we go by the six hours' worth of tweets from hockey journalists that I painstakingly skimmed, that sounds about right.
But you're not here for me to make light of the rigorous journalism that goes into the morning and afternoon of any given trade deadline. (Or maybe you are; I can't pretend to know your motivations.) So let's take a look at a day full of trades that won't change things for your fantasy team, your bowling game or your marriage. But first, a word from our sponsors:
Alright, I feel good about that. Let's move on now.
To get to a deal that your mainstream fantasy hockey league can even begin to sort of care about, we need to go way, way, way, way, way, way, way back to Sunday. The world was very different on Sunday afternoon – Leonardo DiCaprio didn't have an Oscar, a large segment of America was unaware that Chris Rock is not an animated zebra, and I had not yet written and then rejected four Donald Trump jokes that would make a snappy end to this sentence.
Oh, also, Eric Staal was a Carolina Hurricane until just short of 2 p.m. (Eastern Time – let's not pretend that other time zones exist, okay?), when he was traded to the Rangers for Finnish forward prospect Aleksi Saarela and a pair of draft picks.
It's no secret that Staal's been in decline – with just 33 points in 63 games for Carolina, the 30-year-old comes to Broadway in the midst of by far his worst-ever NHL season. In doing so, we're legally obliged to mention that he abandoned his brother Jordan to join his brother Marc, which is in all honesty a smart move – not because Marc is better (he isn't), but because the Rangers are a legitimate Stanley Cup contender and Eric's hourglass is starting to run low on sand. While New York's new acquisition may see a little surge after escaping the doldrums of Carolina, the really interesting name for dynasty purposes is Saarela, who's blown up in Finland since the Rangers took him in the third round of the most recent NHL draft.
As you might imagine from that deal being the peak of Deadline Weekend, Deadline Day was a dud. (More like Dudline Day, amirite? … Sorry.) The biggest deal of the day was the Coyotes dumping pending UFA Mikkel Boedker – a guy who largely flew under the radar in pre-deadline discussions of potential trade bait – to the Avs for a pair of solid-but-unspectacular junior prospects and a 36-year-old Alex Tanguay to balance the money out. The move's a boon for the fantasy prospects of Boedker, who didn't have a proper center to work with in the desert and owns a brutal minus-28 rating, but now gets to join Colorado's loaded top six, skating alongside either Matt Duchene or Nathan MacKinnon – a huge upgrade no matter how you slice it – on a team that's got a good chance at the playoffs. The Avs currently sit eighth in the Western Conference, just two points ahead of ninth-place Minnesota, and they're clearly going for it. Good for them.
It gets a lot lamer from there – Kris Russell to the Stars was the other splash of the day, and it should tell you something about this deadline that any fantasy hockey writer bothered to get out of bed to report on a guy with 15 points in 51 games. Now, Russell does give the Stars a crucial piece as a guy who's both willing and able to put his body in the path of frozen rubber discs flying toward the net at 100 mph, but barring an injury to Alex Goligoski or John Klingberg, he won't see any power-play time. When called upon to generate offense, Russell can certainly deliver, but that's just not what the Stars need from him. Joining the league's second-best offense won't be as big a windfall as it seems.
Meanwhile, I've got to give a shout-out to Flames management – the trade market for defensemen was brutal on buyers, and they milked every ounce of value out of Russell (a pending UFA himself), picking up big, young blueliner Jyrki Jokipakka, reasonably promising forward prospect Brett Pollock, and a conditional draft pick that could turn into a first-rounder. I'm not saying the Stars will come to regret this, but they'll come to regret this.
There are a lot of marginal trades I could touch on here, but we've all got lives to live, so let's go for just one more: an injured Brandon Pirri from Florida to the Ducks for a sixth-round pick. Now, there have been a lot of quality NHL players taken in the sixth and seventh rounds, especially before the league at large caught onto the depth of talent coming out of Scandinavia, but for the most part, a sixth-round pick is about as useful as someone spitting in your mouth when you're thirsty.
Indeed, the Panthers dumped Pirri for practically nothing – a heck of a thing to do with a guy who scored 22 goals last year. The 24-year-old has now been dumped by two organizations – he was with Chicago first – that ostensibly know what they're doing. Sure, he put up 101 points in 102 games over his last two AHL campaigns, but the Panthers knew he's a restricted free agent this offseason, up for arbitration, and they clearly didn't like the conclusions they drew about his next contract. I say "clearly" because they didn't even get a sack of pucks back for him, which would at least be more useful than a fracking Cylon sixth-round pick. Once he comes off IR, the lefty-shooting Pirri could well be in prime position to make things happen alongside Corey Perry and/or Ryan Getzlaf – the kind of chance he only got in fits and starts in Florida, and even then alongside lesser stars.
Well, now that we're here, I guess we might as well do the rest of the article.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
Flames (Joni Ortio) at Bruins (Tuukka Rask), 7:00 PM
Hurricanes (Cam Ward) at Devils (Cory Schneider), 7:00 PM
Oilers (Cam Talbot) at Sabres (Robin Lehner), 7:30 PM
Blues (Jake Allen) at Senators (Craig Anderson), 7:30 PM
Penguins (Jeff Zatkoff) at Capitals (Braden Holtby), 7:30 PM
Stars (Kari Lehtonen) at Predators (Pekka Rinne), 8:00 PM
Avalanche (Semyon Varlamov) at Wild (Devan Dubnyk), 8:00 PM
Panthers (Roberto Luongo) at Jets (Ondrej Pavelec), 8:00 PM
Islanders (Jaroslav Halak) at Canucks (Ryan Miller), 10:00 PM
For updates on projected goalies later in the day, check our Projected Goalies Grid.
Injury News for Teams Playing Tuesday
Calgary Flames
Dennis Wideman, D (suspension) – Still truckin' through 20-game ban
Ladislav Smid, D (upper body) – Lingering on IR
Karri Ramo, G (knee) – Torn ACL ends season
Boston Bruins
Nothin' new.
Carolina Hurricanes
James Wisniewski, D (knee) – Got some skating in last week
Andrej Nestrasil, C (lower body) – Has missed two games; Tuesday status unclear
Justin Faulk, D (leg) – Status unclear for Tuesday
New Jersey Devils
Patrik Elias, LW (knee) – Skating lightly; return not imminent
Michael Cammalleri, LW (hand) – Not close to returning; could miss rest of season
Jiri Tlusty, LW (wrist) – Likely out for the year
Jacob Josefson, C (illness) – Should get back out there Tuesday
Edmonton Oilers
Andrew Ference, D (hip) – Had season-ending surgery
Eric Gryba, D (knee) – Out a month
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, C (hand) – Skating with a brace; return may be drawing near
Oscar Klefbom, D (infection) – Back sometime in March
Benoit Pouliot, LW (shoulder) – Could miss rest of season
Buffalo Sabres
Cody Franson, D (neck) – Tuesday status unclear
Tyler Ennis, LW (upper body) – Remains out with no timeline
Ryan O'Reilly, C (lower body) – Out another 2-to-3 weeks
St. Louis Blues
Alexander Steen, LW (upper body) – Will be reevaluated in three weeks
Steve Ott, C (hamstring) – Hoping to return for playoffs
Brian Elliott, G (lower body) – Out another three weeks
Jori Lehtera, C (upper body) – May have a concussion
Ottawa Senators
Clarke MacArthur, LW (concussion) – Aiming to return Thursday
Kyle Turris, C (ankle) – Will miss extended time
Pittsburgh Penguins
Eric Fehr, RW (lower body) – Could be back pretty soon according to original timeline
Justin Schultz, D (visa issues) – Will need to clear some paperwork before getting in action
Ben Lovejoy, D (upper body) – Facing long-term absence
Beau Bennett, RW (upper body) – No timetable offered
Washington Capitals
Mike Weber, D (personal) – Should be back Tuesday
John Carlson, D (lower body) – Back on IR; out 3-to-4 weeks
Dallas Stars
Travis Moen, LW (lower body) – Remains out without timeline
Patrick Eaves, RW (illness) – Didn't go Monday
Nashville Predators
Shea Weber, D (lower body) – Full practice Monday, but return date unclear
Eric Nystrom, LW (foot) – Timeline unclear, but he's not close
Gabriel Bourque, LW (upper body) – Timeline remains indefinite
Colorado Avalanche
Brad Stuart, D (back) – Season probably over
Minnesota Wild
Zac Dalpe, C (knee) – Will miss a month
Jason Zucker, LW (concussion) – Practicing, but still not ready to return
Florida Panthers
Willie Mitchell, D (undisclosed) – Short-term absence has turned into month-plus
Derek MacKenzie, C (lower body) – Hit IR over weekend
Al Montoya, G (upper body) – Left Sunday's game, but injury reportedly unserious
Dave Bolland, C - Bolland (lower body) – Finally officially hit IR Sunday
Jonathan Huberdeau, LW (upper body) – Hit IR last week
Winnipeg Jets
Bryan Little, C (head) – Season over
Mathieu Perreault, C (personal) – Missed practice Monday; Tuesday status unclear
Mark Stuart, D (upper body) – Hit IR last week
New York Islanders
Mikhail Grabovski, C (upper body) – Expected back this weekend
Calvin de Haan, D (lower body) – Expected back this week
Adam Pelech, D (upper body) – May be done for the season
Vancouver Canucks
Matt Bartkowski, D (undisclosed) – Scratched Sunday; status unclear for Tuesday
Brandon Sutter, C (jaw) – Out a number of weeks yet
Jacob Markstrom, G (illness) – Missed practice over weekend; should be alright by now
Radim Vrbata, RW (undisclosed) – Status unclear for Tuesday, but should be close
Alexander Edler, D (leg) – Out several weeks still
Hot
Filip Forsberg, RW, NAS – Usually, when a player's appeared in the "Hot" section pretty recently, I avoid sticking him in here again, and indeed, Forsberg appeared in this space less than a week ago. But the fact is, he's gotten even hotter – on Saturday, he netted his second hat trick in three games, and dating back to Feb. 6, he's got 12 (twelve!) goals and 16 total points over the last 11 contests. Fantasy owners shouldn't forget how Forsberg muddled through the season's first five-eighths (30 points and a minus-9 rating in 52 games), but nor can they forget the 63 points he put up last year. As it happens, Forsberg's already matched last season's 26 goals, and while he'll need to keep surging to reach 63 points again, that no longer seems unrealistic.
Mark Stone, RW, OTT – Here we have another guy who suffered through a brutal slump earlier this year – he went scoreless over an eight-game stretch to close out the month of January. But February was a different animal, as Stone celebrated Heart Month in Canada by ripping off nine goals and 16 points through 13 games, flourishing alongside Jean-Gabriel Pageau on the Sens' second line. The 23-year-old is still only in the early stages of what promises to be a long and productive career; enjoy the ride.
Cold
Carl Soderberg, C, COL – Broadly speaking, Soderberg has been a revelation for the Avs this year – with 42 points already, he's just two or three good games away from setting a new career mark. But he's gone icy of late – over the last six games, the Swedish pivot's managed just a lonely assist while going minus-7, and he's done that despite averaging 17:43 of ice time with 2:32 on the power play. That certainly isn't helping the Avs' cause as they drive toward the playoffs, and it's worth wondering whether the addition of Boedker will dig into his time on the man advantage (although the new acquisition seems more likely to displace Blake Comeau).
Recommended Pickup
Jamie McGinn, LW, ANA – The Ducks have been looking for answers at left wing all year, and while the aforementioned Pirri may ultimately serve that purpose, he's still hurt, leaving the door open for McGinn, whom they also acquired at the deadline. He's in the midst of a solid season already despite averaging 14 minutes of ice time in the gulag known as Buffalo, and the potential of some second-line minutes with Rickard Rakell and Corey Perry is quite enticing, especially in leagues where McGinn's hits come into play. Because he isn't a big name, this is a situation where you can take a wait-and-see approach – just don't wait too long if you're seeing positive signs.
