The National Hockey League’s Trade Deadline is on Monday, Feb. 24, and teams will be making decisions on whether to buy or sell and decide which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Check out the latest trade rumours and speculation from around the NHL beat.
Dealing From a Position of Strength?
Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon announced his wish list ahead of the trade deadline in no uncertain terms on Tuesday.
“I’d like to acquire a veteran D if I could to play with (Aaron) Ekblad and settle things down a bit back there,” Tallon told NHL.com. “We need to be more consistent on the blue line.”
Ekblad is currently paired with Michael Matheson on the team’s top duo, but Tallon said Matheson has had consistency issues throughout the season.
“(Riley) Stillman’s been really good,” he said. “Matheson has been good some nights, not so good other nights. We need to have less ups and downs back there.”
Matheson has six goals and 16 points in 46 games this season while averaging 19:04 of ice time. Stillman, 21, has four assists and is averaging 19:55 of ice time in 19 games since being called up from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.
TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun suggested Tuesday that the Panthers have been receiving calls on winger Mike Hoffman, adding the team may be willing to move the winger for defensive help.
“We mentioned with the Oilers before the trade deadline that a top-six forward would be top of their list in terms of potentially buying. I can’t tell you this particular player will be on their radar but I can tell you some teams have shown interest in Mike Hoffman of the Florida Panthers,” LeBrun said on Insider Trading.
“Now the Panthers of course are sitting in a playoff spot so it’s not like they’re shopping players or trying to get rid of players, but I do think they would listen on Mike Hoffman. They asked for his 10-team no-trade list in late December, it was submitted and I think at the bottom line with Florida is this they are a high-scoring team, they have young players coming up the pipeline, Owen Tippett comes to mind, who can fill in if they ever dealt Hoffman. The bottom line is Florida needs a defensive addition on the back end. That’s what would make it happen. It doesn’t mean they’ll move him, this could be something that plays out until the end of the year.”
Hoffman, 30, has 19 goals and 42 points in 52 games with the Panthers this season. He’s currently slated to become an unrestricted free agent this July and carries a $5.187 million cap hit.
The Panthers, who lost in overtime against the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday, currently sit third in the Atlantic Division with a one-point lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs, with one game in hand.
Time to Strike?
TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie said Tuesday he expects the Toronto Maple Leafs to ramp up their search for a backup goaltender after Monday’s collapse against the Florida Panthers.
Michael Hutchinson allowed three goals on 13 shots upon replacing the injured Frederik Andersen against the Panthers as the Maple Leafs blew a 3-1 lead. Andersen has been ruled day-to-day with a neck injury, leaving Hutchinson to start Wednesday’s game against the New York Rangers.
“I would expect the Toronto Maple Leafs hunt for a backup goaltender has intensified after last night’s game against the Florida Panthers,” McKenzie said on Insider Trading. “The good news is that Freddie Andersen is day-to-day so maybe it may not be as serious as originally looked. And the other good news is that in his last four starts, and I stress starts, as a backup, Michael Hutchinson has gone 4-0 but you still get the feeling that last night was a tipping point for the Leafs in terms of getting an upgrade in net.
“In his last three relief performances, Michael Hutchinson has not been good. Three goals on 13 shots last night, four goals on 17 shots against Florida a couple of weeks ago and three goals on 16 shots in a relief performance against Edmonton on Jan. 6. A couple of those were winnable games, they’re not getting what they need so they’ve got to go out and look but with the cap considerations and the market being what it is, it’s going to be a difficult needle to thread.”
TSN Senior Hockey Reporter Frank Seravalli listed six potential targets for the Maple Leafs to upgrade their backup on Tuesday, writing that Anaheim Ducks veteran Ryan Miller may be the best fit for Toronto. Miller has a 6-5-2 record with a 2.86 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage in 14 games this season with the Ducks, who are expected to be sellers at the deadline. As Seravalli notes, the Leafs could squeeze Miller’s $1.125 million cap hit into their lineup without making a significant move.
The deal, however, could come down to whether Miller has the Maple Leafs on his six-team no-trade list or is willing to waive it for them. Seravalli writes that “some close to Miller think this may be his last year, and, at 39, he may be willing to take one more run at an elusive Stanley Cup.”
Landing Spots
Kevin Kurz of The Athletic writes that the struggling San Jose Sharks will almost certainly defenceman Brenden Dillon this month, with fellow pending unrestricted free agents Melker Karlsson and Aaron Dell potentially on the move as well.
The tougher decision for the Sharks, Kurz writes, will be whether to deal veterans Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, who both signed one-year deals to re-join the Sharks this season.
Kurz writes this year may be the last chance for either player to chase their first Stanley Cup and wonders if that could lead to either, or both, accepting a move.
Thornton owns a full no-trade clause in his contract, but should he be willing to accept a trade, Kurz points to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights and Boston Bruins as potential landing spots to help provide those teams with centre depth in their bottom-six.
Thornton, 40, has two goals and 22 points in 54 games this season with the Sharks, his 15th with the club since being traded from the Bruins in 2005. He became the 14th player in NHL history to record 1,500 points on Tuesday with an assist against the Calgary Flames.
Marleau does not have any trade protection in his one-year, $700,000 but Kurz believes any team acquiring would require assurances he’ll report after declining to play for the Carolina Hurricanes following a June trade from the Maple Leafs. Potential fits for Marleau, Kurz writes, include the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks and Washington Capitals.
Marleau, 40, has 10 goals and 20 points in 50 games since signing with the Sharks in October. The 22-year veteran has 561 goals and 1,186 points in 1,707 career games.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
