[RELATED: 2020-21 NHL Trade Tracker]
11:17 a.m. ET
Paul Stastny has officially been traded to the Winnipeg Jets from the Vegas Golden Knights.
Vegas gets defenseman Carl Dahlstrom and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft in return for Stastny.
Stastny fills a hole for the Jets as their No. 2 center behind Mark Scheifele and his acquisition should cool, at least for now, the trade rumors swirling around forward Patrik Laine.
Stastny, Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers formed a productive line for the Jets at the end of the 2017-18 season and in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs after the Jets acquired Stastny from the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 26, 2018.
Stastny scored 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 19 regular-season games and then scored 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 17 Stanley Cup Playoff games, helping the Jets reach the Western Conference Final before losing to Vegas.
Stastny signed a three-year, $19.5 million contract with the Golden Knights on July 1, 2018. In two seasons with Vegas, he scored 80 points (30 goals, 50 assists) in 121 regular season games; he scored another 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in 25 postseason games.
11:10 a.m. ET
The Montreal Canadiens have signed defenseman Victor Mete to a one-year contract worth $735,000, meaning one of the pending restricted free agents is off the board before 12 p.m. ET.
Mete scored 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 51 games last season. He also scored two points, both assists, in 10 postseason games.
The 22-year-old Mete, a fourth-round pick by the Canadiens (No. 100), scored 31 points (four goals, 27 assists) in 171 games in his first three NHL seasons.
In other news, forward Mike Hoffman is expected to become an unrestricted free agent in 50 minutes, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported. Hoffman scored 29 goals last season, the most among all pending UFAs.
There was some thought Hoffman could sign with the Florida Panthers before the market opened, but it doesn’t look to be the case now. The 30-year-old will be an interesting player to watch, especially for any team that loses out on the Taylor Hall sweepstakes.
10:45 a.m. ET
The trade has not been officially announced, but TSN’s Darren Dreger is reporting the Winnipeg Jets will acquire center Paul Stastny from the Vegas Golden Knights for defenseman Carl Dahlstrom and a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
The Golden Knights will clear Stastny’s $6.5 million salary cap charge, but trading him means they have a hole at center behind William Karlsson.
It’s possible they believe it can be filled by Cody Glass. The 21-year-old scored 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 39 games this season. He didn’t play in the postseason.
The Golden Knights could also consider Chandler Stephenson to be their No. 2 center with Glass as their No. 3. Stephenson signed a four-year contract with an annual average value of $2.75 million salary Wednesday.
Stephenson fit in well with the Golden Knights after they acquired him from the Washington Capitals on Dec. 2. He scored 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in 41 regular-season games and five points (three goals, two assists) in 20 postseason games.
Dahlstrom had one assist in 15 games with the Jets last season. The 25-year-old is 6-foot-4, 231 pounds. The Jets could be in the market to replace him.
10:30 a.m. ET
As we wait for news on a possible trade of Paul Stastny from the Vegas Golden Knights to the Winnipeg Jets, we have our first signing of the day.
Zemgus Girgensons signed a three-year, $6.6 million contract with the Buffalo Sabres. It has an average annual value of $2.2 million.
The 26-year-old forward could have become an unrestricted free agent at noon ET. Here are all the details.
10 a.m. ET
We’re two hours away from the start of the free-agent frenzy in the NHL and there is already rumblings of a trade that could have a big impact on the market.
Reports say the Winnipeg Jets are acquiring center Paul Stastny from the Vegas Golden Knights.
For the Golden Knights, moving Stastny opens $6.5 million on their salary cap, which could be used in a multitude of ways.
The most obvious is they could be going after a big-ticket free agent. Perhaps defenseman Alex Pietrangelo or defenseman Torey Krug.
There have been rumors that the Golden Knights are also shopping defenseman Nate Schmidt. If they move him and his $5.95 million salary cap charge for the next five seasons that opens a spot and more money to sign Pietrangelo or Krug, who are the top two UFA defensemen.
The Golden Knights may also be trying to move goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who has a $7 million cap charge.
For the Jets, this is a no-brainer. They get Stastny in the last year of his contract and for now at least this should kill the rumors of the Jets looking to trade forward Patrik Laine.
Stastny played 19 games with the Jets at the end of the 2017-18 season after they acquired him from the St. Louis Blues. He scored 13 points (four goals, nine assists) playing on a line with Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers. He then scored 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 17 Stanley Cup Playoff games, helping the Jets reach the Western Conference Final before losing to Vegas.
Stastny signed a three-year, $19.5 million contract with the Golden Knights on July 1, 2018.
Stay tuned. The news will be flowing in shortly and we’ll have it all here on this blog.
