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NHL trade deadline rumors, tracker: Jonathan Quick on the move again, Bruins acquire Tyler Bertuzzi

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The 2022-23 NHL season is coming down the home stretch with the trade deadline set for Friday, March 3 at 3 p.m. ET. The league has already seen some big names moved prior to the deadline with Vladimir Tarasenko landing with the New York Rangers, Bo Horvat heading to the New York Islanders and Ryan O’Reilly being sent to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But that’s not all, as stars like Brock Boeser and Erik Karlsson could also be on the move prior to Friday’s deadline.

For all of the latest moves around the NHL, follow along with our NHL trade deadline rumors and tracker below.

March 2: Blackhawks reportedly close to trading Max Domi to Stars

The fire sale in Chicago appears to be continuing. The Chicago Blackhawks are working on finalizing a deal that would send forward Max Domi to the Dallas Stars, according to reports from Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli and Sportsnet’s Eric Engels.

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  • Engels is reporting that a second-round pick and goaltender Anton Khudobin will be heading to the Blackhawks in the deal.
  • A minor-league goalie will also be going to the Stars in the trade.
  • Ironically enough, the Blackhawks host the Stars on Thursday night, but it’s unclear if Domi would suit up for the Stars if the deal were to become official.

The Stars had just over $500,000 in cap space, so Khudobin was included in the deal to make the money work as he has a $2.2 million cap hit. Khudobin currently plays for the Stars’ AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, and has a 2.89 goals-against-average in 24 games this season.

Domi, 28, has played well as the Blackhawks’ first-line center throughout the 2022-23 season. The veteran forward has recorded 18 goals and 31 assists in 60 games with Chicago this season. He could be a nice addition to the Stars’ 12th-ranked power-play since he proved to be a key asset on the Blackhawks’ top power-play unit with eight power-play goals and 10 power-play assists. Domi is a rental since he’s slated to be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

March 2: Oilers add Nick Bjugstad in trade with Coyotes

The Edmonton Oilers continue to surround Connor McDavid and company with talent. On Thursday, the Oilers acquired center Nick Bjugstad and prospect Cam Dineen from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a 2023 third-round pick and prospect Michael Kesselring.

  • The Coyotes will retain 50 percent of Bjugstad’s $900,000 salary. Bjugstad will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
  • On Tuesday, the Oilers acquired veteran defenseman Mattias Ekholm and a 2024 sixth-round pick from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2023 first-round pick, a 2024 fourth-round pick, defenseman Tyson Barrie and prospect Reid Schaefer.

Bjugstad has tallied 13 goals and 10 assists in 59 games for the Coyotes this season. The 30-year-old will likely slot in as the Oilers’ third-line center and gives Edmonton some much-needed depth up the middle behind McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

March 2: Blue Jackets flip Jonathan Quick to Golden Knights

For the second time this week, Jonathan Quick is on the move. On Thursday, the Columbus Blue Jackets traded the veteran goaltender to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for goaltender Michael Hutchinson and a 2025 seventh-round pick.

  • The Blue Jackets had acquired Quick on Tuesday along with a 2023 first-round pick and a 2023 third-round pick from the Kings in exchange for defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and goalie Joonas Korpisalo.
  • At the time of the initial trade to Columbus, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that Quick was “unhappy” about being dealt.

During the 2022-23 season, Quick has a 11-13-4 record, a 3.50 goals-against-average, and a .876 save percentage in 31 games with Los Angeles. Now Quick, 37, will join a Kings team that is in need of some goaltending depth after starter Logan Thompson was placed on injured reserve last month with a lower-body injury. Prior to Wednesday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes, Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy revealed that Thompson is “nowhere near being on the ice.”

March 2: Bruins improve forward group with acquisition of Tyler Bertuzzi from Red Wings

The rich get richer. On Thursday, the Boston Bruins acquired winger Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings in a trade that makes the team’s forward group even stronger for a Stanley Cup run. As a part of the deal, the Red Wings will retain 50 percent of Bertuzzi’s salary.

In exchange for Bertuzzi’s services, the Red Wings received:

  • 2024 first-round pick (protected)
  • 2025 fourth-round pick

Bertuzzi is due to be an unrestricted free agent this summer and was in the market for a contract extension from the Red Wings. However, according to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, talks between both sides broke down in December.

Bertuzzi has tallied just four goals and 10 assists in 29 games this season as he’s dealt with two broken hands throughout the 2022-23 campaign. When healthy, the 28-year old is a very talented goal scorer that is coming off a 62-point season in 2021-22. Bertuzzi gives the Bruins another weapon on their second or third line.

March 1: Senators win Jakob Chychrun sweepstakes with modest bid

The Arizona Coyotes have had Jakob Chychrun sitting on the trade block for well over a year now, and they have finally dealt him to the Ottawa Senators in a major deal just two days before the deadline.

In exchange for Chychrun, the Coyotes received:

  • 2023 conditional first-round pick
  • 2024 conditional second-round pick
  • 2026 second-round pick

Chychrun is a legitimate top-pairing defenseman with a very reasonable $4.6 million cap hit, and the Senators just got him for an incredibly modest price. At one point there were talks of the Coyotes wanting multiple first round picks and top-notch prospects in exchange for Chychrun, but the market for defensemen has dried up over the last week.

While this return may be somewhat disappointing for the Coyotes, they now have a glut of draft picks in the next few years. If Arizona plays its cards right, it would ice a very competitive team in a few seasons.

March 1: Red Wings deal defenseman Filip Hronek to Canucks

The Detroit Red Wings have sent 25-year-old defenseman Filip Hronek and a 2023 fourth-round pick to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2023 conditional first-round pick and a 2023 second-round pick.

Hronek is a strong offensive defenseman, and he is having the best season of his career. Hronek is already tied for his career high in goals, and he is on track to set a new career high in assists too. Hronek should give Vancouver more offensive help from the blue line, but it does limit the team from a salary cap perspective moving forward.

The Red Wings were able to get some quality assets back for Hronek, and it’ll be interesting to see what they do with them. Detroit could use the picks to draft more highly-touted prospects, or it could flip them for a player who can help the team in the immediate future.

March 1: Hurricanes land defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere from Coyotes

The Carolina Hurricanes have added some more offensive firepower to their blue line. On Wednesday, the Hurricanes acquired defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick.

The 29-year-old is a rental as he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Gostisbehere has spent the past two seasons with the Coyotes after the team acquired him from the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2021 offseason. The left-handed shooting defenseman has recorded 10 goals and 21 assists in 52 games as a member of the Coyotes this season.

Gostisbehere adds some necessary offense among Carolina’s top four defensemen group. Over the course of his nine-year NHL career, he’s tallied 84 career goals, including four double-digit goal campaigns. The Hurricanes were already one of the league’s higher-scoring teams with 3.36 goals per game, and now they’ve added more of an offensive touch on the back end alongside Brent Burns.

March 1: Avalanche acquire center Lars Eller from Capitals

Colorado has been in need of center depth, and Eller will fill that role as the team tries to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions. In return, for Eller the Capitals will receive a 2025 second-round pick, the teams announced on Wednesday.

Eller has spent that last seven seasons with the Capitals, and he came up clutch in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final. In the decisive Game 5, Eller scored the game-winning goal for Washington with just 7:37 remaining in the third period.

Eller will bring a strong defensive pedigree and playoff experience to an Avalanche team hurting for center depth right now. Colorado lost Nazem Kadri to the Calgary Flames in free agency last summer, and since then the center position has been a bit of a weakness outside of Nathan MacKinnon. Eller will give the Avs a quality depth option there.

March 1: Kings trade Jonathan Quick to Blue Jackets for Vladislav Gavrikov, Joonas Korpisalo

It’s the end of an era in Los Angeles. The Kings have traded goalie Jonathan Quick, a 2023 first-round pick and a 2023 third-round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and goalie Joonas Korpisalo.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that Quick was “unhappy” when he was informed of the trade.

  • Quick has spent all 16 of his NHL seasons with the Kings and won two Stanley Cups with the franchise.
  • Throughout his career, the 37-year old has tallied a 370-275-82 record, a 2.46 goals-against-average, and a .911 save percentage.
  • Quick also won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2012 as the playoff MVP during the Kings’ Stanley Cup run.

Clearly, the Kings were attempting to pair a younger goaltender with Pheonix Copley. Korpisalo, 28, has a 11-11-3 record to go along with a 3.17 goals-against-average and a .911 save percentage in 28 games this season as he’s split time with Elvis Merzlikins in Columbus.

In Gavrikov, the Kings beef up their blue line and provides a very necessary left-handed shot on a team full of right-handed shooting defensemen. Both Gavrikov and Korpisalo will be unrestricted free agents this summer.

Feb. 28: Predators trade Mattias Ekholm to Oilers for package of picks, players

The Predators dealt veteran defenseman Mattias Ekholm and a 2024 sixth-round pick to the Oilers in exchange for a 2023 first-round pick, a 2024 fourth-round pick, prospect Reid Schaefer and defenseman Tyson Barrie.

Edmonton was in need of a big defenseman who could play the puck well, and that is exactly what Ekholm brings to the table. The Oilers have had trouble keeping the puck out of their own net this season, but Ekholm will help stop the bleeding. With Ekholm now in the mix, Edmonton looks more like a serious Stanley Cup contender in the Western Conference.

The Predators continue their fire sale by trading Ekholm, and getting the 2023 first-round pick and Schaefer were the real prizes. When he takes over as Nashville’s general manager on July 1, Barry Trotz will have a lot of draft capital with which to work.

Feb. 28: Maple Leafs add defenseman Luke Schenn from the Canucks

In his quest to acquire every NHL defenseman, Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas has added Luke Schenn from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2023 third-round pick.

Schenn is a big-bodied defenseman who provides a physical presence, but he has had a rough 2022-23 season in Vancouver. Maybe playing on a better team in Toronto will help him turn things around, but the Maple Leafs may also have something else cooking here.

After acquiring Schenn, Toronto now has nine defensemen on its NHL roster. With such a major logjam at the position, it’s hard to imagine the team not making another move to bolster its forward group.

Feb. 28: Islanders acquire Pierre Engvall from Maple Leafs

The Maple Leafs have been incredibly active, and one the moves sent forward Pierre Engvall to the New York Islanders in exchange for a 2024 third-round pick.

Engvall, now in his fourth NHL season, gives the Isles a strong defensive forward. Considering the Islanders’ struggles at that end of the ice this year, Engvall should help them address a need, and he can make some plays at the offensive end as well. In 58 games this season, Engvall has 12 goals and 21 points.

By trading Engvall, Toronto frees up another $2.25 million in salary cap space with the trade deadline just three days away.

Feb. 28: Maple Leafs, Capitals swap defensemen

The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded defenseman Rasmus Sandin to the Washington Capitals in exchange for defenseman Erik Gustafsson and a 2023 first-round pick. The first-round pick going to Toronto is the one Washington got from the Boston Bruins in the Dmitry Orlov trade just last week.

This deal makes some sense for both sides. The Maple Leafs give up a developing player for Gustafsson, who is in the midst of an excellent year and can help the team generate offense from the blue line, as well as a first-round pick. We’ll see how long Toronto holds onto that first-rounder as they try to make more moves ahead of the deadline.

Washington turned Orlov and Gustafsson, two veteran defensemen on expiring contracts, into the 22-year-old Sandin. It’s an excellent deal for a team looking to rebuild on the fly because Sandin has taken a big step forward in his development this year. There’s a chance Sandin becomes a vital piece of the Capitals’ blue line for a long time to come.

Feb. 28: Wild acquire forward Marcus Johansson from Capitals

The Minnesota Wild announced that they have acquired Marcus Johansson from the Capitals in exchange for a 2024 third-round pick. In 60 games with Washington this season, Johansson has tallied 28 points (13 goals and 15 assists).

The Wild are in need of supplementary scoring as the playoffs approach, and Johansson should give them some of that, but they may still need to make a bigger splash to move the needle atop the Western Conference.

This marks a return to Minnesota for the journeyman Johansson. He played for the Wild in the 2020-21 season and recorded six goals and eight assists in 36 games played.

Feb. 28: Blackhawks trade Patrick Kane to Rangers in exchange for draft picks

After weeks of speculation, Patrick Kane has now been traded to the New York Rangers. In exchange for Kane, the Blackhawks will receive a 2023 conditional second-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round pick. If the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Finals, the conditional second-round pick becomes a first-round pick in 2024 or 2025.

Kane is in the midst of a disappointing season by his standards, but that could easily be attributed to the lack of talent around him in Chicago. In his last four games of the Blackhawks, Kane showed what he was capable of by scoring seven goals and tallying 10 points.

In just a few weeks, the Rangers have added all kinds of offensive firepower on the wings. New York traded for Vladimir Tarasenko on Feb. 9, and now Kane joins the mix as the Rangers push for a Stanley Cup in a competitive Eastern Conference.

Feb. 28: Hurricanes acquire winger Jesse Puljujarvi from Oilers

After missing out on Timo Meier, the Carolina Hurricanes were still trying to upgrade their forward group. They acquired Puljujarvi in exchange for forward prospect Patrik Puistola on Tuesday.

Puljujarvi may not be the kind of player who will light the scoreboard on fire, but he has always posted strong five-on-five numbers, and he should fit right in with the Hurricanes as a bottom-six winger. Perhaps more importantly, Puljujarvi only comes with a $3 million cap hit, so Carolina still has plenty of room to make a big move ahead of the deadline.

This trade allows the Oilers to create some more salary cap space while rumors swirl that they are in the market for a top-four defenseman. If Edmonton is going to acquire someone like Jacob Chychrun or Mattias Ekholm, it needed to move money out, and it did just that with this deal.

Feb. 28: Oilers in talks to acquire a top-four defenseman

When you have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at the top of the lineup, goal-scoring will take care of itself. With the trade deadline looming, the Oilers are trying to upgrade their blue line. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Edmonton has expressed interest in Arizona’s Jacob Chychrun, Nashville’s Mattias Ekholm, and Columbus’ Vladislav Gavrikov.

The Oilers rank first in the NHL with 232 goals scored, but they rank 22nd with 204 goals allowed. If Edmonton wants to contend for a Stanley Cup, it has to do a better job keeping the puck out its own net, and acquiring a top-pairing defenseman would go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.

Feb. 28: Rangers have things ‘in motion’ to acquire Patrick Kane as early as Tuesday evening

It seems like Kane to the Rangers is a foregone conclusion at this point, and the Rangers are just waiting to accrue enough salary cap space to make the trade happen. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Rangers could potentially finalize the deal after 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Kane hasn’t played since Feb. 22, and he has been away from the Blackhawks as he waits for a deal to happen. In recent days, the Rangers have made a series of moves, including trading young forward Vitali Kravtsov to the Vancouver Canucks, to create just enough space for Kane’s arrival.

Feb. 28: Rangers still clearing cap space with hopes of acquiring Patrick Kane

On Saturday, Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane left the team’s California road trip and returned to Chicago, according to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. Kane won’t suit up for the Blackhawks leading up to Friday’s trade deadline.

Kaplan also reported that there is mutual interest between Kane and the New York Rangers. The Rangers spent the weekend attempting to clear the necessary cap space to get a potential deal for Kane done:

  • New York traded 2018 first-round pick Vitali Kravtsov to the Vancouver Canucks in a salary dump to get the ball rolling.
  • They also assigned defenseman Braden Schneider to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, on Sunday, which could signify that Schneider would be part of a trade for Kane.

Feb. 27: Maple Leafs acquire Sam Lafferty, Jake McCabe from Blackhawks

The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t made it out of the opening round of the playoffs in each of the past six seasons. Their front office is doing everything that they can to make sure that the team is set up for a deep postseason run this time around. On Monday, the Maple Leafs acquired forward Sam Lafferty and defenseman Jake McCabe from the Chicago Blackhawks.

  • In addition to Lafferty and McCabe, Toronto received a 2024 fifth-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick in the deal
  • Chicago received forwards Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev, a 2025 first-round pick, and a 2026 second-round pick.

Lafferty has 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in 51 games this season and is signed through the 2023-24 campaign. Meanwhile, McCabe has tallied 20 points (two points, 18 assists) and is in just the second season of a four-year, $16 million contract.

Feb. 26: Devils land Timo Meier in massive deal

Timo Meier was one of the biggest prizes available on the trade market leading up to Friday’s deadline. On Sunday, the New Jersey Devils acquired the talented winger in a huge trade with the San Jose Sharks.

  • The Sharks shipped Meier, forward Timur Ibragimov, defensemen Scott Harrington and Santeri Hatakka, goaltender Zachary Emond and a 2023 fifth-round pick to the Devils.
  • The Devils sent a 2023 first-round pick, a conditional 2024 first-round pick, forwards Fabian Zetterlund and Andreas Johnsson and defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Nikita Okhotyuk to the Sharks.
  • As a part of the deal, the Sharks are retaining 50 percent of Meier’s $6 million cap hit.

Meier is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and the Devils don’t have any type of contract extension in place as of right now. The 26-year-old star currently has 31 goals and 21 assists in 57 games this season for the Sharks. Meier had spent all seven years of his NHL career in San Jose prior to the trade.

Feb. 26: Lightning add Tanner Jeannot

The Tampa Bay Lightning have been to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, so being active at the trade deadline isn’t a big surprise. On Sunday, the Lightning acquired forward Tanner Jeannot from the Nashville Predators in exchange for:

  • Defenseman Cal Foote.
  • A 2025 first round pick (top-10 protected).
  • A 2024 second-round pick.
  • A 2023 third-round pick.
  • A 2023 fourth-round pick.
  • A 2023 fifth-round pick.

Jeannot, 25, is in the final season of a two-year contract and can become a restricted free agent this summer. He has 62 career points (34 goals & 28 assists) in 152 career regular season games as a member of the Predators.

Feb. 25: Jets acquire Nino Niederreiter from Predators

The Nashville Predators moved one of their veteran pieces in the form of winger Nino Niederreiter to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick. Niederreiter is signed through the 2023-24 season, so he isn’t a rental for the Jets. Niederreiter has tallied 28 points (18 goals, 10 assists) in 56 games this season.

The Jets are battling at the top of the Central Division and adding a player of Niederreiter’s caliber should really give a boost to Winnipeg’s forward group.

Feb. 23: Bruins beef up blue line with addition of Dmitry Orlov

The Boston Bruins have been an absolute juggernaut this season. They made their defensive unit even stronger by acquiring defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway from the Washington Capitals in a three-team deal. In exchange for Orlov and Hathaway, the Bruins sent the following to the Capitals:

  • A 2023 first-round pick.
  • A 2025 second-round pick.
  • A 2024 third-round pick.
  • Forward Craig Smith.

The Capitals will also retain 50 percent of Orlov’s $5.1 million cap hit. In addition, the Minnesota Wild will also retain 25 percent of Orlov’s contract and sent the rights of Andrei Svetlakov to the Bruins for a 2023 fifth-round pick.

Orlov, 31, is in the final year of a six-year, $30.6 million deal and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason. He’s tallied 19 points (three goals, 16 assists) in 43 games for the Capitals this season. Orlov will join an already stacked Boston blue line that includes the likes of Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Matt Grzelcyk.

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"Laugh it off": Evander Kane says Oilers won’t take the bait against Kings | Offside

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The LA Kings tried every trick in the book to get the Edmonton Oilers off their game last night.

Hacks after the whistle, punches to the face, and interference with line changes were just some of the things that the Oilers had to endure, and throughout it all, there was not an ounce of retaliation.

All that badgering by the Kings resulted in at least two penalties against them and fuelled a red-hot Oilers power play that made them pay with three goals on four chances. That was by design for Edmonton, who knew that LA was going to try to pester them as much as they could.

That may have worked on past Oilers teams, but not this one.

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“We’ve been in a series now for the third year in a row with these guys,” Kane said after practice this morning. “We know them, they know us… it’s one of those things where maybe it makes it a little easier to kind of laugh it off, walk away, or take a shot.

“That type of stuff isn’t gonna affect us.”

Once upon a time, this type of play would get under the Oilers’ skin and result in retaliatory penalties. Yet, with a few hard-knock lessons handed down to them in the past few seasons, it seems like the team is as determined as ever to cut the extracurriculars and focus on getting revenge on the scoreboard.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the longest-tenured player on this Oilers team, had to keep his emotions in check with Kings defender Vladislav Gavrikov, who punched him in the face early in the game. The easy reaction would be to punch back, but the veteran Nugen-Hopkins took his licks and wound up scoring later in the game.

“It’s going to be physical, the emotions are high, and there’s probably going to be some stuff after the whistle,” Nugent-Hopkins told reporters this morning. “I think it’s important to stay poised out there and not retaliate and just play through the whistles and let the other stuff just kind of happen.”

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch also noticed his team’s discipline. Playoff hockey is full of emotion, and keeping those in check to focus on the larger goal is difficult. He was happy with how his team set the tone.

“It’s not necessarily easy to do,” Knoblauch said. “You get punched in the face and sometimes the referees feel it’s enough to call a penalty, sometimes it’s not… You just have to take them, and sometimes, you get rewarded with the power play.

“I liked our guy’s response and we want to be sticking up for each other, we want to have that pack mentality, but it’s really important that we’re not the ones taking that extra penalty.”

There is no doubt that the Kings will continue to poke and prod at the Oilers as the series continues. Keeping those retaliations in check will only get more difficult, but if the team can continue to succeed on the scoreboard, it could get easier.

 

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Thatcher Demko injured, out for Game 2 between Canucks and Predators – Vancouver Is Awesome

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Thatcher Demko returned from injury just in time for the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs but now is injured again.

After the Vancouver Canucks’ victory in Game 1, Demko was not made available to the media as he was “receiving treatment.” This is not unusual, so was not heavily reported at the time. Monday’s practice was turned into an optional skate — just nine players participated — so Demko’s absence did not seem particularly significant.

But when Demko was also missing from Tuesday’s gameday skate, alarm bells started going off.

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According to multiple reports — and now the Canucks’ head coach, Rick Tocchet —Demko will not play in Game 2 and is in fact questionable for the rest of their series against the Nashville Predators.

Demko made 22 saves on 24 shots, none bigger — and potentially injury-inducing — than his first-period save on Anthony Beauvillier where he went into the full splits.

While this is not necessarily where Demko got injured, it would be understandable if it was. Demko still stayed in the game and didn’t seem to be experiencing any difficulties at the time.

Demko is a major difference-maker for the Canucks and his injury casts a pall over the team’s emotional Game 1 victory

Tocchet confirmed that Demko will not start in Game 2 but said Demko did skate on Monday on his own. He also said that Demko’s injury is unrelated to the knee injury he suffered during the season that caused him to miss five weeks. Instead, Tocchet suggested Demko was day-to-day, leaving open the possibility for his return in the first round. 

TSN’s Farhan Lalji, however, has reported that Demko’s injury could indeed be to the same knee, even if it is not the same exact injury.

If Demko does indeed miss the rest of the series, the pressure will be on Casey DeSmith, who had a strong season when called upon intermittently as the team’s backup but struggled when thrust into the number-one role when Demko was injured. Behind DeSmith is rookie Arturs Silovs, who has come through with heroic performances in international competition for Latvia but hasn’t been able to repeat those performances at the NHL level.

DeSmith played one game against the Predators this season, making 26 saves on 28 shots in a 5-2 victory in December.

While DeSmith has limited experience in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, his one appearance was spectacular.

On May 3, 2022, DeSmith had to step in for the injured Tristan Jarry for the Pittsburgh Penguins, starting their first postseason game against the New York Rangers. DeSmith made 48 saves on 51 shots before leaving the game in the second overtime with an injury of his own, with Louis Domingue stepping in to make 17 more saves for the win.

The Canucks will look to allow significantly fewer than 51 shots on Tuesday night.

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Once again, business bumps ethics off the Olympic podium – The Globe and Mail

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Open this photo in gallery:

The Olympic rings are set up at Trocadero plaza that overlooks the Eiffel Tower in Paris.Michel Euler/The Associated Press

In the middle of a record haul at the Tokyo Olympics, Canada’s women’s swim team had one letdown – the 4×200-metre freestyle relay.

Canada had taken bronze in the event at Rio 2016 and again at the 2019 world aquatics championships. The team looked good for another medal.

On the day of the final, a Chinese team that was not considered a contender surprised everyone, winning in world-record time. Canada came fourth.

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A battling result, but still disappointing. It looks a little worse than that now.

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that nearly half the Chinese swim team failed a drug test seven months before the Tokyo Games. Twenty-three swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine, or TMZ.

TMZ is a synthetic substance. You’re not going to pick it up because you’ve chosen the wrong hot-dog vendor.

China was allowed to do its own investigation into the mass positive. That probe determined the athletes had been exposed to TMZ in tainted food at a team hotel. How exactly so many of them ingested it, while others did not, wasn’t explained.

Unusually, no announcement was made about the positive tests, and no one was suspended while the investigation was under way. The World Anti-Doping Agency knew what was going on, but decided the best way to determine if China had done anything wrong was to ask China to look into it. When China gave China the all clear, WADA signed off.

One of those who tested positive was Zhang Yufei. Zhang won three medals in Tokyo, one of them as part of the 4x200m relay team.

The swimming world is now playing doping leapfrog throughout those Games. The Canadian relay team is on a long list of unlucky losers. Had China’s violations stuck, the medal table would look very different.

It would also have pushed a Games that was on the edge closer to the drop. Few in Japan were super stoked about the world dropping by en masse during what would become that country’s first mass COVID wave.

The main reason the Tokyo Games happened was that so much money had been spent, much more was still owed, and insurers were not willing to write down 10 or 15 billion.

Picking a fight with China in that precarious moment could not have seemed like a great idea. Even more precarious – the next Games, to be held six months later in Beijing.

As an event, at absolute best, Beijing 2022 was going to be a very expensive bummer (which it absolutely was). That’s the sort of party that’s easy to call off.

You don’t need to be a Reddit obsessive to see what happened here. The Chinese swim team got caught mid-purge, and the people in charge had to prioritize their response.

Priority No. 1 – the Olympic business.

Priority No. 2 – the Olympic ideals.

They picked money over fairness.

It’s easy to lash them now, so plenty of people are. The head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency called it “a devastating stab in the back of clean athletes.”

(Is it possible to be undevastatingly stabbed in the back?)

The stickiest criticism involves Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. She also tested positive for trace amounts of TMZ before an Olympics. She also had one of those ‘maybe the dog gave me steroids’-type excuses.

But since everybody hates Russia, Valieva did not get the benefit of an in-house probe. She was dragged upside-down and backward through the global press and stripped of her medals. There’s your fairness.

It’s fitting that WADA take a reputational beating here. That is its most useful function – to absorb stakeholder rage after another own goal has been scored by the Doping Police.

But out in the real world, no one cares. Of course the Olympics is dirty. The Olympics has spent the last half century repeatedly reminding us of that.

Between Games, the Olympics makes news only two ways – ‘Upcoming host city X is having serious second thoughts’ and ‘So-and-so cheated their way to gold.’

These stories have become so numerous that the only people registering them are the ones who make their living in an Olympics-adjacent business, like sports administration or media.

Those people are happy to complain – complaining is good for trade – but they don’t want things to change. Change is dangerous. Who knows where change will land you?

In this specific instance, real change in the form of zero tolerance could have hobbled one Olympics and gotten the next one cancelled. Then what?

You start cancelling Olympics and people learn to live without them. Sponsors find new things to sponsor. Broadcasters move on.

Better to compromise. Chinese swimmers did a little TMZ. So what? Figure skaters, tennis players, breaststrokers – everybody’s doing it nowadays. It’s like weed for the Marx and Engels crowd.

With all that in mind, here’s something you won’t often read in this space – WADA made the right call.

It’s not like it was going to go swanning into Guangdong province in early 2021, right in the teeth of the pandemic, to figure out what was what. The only way to get any sort of answers was to rely on Chinese investigators. How do you know if they’re on the up and up? You don’t. WADA had two choices – take China’s word for it, or go scorched earth right before the two most tenuously assembled Games in history.

The proof that WADA made the correct choice is that those Games happened. Maybe it would make a different call now, and that might be right, too.

As far as fairness goes, it doesn’t belong in this conversation.

If a Belgian or a Tanzanian gets caught cheating, don’t even bother asking for consideration.

An American? Probably not.

An American everyone knows? Maybe.

A lot of Americans everybody knows? Let’s talk.

This can’t be discussed because once that discussion gets going, it points toward the sort of change no current stakeholder want to think about. If someone who tests positive can negotiate their way out of it and fairness is the goal, isn’t it fairer to stop testing altogether?

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