February 26: The St. Louis Blues traded center Ivan Barbashev to the Vegas Golden Knights for a prospect
Snapshot: Barbashev has 36 goals and 89 points in his past 140 games with the Blues. Barbashev also likes to hit. He’s a pending UFA and the Blues opted not to sign him. He can give a boost to the Vegas offense. The Golden Knights are still expected to make a bigger move. Dean, a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League center, was a 2021 first-round pick.
February 25: St. Louis Blues Claim Kasperi Kapanen off waivers
Snapshot: St. Louis has already made a couple deals in a pruning of its roster and head coach Craig Berube was vocal lately in that players were not putting in the effort that’s expected. The Penguins have been in a tailspin and Kapanen was one consequence of that. With just seven goals this season, could new surroundings with the Blues help both?
February 25: The Nashville Predators trade Nino Niederreiter to the Winnipeg Jets for a 2024 2nd Round Pick
Snapshot: The Jets acquire the winger, who is just two goals shy of hitting 20 mark for the third straight season. Winnipeg is 16th in scoring and adding Niederreiter should put some more goals in the scoring column. Nashville snags a second round pick next season and over the next two drafts, has eight picks in the first three rounds.
February 25: The Colorado Avalanche trade Shane Bowers to the Boston Bruins for Keith Kinkaid
Snapshot: The Bruins snag Bowers, who was once a first round pick but only has a single NHL game to his name. Kinkaid will provide depth in the crease for the Avalanche.The acquisitions serve as depth moves for both teams.
February 25: The New York Rangers trade Vitali Kravtsov to the Vancouver Canucks for William Lockwood and a 2026 7th Round Pick
Snapshot: Rumors are swirling that Patrick Kane only wants to go to the Rangers. This trade wasn’t exactly the one people expected but it sends the Canucks a player who never really hit the way the Rangers envisioned.
February 23: The Washington Capitals trade Dimitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to the Boston Bruins for Craig Smith, a 2023 1st round pick, 2025 2nd round pick, and a 2024 3rd round pick. The Minnesota Wild absorb 50% of Orlov’s deal, receive Boston’s 2023 5th round pick, and send Andrei Svetlakov’s rights to Washington.
Snapshot: The Capitals decided to retool and got a haul in the process. 50% of Orlov’s expiring contract was absorbed by the Minnesota Wild, while the other half was taken by the Bruins. The Wild again work as a middle man to help massage a deal. The Capitals received a plethora of picks while the Bruins added to an already deep team, positioning them as the likely team to beat in not only the East, but the league.
February 22: The Ottawa Senators trade Nikita Zaitsev, a 2023 2nd round pick, and a 2024 4th round pick to Chicago for future considerations
Snapshot: The Senators dumped a $4.5M cap hit onto the Blackhawks with a 2023 second round pick, adding to Chicago’s already impressive haul in the upcoming draft. Over the course of the next two seasons, Chicago has four first round picks and five second round picks–likely to add more in the coming weeks. The future considerations tag is certainly an interesting element to watch while also keeping an eye on what Ottawa will do next.
February 22: The Vegas trade Shea Weber’s contract, plus a 2023 fifth-round pick, to the Arizona Coyotes for American League defenseman Dysin Mayo.
Snapshot: Weber’s career is over, but his contract must be carried on long-term injured reserve through the 2025-26 NHL season. The Golden Knights needed to get rid of it to prevent the Golden Knights to have any salary cap issues this offseason. The Coyotes can use the LTIR dollars to get to the salary cap floor next season.
February 19: The Ottawa Senators trade Tyler Motte to the New York Rangers for Julien Gauthier and a conditional 2023 7th round pick
Snapshot: Motte makes his return to Broadway for the second straight season and the conditional pick Ottawa receives becomes Winnipeg’s 6th round pick should the Rangers advance to the Eastern Conference Final. Another move made by New York to bolster lineup for a long playoff run.
February 13: The Minnesota Wild Acquire a 2025 4th round pick from Toronto in exchange for taking 50% of Ryan O’Reilly’s Contract; The Toronto Maple Leafs Acquire Ryan O’Reilly from the Wild and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues; The Blues Acquire Adam Gaudette, Mikhail Abramov, a 2023 1st round pick, 2023 3rd round pick, and a 2024 2nd round pick.
Snapshot: Instead of writing it all in the header, the long and short of it is that Minnesota entered the fray to ease the financial burden for Toronto while picking up a fourth round pick for its troubles. After purchasing 50% of O’Reilly’s contract from St. Louis, they then flipped it to Toronto at a 50% discount. The Maple Leafs end up with a $1.875 million cap hit in the end. But it came with a heavy package of picks heading back to St. Louis. Abramov is just 21 but has showed glimpses of being a scoring threat. This was an all-in-to-win move for Toronto.
February 9: The St. Louis Blues trade Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola to The New York Rangers for Sammy Blais, Hunter Skinner, and conditional 2023 1st and 4th round picks.
Snapshot: A domino effect of sorts that affected other deals (Toronto’s) while potentially stymieing other forwards (Patrick Kane). Tarasenko gives the Rangers another dynamic scoring option who already has potted two in five games. The Blues snag draft capital and retain half of Tarasenko’s contract. The first round pick acquired will be either Dallas’ or the Rangers, whichever is of less value. The fourth round pick becomes a third if the Rangers make the playoffs.
February 5: The San Jose Sharks trade Jaycob Megna to the Seattle Kraken for a conditional 2023 4th round pick
Snapshot: Megna has only played in one game since the deal and the conditional fourth round pick hinges on whether Seattle sends its own fourth round pick or Colorado’s. This is a light deal, but both teams are expected to be particularly active before or especially on trade deadline day.
January 30: The Vancouver Canucks trade Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty, and 2023 1st Round Pick (Lottery Protected)
Snapshot: The Islanders pick up the oft scoring centerman, who gives them a chance for a playoff push. They also inked him to a new contract. Every deal comes with a price and Canucks pick up an intriguing prospect in Raty, The first round pick is protected and becomes a 2024 choice if the Isles choose between 1-12. Beauvillier’s time on the Island had reached its end and in Vancouver, he six points (4-2) in seven games. The change of scenery has helped so far.