The Montreal Canadiens have traded Sven Andrighetto to the Colorado Avalanche for Andreas Martinsen, the Canadiens announced Wednesday.

Andrighetto managed only eight points in 27 games for the Canadiens this season, and chipped in just 28 points in 83 career contests. He was a third-round pick of the Canadiens in 2013.

He was once one of Montreal's most promising prospects, but never managed to earn consistent top-six NHL minutes in parts of four seasons in the organization. Andrighetto is a pending unrestricted free agent carrying a cap hit of $650,000.

Martinsen collected only 18 points in 110 games in parts of two campaigns with the Avalanche, who signed him out of Germany in 2015. He's a pending UFA with a $640,000 cap hit this season.

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Jarome Iginla is headed to Hollywood.

The Colorado Avalanche have dealt the 39-year-old forward to the Los Angeles Kings for a 2018 conditional pick, the Kings announced Wednesday.

It's a conditional fourth-rounder, according to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, and the Avalanche will retain 50 percent of Iginla's salary, per TSN's Bob McKenzie.

TSN's Darren Dreger reports that there are two conditions on the deal, one being playoff-related and the other being based on whether Iginla re-signs with the Kings for next season.

If Iginla doesn't sign a new deal with Los Angeles and the playoff condition isn't met, the Avalanche won't receive the fourth-round pick, according to Dreger.

Iginla told TSN following the trade that he hasn't decided on his future but said that there's a 50 percent chance he'll play next season.

He's a pending unrestricted free agent carrying a cap hit of $5.33 million in 2016-17.

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Ryan Miller is reportedly staying put.

The goaltender will not be traded by the Vancouver Canucks before Wednesday's trade deadline, a team source told Sportsnet's John Shannon.

Miller has a 25-team no-trade clause, meaning he would only accept a deal to five clubs.

The 36-year-old netminder is a pending unrestricted free agent with a cap hit of $6 million this season.

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The Montreal Canadiens have reportedly been mulling the potential acquisition of Martin Hanzal for more than a month, but they need to seal the deal.

Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin resisted the urge to trade for him when centers Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais went down with injuries earlier in the season, but things have now taken a turn for the worse in Montreal, even with both of those players back in the lineup.

Hanzal will likely have plenty of suitors before Wednesday afternoon's trade deadline, and the struggling Canadiens need to outbid the competition to ensure they land him.

Here are three reasons why they have to go out and get him immediately:

They're starving for scoring

Montreal isn't playing like a team that's been in first place all season.

The Canadiens have been shut out in four of their last eight games, and they've scored only 10 goals in that span, including just three in the three contests since Claude Julien stepped back behind the bench.

That's obviously not going to cut it, and Bergevin is surely looking for ways to cure their recent scoring woes.

Enter Hanzal. He's a streaky scorer who's never gone over 16 goals in parts of 10 seasons with the Coyotes, but he's also been limited to an average of only 55 games in the previous three campaigns due to injuries.

However, 2016-17 has been a different story. His 16 markers this season have already tied a career high in 10 fewer games than the last time he did it in 2010-11, and he's been on a tear lately with six goals in his last eight contests.

Hanzal has proven to be a dependable option on the offensive end when he's healthy, and he's worth acquiring while he's on a roll.

They have a clear positional need

Even with Galchenyuk and Desharnais back, the Canadiens could use an upgrade up the middle.

Phillip Danault has shown flashes of his talent and has even been bumped up to the top line between Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov, but Montreal would stand to benefit from a boost at center, and they have the assets to make a deal happen.

Hanzal is a solid two-way player, and that's certainly something Julien would appreciate.

He'd fit in perfectly in the Canadiens' top six and solidify a roster that already has plenty of depth elsewhere.

They have to right the ship

Beyond taking a step to cure their scoring woes and addressing a positional need, Bergevin has to do something to end the Canadiens' recent slide.

They're 2-7-1 in their last 10 games, and their lead atop the Atlantic Division has shrunk to a mere two points over the second-place Ottawa Senators, who hold two games in hand.

After Thursday's shutout loss to the New York Islanders, both Pacioretty and Julien admitted the team is lacking confidence amid its scoring slump.

Bergevin said last week that he won't overpay for a short-term fix, and while that's a reasonable stance, sacrifices have to be made to avoid allowing the season to continue spiraling downward.

Hanzal is a pending unrestricted free agent who could bolt at season's end, but his cap hit is reasonable at $3.1 million, and he'd be a more affordable choice than the biggest fish available at the position, Matt Duchene, who will command better prospects and higher draft picks in return.

The Canadiens need to bust out of their funk, and a trade for Hanzal would no doubt invigorate a club searching for a way to get back on track.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a position to qualify for the postseason for the time being, but they might not be there much longer if their starting goaltender can't find his groove.

Frederik Andersen was the netminder of record in an overtime victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night, but he wasn't on his game from start to finish.

"Early (on), we were good and (Andersen) wasn't and then he made some good saves down the stretch and we won the game," Leafs head coach Mike Babcock told reporters including The Athletic's James Mirtle afterwards.

"Some nights, Freddy picks us up," Babcock added. "Tonight, we picked him up."

It wasn't just the one game. Andersen has struggled to find his rhythm over the last month or so.

Since notching his second straight shutout on Jan. 25, Andersen is 3-3-2 with a 3.67 GAA and a .878 save percentage. He allowed at least four goals in five of those nine games, at least five goals in three of them, and he gave up six in a loss the New York Islanders on Feb. 6.

Here's how his basic numbers this season compare to his performance in his three previous campaigns with the Anaheim Ducks:

Sure, there are other issues. Toronto is the NHL's seventh-youngest team, and while it is one of the league's most exciting squads, that youth often makes things a little more difficult for Andersen.

The Leafs have the best power play in the league and boast the sixth-most productive offense in terms of goals per game (3.14), but they also allow the third-most shots per contest in all situations (32.5), and that's a big reason they're giving up the eighth-most goals per game (2.9).

Not all of that is on Andersen, but the Leafs need him to be better than he's been lately if they hope to avoid being knocked out of the playoff picture for good.

Tuesday's win bumped their postseason chances up to 64.5 percent, according to Sports Club Stats, but their grip on a potential playoff berth is by no means secure.

The Florida Panthers now sit one point behind them with a game in hand, and both the Boston Bruins and the Islanders are also a point back of the Leafs with equally resurgent clubs since making in-season coaching changes.

It won't get any easier for Andersen and the Leafs, either. They host the New York Rangers on Thursday, the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, then embark on a three-game Pacific road swing that begins against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

Leafs management has a well documented long-term vision and this season's results aren't of the utmost importance, but the No. 1 goaltender needs to rediscover his form if the club's short-term goal involves giving this exciting, young group its first taste of playoff experience.

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Well, that didn't take long.

Claude Julien wasted no time putting his stamp on the Montreal Canadiens, bumping Alex Galchenyuk up to the first line Friday in the head coach's first practice since he was re-hired immediately following Michel Therrien's firing earlier this week.

Julien's highly anticipated return in Canadiens colors generated just a bit of attention.

Galchenyuk was never fully embraced as a first-liner or a full-time center under Therrien, but he was thrust in between Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov on the top unit Friday.

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Alexandre Burrows is trying to tune out the noise.

The Vancouver Canucks forward is detaching himself from the chatter on social media and TV as trade rumors swirl with just over two weeks left until the March 1 deadline.

"I’ve cut off my Twitter,” Burrows told Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Province. “I’ve cut off TSN and Canadian websites. I watch ESPN right now. I’m more aware of the Charles Oakley incident and what happened in the NBA last night (than in the NHL). I’m a huge sports fan; I have to follow sports. But right now, I’m staying away from anything where my name could be.”

Related: 3 teams that could benefit by adding Burrows

The 35-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent, but he has a full no-trade clause that could make dealing him difficult. The Canucks aren't completely out of the playoff race thanks to the parity of the Western Conference, but Burrows said he'll talk to management when the time comes to make a decision.

“If they think they’ve got to rebuild and they can get an asset for me, I’d feel … not an obligation, but I’d think about it,” he told MacIntyre. “Deep down in my heart, I want to make the playoffs with this team. And if something else happens, we’ll think about it. We’ll have a discussion for sure.”

Burrows boosted his trade value over the weekend, scoring the game-winner and adding an assist in a victory Sunday over the Buffalo Sabres, one day after notching a goal and an assist in a loss to the Boston Bruins.

His offensive production certainly isn't what it once was, but with 20 points in 50 games, he's only two points away from tying his output from all of last season.

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Count Stan Bowman among those intrigued by the idea of changing the NHL's point system.

The Chicago Blackhawks general manager offered an interesting counter-argument to those who believe a shift to a three-point regulation win would create too much separation in the standings.

“The other side of it, which nobody really talks about, is if you have three points, you can make up a lot of ground,” Bowman told Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“They always talk about how it’s going to separate the teams, but you can make up ground quicker. If you win seven games in a row in regulation, that’s a lot better than seven games in a row in overtime," Bowman said.

"I think it would give teams a hope that you could get hot. There would be more separation, but there also would be hope. Right now, it’s just so hard to make up ground on anybody. Because every night, you can win five in a row and really not move up because other teams are getting points when they’re losing.”

As of Monday afternoon, only 10 points separate 11 teams in the Eastern Conference, from the last-place Detroit Red Wings to the Ottawa Senators, who occupy second place in the Atlantic Division. In the West, all but two teams (the abysmal Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche) are in a playoff position or within six points of a theoretical postseason berth.

The lack of separation in the standings has also clearly cooled much of the typical trade chatter, because many teams still can't determine whether they're buyers or sellers with just over two weeks left until the March 1 deadline.

Much of this parity can be directly attributed to the much-debated "loser point," or the league's practice of awarding a single point to teams for failing to win a game in overtime or a shootout.

There's been plenty of talk in recent years about adopting the IIHF format, which awards three points for a regulation win, two for a win in overtime or shootout, one for losing in the defacto skills competition or in the extra frame, and zero for a regulation loss.

The NHL awards two points for a win regardless of whether it comes after three periods or in either of the extra sessions, in addition to the single point for an overtime or shootout loss.

Coaches like the San Jose Sharks' Peter DeBoer are understandably reluctant to criticize the current system because parity - genuine or otherwise - likely increases his job security, but he does see the benefits of adding incentive toward winning before overtime.

“When it got brought up a few years ago, I initially wasn’t a fan,” DeBoer told Lazerus. “But I’m becoming more and more a fan of it.

"I really like the parity that the two-point system has, where nobody’s really out of it. And having coached some teams that legitimately should have been out of it, it was nice to be able to walk in your room and say, ‘Hey we’re only three or four points out,’ when really, you’ve got six teams to climb over. I like that part of it. But on the flip side, I think there should be a bigger reward for winning and winning in regulation. Because typically the best teams can do that. And they should be rewarded for that.”

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Whether he's boosting his trade value or simply keeping the Buffalo Sabres' slim playoff hopes alive, Evander Kane has been one of the league's hottest goal-producers over the last couple of months.

The underrated sniper was center stage Saturday night, and he didn't disappoint in a road game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada.

Kane scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season in a 3-1 victory over the Leafs, leapfrogging Kyle Okposo for the team lead in 10 fewer games than his teammate while padding his impressive totals since the final month of 2016.

Kane is occasionally overlooked on a team loaded with talented forwards including Jack Eichel, Okposo, Sam Reinhart, and Ryan O'Reilly, but he's been piling up goals since being forced to miss 11 games earlier in the season following a crash into the boards on Oct. 13.

Saturday's double-dip was his third multi-goal game in the last eight contests, and he has 12 points in his last 12.

The Sabres will eventually have to decide whether to extend or deal Kane, who's in the penultimate season of the six-year, $31.5-million contract he inked while a member of the Winnipeg Jets in 2012.

General manager Tim Murray, who acquired him from the Jets in a blockbuster deal consummated exactly two years ago Saturday, said Friday that he's not actively seeking to move the 25-year-old winger and hasn't made a single call to shop him.

Regardless of what the future holds for Kane and the Sabres, he deserves to be mentioned among the league's most productive goal scorers for the time being.

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Craig Anderson couldn't help but feel touched as the fans in Ottawa chanted his name when he was named Saturday's first star.

"It's definitely emotional," the Senators goaltender told TSN's Brent Wallace after recording a 33-save shutout against the New York Islanders in his first game since Dec. 5.

Anderson had been away from the club attending to his wife, Nicholle, who was diagnosed with cancer in late October.

"The crowd has just been outstanding," he added Saturday.

"The city of Ottawa, the organization, it's just been a dream come true the way they've handled everything and allowed me to be a husband and to be a dad. (They understand it's) family first, and they've really hammered that home. I can't thank the city and the organization enough."

Anderson previously took several brief absences before deciding the situation required a more extended leave.

Nicholle tweeted earlier Saturday that she couldn't be happier to see some normalcy back in their lives, and her husband agreed when asked about that after the game.

"That's key for myself to get into a routine and get her into a routine, and (for) the kids," he said.

As for Saturday's first-star honors, clearly it's not a one-game achievement in the Anderson household.

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