John Chayka is far from done.

That was the clear message the Arizona Coyotes general manager sent out after sending goaltender Mike Smith to the Calgary Flames earlier Saturday.

"This move wasn't made in isolation," Chayka said, per Dave Vest of the team's website. "It was made to set up other moves to improve our club ... I think we've planted a lot of seeds that we can move forward with."

At this point in his career and considering the team's trajectory, it made sense to part ways, especially with Smith carrying a $5,666,667 cap hit for two more seasons.

"We're trying to continue to build for the future and continue to make this as competitive of a team as possible," Chayka added. "We think we've got a good, young group here who has a chance to be a good team next year. The reality is Mike Smith is a 35-year-old goaltender and when some of our players are reaching their prime years then he's probably on the wrong side of his career."

Chayka added trading Smith wasn't an easy deal to pull off, and that Chad Johnson - part of the return in the swap - is one option as a potential replacement in net.

"Hopefully we can get a good goaltender in there that can help our group next year," he said. "There's a chance (Johnson) could be a starter in this league, but right now we're just sorting through all the different options and he'd be one of them."

On Friday, it was reported that Arizona is one of several teams with serious interest in New York Rangers center Derek Stepan, who has four years remaining on a contract that carries a cap hit of $6.5 million.

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So far, so good.

The Vegas Golden Knights have released a statement to express how pleased the organization is with how the expansion draft process has gone so far as the NHL trade freeze took effect Saturday at 3 p.m. EST.

The other 30 teams had until 5 p.m. EST to hand in their protection lists, and Vegas will keep the phone lines open with a view to helping make the selection process as painless as possible.

From the official statement:

Now, general manager George McPhee and his staff will continue to have discussions with the other 30 NHL clubs.

Vegas has indicated that they will give all 30 clubs every opportunity to keep their rosters intact if they’d like.

This means that before the Golden Knights claim a player off a team’s unprotected list, McPhee and his staff are willing to negotiate deals so the other clubs do not lose a player they would otherwise like to keep.

As a reminder, the protection lists will be made public on Sunday at 10 a.m. EST, and Vegas' final selections will be submitted to the NHL exactly 72 hours later.

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The Calgary Flames made a move Saturday in an attempt to shore up a position that has been the club's Achilles heel since Mikka Kiprusoff retired in 2013.

Veteran netminder Mike Smith was acquired in a deal with the Arizona Coyotes, and with two years remaining on his current contract, Smith becomes the No. 1 goalie in Cowtown for the foreseeable future.

Whether that's a good thing for Flames fans remains to be seen, but Smith does provide a sense of stability that general manager Brad Treliving has been searching for the past four years.

While Smith's acquisition probably isn't getting Flames fans as excited as, let's say, landing Marc-Andre Fleury would have been, Smith can still be a viable option for a Calgary squad bursting at the seams with talent.

Related: Flames GM: Smith has ability to put team on his back

Sure, Smith hasn't played a full season in his career, he's 35, and has limited playoff experience - 17 starts and nine wins - but, he's been playing in Arizona the past six seasons. And, despite playing on a perennial bottom-feeding club like the Coyotes, Smith was still able to post solid numbers - a fact that should have some folks in Calgary sleeping a little easier.

Over his six seasons in the desert, Smith recorded 22 shutouts while posting a .916 save percentage to go along with a 2.69 GAA.

The former fifth-round pick of the Dallas Stars should have a much easier time manning the Flames' crease, as Calgary boasts a talented trio of elite defensemen - T.J. Brodie, Mark Giordano, and Dougie Hamilton - that helped contribute to the Flames allowing only 2.67 goals-against per game.

Calgary qualified for the postseason last year with Chad Johnson as the go-to guy in the blue paint. So what's stopping a guy like Smith from carrying the team even farther?

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Brad Treliving leaned on personal knowledge with respect to the goalie he traded for Saturday.

The Calgary Flames general manager pulled off a deal to acquire Mike Smith from the Arizona Coyotes, the team he worked for prior to moving north, and Treliving believes Smith has what it takes to carry the Flames to the next level.

"Mike Smith has the ability to put a team on his back," Treliving said, per George Johnson of the Flames' official website. "This is a guy who's highly competitive. As athletic as anyone I've ever been around. And really, really driven. I know this player, what he brings."

The fact that Smith is 35 and in the later stages of his career wasn't enough to dissuade the GM.

"You're cognizant of (Smith's age), no question," he said. "There's no question it's a consideration. One thing I'll say, Mike's an elite athlete. He looks after himself as well as anybody and if you look at his career, he was a late starter. He doesn't necessarily have the mileage some guys do at that age.

"(Age) was something we had a lot of discussion about but in the end it wasn't something we felt was an impediment."

Smith was a huge part of the equation when the Coyotes went to the Western Conference Final in 2012, and, more recently, he was named to Canada's 2014 Olympic team as the third option in net. Smith also represented Arizona at the 2017 NHL All-Star Game.

Time will tell what he's able to accomplish with the Flames in the two years he remains under contract.

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Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Kesler underwent surgery last week and will resume full activity in 12 weeks' time, the club reported Saturday.

According to the team, the 32-year-old had a "general cleaning" procedure to remove bone fragments in his hip.

Kesler is coming off a 2016-17 campaign in which he did not miss a single game.

The former first-round pick registered 22 goals and 36 assists in 82 regular-season games, while also playing a key role in the Ducks' Stanley Cup Playoffs run, chipping in eight points.

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Mike Smith didn't see it coming. Not at first, at least.

The veteran goaltender has been traded by the Arizona Coyotes to the Calgary Flames in a deal made possible by the nature of the modified no-trade clause on Smith's contract.

Related: Coyotes trade Mike Smith to Flames for Chad Johnson, prospect, pick

Per that clause, Smith was to submit a list of eight teams to which he did not want to be traded should the Coyotes ask him to do so. According to Sarah McLellan of azcentral sports, Smith wasn't caught off guard by Saturday's trade, as he was asked a few weeks ago to submit his no-trade list.

That particular request, however, came as "kind of a shock" to the netminder.

That may be due in part to the fact general manager John Chayka recently referred to Smith as the team's rock whose value is extremely high.

Be that as it may, he's now a Flame, but part of him will always remain in the desert.

Smith added he has a lot of mixed emotions about the move, but he's "really, really pumped to be going to Calgary" and sees the Flames as having a chance to do "something special" in the coming years.

Smith remains under contract for two seasons with a salary-cap hit of $5,666,667.

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Pittsburgh Penguins equipment manager Danny Kroll made a surprise visit to the home of Pittsburgh 93.7 The Fan host Colin Dunlap and his 6-year-old daughter, Darran, who was diagnosed with leukemia last year.

Dunlap has received plenty of support from the Pittsburgh sports community since revealing his daughter's diagnosis, including from Mario Lemieux, who sent the family a letter and autographed puck in March.

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The Carolina Hurricanes have hired Mike Bales to be the team's new goalie coach, general manager Ron Francis announced.

Bales spent the past four seasons in the same position with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and thus brings a winning pedigree along with him.

"Mike has a proven history of success as a goaltending coach with the Penguins, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups," said Francis. "Based on our research, we are confident that he is someone our goalies and coaching staff will enjoy working with, and we're thrilled to have him in our organization."

Pittsburgh's goalie situation has been a hot topic as of late, and Bales' hiring is noteworthy on a couple of levels.

Prior to serving as Pittsburgh's goalie coach, Bales was the team's goaltending development coach and scout from 2011-13. In that role, he was instrumental in drafting and developing Matt Murray, who backstopped the Penguins to those two Cup wins.

Bales is also credited with bringing new life to Marc-Andre Fleury's game during his tenure.

The Hurricanes are seen as a team on the rise and recently acquired Scott Darling to be their starting goalie moving forward. Cam Ward and Eddie Lack also remain under contract for the time being, and Bales will now be charged with getting the most out of this position.

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The San Jose Sharks have traded defenseman Mirco Mueller and a fifth-round pick in 2017 to the New Jersey Devils for second- and fourth-round picks in this year's draft, the Sharks announced Saturday.

Mueller spent much of this season with the Sharks' AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, tallying two goals and 18 assists in 62 games. He was recalled to the Sharks for four games, recording two points.

The Sharks originally drafted Mueller 18th overall in 2013.

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