Sat and Bik break down the game as the Canucks lose 3-1 to the Bruins, including a goalie goal. Hear from Brett Festerling following the game, Rick Tocchet and players at the podium, and more!
This podcast was produced by Josh Elliott-Wolfe.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
The Montreal Canadiens had some bad news on the injury front on Saturday.
The team announced that popular rookie defenseman Arber Xhekaj will undergo season-ending surgery on his right shoulder next week, while forward Kirby Dach is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury.
Xhekaj, 22, hasn't played since Feb. 12 against the Edmonton Oilers. He exited the contest after a fight with Oilers blue-liner Vincent Desharnais.
Affectionately nicknamed "Wifi," the undrafted 6-foot-4 rearguard quickly endeared himself to Habs fans because of his penchant for dropping the gloves. Xhekaj put up five goals, 13 points, and 159 hits in 51 games while seeing just over 15 minutes of ice time per night.
Dach, meanwhile, was held out of the Canadiens' 6-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes because of an illness. However, further testing revealed that his illness-like symptoms were actually related to a lower-body injury.
The 22-year-old has impressed during his first season in Montreal, setting new career highs with 12 goals and 35 points in 54 contests. The Canadiens acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks in July for a first- and third-round pick in 2022.
Canadiens sniper Cole Caufield was ruled out for the remainder of the season because of a shoulder injury in January. Juraj Slafkovsky, the 2022 first-overall pick, hasn't played since Jan. 15 due to a lower-body injury.
The struggling Habs sit in the basement of the Atlantic Division with a 25-30-4 record.
The Nashville Predators have apparently determined which direction they'll go at the March 3 trade deadline.
After dealing forward Nino Niederreiter to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick, general manager David Poile's team is "very much open for business," Sportsnet's Jeff Marek reported on Saturday's edition of "32 Thoughts."
Marek added he believes captain Roman Josi, goaltender Juuse Saros, and star forward Filip Forsberg are untouchable, but anyone else is on the table.
Marek said he expects defenseman Dante Fabbro to be moved next week, while teams have reportedly been calling about power forward Tanner Jeannot. Both players are pending restricted free agents.
Fabbro, 24, was the Predators' first-round pick in 2016. He's put up one goal and seven assists in 53 games this season while seeing his ice time take a substantial hit; Fabbro is averaging 16:03 per contest, three full minutes less than the past three campaigns. He carries a cap hit of $2.4 million.
Jeannot, meanwhile, erupted onto the scene in his rookie year last season, posting 24 goals and 41 points in 81 games while leading the team with 318 hits. However, he's totaled just five goals and nine assists in 56 contests this campaign while being handcuffed by a shooting percentage of 5.7%. The 25-year-old's price tag is $800,000.
Nashville has made the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons but entered Saturday's slate seven points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion is sitting out Saturday's road game against the San Jose Sharks due to roster management, the Blackhawks announced. Forward Sam Lafferty also won't play for the same reason.
"Based on the current status of Patrick's situation, we collectively felt it was more appropriate to have him not play during this period of reflection," said Kane's agent, Pat Brisson, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.
The 34-year-old is believed to have left the team and returned to Chicago, per TSN's Darren Dreger.
Much has been speculated about Kane's future as he's a pending unrestricted free agent and holds a no-trade clause in his contract. The Buffalo native's preferred destination is the New York Rangers, according to The Athletic's Scott Powers and Arthur Staple.
Kane has 16 goals and 45 points through 54 contests this season, including three multi-goal efforts in his past four games.
Niederreiter, 30, has 18 goals and 10 assists in 56 games this campaign. He's under contract through next season at a $4-million cap hit.
The Swiss winger signed a two-year deal with the Predators last summer after four seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes. The New York Islanders drafted Niederreiter fifth overall in 2010, but he played only 64 games with the franchise before being moved to the Minnesota Wild.
He's a six-time 20-goal scorer and has posted strong underlying numbers for much of his career.
Nino Niederreiter, acquired by WPG, is a scoring winger who creates chances offensively at an extremely efficient rate at 5v5. Always a reliable playdriver. #GoJetsGopic.twitter.com/CFnkYhKTRu
The Jets are locked in a tight battle for the Central Division crown, sitting one point back of the Dallas Stars for first place with an extra game played. However, Winnipeg is only one point clear of the Wild and two clear of the Colorado Avalanche.
Nashville, on the other hand, is a severe longshot to make the playoffs with 62 points.
The Rangers drafted Kravtsov ninth overall in 2018. He has six points in 28 NHL games this season.
Kravtsov had a tumultuous tenure in New York. He requested a trade in Nov. 2021 and was subsequently loaned to the KHL. Kravtsov returned to the Rangers this season but struggled to gain minutes. He again requested a trade earlier this month.
The 23-year-old has an $875,000 cap hit and is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
"Vitaly is very happy going to the Canucks, he has always liked Vancouver, he has lots of friends on the team," Kravtsov's agent Dan Milstein said, according to CHEK News' Rick Dhaliwal.
Kravtsov won bronze at the 2019 World Juniors with Russia alongside Vasily Podkolzin, his new teammate in Vancouver.
Lockwood played 13 games with the Canucks in 2022-23, tallying one assist. The 24-year-old has 12 goals and 18 points in 26 contests in the AHL. Vancouver selected the former Michigan Wolverine in the third round of the 2016 draft.
The trade gives the Rangers needed cap space to potentially target Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane. The 34-year-old was scratched for Saturday's contest against the San Jose Sharks due to roster management. New York would have enough cap space to add Kane come Mar. 1 should Jake Leschyshyn be dropped from the roster Sunday, according to PuckPedia.
Over the next week, pending unrestricted free agents - or "rentals" - will be swapped from Team A to Team B as buyers buy and sellers sell in advance of the NHL's March 3 trade deadline. There's a predictable progression to it all.
What's less predictable is the fate of non-rentals. Deals involving players under team control are often classified as "change of scenery" moves, as at least one player involved is being flipped after a period of diminished ice time or poor performance. Usually, this non-rental has failed to meet lofty expectations set by a high draft slot or strong start to a pro career.
The players discussed below could be traded within the next week, or in the offseason, or never. What connects all eight: It's time for a change and multiple teams should be trying to acquire the player.
(Note: We excluded Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun and Red Wings forward Jakub Vrana from this exercise because their respective situations have been well publicized.)
Brock Boeser, Canucks
Jeff Vinnick / Getty Images
2022-23 stats: 10 goals, 27 assists in 50 games (16:55 average) Contract status: $6.65M cap hit, signed through 2024-25
Boeser, who turned 26 on Saturday, has been through the wringer in Vancouver.
Off the ice, Boeser could only watch from afar as his father's health worsened over multiple years, ultimately leading to his death in 2022. On the ice, he's endured plenty of scoring slumps and injury rehabs, while two playoff series wins in the 2020 playoff bubble count as the lone marker of team success.
Despite producing at a 30-goal pace three times, Boeser's never reached the 30-goal mark in six seasons because he's exceeded 70 games only once. The right winger can truly wire the puck and has utility as a secondary trigger man on the power play. The longstanding conundrum: if Boeser isn't scoring goals, what is he doing to add value?
In order to move Boeser - whose agent has been trying to broker a trade for several months - Vancouver likely needs to retain salary. His hometown team, the Minnesota Wild, is a possible landing spot. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported Wednesday the Flames have "kicked tires" on Boeser and the Capitals also appear to be interested.
Kasperi Kapanen, Penguins
2022-23 stats: 7 goals, 13 assists in 43 games (12:02 average) Contract status: $3.2M cap hit, signed through 2023-24
The Penguins tossed Kapanen a bone in the form of a two-year, $6.4-million extension this past offseason. It was a bad bet then and looks worse now. Kapanen was placed on waivers Friday. On Saturday afternoon, he'll either be claimed by another team or sent to AHL Wilkes Barre/Scranton.
Kapanen's been wildly inconsistent this season, tallying pointless streaks of nine games and four games (twice) over just 43 total contests. The 26-year-old Finn possesses blazing speed, but his hockey sense appears decidedly below average. He's now firmly in the Andreas Athanasiou/Michael Grabner tier of ultra-quick forwards whose top trait is far and away their skating ability.
When not scratched by frustrated coach Mike Sullivan, Kapanen has largely played with Jeff Carter and Brock McGinn. In 164 five-on-five minutes together, the third-line trio has been outscored 8-6 and crushed in the expected goals battle (a pitiful 39.3% xGF). While Kapanen could certainly use a fresh start, the former 20-goal scorer's stock has never been lower.
Yet there may be a fit in Vancouver. The front office is searching for NHLers in their early-to-mid 20s and Canucks president Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin, both formerly of the Penguins, know Kapanen well.
Filip Zadina, Red Wings
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
2022-23 stats: 2 goals, 2 assists in 14 games (12:51 average) Contract status: $1.825M cap hit, signed through 2024-25
Zadina, 23, is a classic change-of-scenery candidate.
The Czechia native ticks all the boxes: He's a former high pick (sixth overall in 2018) who's failed to live up to expectations; his current GM isn't the GM who called his name on draft day; the AHL and NHL coaching staffs, as well as the Red Wings' development department, have invested a lot of time and energy into improving his game with limited results; he's battled injuries; his contract isn't prohibitive (money or term).
Surely, at least one team - maybe retooling franchises like the Blues, Capitals, or Islanders - is willing to take a flier on Zadina and his potential. Out of junior, the left winger profiled as a future NHL sniper after potting 44 goals in 57 games in his draft year. He's far from it right now, though still fairly young.
Jesse Puljujarvi, Oilers
2022-23 stats: 5 goals, 9 assists in 56 games (12:26 average) Contract status: $3M cap hit, pending RFA
Puljujarvi remains a polarizing figure more than 300 games into his career.
He's a north-south winger with tremendous size (6-foot-4, 201 pounds), and he's hard on the forecheck and posts excellent underlying numbers. However, Puljujarvi has struggled to produce offense this year while playing 364 of his 648 five-on-five minutes with Connor McDavid or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Overall, Puljujarvi's ice time is down four minutes from last season, and Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft hasn't been afraid to remove him from the lineup. Would the hockey world - from Woodcroft to the average fan - look at him differently if he was a fourth-round pick instead of the No. 4 pick in 2016? Probably.
There's a template for redemption. Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin, a somewhat similar player, has flourished after a change of scenery. Perhaps Puljujarvi, 24, blossoms into Nichushkin lite one day.
The Hurricanes are reportedly interested in Puljujarvi. Meanwhile, the Canucks (searching for NHLers in their early-to-mid 20s), Coyotes (looking to fill the lineup with NHLers, period), and Lightning (strong development track record) come to mind as other potential suitors.
Denis Gurianov, Stars
Glenn James / Getty Images
2022-23 stats: 2 goals, 7 assists in 42 games (12:12 average) Contract status: $2.9M cap hit, pending RFA
Stars fans have asked themselves the same question for at least two seasons: Is this the year Gurianov breaks out as an impact top-six winger?
Spoiler alert: Gurianov, goalless in his past 21 games, has yet to break out despite now playing under three different head coaches.
The 25-year-old, who checks in at 6-foot-3, has world-class speed and a heavy shot and has unleashed these weapons several times since breaking into the league in 2018. At his best, he's an intoxicating talent. At his worst, he's frustratingly inconsistent - so much potential, not enough execution.
For the contending Stars, Gurianov could be a nice trade chip. Dallas could package him with a second-round pick for a rental. In that scenario: the Stars remove Gurianov's cap hit, Gurianov gets a fresh start, and the other team receives an NHL player (albeit a flawed one) and a relatively high pick for its trouble.
Cal Foote, Lightning
2022-23 stats: 1 goal, 2 assists in 25 games (14:12 average) Contract status: $850,000 cap hit, pending RFA
It's never a good sign when a late-round pick signed out of college immediately leapfrogs you on the depth chart.
That's what happened to Foote, the No. 14 pick in 2017, who was replaced in the lineup by Nick Perbix early in the season and no longer appears to be part of the long-term Lightning core.
Foote's a physical blue-liner with 129 games of NHL experience (116 regular season, 13 playoffs). He's right handed, so always in demand. His salary is low on his expiring deal and will stay that way given how little he's played in 2022-23. So, yes, there are a few things to like about the son of longtime NHLer Adam Foote.
The older Foote, by the way, is an assistant coach for the Canucks. Perhaps Vancouver is the right landing spot. Really, any rebuilding or retooling club - from the Flyers and Blackhawks to the Panthers and Blues - should be considering Foote. He's worth a shot.
Dante Fabbro, Predators
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
2022-23 stats: 1 goal, 7 assists in 53 games (16:03 average) Contract status: $2.4M cap hit, pending RFA
Fabbro, a righty with puck skills, hasn't developed into the difference-maker Nashville envisioned when the Boston University defenseman turned pro in 2019. This season, coach John Hynes has slashed Fabbro's ice time by three minutes, and he's producing at only a 12-point pace over 82 games.
Fabbro, 24, could be on the move any day now, especially with the Predators currently on the outside of the Western Conference playoff race. Fabbro will be one of the easier players to flip since the club's cap sheet is filled with undesirable contracts.
Similar to Foote, Fabbro's young enough to persuade teams into thinking there's untapped potential. Sportsnet's Jeff Marek linked Fabbro to the Sharks, partly because David Quinn coached Fabbro in college.
John Gibson, Ducks
2022-23 stats: .900 save percentage, .513 quality-start rate in 40 games Contract status: $6.4M cap hit, signed through 2026-27
Gibson's the outlier of this group - and not just because he's a goalie. He's also the oldest by three years, his contract runs longest by two years, he wasn't a first-round pick, and at one point he was considered a legitimate star.
Still, Gibson, a career Duck, might need a change of scenery more than anybody in the entire league. He's been peppered with rubber the past few years, and he leads all goalies in 2022-23 in total shots faced, slot shots faced, and inner slot shots faced. The 29-year-old must be at his wit's end.
Further, Gibson's prime (which arguably has already passed) doesn't align with the Ducks' timeline to contend. Flipping him now would give the promising tandem of Anthony Stolarz and Lukas Dostal extra runway. It's not like Anaheim's primed to challenge for a playoff spot next year, either.
Gibson's contract is pricey and long - not ideal for trade purposes. But, whether it's the Kings or Sabres, there are teams that need stability between the pipes and could easily stomach the drawbacks.
John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).
After stumbling out of the All-Star break, the Minnesota Wild's five-game point streak has general manager Bill Guerin interested in being a major player at the trade deadline.
"They're showing me they're serious," Guerin told The Athletic's Joe Smith on Friday. "We're going to be in a dogfight until the very end. We'd like to be active. What we can do or whatever we'll be able to do is another story. But we have to take a look at being very active."
The Wild already helped broker major trades for other teams in the past week. Minnesota acted as a third party for additional retention in Ryan O'Reilly's move to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Dmitry Orlov's trade to the Boston Bruins.
"I think we've managed our cap well and have flexibility that's important," Guerin said. "But it just doesn't mean that we're going to go out and use it all, because that costs assets. And we're just not necessarily in that spot."
Minnesota is in a unique position with upward of $10 million in available cap space at the trade deadline but limited room to maneuver past this season. The Wild's dead cap space rises to nearly $15 million in 2023-24 due to the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.
Guerin added they don't want to trade first-round picks or top prospects. With the lowest goals for record of any team currently in a playoff position, his preference is to make additions at forward.
Despite speculation that defenseman Matt Dumba could be traded, the pending unrestricted free agent appears set to remain with the Wild through the end of the campaign.
"I would lean that way," Guerin said of keeping Dumba. "Matt's played really well. His game is in a very good place. Right-shot defensemen who can skate - it's tough to replace. Matt being a big part of the room and the organization for a number of years, it's not an easy thing to do."
The Wild are third in the Central Division with a 32-21-6 record. The Colorado Avalanche are one point back of Minnesota with three games in hand.
