Hall, Foligno, Carter Dealt, More Deadline Madness Ahead?

It’s Trade Deadline Day for one of the strangest seasons in NHL history, and we’ve already seen a fair amount of activity in spite of predictions to the contrary. Some of the biggest pieces, including Taylor Hall, have already been moved as many GMs look to conclude their business without getting all the way down to the wire. Pierre Dorion, meanwhile, has already been active, trading Mike Reilly and Braydon Coburn on Sunday night for a 3rd and 7th round picks respectively. Where there was once a logjam, now there should be lots of opportunity for some of the young players on the Sens’ backend.

• Speaking of the trade deadline, the biggest to move so far is the aforementioned Hall. The former Hart Trophy winner is on his way to the Boston Bruins along with Curtis Lazar for Anders Bjork and a second round pick in 2021. On the one hand, Hall had a NMC and his value around the league has seriously plummeted the last 18 months. On the other hand, this seems like a mighty paltry return for a guy who is still just 29 and has been an excellent play-driver if a bit snake-bitten. Love the move for Boston, and we are also reminded yet again that Buffalo Sabres fans just can’t have nice things.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs got in on the action on Sunday evening by acquiring Nick Foligno, and Stefan Noesen, in a bid to fortify themselves for what they hope will be a long play-off run. The Leafs shipped out a first round pick (2021) and two fourth round picks (2021 and 2022) to make the deal happen. The 2021 fourth round pick is actually en route to San Jose, as the Sharks helped facilitate the trade by retaining part of Foligno’s salary. Toronto’s paying a steep price for a 33 year old who is clearly not what he used to be, but Foligno is still a valuable defensive contributor. Clearly, they decided that the premium was worth it in a year where they must feel like they have a real chance to make a serious run at it. Let’s hope they don’t get anywhere close!
• The Pittsburgh Penguins also decided what’s old is new again with their acquisition of Jeff Carter. This one’s a bit of a head-scratcher to me, as Carter is clearly a shadow of who he used to be and he still has a year on his contract after this one.
• Over at Sportsnet, they’ve got a list of the twenty most likely trade candidates, though that list is already a bit out of date as of this morning. One of the names most familiar to Sens fans will be Mike Hoffman who, stop me if you’ve heard this before, seems to have worn out his welcome with yet another coach despite some decent scoring numbers. Hoffman’s been a healthy scratch on a couple of occasions in St. Louis, but he also scored twice including the OT winner on Saturday night so who the heck really knows with that guy?
• Ian Mendes shares his weekly Sens-related thoughts over at the Athletic ($), including his grading of the Mike Reilly trade. Mendes also reflects on Eugene Melnyk’s latest media appearance in this week’s edition of The Hockey News.
• The Canucks are currently slated to return to play on April 16th after the team was beset by a particularly vicious outbreak of COVID-19. I am very hesitant to make any pronouncements without inside medical information, but rushing a team back into game action to finish a meaningless season after what they have been through does not fill me with hope or joy.
• Speaking of the Canucks, because of the postponement of several of their games, we no longer have a start date for the play-offs.
• And lastly, there had been some talk that Henrik Lundqvist might make a return to the NHL with the Washington Capitals after heart surgery earlier this year but that now appears to be off the table. /