Monday LNN: Fowler Traded to Blues, NHL Quarter-Century Teams, Canada's WJC Roster, and more!
Links, news, and notes about the Cam Fowler trade, NHL's Quarter-Century teams, Canada's WJC final roster, and more!
- It seemed like Cam Fowler was involved in trade rumours for years, but he was finally dealt to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. The Blues dealt a 2027 2nd-round pick and Jeremie Biakabutuka to Anaheim while receiving Fowler and a 20207 4th-round pick. Anaheim is retaining 38.5% of Fowler's $6.5M cap hit, which goes through the 2025-26 season.
- Team Canada released their final roster for the 2025 World Junior Championships. We knew that Carter Yakemchuk sadly wasn't going to be on the team, and surprisingly Beckett Sennecke, Zayne Parekh, and Andrew Cristall (who has 52 points in 22 games for the Kelowna Rockets) did not make it either. It's clear that Canada isn't necessarily going for the most skilled players, although they obviously have a lot of talent even without some top picks. The two most interesting names who made it are draft-eligible players Porter Matone (54 points in 26 games for the Mississauga Steelheads), Matthew Schaefer (22 points in 17 games for the Eerie Otters), and Gavin McKenna (60 points in 30 games for the Medicine Hat Tigers)—although McKenna isn't even eligible to be drafted until 2026. The World Juniors begin on Boxing Day as usual, as Canada faces Finland.
- Keegan Kolesar signed an extension with the Vegas Golden Knights for three years and an AAV of $2.5M. The 27-year-old has 11 points in 29 games this season and has found a real home for himself in Vegas.
- On a daily basis beginning on December 30th, the NHL will be releasing Quarter-Century teams for each franchise. What that means is players who have played in 2000 or later for an organization are eligible to be picked, with three forwards, two defensemen, and one goalie getting selected for the first and second teams. So Ottawa will have 12 players in total who will be honoured, and those selections for the Senators will be revealed on January 25th. If I had to pick the first team for Ottawa, I'd say Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson, Wade Redden, Erik Karlsson, and Craig Anderson, which is probably what they will go with. Zdeno Chara and Dominik Hasek were better players overall but didn't quite have the same overall legacy in Ottawa as Redden and Anderson. Who would you pick?
- Thanks to a hat-trick from John Tavares, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 on Sunday, which pushed the Sabres losing streak to ten games, going 0-7-3. The Sabres are putting themselves out of the playoff race, and the Senators have gained 12 points on them over those last ten games.
- The Athletic Staff give an intriguing trade target for each team, with Julian McKenzie picking Rasmus Andersson. He might cost a lot, but he'd fit perfectly.
- The NHL released an injury update for many players around the league, and the most intriguing update is that Alex Ovechkin is already back practicing with the Capitals for the first time since breaking his left fibula on November 18th. He won't be playing immediately, but it's a great sign that he's already on the ice.
- Jonatan Berggren was fined $2148.44 for his crosscheck on Cole Dewar during their game against Toronto on Saturday. It was a pretty vicious high crosscheck so the fine is deserved.
- The newest Breakaway episode from the Senators will drop on Wednesday, but here's a sneak peek featuring Dany Heatley and his family's arrival at the airport. You can tell what a homerun hire Ian Mendes was for the Sens.
- Tristan Jarry seemed to be upset that uh...opposing players can beat defenders to the net and let pucks deflect off them? This has to be the biggest whining I've seen from a losing goalie, maybe ever.
- Hailey Salvian has a great piece at The Athletic about how PWHL players are adapting to a more physical game despite bodychecking being penalized.
- Brock Boeser is a UFA in the summer, and the Sportsnet staff talks about the likelihood of him staying in Vancouver.
