Monday LNN: Injuries, Injuries, Trades, Trades
Everyone is getting hurt!
The theme of today's edition of Links, News, and Notes is injuries and trades. Our beloved Ottawa Senators had been dealing a rash of players missing time, though Saturday's victory over the San Jose Sharks featured an almost completely healthy line-up. It's just what happens as the grind of an 82 game regular season adds up, but it's still no fun to see. Combined with the already executed trades, as well as those rumoured but yet to come to fruition, you've got a lot of teams whose line-ups are in flux:
-Matthew Tkachuk looks like he will miss the rest of the regular season with that groin injury he suffered at the 4 Nations Face-Off
-Jack Hughes suffered what appeared to be a severe shoulder injury late in New Jersey's 2-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights last night. Losing Hughes for any period of time would be a big blow for the Devils.
-Obviously the big trade of the weekend was Chicago dealing Seth Jones (while retaining $2.5MM annually) to the Florida Panthers for Spencer Knight and a 2027 1st round pick. This seems like a home run from Chicago's perspective, even if the $2.5MM retained is a bit steep for my liking. Clearing the books of Jones' contract long-term, while getting a young credible NHL goalie and a first round pick in return is nice work. For Florida, maybe you can talk yourself into it by squinting a bit and focusing on the fact that they are in it to win it now and not in five years, but Jones is 31 and not the player he was five years ago. Even at $7MM a year, I'm not sure that contract is anything but trouble. Still, he can play credibly on a second pairing and that's all he'll be asked to do in Florida.
-The Minnesota Wild acquired Gustav Nyquist from the Nashville Predators for a 2026 second round pick. Nyquist, who enjoyed a career best 75 points in 81 games last year with the Preds, has slumped to just 21 so far this year. That Nashville was able to extract a 2nd round pick for a 35 year old in the midst of a tough year has to make Sens fans a bit nervous about the price of rentals.
-Speaking of rentals, Julian McKenzie goes bargain bin hunting for the Sens. I can't say I'd be hugely enthused about anyone mentioned there, but a couple of the names being kicked about could definitely help.
-Brock Boeser, whose negotiations with the Vancouver Canucks appear to have reached an impasse.
-Max Domi shouted out Wayne Gretzky after scoring a goal in Toronto's dramatic 6-5 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Gretzky has been under fire recently for his longtime support of Donald Trump in light of the U.S president's antagonistic approach to Canada. Domi, also an avid Trump supporter, really made that fourth goal of the season count. Good for you, Max.
-With noted asshole J.T Miller thriving in New York, Elias Pettersson' struggles continue in Vancouver. He remains a defensive force, but you don't pay a guy $11.6M a year to score 50 points!
-And lastly, while it doesn't look like we are shaping up to have an active Trade Deadline (famous last words), it's still fun to dream up some really outlandish possibilities.
