Around the NHL: Nathan MacKinnon took home the Ted Lindsay and Hart, trades galore, and more!
2 days ago
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A lot has happened since the latest Around the NHL.
For starters, the 2024 Stanley Cup champion has been crowned, the Florida Panthers, and more importantly, not the Edmonton Oilers. However, we’ll look at some recent trades that happened since the morning of June 24.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the latest Around the NHL!
Linus Ullmark traded
The first trade came on June 24, as the Boston Bruins traded netminder Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Joonas Korpisalo (25% retention), Mark Kastelic, and their 25th-overall pick. Funnily enough, that pick was moved at the 2023 trade deadline to the Detroit Red Wings for Tyler Bertuzzi, before the Wings (who we’ll look at next) traded it for Alex DeBrincat.
Anyway, Ullmark is a 30-year-old netminder who won the 2022-23 Vezina Trophy. Last season with the Bruins, he posted a .915 save percentage and a 2.55 goals-against average in 40 games, along with an .886 save percentage in two postseason games. The Bruins relied heavily on Jeremy Swayman throughout the two rounds they played in.
Korpisalo signed with the Senators during the 2023 off-season, and posted an abysmal .890 save percentage and a 3.27 goals-against average in 55 games played in his first and only season in the Nation’s Capital.
Kastelic on the other hand, is a right-shot centre who scored five goals and 10 points in 63 games last season. He missed out on matching his career-high of seven goals and 11 points he set in 65 games in 2022-23.
Detroit making moves
The first move the Detroit Red Wings made on June 25 was trading prospect Andrew Gibson to the Nashville Predators for Jesse Kiiskinen and a second-round pick. Gibson, 19, is a right-shot defenceman who scored 12 goals and 44 points in 68 games with the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.
Kiiskinen, 18, scored four goals and 10 points in 36 SM-Liiga games with the Lahti Pelicans. It wasn’t much of a trade, but the following move was puzzling.
The Red Wings then used that second-round pick to move Jake Walman and his $3.4 million cap hit for future considerations. However, Walman was making what he deserved, scoring a career-high 12 goals and 21 points in 63 games while playing top pairing minutes alongside Moritz Seider. So why add a second?
This trade still doesn’t make sense, but perhaps Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman has something up his sleeve.
Vancouver cleared cap
The Vancouver Canucks are having a busy summer already, after taking the Edmonton Oilers to the brink of the semifinals.
Their first order of business this off-season was trading Ilya Mikheyev and his $4.5 million cap hit (15% retention), Sam Lafferty’s rights, and a 2027 second-round pick in exchange for a 2027-draft fourth-round pick.
Last season, Mikheyev scored 11 goals and 31 points, falling one point shy of matching his career-best point total (32 points), but well away from the 21 goals he scored that season. Lafferty is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and he scored 13 goals and 24 points, both career-highs, with the Canucks last season.
This allowed the Canucks to sign two of their players, forward Dakota Joshua and defencemen Tyler Myers.
Last season, Joshua scored a career-best 18 goals and 32 points, along with four goals and eight points in 13 postseason games. For his good play, he was awarded with a four-year deal with an annual cap hit of $3.25 million.
Later the same day, the Canucks signed right-shot defenceman Tyler Myers to a three-year deal worth $3 million annually. Last season, Myers, now 34, scored five goals and 29 points in 77 games, his most productive season as a Canuck.
Defenceman Quinn Hughes also won his first-career Norris Trophy, so it was a rather eventful day for Vancouver Canuck fans and players.
San Jose are busy bees
There’s been quite a bit of moving up so far prior to the 2024 draft. The San Jose Sharks are the latest team to do so, trading for the Buffalo Sabres’ 11th-overall pick, giving up their 14th-overall pick from the Pittsburgh Penguins as well as a second-round pick in this year’s draft.
That wasn’t all though, as they also moved right-shot defenceman Kyle Burroughs to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Carl Grundstrom. Last season, Grundstrom, 26, scored eight goals and 12 points in 50 games, down from the 12 goals and 19 points in 57 games the season prior.
Burroughs became a mainstay on a terrible Sharks roster, scoring a career-best two goals and eight points in 73 games. The season prior for the Vancouver Canucks, he scored two goals and five points in 48 games.
NHL Awards announced
As noted early in the article, Vancouver Canucks defenceman Quinn Hughes won his first Norris Trophy, scoring a career-best 17 goals and 92 points, along with 10 postseason assists in 13 games.
Nathan MacKinnon took home the Ted Lindsay Award (voted by the NHLPA) as well as the Hart Trophy. Hard to argue that, as he scored a career-high 51 goals and 140 points in 82 games this season. This wasn’t his first award, as he won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2013-14, as well as the Lady Byng in 2019-20.
Speaking of the Calder Memorial Trophy, Connor Bedard won the award. The next generational talent scored 22 goals and 61 points in 68 games, missing out on 14 games due to a broken jaw. This kid will have a lot of success in the league, especially when he gets good teammates.
Sticking with Connors, Connor Hellebuyck won his second Vezina Trophy, as he posted a .921 save percentage and a 2.39 goals-against average in 60 games played for the Winnipeg Jets. The other Vezina Trophy win came in 2019-20.
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