It’s been awhile, but Around the NHL is back!
With the hockey activity ramping up over the next month, there’s been a ton of news the past few days. The rare offer sheet was used, there have been plenty of trades, the 2023 Calder Trophy winner re-signed, and the Philadelphia Flyers could be in hot water.
Let’s take a look at all that in the latest Around the NHL!
Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway are officially St. Louis Blues
On Aug. 13, the St. Louis Blues agreed with Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg of the Edmonton Oilers to an offer sheet. Broberg, a defenceman, was given a two-year deal worth $4,580,917 annually, while Holloway, a forward, was given a two-year deal worth $2,290,457 annually. Both agreed to the deal, and the Oilers had until Aug. 20 to match.
After several trades that we’ll look at after, the Oilers decided against matching the contracts of their 2019 and 2020 first round picks, meaning that Holloway and Broberg are officially a part of the Blues’ organization. In return, the Oilers received a 2025 second-round pick for Broberg and a 2025 third-round pick for Holloway.
The Oilers selected Broberg with the eight-overall pick in the 2019 draft and he’s scored two goals and 13 points in 81 regular season games. However, he had a good showing in the Oilers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final, scoring two goals and three points in 10 games.
Holloway was selected the following draft with the 14th-overall pick, and he scored six goals and nine points in 38 games with the 2023-24 Oilers. Moreover, he added five goals and seven points in 25 post-season games while playing alongside Leon Draisaitl.
It’s hard for the contending Oilers, who are up against the cap, to agree to these price points on their young players, especially since they haven’t quite lived up to where they were selected. However, the Blues will offer Holloway and Broberg opportunities that they wouldn’t otherwise get with the Oilers.
Trades galore!
Speaking of the Edmonton Oilers, they’ve made three trades since Sunday.
Vasily Podkolzin was picked two selections after Broberg in the 2019 draft by the Vancouver Canucks, and the Oilers sent a 2025 fourth-round pick to their Pacific Division rival for the 23-year-old. Podkolzin scored 14 goals and 26 points in 79 games during his 2021-22 rookie season, but has struggled to stay in the Canucks’ lineup since.
Later that evening, the Oilers traded their shutdown right-shot defenceman, Cody Ceci, to the San Jose Sharks for Ty Emberson. Also traded to the Sharks was a 2025 third-round pick that the Oilers had acquired from the Ottawa Senators earlier this off-season. Ceci scored five goals and 25 points with the Oilers in 79 games, and even scored his second Game 7 goal in his Oiler tenure, the most for any Oiler defenceman in franchise history. Emberson played 30 games with the Sharks last season, scoring a goal and 10 points in 30 games and is regarded as a good shutdown defenceman.
The Oilers weren’t done with the trade though, as Tuesday morning saw them acquire a 2028 third-round pick and prospect Paul Fischer from the St. Louis Blues for “future considerations,” aka: “we’re going to match Holloway or Broberg’s offer sheets unless you give us something extra.” Fischer is a left-shot defenceman whom the Blues drafted in the fifth-round of the 2023 draft. Last season at Notre Dame, he scored two goals and 16 points in 34 games.
There was another trade in recent times, surprisingly not including the Oilers. On Monday, the Montréal Canadiens traded defenceman Jordan Harris to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Patrik Laine and a 2026 second-round pick, taking on Laine’s entire $8.7 million cap hit for the next two seasons.
Laine missed most of the 2023-24 season due to injury and entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, scoring six goals and nine points in 18 games when healthy. The second-overall selection in the 2016 draft scored 22 goals the season prior, and even has a 44 goal season under his belt, coming all the way back in 2017-18 with the Winnipeg Jets.
As for Harris, he scored three goals and 14 points in 56 games with the Canadiens, down from the four goals and 17 points in 65 games the season prior. The Canadiens have one of the strongest prospect pools for defencemen, so they could afford to make this trade.
Matty Beniers and Seattle agree to an extension
Speaking of second-overall selections, the Seattle Kraken agreed to a seven-year deal worth $7.14 million annually with their first pick in franchise history, Matty Beniers.
Beniers made his National Hockey League debut in 2021-22, playing 10 games with three goals and nine points, before becoming a regular with the Kraken in 2022-23. The centre scored 24 goals and 57 points, along with three goals and seven points in 14 postseason games, with the Kraken falling in Game 7 of the second-round. He was also the first Kraken to win an award, as Beniers was the 2022-23 Calder Memorial Trophy winner.
Unfortunately for Beniers and the Kraken, the 2023-24 seasons saw him hit the infamous sophomore slump, as he scored 15 goals and 37 points in 77 games. Moreover, the Kraken failed to repeat the success of the season prior, ending up with the eighth-fewest points in the NHL.
Still, the 21-year-old has a long future ahead of him.
Philadelphia Flyers placed Ryan Johansen on unconditional waivers
From one player that just started his career to another whose career may be ending soon, we have Ryan Johansen. On Tuesday, the Flyers placed the veteran centre on unconditional waivers with the intent to terminate his contract due to a material breach.
However, it doesn’t seem like Johansen’s agent, KO Sports, INC (led by Kurt Overhardt) agrees with the situation, releasing a statement on social media. In this statement, it notes that Johansen has “a severe hockey injury that requires extensive surgery,” noting that the surgery has been scheduled.
Johansen was selected fourth-overall in the 2010 draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets, spending parts of five seasons there before a trade with the Nashville Predators. Johansen spent parts of eight seasons with the Predators, before they retained 50% of his salary and traded him to the Colorado Avalanche. A few days before the 2024 trade deadline, Johansen was traded to the Flyers and placed on waivers.
In his 13-year career, the 32-year-old right-shot centre has 202 goals and 578 points in 905 games, along with 19 goals and 54 points in 67 post-season games. In his second season with the Predators, they reached the Stanley Cup Finals where they fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, Johansen suffered a serious injury in the Western Conference Finals and missed the remainder of the postseason.
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.
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