NHL
NHL Regular
Season
Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, right, squares off with Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky on Monday night in Sunrise, Fla. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
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Good morning to everyone except for officials who break up goalie fights. Thanks for taking last night off!
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We’ll get to the trades. But first, while you were sleeping, you missed arguably the very best sight in hockey:
Yes, we had a goalie fight, the NHL’s first since 2020. It featured Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky and San Jose’s Alex Nedeljkovic, who has now become one of the only goalies to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick for his career. You can watch the whole thing here.
We’ve also had a few trades lately, with Kiefer Sherwood heading to San Jose yesterday. That came one day after Rasmus Andersson headed to Vegas, because that’s where every big name goes. Wait, is Andersson a big name? He’s a 10-year veteran who’s never received so much as a single Norris vote, so you might push back on the framing. On the other hand, it’s the NHL, and these GMs have the most complicated jobs in the world, so we take what we can get.
And we may be getting plenty over the next few weeks. While there’s certainly a “Lucy holding the football” vibe anytime someone says this, some indicators point to the potential for some big moves between now and the deadline. For one, we get a bonus deadline before the Olympics, with a Feb. 4 trade freeze looming. Second, while that Olympic break won’t feature any formal trades, it should give GMs a chance to do some in-depth evaluations and be ready to come out swinging when the freeze lifts on Feb. 23.
And maybe most importantly, we’re finally getting just a bit of separation in the standings. The concern through most of the first half was that there wouldn’t be enough sellers to feed the market, since everyone was close enough to the playoff bubble to talk themselves into staying the course. Now we’re seeing teams throw in the towel, with the Flames moving one of their biggest pieces and the Rangers officially looking ahead to the future.
Mix in our first coaching change, and the message is clear: It’s time for teams to pick a lane. At least some will pick the one that says “sell.”
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So who’s left? That’s where it gets interesting …
If you missed it, our latest edition of Chris Johnston’s trade board dropped yesterday, featuring 37 names. Here are the five that interest me the most:
Artemi Panarin: The top name on the list, for obvious reasons. Now that the Rangers are tapping out, the pending unrestricted free agent instantly becomes the biggest star available. He has a no-move clause, but it wouldn’t make sense to play out the season in New York rather than chase a playoff run somewhere else. Peter Baugh and Vincent Mercogliano have a list of 10 teams they think could be fits, while our full roster of writers had some ideas of their own.
Nazem Kadri: He still has three years left on his deal, so this is no rental. But Kadri has a ring, he plays center and he’s still productive. There’d be takers, no question. This feels like a canary in the coal mine of how serious the Flames are about rebuilding.
Elias Pettersson: The Canucks could have moved him last year, before his trade protection kicked in. They waited, and it could cost them, because the absence of J.T. Miller hasn’t transformed Pettersson back into the 100-point player he was three years ago. Would some team be willing to gamble that they could get that guy back? I wouldn’t, but the Canucks need to find only one partner for this dance.
Alex Tuch: He’s been front and center in the rumor mill all year, with the assumption that he’d either agree to a long-term extension in Buffalo or be the belle of the deadline ball. There’s no extension yet, but two things have changed. First, fellow winger Panarin might steal some of the spotlight. And more importantly, the Sabres are making a playoff run. Let’s just throw it out there: Even if Tuch won’t re-sign, does Jarmo Kekäläinen owe it to this team (and its fans) to hold onto his second-leading scorer and see how it plays out?
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Jordan Binnington: He’s not the biggest name on the Blues’ list, but I’m just not buying the Robert Thomas/Jordan Kyrou talk. But Binnington? I think that gets interesting if — and it’s admittedly a big if — he looks good at the Olympics. Throw his awful stats this year out the window if he comes home with gold again; some GM out there will convince themselves that Binnington has that special winner’s gene.
Honorable mentions to Dougie Hamilton, Steven Stamkos and the Schenn brothers.
OK, GMs, start working those phones.
Somebody posted this in the comment section of yesterday’s power rankings, and it made me so sad that I had to share it with you.
Which player who counts against the 2025-26 Vancouver Canucks salary cap has the most points so far this season?
Hint: He’s not cheap, coming in at a cap hit of almost $5 million.
Answer below.
🏒 Ever heard someone talking about a hockey stick’s “flex?” Fluto Shinzawa explains what it means and how it’s changing how top scorers play.
👶 Scott Wheeler has a new draft ranking, and Gavin McKenna has been bumped out of the top spot.
👔 Pierre LeBrun caught up with Pete DeBoer, who sounds eager to get back behind a bench.
🏈 OK, this is a football post, but hockey fans might get a familiar feeling from it: Hey, why is Terry Pegula being weird about his GM?
🎙️ On the latest edition of “The Athletic Hockey Show,” Vince Mercogliano joined Max Bultman and Mark Lazerus to break down the Rangers’ recently released “retool” letter, who could be dealt and how the normally chill fan base is reacting to all of it.
🥇 Over the weekend, Team Canada star Sarah Nurse scored in her PWHL return from a two-month injury absence. The Olympics start in about 2 1/2 weeks, just enough time for Nurse to round into form. At least she’s used to this kind of thing.
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Last night marked the first time that Jonathan Toews has played in Chicago as a visitor. After 15 years in Chicago and two years out of the league recovering from health issues, Toews made his comeback this year with the Winnipeg Jets.
It’s gone … well, just OK, if we’re being honest. The hope was that Toews and his leadership could be the final piece of a championship puzzle. Instead, he’s struggled offensively and the Jets have been the league’s biggest disappointment. There have been positive signs lately, including a four-game winning streak that corresponded with a four-game point streak from Toews. But if the player who’s lifted the Cup three times as a captain is going to get back to the playoffs this year, it’s going to take some doing.
For one night, though, none of that mattered. Last night was about Toews being back in Chicago, the place where he’s written many of his most memorable moments. And for one night, at least, Blackhawks fans finally had the chance to say thank you.
You can find a clip of the full ovation here. The Jets lost 2-0, though that hardly mattered. This one was more about a long-awaited welcome home.
And speaking of homecomings, Mitch Marner and the Golden Knights are in Toronto on Friday. That one might be a bit less friendly. But between that and the Knights pulling off another big trade, I figured it was a good time to tag in our old friend Jesse Granger for an update on what’s happening in Las Vegas these days.
Two weeks ago today, the Knights had lost five straight and eight of nine. They’d just been beaten by the Blues and Blackhawks. Their record was 17-11-12, they had a negative goals differential, and they had their hands full holding off not just the Oilers but the Kraken, Ducks, Sharks and Kings in the Pacific. They then won seven straight before last night’s loss to the Flyers. What changed, and will it stay that way?
A big part of it is the puck simply started finding the back of the net. I haven’t seen a major shift in the way they’ve generated offense, and they’ve been defending well throughout the season, but prior to this stretch Vegas was scoring 3.1 goals per game (19th in the NHL). During the stretch it has averaged 5.1 goals (most in the NHL).
Determining whether it will stay that way is tough, because the answer is usually that a team will regress to what they’ve shown over the larger sample size. However, with Vegas’ weapons up front, it’s not out of the question that the scoring will continue.
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How does Rasmus Andersson fit in?
One of Vegas’ biggest weaknesses this season has been breaking pucks out of its own zone cleanly, and Andersson should help that almost immediately. It will be interesting to see how he handles a much different role, though, because he will likely see less ice time than he did in Calgary.
He will certainly see less time on the power play, where it’s unlikely he’ll see the ice at all (barring injury). The Golden Knights’ top unit uses five forwards, and Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin should both be ahead of Andersson in the pecking order for PP2.
How is it that the Knights always seem to have the assets and the cap space to be at the front of the line for every big name that becomes available?
I think being a destination where players actively want to play helps a ton. It allows Vegas to sign players for less than they could’ve commanded on the open market (thanks to income tax breaks, warm weather and a team that’s always competing for Cups). It also allows them to make trades like the one for Andersson (and Hanifin before that, and Mark Stone before that) without the guarantee of an extension. Other teams shy away from giving up a bundle of assets for what could be a rental, but Vegas is so confident that the player will sign an extension after they’re in the building, there’s no hesitation to offer more.
Finally, we’re a few days away from Mitch Marner’s return to Toronto. How’s he fitting in so far in Vegas? Has he lived up to the hype?
Marner has been good, but I do think there’s another level to his game that we’ve yet to see in Vegas. Part of that is all of the changes he’s adapting to. Not just playing for a new team in a new city for the first time in his NHL career, but he’s also playing center for the first time as a pro.
He has shown more ability to drive offense over this last stretch, and if he continues on that trajectory, Vegas’ offense could be scary. The biggest test will always be the postseason, though.
Oh interesting, does Marner struggle in the postseason? First I’ve heard of it. Thanks Jesse.
📺 Wild @ Canadiens
7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ / TSN2 / RDS
It’s not often you get to watch arguably the single greatest defenseman of his generation, so it will be cool for Quinn Hughes to get to see Lane Hutson up close. The Wild have cooled off lately, while the Habs are in a battle for home ice in the Atlantic.
📺 Bruins @ Stars
7:30 p.m. ET on TNT / Sportsnet
The Bruins are tough to figure out, but they’re red-hot these days. The Stars are not, and have spent the last month coming back to the pack after spending most of the first half as the league’s consensus second-best team. Also, this matchup is always a fun excuse to rewatch the infamous Tyler Seguin trade behind-the-scenes video.
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📺 Sabres @ Predators
8 p.m. ET on ESPN+
Imagine going back even a month and trying to tell an NHL fan that this game would feel important, and not because of its lottery implications. Both of these teams were counted out early, and both have fought back to rejoin the race.
Full NHL schedule here. Try streaming games like these for free on Fubo.
Of all the players who appear on the Canucks’ cap sheet this year, the leading scorer is Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
No, he doesn’t play for Vancouver. No, he hasn’t played for them in three years. Yes, he’s switched teams twice since then.
But when the Canucks bought him out in 2023, they incurred a cap charge that will last until 2031. This year, that cap hit is $4.76 million, making Ekman-Larsson their third-highest-paid blueliner. And he’s apparently been worth every penny, I guess, racking up 31 points heading into last night’s action, two points more than the Canucks’ leading scorer, Elias Pettersson.
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Sean McIndoe has been a senior NHL writer with The Athletic since 2018. He launched Down Goes Brown in 2008 and has been writing about hockey ever since, with stops including Grantland, Sportsnet and Vice Sports. His book, “The Down Goes Brown History of the NHL,” is available in book stores now. Follow Sean on Twitter @DownGoesBrown
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