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PHT’s 2021 NHL Trade Deadline Live Blog

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Liam McHugh, Dominic Moore and Mike Babcock unveil this week's NHL Power Rankings, where the New York Islanders are surging after the Trade Deadline and the Avs have a stranglehold on the No. 1 spot.

Welcome to Pro Hockey Talk’s 2021 NHL Trade Deadline live blog. There’s already been a flurry of action in the past few days, but some names are still out there who could potentially be on the move before 3 p.m. ET today. Read on for news and analysis.

Winners and losers of the 2021 NHL Trade Deadline
NHL Power Rankings: Where things stand after NHL trade deadline
Some contenders still missing pieces as NHL trade deadline passes

3:25 p.m. ET -- Be sure to check out the NHL Trade Deadline Tracker for every move that goes down today. Later on Monday we’ll have our winner and losers from the trade deadline. Bye for now.

3 p.m. ET -- Pencils down everyone! The deadline is here, but as you know deals can still trickle in and be announced after 3 p.m. ET. The final hour is usually the busiest, so the trade call line with NHL Central Registry gets backed up. More deals are likely still be come in.

2:42 p.m. ET -- The Ryan Getzlaf/Vegas talk can quiet down now that the Golden Knights have gone in a different direction for a center. Mattias Janmark is heading to Sin City along with a 2022 fifth-round pick. Going to the Blackhawks will be a 2021 second-round pick and a 2022 third-rounder.

The Sharks were also involved in helping broker the deal and will receive a 2022 fifth-round pick.

“I’m thrilled. The city’s very good and I think the team’s good, and they have a good chance to win,” Janmark told TSN’s James Duthie. “I’m happy I ended up in a place like Vegas.”

Other deals rolling in: Sam Bennett heads to the Panthers for a second-rounder and a prospect; Erik Gustafsson will join the Canadiens from Philadelphia for a seventh-rounder and the Flyers retaining 50% of his cap hit; Erik Gudbranson heads to Nashville; and Ben Hutton to the Leafs.

2:18 p.m. ET -- Like Iafallo, Scott Laughton was another player whose ongoing contract extension talks led to trade rumors. But the center will be staying in Philadelphia after the Flyers inked the 26-year-old to a five-year, $15M deal.

Laughton has seven goals and 17 points in 38 games this season.

Meanwhile, the Avalanche has brought back Carl Soderberg in a deal that sends Jason Dickinson and Ryder Rolston to the Blackhawks.

1:46 p.m. ET -- Alex Iafallo is officially staying in Los Angeles. The Kings announced the 27-year-old forward has inked a four-year, $16M extension.

Iafallo’s name had popped up in trade rumors recently, but extension talks went late into Sunday night to get a deal done. He has 11 goals and 25 points in 39 games this season.

1:38 p.m. ET -- A sign that the Panthers are keeping their three-headed crease? Head coach Joel Quenneville announced that Chris Driedger will start Tuesday against Dallas. That means they’ll stay with Sergei Bobrovsky sharing the crease with Driedger and Spencer Knight staying on the taxi squad for now.

Driedger is having a solid season and is a UFA this off-season.

[MORE: Players who could be on the move Monday]

1:35 p.m. ET -- Taking a break from trade talk, Seattle Kraken GM Ron Francis told TSN that the franchise is expected to make its final expansion payment at the end of April, officially making them a part of the NHL. That will allow them to begin making trades and also have a vote .

Francis also said he’s comfortable waiting before hiring a head coach. There’s no rush at the moment and the coach pool could increase depending on what happens after the NHL season ends.

1:25 p.m. ET -- Really, a delightful Twitter account:

1 p.m. ET -- Is Ryan Getzlaf open to a trade? The 35-year-old Ducks captain is in the final year of his contract and has only known the Anaheim franchise in his NHL career. With the team moving in a younger direction, he might be willing to waive his full no-move clause to go to a Cup contender.

Enter the Golden Knights, who could use the forward depth. Add in the fact that Vegas isn’t too far from Anaheim and it’s a possibility we see before the 3 p.m. ET deadline.

“I’ve poured my heart into this organization and I want to see it come back to where it was,” said Getzlaf via Eric Stephens of The Athletic. “Whether that’s with me or after me, these kids are part of our future.”

12:13 p.m. ET -- We have a trade! The Canucks have sent Adam Gaudette to the Blackhawks for Matthew Highmore. Gaudette is one of the few Vancouver players no longer on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list. In 33 games this season he has four goals and seven points. He recorded 33 points in 59 games last season.

Gaudette is scheduled to become an RFA this off-season.

12 p.m. ET -- Some defensemen are on the move, but not via trade. The Senators have claimed Victor Mete from the Canadiens and the Stars have added Sami Vatanen from the Devils.

The Vatanen pick up is an interesting one for the Stars. Pending UFA Jamie Oleskiak’s name has popped up in trade rumors, and adding Vatanen would appear to be some insurance in case “Big Rig: Dallas edition: is dealt by GM Jim Nill. Then again, you can never go wrong with depth on the blue line, especially considering Andrej Sekera’s status after he left Sunday’s game with an injury.

Mete, 22, is an RFA this off-season, so the Senators, after moving Mike Reilly to Boston, gets a nice look at a young blue liner before deciding if they should keep him in the fold next season.

11:51 a.m. ET -- Agent Allan Walsh Tweets that the NHL schedule should go dark on trade deadline day to allow players and team staff to handle the craziness that might come. It’s a very good point, but this season, with fewer games and plenty of rescheduled ones, it might have been difficult to do.

The NHL hasn’t gone completely silent in terms of games on deadline day, but just a year ago there a lone game on the slate. There were two games following the 2011 and 2017 deadlines and three in 2015. Perhaps next season, when we’re back to a normal 82-game, October-April regular season schedule, a night off for teams during a busy day can happen.

11:43 a.m. ET -- Some fun to think about as we wait for a trade to break today. Following Jeff Carter’s trade to the Penguins, we could be hearing about cap recapture again if the 36-year-old chooses to give up the final year of his contract (2021-22) and retire this summer.

Via Puck Pedia, since the Kings retained 50% of Carter’s $2M salary for the remainder of his contract, LA would be charged $3.1M on their cap if the forward hangs them up this off-season. Columbus would also get dinged $551K, while the Penguins would actually benefit with $381K of cap space opening up.

11:35 a.m. ET -- Reminders as the deadline approaches, per the always reliable CapFriendly:

• Teams can now exceed the 23-player roster limit as long as it’s within the $81.5M salary cap ceiling.

• Trades can still be completed after the 3 p.m. ET deadline but the players involved will be ineligible from playing any remaining regular season and playoff games. Same goes for waiver claims.

• For players to be eligible to be sent down to the AHL, they must be on an AHL roster or NHL taxi squad by 3 p.m. ET today.

11:15 a.m. ET -- As we wait for trades, the Capitals have announced that they will welcome fans back to games later this month. Beginning with the April 27 game against the Islanders, Capital One Arena will welcome 2,100 fans -- 10% capacity -- thanks to the The Office of the D.C. Mayor, D.C. Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, and D.C. Health approving the plan.

11:10 a.m. ET -- Is Nikita Zadorov the next player Stan Bowman will trade out of Chicago? If contract talks end up with the big defenseman asking for a richer contract than the Blackhawks GM is willing to pay, then a move might be coming.

Zadorov would have to be qualified at $3.2M and owns arbitration rights, and the 25-year-old defenseman, can be an RFA this off-season. Teams like the Bruins and Jets are fishing to bolster their blue line.

11:05 a.m. ET -- Does Rob Blake have another move in the cards? Alex Iafallo was one name on many trade bait boards, but it looks like he’s closer to staying in LA than leaving.

As contract extension talks continued, trade talk started bubbling up. But according to Pierre LeBrun, the two sides made progress Sunday night and it looks like the 27-year-old forward will be staying.

10:52 a.m. ET -- Taylor Hall spoke with reporters Monday morning and said he was “really close” to signing with the Bruins before choosing a one-year deal in Buffalo.

“I was ready to come to Boston. It didn’t work out, and I had to choose between some other options,” he said.

Hall recognized the tough season he’s had and acknowledged he needs to play better. “It wasn’t the season I would have like to have, not even close,” he said. “These last few days you do some soul-searching, look to what you could do better in the future.”

“Unfortunately right now I’m not the most confident hockey player,” Hall added. “I don’t think it’s completely lost or anything like that.”

Hall said that his no-move clause “really helped me become a Bruin.” He could control his landing spot all while Sabres GM Kevyn Adams tried to bring in the best return possible for his end. (On that note, you know who will be the owner of a no-move clause beginning with the 2022-23 NHL season and is looking more and more like he won’t be long for Buffalo? Jack Eichel.)

He’ll make the drive to Boston from Buffalo today and expects to be in the Bruins lineup Tuesday night when the two teams play.

Hall will wear No. 71 in Boston:

As far as what happened in Buffalo? The start to the season set the tone.

“Confidence-wise, the team in Buffalo never got off on the right foot,” Hall said.

10:35 a.m. ET -- How tough is pickle ball? Ask TSN’s Craig Button, who is sporting this following a pickle ball injury:

Screen Shot 2021-04-12 at 10.33.19 AM

10:12 a.m. ET -- Patrik Laine is a restricted free agent this off-season. The Blue Jackets have signaled they are in sell-mode, as we saw with the weekend deals of Riley Nash, Nick Foligno, and David Savard. Could Laine be the next to leave Columbus?

Unless an offer knocks GM Jarmo Kekalainen’s socks off, probably not. Kekalainen has a vision for the Blue Jackets going forward and he’d probably like that to include Laine, so why not hold on to Laine and give yourself time to convince him to commit.

Laine is 22 and still several years away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency. Columbus owns his rights, so there is no rush for Kekalainen to lock the Finnish sniper down.

[2020-21 NHL on NBC TV schedule]

10:01 a.m. ET -- A delightful Twitter account:

9:48 a.m. ET -- What’s the reaction out of Buffalo to the Taylor Hall return?

From John Vogl of The Athletic:

It was not the ending Adams and Sabres owner Terry Pegula had in mind when they courted Hall.

“We sign this guy,” Pegula said, “We’re not only trying to make the playoffs, we’re trying to win the Cup.”

They didn’t win anything.


And let’s check in with Duane, the fed up Sabres fan who lost it following the announcement last May that the team was bringing back GM Jason Botterill (only to fire him two months later), who brings up the point of the deadline:

9:36 a.m. ET -- Any help the Wild might keep looks like it will come from within. GM Bill Guerin is not willing to include any high draft picks or any of his top prospects in a deal.

“Listen, we’re a good team, and I want to see what this group of players can do,” Guerin told The Athletic’s Mike Russo last week. “So I don’t want to just do something to do something. There’s chemistry to take into account, there’s prices you’ve got to pay. It doesn’t always work out, and I could argue most times it doesn’t. It’s not just about going out and making a trade just to make a trade. We’ve got to make sure if we do it that it’s going to help.”

9:20 a.m. ET -- Will Kevin Cheveldayoff strike big for the Jets? Or might he hesitance to part with some of their top prospects like Dylan Samberg and Ville Heinola lead him to a smaller deal or two? Defense is a top priority, but with David Savard moving to Tampa and Mattias Ekholm likely staying with the Predators, where we will he look?

His approach, however, will not about reacting to what his fellow North Division rivals do, as he told TSN this morning

“It’s not about trying to keep up, it’s making the right decisions for your team,” Cheveldayoff said.

Perhaps a trade might not be Cheveldayoff’s move. With Sami Vatanen and Victor Mete on waivers until noon ET Monday, those could be cheaper options.

9:10 a.m. ET -- Taylor Hall has just one even strength goal this season. The Bruins need offense. Hall’s shooting percentage sits at 2.3% entering Monday. Will he rebound? GM Don Sweeney is counting on it, and with an aging core the Stanley Cup window is closing. Mike Reilly was added to help a battered blue line that also lost Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug during free agency.

9 a.m. ET -- Welcome to the 2021 NHL trade deadline live blog! General managers sure were busy getting nearly a dozen deals out of the way since Saturday afternoon. Some of the big names, like Taylor Hall, David Savard, who were expected to move, have already been dealt. Who’s left? Glad you asked. Here’s our list of some of the players who might have a new team by 3 p.m. ET today. You can see all the deals by checking out our trade tracker here.

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.