As the days to the Expansion Draft get nearer, several trades were made right before the NHL's roster freeze. That means that only the Seattle Kraken are allowed to make moves during this time period while every other team, save for the Vegas Golden Knights, submit their lists of players that they want to protect. Let's take a look at the trades, shall we?
These blogs will be split into parts. Each blog will have three trades each.
Part 1: [click here]
Part 2: You are here
Part 3: [click here]
Trade #4: Jared McCann to Toronto
There was some consideration that Jared McCann was going to be left unprotected by the Penguins in the Expansion Draft despite having a career year where he had 32 points in 43 games in the 2021 season. Then he got traded to the Maple Leafs for Filip Hallander and a 2023 7th round pick.
This is a straight up robbery by Kyle Dubas. To turn Kasperi Kapanen into McCann and Rodion Amirov is asset management at its finest.
It's no secret that McCann is a good player. However, during his career, he keeps having his development interfered with, having been traded from the Canucks to the Panthers to the Penguins, and now, to the Leafs, all in the span of a few years.
However, his 32 points in 43 games in 2021 is a 61-point pace in a full 82-game season. With Zach Hyman likely on his way out of Toronto, McCann is essentially replacing Hyman here, although there is no guarantee on if he will be with the Leafs given that he is exposed in the Expansion Draft.
McCann is solid defensively, but his offensive game raises eyebrows.
He has a good shot, and a tendency to gain the zone and shoot the puck from the top of the left circle and high slot that resulted with a lot of one-and-done opportunities for the Pens. And while the Pens were able to get the pressure in the offensive zone with McCann on the ice, they were often limited to working the puck around the perimeter and had to settle for low-danger chances.
This season, McCann continued to hold his own defensively while elevating his offensive game. Not only did he pace the Pens with 2.8 primary points per 60 minutes of ice time, but they were also scoring 4.6 goals per 60 with him on even strength, tied for the highest mark of any NHL skater to play at least 200 even strength minutes in 2021.
However, he, like Kapanen, is due for a regression on the rate at where the Pens score when he is on the ice. The Pens generate 2.82 expected goals per 60 with McCann on the ice on even strength, compared to 2.14 when Kapanen is on the ice on even strength.
McCann should still be a useful piece to the Leafs or the Kraken, depending on where he ends up. He had close to 12 goals above replacement (GAR) from 2019 to 2021 on even strength offense, per Evolving Hockey. Dom Luszczyszyn also noted that McCann's Game Score Value Average (GSVA) in 2021 was 1.73 wins, with a 59% similarity score to Mike Hoffman in 2015, who had 1.89 wins in GSVA.
To add on, McCann's isolated impact on the ice on even strength offense resulted in a 3% increase in expected goals for per 60 and an 8% decrease in expected goals against per 60, as noted by Micah Blake McCurdy. Jesse Marshall of The Athletic added that McCann averaged close to 10.75 rush shots per 60, trailing only Kapanen, who had close to 12.5.
Not impressed? Consider the fact that McCann ranked 3rd among all NHL forwards in Evolving Hockey's GAR model, at 10.8, trailing only Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl despite averaging less time on ice than everyone else in the top 50. He, McDavid, and Draisaitl are up there with Sasha Barkov, Clayton Keller, Mark Stone, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Claude Giroux to have double digits in the GAR model. He also tops all NHL forwards in GAR per 60 by a landslide, at 2.158. The next closest player to McCann in that chart is Marcus Foligno, with 1.219. Even so, those two are among only 11 forwards in the NHL providing a goal above replacement per 60 in 2021.
The biggest improvement that he made in the offseason for his success was his skating.
Ever since he arrived with the Penguins, he has been one of the teams' faster skaters. However, in today's NHL, speed alone doesn't necessarily make players impactful.
In part with his skating, another big improvement that he made was his ability to control his edges.
In years past, he would rely on his straight-ahead speed. Now that he is stronger and more comfortable on the edges, he was able to take more powerful strides, as well as implement many, many more crossovers.
If you were wondering how McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon can go coast to coast with the puck while evading other defenders, it's not only their speed, but also their linear crossovers. Instead of forward strides, they cross their feet to not only build speed, but to keep defenders trailing them because they can cut either direction in an instant. McCann has picked up on this too, even when he doesn't have the puck.
That's not to say that he doesn't recognize when it would be ideal to just go full speed ahead and get up the ice straight up. His improved edgework and crossovers are also beyond that. He also builds momentum and creates separation in tight. And even though he isn't really a guy you can heavily rely on defensively, the improvements he made on his skating in the offseason bring him up as a 2nd line player, either at center or at left wing.
Something else of note is that McCann played with the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL, where Dubas is from, as are several other current players of the Leafs. That includes head coach Sheldon Keefe, forward Joe Thornton, defensemen Jake Muzzin and Rasmus Sandin, and goaltender Jack Campbell.
On the subject of McCann, it's either him or Alex Kerfoot getting selected by the Kraken, although one can argue that Kerfoot is the odd man out here. If Kerfoot is gone, that frees up $3.5M in cap space. The Leafs currently have $9.35M in cap, so that $3.5M would be beneficial for them if they want to keep Zach Hyman. $12.85M plus the money from who the Kraken take from the Leafs should Kerfoot be traded is good enough for Dubas to have at least $14M in free agency.
The Penguins may have lost this trade for now, as they can only protect so many guys. However, this trade allows them to protect two of the three forwards in Brandon Tanev, Teddy Blueger, or Jeff Carter, where they went with the latter two after re-signing Blueger to a two-year deal. Had McCann stayed in Pittsburgh, he would most likely be gone in the Expansion Draft.
And with this trade, it opens up room to re-sign guys like Cody Ceci, Zach Aston-Reese, Evan Rodrigues, and Radim Zohorna. The other question is this: When will they find a trade partner for Jason Zucker? He is on a bad contract, is making $5.5M per year, and carries a modified no-trade clause.
Nonetheless, this is still a loss for the Pens, as they are essentially losing two players to the Expansion Draft should McCann be taken.
The other good news for the Pens is that they get Hallander back after losing him when re-acquiring Kapanen. Hallander is a center and re-joins a prospect pool that previously did not have any centers with legitimate NHL chances outside of Blueger and Anthony Angello.
Hallander has a solid two-way game and can play either center or wing. Although he has yet to play in North America, he had 13 goals and 24 points in 51 games with Lulea FC in Sweden during the 2021 season. He is under contract through the 2023 season on an entry-level deal.
Outside of that, there's not much positives for the Pens here.
Trade #5: Jason Dickinson to Vancouver
Just after signing Miro Heiskanen to an 8-year, $67.6M deal, the Dallas Stars sent checking forward Jason Dickinson to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for the 73rd overall pick in this year's Draft.
With this, the Canucks fin their new 3rd line center, while the Stars manage to give away Dickinson for something instead of losing him for nothing in the Expansion Draft.
While the Canucks were left with the option of choosing to protect either Kole Lind, Jonah Gadjovich, or Matthew Highmore, they found someone else: The guy they just traded for.
He was a key piece to the Stars in the last three seasons. His ice time has increased through each season since the 2019 season: 13:22 in 2019, 14:56 in 2020, and 16:12 in 2021. He also saw some improvement in his faceoff percentage in that same span: 42.9% in 2019, 43.8% in 2020, and 46.3% in 2021.
Interestingly, he rooted for the Canucks when they made their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2011, per Trevor Beggs of Daily Hive Offside Vancouver.
Dickinson makes most of his value on defense, and he had some of the best scoring chance suppression numbers in the league in 2021, as noted by JFreshHockey. The Stars were roughly even in shot attempts with the former 29th overall pick on the ice. HockeyViz.com's data shows that he is an effective defensive forward, with the opposition getting poorer-quality shots when he is on the ice.
Canucks GM Jim Benning was looking for size on his bottom six, and he got it here. Last season, Dickinson put up 15 points in 51 games while driving plays with a solid 55.3 Corsi-for percentage. On the defensive side, he made opposing teams 8% less dangerous than average on even strength.
When it comes to offense, the upside to acquiring Dickinson isn't actually from Dickinson. If he can take on a heavy defensive load, such as faceoffs on the defensive zone, shutting down opposing top lines, and killing penalties, that frees up the other guys to do more offensively.
Having him centering the 3rd line allows JT Miller to play the left wing on the first line with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, but it also eases the workload from Bo Horvat. Horvat isn't much of a defensive forward, as he makes the most of his production on offense. The 3rd line could have a combination of Dickinson, Tanner Pearson, and Tyler Motte. If that's the case, then it could mean that Vasily Podkolzin fits nicely on the left wing with Horvat and Nils Hoglander.
The Canucks cherish the two-way style of play and players who can move up and down the lineup. They can use more dependability on that scoring talent, and Dickinson is exactly that.
Dickinson is also known for his leadership. He captained the OHL's Guelph Storm and was the Stars' NHLPA representative for several years.
And while it is hard to argue against him not being one of the Stars' top seven forwards protected from expansion, he was, without a doubt, a top nine forward for them. Had a full 82-game season been played in 2021, one can argue that he would have gotten 24 points.
Dickinson is listed at 6' 2" and 201 pounds. He is a restricted free agent, having carried a $1.5M cap hit on his most recent deal. While he is in need of a new contract, he's not worried about his contract status, joking that he and the Canucks will "leave that to the lawyers."
Given Benning's history, don't be surprised if Dickinson signs a multi-year extension. Evolving Hockey projects that Dickinson's next contract comes at three years, $8.4M ($2.8M per year). It's not unreasonable, but certainly, it's cheaper than the ones they gave to Jay Beagle and Brandon Sutter. The hope is that the Canucks offer something less to ease up cap space to upgrade the defense and re-sign Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
As for the Kraken, their choices at selecting a player from the Stars have really tightened. The best options are Ben Bishop, whose biggest concern is his health, and Jamie Oleksiak, a UFA this offseason. However, one can argue that prospect Adam Mascherin could be a good choice too. Also eligible for selection are veterans Blake Comeau and Andrej Sekera.
Trade #6: Islanders Dump Andrew Ladd's Contract
The Islanders FINALLY managed to get rid of the horrendous Andrew Ladd contract by shipping him off to the Coyotes.
He was dealt along with the 60th overall pick in this year's Draft, a conditional 2nd round pick in 2022, and a conditional 3rd round pick in 2023. All for essentially nothing ("future considerations").
Ladd has two years left on his seven-year deal that comes at a $5.5M cap hit.
This is not the first time that the Coyotes have taken on such a contract. They traded for the rest of Pavel Datsyuk's contract in 2016, where in that same deal, they moved up four spots in that year's Entry Draft. Two years later, they also acquired Marian Hossa's contract in a move that also had them acquire Vinnie Hinostroza, Jordan Oesterle, and a 3rd round pick. With the acquisition of Ladd, the Yotes' history of trading for bad contracts now spans over to the Bill Armstrong era.
The conditions of the latter two picks that the Yotes receive are that they get the better of the two 2022 2nd round picks that the Isles own, and the 2023 3rd rounder is transferred if Ladd plays at least one game in the 2023 season.
Ladd will turn 36 in December. He just played one professional hockey game in the 2021 season... in the AHL. He hasn't suited up in an NHL game since the 2020 Playoffs. Even in that season, he played in just five games for the Islanders and 34 in the AHL.
Any discussions on if he can be a positive contribution in the NHL should be dead at this rate. As he barely even played recently and has had an extensive history of severe injuries, I wouldn't bet on it. He had injuries on both knees that he apparently never fully recovered from.
However, Armstrong thinks more positively on Ladd.
"I think with our new coach [André Tourigny] coming in the door and preaching about the new culture he wants to implement, I think Andrew Ladd can be a driver of that for us," said Armstrong. "He's won two Stanley Cups and he's an unreal human being, from what I understand. I think he's really going to help our culture, I think he's going to help our leadership, and, as far as playing-wise, he's got to go out there and earn it. He's really training hard, he believes he's an NHL player and he can leave an impact for us going into our lineup for next year."
The Yotes profited from this by weaponizing their cap room to take on Ladd's contract while recovering some of the draft capital lost from last year's combine testing sanctions.
And while Nathan Horton, David Clarkson, and Ryan Callahan landed on LTIR after being traded in recent years for salary cap purposes, it doesn't appear much as if Ladd will be part of the "LTIRetired" players. In fact, there's a decent chance that he could be an option for the Yotes beyond the 2022 season. But it's too early to tell if he would be a viable option to even appear as a fill-in during the 2023 season, and it's almost impossible to project how he would do in 2022.
Mike Gould of Icethletics notes that Ladd was an okay 3rd line forward when healthy with the Isles, with a 6.2 expected GAR (xGAR) in the 2017 season and a 5.7 xGAR in 2018. However, in 2019, his xGAR went down to -1.3.
Ladd averaged roughly 16 minutes of ice time per game during his first two seasons with the Isles, but saw that number drop to 13:51 in 2019. The Yotes might not be as deep of a team as the Isles are, but it's hard to imagine Ladd playing anywhere outside of the bottom six.
Although he has 48 career power play goals, don't expect him to be on the Yotes' power play units. On the Isles' power play, he was -3.4 in GAR. Where he might be able to help is the Yotes' penalty kill units. Although his shorthanded deployments decreased in 2019 compared to his first two years on the Island, he contributed a 0.1 GAR in his 10:34 on the PK. He wasn't that great in shorthanded situations, but he didn't hurt his team.
Ladd averaged 6.75, 5.79, and 5.67 shots per 60 minutes in all situations in his three seasons with the Isles, while in 2020, he averaged 6.57 shots per 60 in 34 AHL games. Given Ladd's history, that's not really a great sign that he posted a similar shot rate.
However, he did score 39 goals and 72 points in 181 career games with the Isles, which is an 18-goal, 33-point pace in an 82-game season. It's nothing too special, although Ladd is about to get a fresh start with a new organization.
For the Islanders, re-signing their RFAs in Anthony Beauvillier, Adam Pelech, and Ilya Sorokin is their top priority. Casey Cizikas and Kyle Palmieri are unrestricted free agents as well. The Isles believed that Ladd's contract was a massive barrier preventing them from doing that.
By moving his and Nick Leddy's contracts, they were able to sign Andy Greene to meet Expansion Draft exposure rules. This meant that Lou Lamoriello avoided losing one of his preferred players in the Expansion Draft for nothing, cleared lots of cap room, and now can retain most of his core from 2021 while also gaining room to add players. Guys like Vladimir Tarasenko and Gabriel Landeskog have been around in all sorts of rumors, and both had the Isles as one of the teams they are interested in playing for.
But what happens in the Expansion Draft? Eyes on Isles listed two possible scenarios.
Scenario #1: Lose a Young Forward
In this scenario, a young forward like Kieffer Bellows, Michael Dal Colle, or Otto Koivula gets taken. Dal Colle and Koivula are RFAs, although their salaries won't count against the cap. The Isles have over $5M to fill in the hole at 3rd line left wing.
Bringing back Palmieri would be realistic, or maybe sign Zach Parise should Palmieri go somewhere else. If not, then that spot goes back to Leo Komarov, which leaves the Isles' four forward lines exactly as they were before Anders Lee got injured.
Here, the Isles basically have the same team from 2021, except that Leddy is replaced with Sam Bolduc, Robin Salo, or Sebastian Aho.
Scenario #2: Lose Jordan Eberle
In this scenario, Jordan Eberle is taken by the Kraken in the Expansion Draft. This is a surprise move by Lamoriello to leave Eberle exposed to the Expansion Draft, although he wants to get as much cap room to re-sign Beauvillier, Pelech, and Sorokin.
However, they are probably saving enough cap space for a star player, so they could possibly let Cizikas walk and move Komarov to the 4th line center role, which he has done when Cizikas had to miss time due to injury. The 3rd line spot is filled in by either one of Richard Panik, Bellows, or Dal Colle, although it's likely that it would go to Panik.
This leaves the Isles with $8.46M left in cap room, which may be enough to sign Landeskog. Although he reportedly wants a deal around $9M, say that the Isles offer $8.4M to him. It's not quite what he wants, but it's more than any other team would offer.
In two consecutive seasons, he was over 56% in faceoffs, so it could be possible that he would take the 1st line center spot and have Mat Barzal to move to the right wing spot.
With that in mind, the forward lines would look something like this:
Anders Lee / Gabriel Landeskog / Mat Barzal
Anthony Beauvillier / Brock Nelson / Josh Bailey
Richard Panik / Jean-Gabriel Pageau / Oliver Wahlstrom
Matt Martin / Leo Komarov / Cal Clutterbuck
That first line would be DEADLY. Just imagine! The 2nd line stays the same, just like the defense except that Leddy is replaced with either one of Bolduc, Salo, or Aho, exactly as in the first scenario. The 3rd and 4th lines are arguably worse, but not by a lot.
Overall, this is a HUGE win for the Islanders. Not only do they get rid of that horrendous contract, but they now have the cap to re-sign Beauvillier, Pelech, and Sorokin. After that, the possibilities are limitless. They can bring back Palmieri and Cizikas or sign a 3rd line winger should Palmieri leave if a young forward is taken, or they let Cizikas and Palmieri walk and go after a star player should Eberle be taken.
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