Daily Faceoff 2024 Trade Deadline Live Blog

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell(scotmaxw)
Mar 8, 2024, 09:08 ESTUpdated: Mar 8, 2024, 16:02 EST
Daily Faceoff 2024 Trade Deadline Live Blog
Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

The day every hockey fan looks forward to every season has finally arrived, aside from the playoffs. It’s the NHL’s trade deadline, complete with all the blockbuster moves your heart could desire – well, maybe. We’ve already seen our fair share of moves, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see some good ones today as well.

Since everyone seems to love it when Mike Gould and myself team up to talk hockey, we’re giving you the experience yet again this week with a trade deadline live blog. We’ll keep you up to date on all of the league’s happenings today in one place, as well as give our own thoughts on the deals as they come in. Without further ado, let’s begin.

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9 a.m. – Scott: Alright, so since it’s been a bit quiet to start the morning, let’s flash back to last night when we saw one of the biggest pieces on the market get moved. Jake Guentzel is a Carolina Hurricane now!

Mike, you already shared some of your takeaways in a Trade Grade piece shortly after the deal, but why don’t you give us a quick summary of your thoughts.

Mike: I liked it a lot for Carolina! That’s a team that doesn’t always go for broke at the trade deadline, even in years where it makes a lot of sense to do so, and it’s nice to see a bit of a change of pace from them in a wide-open year for the Eastern Conference. I think Guentzel should be a terrific fit on a line with Sebastian Aho in Carolina.

As for the Penguins … well, I kind of respect them going for as many bullets as they could possibly pry away from the Hurricanes, but I don’t see a single A-tier asset on their side of the deal. It’s bonkers to me that they couldn’t even get a guaranteed first-round pick from Carolina for the top forward on the market. I think the prospects have decent upside but the pick conditions are a big fail on the part of Penguins GM Kyle Dubas. It’s tough to sit here and say he could’ve gotten a better deal — but it does feel like it. 

Scott: I couldn’t have said it better myself. I love the Canes as a Stanley Cup contender this year, especially if they get an elite scorer and stabilize their goaltending, and they’ve done just that with the former by bringing in Guentzel. He’s going to be a big difference maker for them this season, and finally give them the elite finisher that they’ve needed. And Frederik Andersen is back for the Canes in net too, so that may solve their latter issue.

And yeah, the Penguins not getting a guaranteed first-round pick for Guentzel is crazy. This was some solid work from Don Waddell.

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9:56 a.m. – Mike: Well, Scott, we have a bit of news: Parker Wotherspoon has signed a one-year extension with the Boston Bruins. Now, if you wouldn’t mind telling the good people out there how they should feel about this, I think I’m going to have a mid-morning snooze.

Scott: (I hate you) Oh hey, uh, something! I’m not going to lie, I was going to defer this one to you when I saw this because the name Parker Wotherspoon just screams Calgary Flames, only to find out that he has never played for them. I think that should sum up everything I know about Parker Wotherspoon.

Mike: The Flames drafted Tyler Wotherspoon one spot ahead of Nikita Kucherov back in 2011. Now I’m definitely going to have a snooze.

Scott: In more important news, I did not win anything on Roll Up the Rim.

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10:36 a.m. – Mike: I feel like it’s worth noting that I had to get up at 6:00 a.m. for this. Scott is out in Toronto. I’m in Calgary. All the timestamps you’re seeing on the left side of this page are in Eastern Time. You have to subtract two hours off that time to get to where I’m at. I am genuinely debating having a nap.

Scott: Mike says this, but considering I work nights for another job, my sleep schedule is on par with a normal sleep schedule in PST (no joke, when I traveled to British Columbia last year, I made no adjustments to when I fell asleep in terms of the universal time, it was just midnight instead of 3 a.m.). So I too am struggling.

Mike: I don’t do caffeine. I cut it out of my intake entirely two months ago. I have literally zero options here. It is taking all of my resolve to stay awake. I suppose it was mildly interesting to see that the parcel of land the Coyotes are seeking was appraised at $68.5 million USD? Boy, that’s what I call trade deadline news. I love it!

Scott: As someone who has never been a coffee guy, I can say that the key to surviving a day on no sleep is a hot shower, a nice breakfast, and avoiding doing nothing, which… isn’t possible right no – HOLY POTENTIAL EVGENY KUZNETSOV TRADE!

Mike: Stay tuned, everyone.

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Scott: Okay, this is actually happening: the Canes are bringing in Evgeny Kuznetsov. Not as big of a trade as it would have been five years ago, but still crazy. If he can return to any level of the form that he brought to the Caps in 2018, this could be a solid buy-low grab for Carolina, but a lot needs to go right for that to happen.

Mike: I’m honestly amazed that the Capitals got anything for Kuznetsov at this point. I get they had to retain 50 percent of his $7.8 million cap hit this year and next, but he’s fallen off a cliff over the last few seasons in Washington. There’s no question that he’s an extremely skilled player. But his production is down and his defensive impacts are awful. I wish Kuznetsov all the best — particularly after his stint in the Player Assistance Program — but I don’t necessarily buy this at all for Carolina, their center depth issues notwithstanding.

Scott: It’s a weird trade because from an asset standpoint, it’s low risk, high reward, but from an on-ice standpoint, it’s low reward, high risk. His recent play has not inspired a lot of hope that this will be a big impact for the Canes. I’m just curious about how next season plays out with that extra year on the deal. Do they move him if it doesn’t work out? Can they even find a suitor? Are they just stuck with $3.9 million on their cap sheet?

Mike: I would imagine they probably will be. If nothing else, it reminds me a lot of when Alex Ovechkin’s former BFF Alex Semin went from Washington to Carolina a little over 10 years ago. It’s kind of a cool little parallel. The Hurricanes sure are trying things!

Scott: Maybe they just need a Russian spy to find Sergei Bobrovsky’s weaknesses after last year. 

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11:12 a.m. – Scott: And now we have an extension for Jordan Eberle.

I know the sticking point for the Kraken in the negotiations was keeping the term at two years, so good on them for managing to get that. The cap hit is more than manageable for that term, and he’s still producing at a solid enough rate for a $4.75 million cap hit to make sense.

Mike: It’s a nice piece of business for both sides. Eberle is still a quality player who should be able to help Seattle as they try to bounce back next year. Given the depth of the current winger market, I’m skeptical that the Kraken could’ve fetched commensurate value for Eberle in any trade. Maybe they threatened to send him back to Edmonton if he didn’t re-sign.

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11:35 a.m. – Scott: Subban to the Blue Jackets! Malcolm, that is.

That’s… something. They seem to be collecting first-round disappointments recently between this trade and Alex Nylander a couple weeks ago.

Side note: how was Malcolm the only Subban brother still remaining?

Mike: I’m honestly not too surprised. Goalies tend to hang around for a while. Remember when Jeff Glass popped up in Chicago like five years ago? Also, don’t besmirch the good name of Alex Nylander — he’s been fantastic since arriving in Columbus.

Scott: I kid, I wouldn’t mind Alex joining the Leafs one day to play with his brother. Funny story: Nylander was traded mid-floor hockey game for me a couple weeks ago, so I saw it after the game and just shouted “Nylander to the Penguins” and scared a lot of people in the dressing room.

In less important news than my floor hockey stories, the Jets have apparently acquired Tyler Toffoli for draft picks!

Toffoli is another solid add for a Jets team that needed some depth going into this season. Between him and Sean Monahan, that’s added life to an already strong Jets offense.

(And if last night was any indication, I also really like this move as a Timo Meier owner in fantasy hockey because he gets a higher lineup spot).

Mike: Monahan and Toffoli go back a long, long way, having played together with the Ottawa 67’s in the OHL (and, later, with the Calgary Flames). This is an excellent addition for the Jets. I thought Vancouver might have interest — I now wouldn’t be surprised to see them pull the trigger on a deal with Arizona for Jason Zucker.

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11:49 a.m. – Scott: Pat Maroon to the Bruins is a very Bruins move. I can already tell that he’s going to ruin the lives of several Maple Leafs fans if those two teams meet in the first round. But then again, the Leafs beat Maroon last year.

Mike: Jack Edwards is going to be thrilled. I can’t imagine the Bruins gave up much more than a conditional 6th or 7th here but I also doubt Maroon plays a whole lot down the stretch. He’s their Milan Lucic replacement.

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12:00 p.m. – Mike: Well, it’s noon, and the deadline is three hours away. Scott is out making a Tim Hortons run — shoutout to one of our Daily Faceoff Trade Deadline Special partners! — but we have another trade, and it’s an interesting one: Buffalo Sabres captain Kyle Okposo is off to the Florida Panthers.

The longtime Sabre turns 36 next month and is nearing the end of his career. This might be his last chance to win the Stanley Cup. If the Panthers do win it all, the Sabres get a fifth-round pick; if not, they get a seventh. Either way, the Sabres also get AHL defenseman Calle Sjalin.

Okposo had been with the Sabres since signing with the team as an unrestricted free agent in 2016. Once upon a time, he was John Tavares’ favorite linemate with the New York Islanders. Now, he’ll join Vladimir Tarasenko and the Panthers for what should be an entertaining stretch drive.

Scott: I went to McDonald’s actually, Tim Hortons was earlier today.

Anyways, yeah, this is an interesting one. I wrote a piece earlier this year about how the veterans in Buffalo were holding the team back, and Okposo is one of those. Hopefully that doesn’t carry over for Florida, otherwise I like this deal more for the Sabres because he’s no longer blocking better options in the lineup for Buffalo. (Holy, typing on your phone through downtown Toronto is a struggle).

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12:36 p.m. – Scott: Turns out it’s not Vancouver that gets Jason Zucker like Mike guessed earlier, but Nashville.

That seems like a very Nashville acquisition, not a high-end elite name to add, but a solid top six winger that has had flashes of being a solid scorer in the past.

Mike: I’d call Zucker more of a middle-six guy at this point. That said, I don’t mind it for the Preds. He’s a solid goal-scoring winger who thrives when he’s playing on a line with top-line guys. For Arizona, it’s free assets for a guy who wasn’t an amazing fit with them — Dylan Guenther had pretty much stolen Zucker’s job by the middle of February.

Scott: Yeah, when I saw “top six”, I mean more of a second-line winger that could be the third piece of a top line in a pinch.

Mike: According to Pierre LeBrun, it’s a sixth-round pick going to Arizona for Zucker. That feels light, but Zucker was kind of underwhelming with the Coyotes this season and Nashville is taking on the full force of his $5.3 million cap hit. C’est la vie.

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Scott: The Detroit Red Wings add Radim Simek to their blue line with this trade. With this move, the Wings add to their defensive depth, with a strong emphasis on the depth part. Simek isn’t much of a gamechanger, but he can certainly play in the NHL!

In exchange, the Wings move on from Klim Kostin, who surprisingly didn’t replicate an almost 20% shooting clip that he had with the Oilers last season, and just didn’t find much success with Detroit. A solid reclamation project for the Sharks that can play at the NHL level to bring in for the rest of the year along with a seventh-round pick.

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1:40 p.m. – Scott: And after a bit of a lull, we have another big move. Jake Allen is off to the New Jersey Devils!

I guess we finally know who the Devils have decided on for their crease for the next couple seasons. I would’ve loved to see Jacob Markstrom on this team instead, but Allen is an interesting option for them so long as his numbers this season are a result of playing in Montreal and not just his play. At the very least, it’s a more stable improvement on what they’ve had this season.

Mike: I’m sorry, this is a completely unserious move on the part of Devils GM Tom Fitzgerland. What in the world? They’ve waited weeks and weeks to shore up their goaltending situation and this is their solution? Allen’s save percentage has been in the .890s in back-to-back years. I’m not convinced that he’s any better than Vitek Vanecek. What a half-measure. Not a fan.

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2:00 p.m. – Mike: According to multiple reports, the Philadelphia Flyers are acquiring Erik Johnson from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2024 fourth-round pick. The Sabres did not retain any of Johnson’s $3.25 million cap hit.

The Flyers have done a pretty good job managing their roster at this trade deadline, selling high on Sean Walker, re-signing Nick Seeler to a reasonable deal, and now adding Johnson for their playoff push. EJ should be a solid mentor for the likes of Jamie Drysdale and Cam York down the stretch.

Scott: …as long as that mentoring is from the press box because Erik Johnson has not been great this season. Much like Okposo, he’s a veteran that was hurting that Sabres team, so this is a big win for them because they can play better, younger options. At the very least, Johnson is a body that can play for them while they deal with a couple of injuries, but I don’t know if I agree with the Flyers giving up draft capital as a rebuilding team for a player who doesn’t bring much value.

Mike: Speaking of depth defensemen, the Columbus Blue Jackets have reportedly traded Andrew Peeke to the Boston Bruins. Peeke is only 25 and has two years left after this one at a $2.75 million cap hit. I like this quite a bit for Boston.

Scott: And it only came at the cost of Jakub Zboril of “Boston could get Barzal, Connor and Kylington here” fame. Peeke brings a solid defensive game to the Bruins and adds some depth, and as Mike mentioned, the extra two years is a nice bonus.

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2:51 p.m. – Scott: The Lightning continue to try and beef up their depth by adding Matt Dumba.

At the very least, it’s a dollar store replacement for Mikhail Sergachev down the stretch, and maybe, just maybe, they can unlock the old Matt Dumba, if he’s still in there. For a fifth-round pick, that’s not the worst value deal, but it’s probably not going to change much for the Lightning.

Mike: Dumba was pretty bad in Arizona for much of this season. I could maybe see him returning to the Coyotes as a free agent this coming summer but he doesn’t really move the needle at this point. He’s not far off from Zach Bogosian territory. Considering his $3.9 million cap hit, a fifth-round pick is probably right on the money.

Scott: Not long after, the Rangers picked up Jack Roslovic from the New York Rangers.

Between Roslovic and Wennberg, they may have done enough of a patch job for their forward depth in the wake of Filip Chytil’s injury, but Roslovic also doesn’t seem like enough of a needle mover to justify the move when calling up a prospect could have done the same job.

Mike: Roslovic is a fine player. I’m a little surprised he didn’t sign an extension with the Blue Jackets — he’s an Ohio boy! — but there’s nothing preventing him from potentially circling back in the summer. Given the price the Rangers paid (a conditional fourth-round pick), I don’t see a ton of downside here.

Scott: I guess it beats playing Barclay Goodrow higher in the lineup than he needs to be.

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Scott: We aren’t done here either! Tomas Hertl is off to the Vegas Golden Knights apparently!

I’m going to have to see how the math works out on this one though because I don’t know how the Golden Knights can fit him in their salary cap situation but that is a big add for the Golden Knights. Any concern about their center depth with Chandler Stephenson as a pending UFA is gone with Eichel, Karlsson and Hertl down the middle.

Mike: This is unbelievable, and I love it. The NHL needs more big moves like this. It wouldn’t have been right to see Hertl waste away for years on a rebuilding Sharks team. Hertl is such a skilled center who, you guessed it, is slated to return from injury just in time for the start of the playoffs. Unreal. Talk about a team that wants to do whatever it can to win. That’s Vegas.

Scott: With no return official yet, I’m predicting that Nicolas Roy is going back the other way. Makes sense money-wise, and at this point, he’s never seeing a consistent top 9 center role, so it makes sense to see him go the other way. But, we’ll see…

Never mind, looks like San Jose is going to use up their final retention slot in the deal. They won’t be able to retain again until the end of next season when Brent Burns contract expires.

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3:34 p.m. – Scott: I guess we should probably talk about Connor Dewar to the Leafs because, well, it’s the Leafs.

I mean, nothing too crazy here, it gives them a depth forward who’s good defensively on the penalty kill. Not a big needle mover, and based on Brad Treliving’s idea of the market for those kinds of players, a fourth-round pick for him makes perfect sense, even if that probably wasn’t an asset they needed to move on for a guy like Dewar.

Mike: I have no real opinion on Connor Dewar but I do think the Leafs didn’t do enough to keep up with the Joneses ahead of this year’s deadline. That’s a team that should be going all-in to take full advantage of Auston Matthews’ incredible season. But it’s never been Brad Treliving’s M.O. to take big deadline swings, so I can’t say I’m surprised.

Scott: Agreed, this is a disappointing deadline overall for a team that needed to improve their scoring depth and bring in a right shot defenseman for Morgan Rielly and they just added a whole lot of fringe pieces.

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3:40 p.m. – Mike: So, we should probably talk about the Hertl return. The Sharks traded Hertl and two third-round picks to the Golden Knights for David Edstrom and a 2025 first-round pick.

Edstrom is a guy who I wasn’t sure if they were looking to move. I definitely wondered if he might be involved in the Noah Hanifin deal the other night. I’m not surprised that the Sharks targeted him. He’s having a good season in Sweden and projects to be a middle-six center down the line. But I’m not sure why San Jose had to give up two picks of their own, especially while they’re retaining 17 percent of Hertl’s salary for the next six years. Your thoughts?

Scott: Yeah, the two picks going to Vegas is a really weird part of this deal. A first round pick and a good prospect is certainly a good haul for a player like Hertl (especially considering the standards set by other big deals made at this deadline), but it does feel a bit underwhelming, especially with the retention involved, unless they were that desperate to move on from Hertl’s contract.

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Scott: Alright, that just about wraps up all the big action for the trade deadline, unless Mike has some bold takes on his Flames getting Nikita Okhotyuk.

As far as closing thoughts go, this ended up being a lot crazier than expected, largely thanks to Vegas. I know I’ve been on them at times this year in our power rankings, but they come out of this looking almost unstoppable on paper. And the Canes as well have done a good job of sizing themselves up with the Panthers in the East. Safe to say I’m excited to see how it all unfolds in the playoffs. What say you, Michael?

Mike: I have nothing to say about the big Russian defenseman the Flames got, except to say that Craig Conroy must have a really strong relationship with Eastern Bloc mega-agent Dan Milstein. I think the Golden Knights and Panthers are the obvious winner of Deadline Week, with the Leafs and Oilers really fizzling out in my estimation. I give Vegas and Florida top marks for taking so many big swings and going for broke; Toronto and Edmonton didn’t do nearly enough. That’s all I got.

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NHL Trade Deadline 2024

Follow all the deals leading up to the March 8 deadline with Daily Faceoff’s 2024 NHL Trade Tracker.

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