BHN Puck Links: NHL Trade Frenzy And Protection List Shockers

As mentioned here throughout the past week, the NHL trade market was set to explode leading into the NHL Expansion Draft protection lists deadline and that’s exactly what happened between Wednesday and Saturday. 

The wheeling and dealing got underway Wednesday with the New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche hooking up in a trade and the madness continued with nine more trades heading into the current roster freeze for the NHL Expansion Draft.

The Philadelphia Flyers snagged that top 4 defenseman they’ve been searching for on the NHL trade market in an interesting three-way trade. The New York Islanders took the biggest salary cap dump on the NHL trade market in recent memory and the Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Arizona Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Dallas Stars all got the NHL trade market buzzing.

The NHL Expansion Draft protection lists were announced Sunday but before that, the Montreal Canadiens list was leaked and provided a bombshell.

That and more in the latest BHN Puck Links:

Boston Bruins

There were no real surprises with the Boston Bruins’ protected list for the NHL Expansion Draft. The Bruins found a way to protect both forwards Trent Frederic and Jake DeBrusk. That doesn’t mean either won’t hit the NHL trade market though. (Boston Hockey Now)

Yesterday’s news that the Boston Bruins and goalie Jaro Halak – who can become an unrestricted free agent on July 28 – were parting ways came as no surprise but still, Halak’s last few months as a Bruin were strange as the team seemed to phase each other out. Halak’s temper tantrums towards teammates probably didn’t help much. (Boston Hockey Now)

National Hockey Now

The Golden Knights, Flyers, and Predators hooked up in a three-way trade that saw defenseman Ryan Ellis become a Flyer. (Philly Hockey Now)

The Flyers have been big game hunting for a while. They finally landed a big fish who is a strong defenseman, too. Nashville’s Ryan Ellis is on his way to Philadelphia. (Philly Hockey Now)

The Seattle Kraken has at least one goalie lined up–Florida goalie Chris Dredger. Here’s the report. (Florida Panthers)

The New York Islanders cleared a truckload of salary cap space, and we’re not sure why it was legal. The Islanders sent Andrew Ladd, and THREE high draft picks to the Arizona Coyotes for…wait for it…NOTHING. (NYI Hockey Now)

https://twitter.com/HackswithHaggs/status/1416503370437758976

The Detroit Red Wings did well to get Nick Leddy from the Islanders on Friday and unload Richard Panik on the Islanders. The Red Wings have plenty of options with Leddy, writes Bob Duff. (Detroit Hockey Now)

The San Jose Sharks have been unhappy with goalie Martin Jones. They left him unprotected on Saturday–just after they beat the NHL trade deadline to acquire goalie Adin Hill from the Arizona Coyotes. (San Jose Hockey Now)

Without a contract, the Colorado Avalanche did not protect captain Gabriel Landeskog. (Colorado Hockey Now)

NHL

Carey Price, 34, is owed $10.5 for the next five seasons. Friday, it was Ben Bishop who allowed himself to be unprotected. On Saturday came the big shocker–the Montreal Canadiens rolled the dice that Seattle GM Ron Francis won’t bite on Carey Price’s price tag. Montreal left Price unprotected. (Sportsnet)

The St. Louis Blues didn’t trade Vladimir Tarasenko last week. Those efforts might resume on Thursday at 1 p.m. However, the Blues left Tarasenko and his $9.5 million salary cap hit unprotected, so Seattle can have him and his salary for free. (The Daily Faceoff)

The Columbus Blue Jackets traded Josh Anderson to Montreal for Max Domi, but Columbus left Domi unprotected on Saturday. (TSN)

The LA Kings offered up yet another big name goalie to the Kraken–LA exposed Jonathan Quick. (Sportsnet)