Multiple NHL trades
Players are changing teams faster than Mike Keenan used to change goalies and the day saw James Reimer, Jiri Hudler, Alex Stalock, Teddy Purchell, Justin Schultz, Anders Nilsson and Jakub Kindl, and others, change uniforms.
On the heels of last night’s deal in which Montreal gave up Dale Weise and Thomas Fleischmann to the Chicago Blackhawks for young forward Phillip Danault and a 2016 second-round pick, the Edmonton Oilers got things going Saturday when they sent goalie Anders Nilsson to the St. Louis Blues for ECHL goalie Niklas Lundstrom and a 2016 fifth-rounder.
The Toronto Maple Leafs then gave up goalie James Reimer and forward Jeremy Morin to the San Jose Sharks for goalie Alex Stalock, forward Ben Smith and a 2018 fourth-round conditional pick. Reimer joins former Leaf teammates Roman Polak and Nick Spaling, traded to San Jose last week, and along with Martin Jones will give the Sharks a formidable goaltending tandem.
On his way out of town Reimer spoke affectionately of his six years in Toronto, praised the fans and said the city was “a special place.” Meanwhile, Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello said the 27-year-old could be back in a Toronto uniform once free agency rolls around.
Florida Panthers deal
That was arguably the biggest trade of the day Saturday but the dealing was by no means done. Florida made three separate deals to bolster their run for their first Stanley Cup, adding Jiri Hudler from the Calgary Flames, Teddy Purcell from the Oilers and defenceman Jacob Kindl from the Detroit Red Wings.
Hudler has a lot of Stanley Cup experience and won a championship with Detroit and could add significantly to the Panthers offence. The 32-year-old center from the Czech Republic is 16-25-41 in 77 postseason NHL games.
Calgary got a second (2016) and fourth-round (2018) draft pick for Hudler, Edmonton a third-round 2016 pick for Purcell and Detroit a 2017 sixth-rounder for Kindl. As of this writing the final deal of the day saw Edmonton get yet another pick, a 2016 third-rounder, for Justin Schultz, who joins Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh to help the Penguins push for the Cup.
That still leads a lot of players rumored to be going somewhere, including both Dan Hamhuis and Radem Vrbata of the Vancouver Canucks, Kris Russell of the Flames, Loui Eriksson of the Boston Bruins and young Jonathan Drouin of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It also leaves plenty of time, over a day-and-a-half, for deals to get done before the trade deadline at 12 p.m. PST on Monday.
