Yesterday, the Stars made their first move in advance of the NHL Trade Deadline, sending former 2015 first round pick Denis Gurianov to the Montreal Canadiens for forward Evgenii Dadonov.
Gurianov was the team’s 2015 first round draft pick, and led the team in goals scored (20) his rookie season in 2019-20. That postseason, he was sixth on the team in points (17) during the Stars’ run to the Stanley Cup Final. Unfortunately, production from Gurianov has declined in recent seasons, and he’s had minimal impact under head coach Pete DeBoer.
The Canadiens will be retaining 50% of Dadonov’s 5M cap hit, which will come off the books this offseason. From the press release:
“Evgenii is a skilled forward that can play anywhere in our lineup,” said Nill. “Recording 20 or more goals in four of his previous five seasons, he is a proven goal-scorer at the NHL level and will bolster our offensive attack.”
Stars Stories
Mike Heika talks about the Stars’ newest addition and if he could provide the team with a scoring spark:
Veteran mind of Dadonov could prove beneficial for Stars offense https://t.co/CkCmoHQBqM via @NHLdotcom
— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) February 26, 2023
On the other side, Arpon Basu writes about why Canadiens fans should be excited about Gurianov:
On the highly skilled yet imperfect Denis Gurianov and why the Canadiens feel comfortable banking on their ability to get something out of him the Stars couldn’t: https://t.co/4VF6NIZHWO
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) February 26, 2023
Around the League
Yesterday saw a flurry of moves across the NHL, with Timo Meier’s deal being the biggest. Literally.
IT’S TIMO TIME IN NEW JERSEY! 😈
The @NJDevils acquire star forward Timo Meier from the @SanJoseSharks in exchange for a large package highlighted by @FabianZetterlun and a first-round pick! #NHLTradeDeadline
Details: https://t.co/FDbRWqg92Y pic.twitter.com/8Ol478Jpcd
— NHL (@NHL) February 27, 2023
The most shocking trade of the day, however, was the Tanner Jeannot trade, which still boggles the mind:
Tanner Jeannot brings back a whopper for #preds. I’m told NSH originally asked for two 1st round picks.
Details:
To #GoBolts: Tanner Jeannot
To #preds: Cal Foote, 2025 1st (Top 10 lottery protected), 2024 2nd, 2023 3rd, 2023 4th, 2023 5th.— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 27, 2023
Pierre LeBrun polled some executives on the the move, who seemed to go with the “appealing to authority” fallacy:
My latest Rumblings piece for @TheAthletic, what rival execs thought of Tampa Bay’s trade with Nashville, plus inside the Timo Meier trade:https://t.co/LYTaPKGn1B
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 27, 2023
Funny enough, that wasn’t even the biggest Nashville Predators news of the day — David Polie will retire as General Manager at the end of the year, and be replaced by Barry Trotz:
David Poile, the only general manager in the history of the Nashville Predators, announced today he is going to retire.
Barry Trotz, the franchise’s first-ever and winningest head coach, takes the reins as general manager on July 1, 2023.https://t.co/ExhxARX9OA
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) February 26, 2023
The deadline is still not here, though. Greg Wyshynski offers GMs some advice as what not to do in the coming days:
“More mistakes get made at the trade deadline than the rest of the year.”
But they don’t have to! Follow these 10 rules for the NHL trade deadline and prosper. My column this week, with thoughts from NHL execs on what not to do at the deadline. https://t.co/uCsgRd794n
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 27, 2023
Finally, in case you missed it, Linus Ullmark locked up the Vezina Trophy after becoming the first goalie in Boston Bruins history to score a goal:
🚨 LINUS ULLMARK 🚨
WE HAVE A GOALIE GOAL. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ym7OLU0jlU
— NHL (@NHL) February 26, 2023