Burke was an undrafted free agent out of the WHL, who has spent the last three years in the AHL. The 24-year-old winger had one goal and 13 assists (14 points) in 28 games with the Tucson Roadrunners (AHL) last season. Burke will likely report to Ontario (AHL) to start 2021-22.
Reinhart is an RFA, so he'll need a new deal with the Panthers but is a huge addition to their top-6 for 2021-22. Reinhart has scored 20-plus goals in four straight seasons, averaging 27 goals and 32 assists (59 points) per 82 games over that span. Whether it's with Aleksander Barkov or Sam Bennett, Reinhart should receive a big fantasy boost by moving from Buffalo to Florida.
Voracek has three years left on an eight-year contract that carries an $8.25M AAV cap-hit, so the Blue Jackets will have to pay $2.375M more for Voracek but he comes off of the books one year earlier than Atkinson. Voracek was originally drafted by the Blue Jackets and played in Columbus from 2009-to-2011. In 2021, he had nine goals and 34 assists (43 points) in 53 games.
After ranking tied for sixth in the NHL in goals (41) in 2019, Atkinson is tied for 133rd with 27 goals over the last two seasons combined. Atkinson has four years left on a seven-year contract that carries a $5.875M AAV cap-hit. The deal will save the Flyers $2.375M against the cap in 2021 but Atkinson has an extra year left on his deal compared to Voracek.
The Blue Jackets shipped out Seth Jones but brought in two young defensemen in Adam Boqvist (from Chicago) and Bean to bolster their blueline. Bean was the No.13 overall pick in 2016 and had 12 points (1G / 11A) in 42 games in his first full NHL season in 2020-21. Bean will battle with Vladislav Gavrikov for playing time on the left-side behind Zach Werenski.
Boqvist was the No.8 overall pick in 2018 and enjoyed some success in his first full NHL season in 2021. The 20-year-old had two goals with 14 assists (16 points) in 35 games with the Blackhawks last year and will likely see a massive workload increase in 2021-22. Boqvist could replace Jones on the Blue Jackets' top-pairing with Zach Werenski.
Jones has one year left on his deal that carries a $5.4M cap-hit but was due for a raise and made it clear he wasn't interested in returning to Columbus. Jones had a modified no-trade clause so he was interested in joining the Blackhawks and received a massive eight-year extension immediately following the trade. Jones' offensive numbers have been trending towards in the last two seasons and he has many detractors, especially in the analytics community, so this will definitely be a deal worth monitoring for the future.
Roussel has one year left at $3.0M AAV and was one of three bad contracts moved to Arizona in this deal, however, they all only have one year left. Roussel had just four points (1G / 3A) in 35 games last year and will almost certainly play a minimal role for the Coyotes in 2021-22.
Eriksson had one assist while skating in just seven games with the Canucks in 2020-21. That's not the type of output you want from a player who is making $6.0M AAV for one more season. The Canucks dumped some bad contracts in this trade but it should also provide Eriksson to get on the ice more frequently in 2021-22. Since signing that six-year, $36.0M contract, Eriksson has scored just 38 goals with 52 assists (90 points) in 252 games.
This trade was all about dumping bad contracts for the Canucks, Beagle has one year left at $3.0M. Beagle was held to just five points (1G / 4A) in 30 games last season but led Canucks forwards in SH TOI/Gm (3:14) and ranked 17th in the NHL in Faceoff% (56.2). Beagle will likely centre the Coyotes' fourth-line and contribute on their penalty-kill.
Ekman-Larsson was one of the best goal-scoring defensemen in the NHL from 2014-to-2019 but his game has slipped a bit in recent years. Ekman-Larsson has a tough time in his own end but brings an offensive punch to the Canucks' blueline that already features Quinn Hughes. In a full 82-game season, you can almost certainly plug O.E.L in for double-digit goals and 30-plus assists.
Contract talks between the Coyotes and Garland broke down and it was widely expected that he would be traded. The deal ended up being much larger and more complex than anyone could have predicted, but Garland should be a great fit in the Canucks new top-6. Garland is tied for 99th with 78 points (34G / 44A) over the last two seasons. Garland will likely replace Tanner Pearson on a line with Bo Horvat and Nils Hoglander.
Blais has been a fixture of the Blues' bottom-6 over the last three seasons and likely won't be able to expand on that role with the Rangers. He doesn't offer a lot of offence, posting a career-high of just 15 points (8G / 7A) in 36 games a season ago. The Rangers have plenty of capable top-9 forwards, so expect Blais to be a fourth-liner to start 2021-22.
Buchnevich has taken his game to a new level over the last two seasons, averaging 24 goals and 39 assists (63 points) per 82 games in the two shortened seasons. Moving to St. Louis, Buchnevich becomes one of many unsigned RFA's who will be looking for a raise. Once signed, he'll likely replace Jaden Schwartz, who will be a UFA on July 28th.
Hagg's role with the Flyers has diminished in recent years but he remains a steady blueliner that should have no problem landing a top-4 spot with the Sabres. Hagg is a big, physical defenseman with solid puck-moving abilities, who could be a potential D-partner for Rasmus Dahlin.
Ristolainen's game appears to be heading in the wrong direction but the Flyers must not think so. They have given up a considerable amount of assets to have Ristolainen replace Shayne Gostisbehere in 2021-22. After four-straight seasons of 40-plus points from 2016-to-2019, Ristolainen has averaged seven goals and 29 assists (36 points) per 82 games over the last two years. He remains big and tough to play against and will undoubtedly be a part of the Flyers top-4 with either Ivan Provorov or Travis Sanheim.
Pitlick was selected by Seattle in the Expansion Draft on Wednesday but was quickly flipped to the Flames for a fourth-round pick. Pitlick doesn't bring a lot of offence to the table but has a trustworthy two-way game that should pair well with Mikael Backlund and help out the Flames penalty kill in 2021-22.
Gostisbehere was outstanding from 2016-to-2019, tying for 14th among defensemen with 187 points (46G / 141A) but has fallen out of favour over the last two seasons. Over that stretch he is tied for 90th but getting a second-round and seventh-round pick to take him is an easy gamble for the Coyotes. With Oliver Ekman-Larsson being traded to the Canucks, Gostisbehere should see plenty of PP time in 2021-22.
Bernier enjoyed a solid 2020-21 campaign, going 9-11-1 with a 2.99 GAA and .914 SV%. Those numbers aren't eye-popping but they were the best of his three-year tenure in Detroit. He is pending UFA, so could hit the open market on July 28th but the Hurricanes will have a few days to try and sign him to a team-friendly deal.
2020-21 was a bizarre season for Nedeljkovic. He started the season on waivers, went unclaimed, and then became the Hurricanes No.1 netminder after Petr Mrazek and James Reimer battled injuries. Nedeljkovic went on to lead the NHL in both GAA (1.90) and SV% (.932) in 23 games. The Hurricanes were concerned about going to arbitration with Nedeljkovic, so the Red Wings took advantage of that with their abundance of cap space.
NHL trades are decided between two or more team general managers. The front office’s job is building a winning team. Building a winning team means discussing trades with other general managers across the league.
During the NHL regular season, players can be traded up until the trade deadline. The deadline is the official cutoff point for when teams can no longer make moves between each other. Players can also be traded throughout the offseason.
Teams trade players in hockey for a variety of reasons, but generally, it is done to find success, whether that is in the short term or long term. Teams may trade their top players in search of draft picks if they are undergoing a rebuild, whereas contending teams may look to acquire talent to boost their playoff chances.
Trades are a common occurrence throughout the NHL and happen often. Some years feature less trades than others, it all depends on each teams needs and the availability of attractive talent.
