New York. The NHL arms race is just continuing.
Last night, the New Jersey Devils acquired San Jose Swiss player Timo Meier – in exchange for, among others, Fabian Zetterlund and Andreas Johnson.
Colorado blue and yellow defender Andreas Englund has also been allowed to change clubs.
The NHL only closes the mall on Fridays, but this year clubs with playoff aspirations crave rest and refuse to rest until then.
Since the end of January, they have been completed one after another, and the pace of ascent has accelerated even more so in the evening and last night.
Above all else, the Big Six is slated for Timo Meyer, the San Jose Sharks’ leading scorer. He has been hounded by a number of ‘contenders’ in the past month, but it is now clear that he will be teammates with Jesper Pratt in Newark.
In a complicated deal, the New Jersey Devils have acquired 26-year-old Swiss defender Scott Harrington and have to pay for, among other things, the first pick in the upcoming draft as well as the Swedish duo of Fabian Zetterlund and Andreas Johnson.
Zetterlund has established himself on the Devils team this year and was informed in late December that he could get his own home in the area, while Johnsonsson, after several successful seasons in the NHL, has mainly lived in the AHL this year. Now both will get more playing time in San Jose which is being rebuilt and above all they will be teammates with Erik Carlsson.
However, that wasn’t the only thing that happened, on the contrary, this past Sunday is being described as one of the busiest in the NHL in living memory.
Here are a few more deals that were scored in the last half day.
• Right winger Evgeny Dadonov goes from Dallas to Montreal in exchange for left winger Denis Guryanov.
• Ivan Barbashev moved from St. Louis Blues to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for former first-round pick Zak Dean.
• The Colorado Avalanche brought back Jack Johnson from Chicago and sent Swedish forward Andreas Englund – who has played 36 games for the champions this season – the other way.
• The Tampa Bay Lightning strengthens with Nashville forward Tanner Ginott and gets compensated with fullback Cal Foot as well as a full array of cross-communal draft picks.
As if that weren’t enough, Nashville General Manager David Boyle announced overnight that after 26 years – an NHL record – he will be retiring in the summer. Instead, former coach Barry Trotz took over operations at the club of Philipp Forsberg and Matthias Ekholm.
The Big Three of last month’s NHL
• Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders from Vancouver in exchange for Anthony Beauvilliers, Aato Rati and a first round draw.
• Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola from St. Louis Blues to the New York Rangers in exchange for Sammy Blaze and an initial draft round.
• Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a pair of draft picks and minor leaguers.
• Tyler Motte from the Ottawa Senators to the New York Rangers in exchange for Julien Gauthier, a seventh-round pick.
• Dimitri Orlov and Garnett Hathaway from the Washington Capitals to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Craig Smith and a set of picks and predictions.
• Nino Niederreiter from the Nashville Predators to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2024 draft.
• Timo Meier from the San Jose Sharks to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for, among others, Fabian Zetterlund, Andreas Johnson and a first pick in the draft.