[dannibalcorpse]

We’ve hit the trade deadline in the 2019-20 season, which means most teams are gearing up for the stretch run, or are ready to move out some older players and give the youth movement a shot at proving themselves. Vegas finds themselves in the latter category - limping into the break with a 22-34-8 record, good for 15th of the 16th teams in the conference and dead last in the Central.

The team has continued to deal with inconsistent offensive production, despite Coach/GM Dan Hampton’s shuffling of the lines and personnel on the club. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leads the team in scoring with his 14-30-44 line, and has been seeing time on the first line with the team leader in assists, Ondrej Palat (11-31-42) and the team’s goal-scoring leader, Wayne Simmonds (24-15-39). The team’s second line is doing a good job keeping pace - a fact that might be more of an insult to the top line than a compliment to the second - as Tyler Johnson has put up 18 goals and 15 assists, and second-year player Jordan Greenway has a 15-21-36 line coming into the trade deadline. Top defensemen T.J. Brodie (7-31-38) and P.K. Subban (12-25-37) have done a good job providing offense from the blue line, but they are the only ones in the D-corps adding anything to the offensive game. Robin Lehner has continued to underachieve in goal - his 2.99 GAA and .911 SV% are the prime factors in his 13-23-6 record. Malcolm Subban has a better record (9-11-3) but is mostly due to luck, as his .900 SV% and 3.26 GAA are noticeably worse than Lehner’s.

In an effort to shake up the team beyond just shuffling the lines, Hampton made some moves to bring fresh blood in to the team - signing Adam Pelech from the AHL to fill in for the struggling Nikita Zadorov (47 GP, 6-5-11, -18). Zadorov, obviously unhappy about his benching, did make it known that he would be open to a trade, and Hampton obliged - sending him to San Jose in exchange for 19-year-old Leevi Aaltonen, the 21st pick in last year’s draft. Aaltonen had been playing in the AHL for San Jose, putting up a 4-9-13 line in 47 GP. To make room on the forward line in Lowell, Hampton shipped out unhappy C/RW Anthony Beauregard (36 GP, 9-20-29 in Lowell) to Edmonton in exchange for a 4th round pick in the upcoming draft.

This, however, was all just prelude to the big move Hampton had in mind. He shipped D Ryan Pulock (7 GP, 0-1-1), LW Frankie Vatrano (64 GP, 7-12-19), LW Tyler Bertuzzi (47 GP, 20-22-42 in Lowell), and the underachieving Josh Ho-Sang (33 GP, 0-2-2) to New York in exchange for the Islanders’ D Nick Leddy (48 GP, 5-11-16) and 22 year old LW Anthony Beauvillier (65 GP, 14-14-28). “We really feel like we needed more depth on the blue line behind T.J. and P.K., and Leddy was the exact fit we were looking for. He’s fast, he’s good with the puck, and he’s got great hockey sense on both ends of the ice. I think putting him with some of our younger guys is really gonna help them develop. As far as Beauvillier, I feel like he’s got more upside than the guys we gave up for him, and has already shown the ability to score on the NHL level.”

The biggest part going out, to some, was the mercurial Josh Ho-Sang. Ho-Sang ends his career in Vegas with 132 games played over parts of 3 seasons, and only 8 goals and 21 assists to show for that time.

With all the players flying out of Vegas, Hampton still found some time to keep a few guys in town, re-signing a few pending UFAs. Captain Tyler Johnson agreed to a 3 year, $16.2M deal with a no-movement clause; his winger Ondrej Palat also received an NMC with his 3 year, $14.7M contract. Defensive leader T.J. Brodie re-upped for 3 years and $15.5M as well. Pending RFA Jordan Greenway also avoided a qualifying offer by agreeing to a $1.725M deal for the 2020-21 season.

Around the league, the trade deadline saw more action this year than it has in quite some time, with some teams being extremely proactive in changing their rosters. Despite currently holding a one-point lead on the last playoff spot in the West, Dallas cleared out a ton of cap space - they sent C Devin Shore (54 GP, 6-12-18) to Columbus in exchange for 22 year old D Frederic Allard (23 GP, 7-11-18 in the AHL); LW Vladimir Tkachyov (61 GP, 18-28-46) was moved to Anaheim for the rights to 21 year old C Ryan Poehling (26 GP, 13-23-36 in the NCAA this year); they sent 18 year old d-man Andrew Perrott (55 GP, 12-36-48 in the WHL) to the Sabres for goalie Darcy Kuemper (23-20-5, 3.08, .894); and finally, with Kuemper on board, they shipped goalie Mikko Koskinen(25-19-6, 3.08, .904) to the Bruins for the rights to Alexandre Texier, a 20 year old right wing playing in the Ligue Magnus this year. Boston also made a few moves, sending Zach Senyshyn (66 GP, 21-15-36) to Detroit for a 5th round pick and the rights to blue-chip defense prospect Pyotr Selikhov, a 19 year old playing in Russia; they flipped LW Ivan Telegin (67 GP, 16-27-43) to the Wild for young defenseman Filip Westerlund (65 GP, 6-9-15); they also moved LW Jake DeBrusk (69 GP, 10-7-17) to Vancouver for 20 year old RW Evan MacKinnon (66 GP, 8-19-27). DeBrusk wasn’t done being shopped, though; Vancouver flipped him later in the day to the Ducks for their 19-year-old D prospect Jakub Stepanovsky (29 GP, 3-3-6 in the AHL). Vancouver made another trade, sending the struggling Alex Radulov (12 GP, 0-0-0), along with the rights to D Jan Zimmermann (21 GP, 6-19-25 in German Juniors) to the Avalanche in exchange for Jean-Christophe Beaudin, a 22 year old right winger who’s scored 27 points in 68 games this year.

A few teams not based in Dallas, Boston, or Vancouver made some notable trades: Washington sent their backup goalie Semyon Varlamov (11-5-1, 2.47, .910) to the Pens in exchange for a second round pick. The rebuilding Kings moved 38 years old Marian Gaborik to the Lightning, receiving Cody Eakin (52 GP, 18-21-39 in the AHL) in return. And lastly, the Caps and Seattle Metropolitans swapped struggling defensemen, with Andrej Sustr (62 GP, 2-14-16) heading to the Pacific Northwest, while Alex Goligoski (56 GP, 1-9-10) going to the nation’s capitol.

No teams seem to be really running away with the league this year - Pittsburgh has the league’s best record at 45-19-4, but they’re being pushed in their own division by the 41-19-5 Rangers, who come into the break with 3 games in hand. The Blues still have a 4 point lead over the Blackhawks, but Chicago has been streaking lately and is riding some hot goaltending to a +54 goal differential so far this year. The division to watch, though, is the Pacific. Edmonton leads the division with 83 points, but Seattle is right behind with 82, and Arizona is surging late with 81. You can’t even count out the Flames completely yet - they’re four points back of the 4th place Sharks, but they’ve got 4 games in hand on San Jose.

Looking at the players leading the league - Jack Eichel has put some distance between himself and the man in second place for the Rocket Richard Trophy, with his 42 goals leading over Vladimir Tarasenko’s 39. Steven Stamkos, meanwhile, has ridden a huge hot streak to take over the Art Ross lead with a 37-44-81 line. Rookie Filip Gustavsson, being supported by that deep Penguins team, leads the league with 43 wins, while Corey Crawford has taken over the top spot in the league with a 2.29 GAA. Devan Dubnyk still ranks as best in the NHL with a .926 SV%, but Keith Kinkaid is making a late charge to topple him - Kinkaid, the Seattle goalie, also leads the league in games played and time on ice.

With the season winding down, Vegas is going to take a long look at their new toys - Anthony Beauvillier figures to get minutes on the second line and power play units, while Nick Leddy will pair up with Julius Honka on the second pairing and also get some power play minutes. Most notably, the team has called up rookie goalie Blake Weyrick and will be rolling the rest of the way with three goalies on the roster. Weyrick definitely earned his spot here - he stepped up after Carter Hart was knocked out for the season, putting up an insane 28-4-2 record, with a 1.90 GAA and .915 SV% and helping Lowell run away with their division in the AHL. There have been rumblings that the team isn’t too thrilled with how their current goalies have played this year, and Hampton is obviously interested in seeing what the former undrafted free agent has to offer at the NHL level.