NHL rumblings: Lightning go all in, Devils' injuries create Metro power shift and John Gibson market

New York Times

06-03-2025

No first-round pick until 2028?
'Draft schmaft,' Hockey Hall of Fame executive Cliff Fletcher once famously said as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Today's Cliff Fletcher is undoubtedly Julien BriseBois.
No GM in the NHL is more comfortable going for it than the Tampa Bay Lightning's BriseBois, who now doesn't have a first-round pick for the next three drafts. From Blake Coleman to Barclay Goodrow to Brandon Hagel to Tanner Jeannot to Wednesday's trade for Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand, BriseBois has dealt away seven first-round draft picks. Not to mention other picks.
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When you've won two Stanley Cups and gone to another Cup Final in that span and you're in a position to chase another championship? It all seems worth it through that lens.
'Winning the Stanley Cup is hard, and it is what drives us and guides us in our decision-making,' BriseBois told The Athletic on Wednesday after his blockbuster trade with the Seattle Kraken. 'You need good players to win a championship. The more good players you have, the better your odds are. I am trying to assemble as many good players on our team as possible and using our draft picks to do so.
'The value in having draft picks lies in our ability to convert them into players that can help us win NHL hockey games. We used some draft capital to add two good players that will help us win more games this season and beyond. Ultimately, the calculation is that trying and failing will yield less regret than failing to try.'
I love that last part. The biggest regret is not taking a swing, win or lose.
The Jeannot trade was a bust. But Hagel has blossomed into a star who just helped Team Canada win 4 Nations, and Coleman and Goodrow won a Cup with Tampa Bay. BriseBois' record on these is pretty good.
Is it an overpay for Gourde — a player the Lightning know well — and Bjorkstrand? Maybe.
But the Lightning once again zeroed in on what they wanted and got it done.
Draft schmaft indeed.
Could a shifting playoff picture in the Metro Division affect Friday's trade deadline? Or rather, vice-versa?
The New Jersey Devils have been whacked with injuries to their franchise center Jack Hughes and now to top blueliner Dougie Hamilton in the past week. It's ridiculous bad luck, and losing Hughes for the entire season is just brutal news.
Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald is working the phones and is intent on finding help before Friday's deadline. There's no white flag there despite the key injuries.
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With Jack Hughes out, where could the Devils turn at center?
But it unfortunately begs the question: Is third place in the Metro suddenly in play for the Columbus Blue Jackets or the New York Rangers?
Columbus on Wednesday morning woke up four points behind New Jersey with two games in hand. The Rangers have actually been sellers, but the defending President Trophy winners still have a decent shot to make the playoffs.
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And where does that leave the Islanders? Could Tuesday's win over the league-leading Winnipeg Jets embolden GM Lou Lamoriello to stay in the fight? I still think it's more likely he trades pending UFA Brock Nelson if he can't re-sign him, but as of Wednesday evening, one league source said it could still go a number of different ways. Which is wild in itself, this late in the proceedings.
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What I'm hearing about the Islanders' Brock Nelson trade (and extension) talks
As for the Blue Jackets, it's extremely likely they're keeping hold of pending unrestricted free agent Ivan Provorov. I believe for sure the defenseman would fetch a first-round pick if they did move him. There were more talks this week between GM Don Waddell and Provorov's agent, Mark Gandler, and the gap remains fairly wide in what an extension looks like for each side. But part of that conversation, I believe, was agreeing that they could resume that contract discussion after the season and that he most likely wasn't going anywhere now.
I won't say 100 percent Provorov won't get moved because I think Waddell has kept open the possibility that a team might lose its mind in an offer he can't refuse. But all things being equal, I think Provorov will stay put.
My sense is the Jackets would like to add a forward before Friday's deadline and preferably a forward signed past this season — not a rental.
And finally, there's the Carolina Hurricanes in second place in the Metro — a veritable Cup contender every year. But what do the Canes look like if they flip pending UFA Mikko Rantanen before Friday's deadline? League sources Wednesday said Carolina had stepped up its talks with teams regarding what they might be willing to do in a Rantanen trade. It doesn't mean he's for sure getting dealt, but man, he sure could be.
How does Carolina look like a better team after that? Depends on the return, obviously.
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But between a potential Rantanen trade and the Devils' loss of Jack Hughes for the season, I truly wonder how the standings end up in the Metro and how much of it is also a result of the moves we see before Friday's 3 p.m. ET deadline.
Likely. Never say never, but the two most logical destinations for the Anaheim Ducks netminder don't appear to be fits ahead of the deadline.
The Edmonton Oilers, despite Stuart Skinner's struggles, don't appear to see Gibson as a true upgrade and aren't keen on his contract, which has two remaining years after this one at a $6.4 million average annual value. I don't think the Oilers see a realistic upgrade on the market at the moment.
The Carolina Hurricanes, who had advanced trade talks with the Ducks last summer on Gibson, have had on-again, off-again dialogue with Anaheim again this season, but I don't sense it's likely happening before Friday's deadline for a couple of reasons.
First, Frederik Andersen has been solid since returning, with a .911 save percentage on the season and a 6.6 goals saved above expected, according to MoneyPuck. And of course, the Canes are high on No. 1 Pyotr Kochetkov. So there isn't the urgency that might have been there had Andersen stunk out the joint or got hurt again, at least not yet.
Secondly, I believe there's a very different view between the Ducks and Canes on what a Gibson trade return should be. I think Anaheim believes that if it's retaining salary on Gibson for the remainder of his contract — plus the fact that the 31-year-old goalie has played well this year (14.7 goals saved above expected) — they should be able to get a first-round pick. That opinion is not shared, clearly, by the Canes.
Obviously a lot can change in the next two days before the deadline, but as it stood on Wednesday, it didn't look like Gibson was going anywhere.