Morning Rumble: New Team in on Nikishin, More on Hurricanes Familiar Addition, Arbitration Everywhere
I stand corrected.
In my last morning article, published on July 4th, I made mention that it was unlikely that we would hear any ‘fireworks’ from the Carolina Hurricanes’ front office, and for all intents and purposes, we didn’t – but there was a singular sparkler from general manager Eric Tulsky.
Carolina announced they had added a new goalie: Zach Sawchenko. The Calgary, Alberta, native’s name may sound familiar, as he has been in the organization before, playing 41 games with the Chicago Wolves in the 2022-23 season.
Sawchenko has continued to post decent numbers since then, floating roughly around the .890 save percentage range with a pretty standard goals against average of approximately 3.00. However, he really performed well during the recent playoffs, backstopping the Cleveland Monsters through eight games with a save percentage of .914.
During Tulsky’s press conference over the NHL Draft, he had mentioned his desire to find wily veterans to fill the depth chart between the pipes, and this signing is certainly on theme for that – especially with the likely departure of Amir Miftakhov.
Speaking of the Hurricanes’ depth, restricted free agent Ronan Seeley filed for salary arbitration Sunday. It will be interesting to see where that goes.
With all of that being said, I hope everyone enjoyed Independence Day!
NHL News, Trade Talk, and National Hockey Now
NHL Trade Rumors: Challenger approaching – St. Louis Blues have joined the battle! Yup, the Alexander Nikishin rumor mill is back at it again, and now it seems the Blues are interested, according to a recent report. Fun times…
Sportsnet: A little bit of a somewhat hidden nugget hidden in Elliotte Friedman’s analysis of the Leo Carlsson offer sheet – Shane Wright is officially on the move. To where? Don’t know! But it sounds like he’ll be leaving the city of grunge and Starbucks over the summer.
TSN: Well, that was fast! Mavrik Bourque agreed to a five-year contract just days after his trade to the Nashville Predators from the Dallas Stars, with a mighty fine climb in price compared to his previous $950k one.
Dallas Morning News: We all had a feeling it was coming, and now it’s official – Jason Robertson has filed for arbitration. The back and forth between him and Stars GM Jim Nill continues, but now with that requested third party play. With that being said, offer sheets are now entirely out of the question.
Montreal Hockey Now: Oh, yeah, Kirby Dach is taking the arbitration route himself, as well. Marc Dumont wrote up a nice little piece diving into it; you can check it out here!
NHL: It’s okay, Anaheim, this Duck is back in the row! The previously rumored offer sheet target, Pavel Mintyukov, accepted an extension with the Ducks!
New Jersey Hockey Now: The New Jersey Devils also had some fun with offer sheets, and though it wasn’t exactly high-profile, it certainly appears to be a good possibility. James Nichols hashed it all out!
Also, keeping an eye on the Hurricanes’ Metropolitan Division rival here, the Devils also added a third goalie following the Jacob Markstrom trade. Daniel Amoia has the details on it!
Also Read:: Through a Father’s Lens: Wes Stankoven Reflects on Son Logan’s Journey to the Stanley Cup
Related Headlines
