NHL Notebook: Flames trade Markstrom to Devils, as Kings move Pierre-Luc Dubois to Capitals
7 days ago
The Edmonton Oilers are still playing in the Stanley Cup Finals, but the off-season has started for 30 other teams.
On Tuesday, there was a flurry of moves with all involving a Pacific Division team. The Calgary Flames moved on from a netminder, the Oilers’ first-round opponent traded a player after just one season, and the San Jose Sharks are doing… things.
Let’s take a look at all that in the latest NHL Notebook!
Jacob Markström traded to New Jersey
June 19, 2024 was arguably the most exciting off-season day since June 29, 2016, when the Oilers traded Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils in the infamous “one-for-one” deal (it was a good trade.)
On top of that trade, the Montréal Canadiens traded Norris Trophy-winning defenceman P.K. Subban to the Nashville Predators for Shea Weber, and Tampa Bay Lightning Captain Steven Stamkos elected to stay in Tampa Bay rather than head to the Toronto Maple Leafs. All of this happened in less than half an hour, by the way.
Well, June 19, 2024, wasn’t this seismic, nor were the moves in this short amount of time. However, at 9:46 AM Tuesday morning, Travis Yost reported that Calgary Flames netminder Jacob Markström was on the move to the New Jersey Devils.
In exchange, the Flames received 23-year-old defenceman Kevin Bahl, as well as a top 10 protected 2025 first round pick. Imagine not being able to get the 10th overall pick in this draft, especially while retaining a large portion of salary.
Last season, Markström had a .905 save percentage and a 2.78 goals-against average in 48 games played, along with two shutouts. At one point, he looked like one of the better goalies in the league for a stretch, but after the Flames traded their second pairing of Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev at the deadline, his numbers took a nosedive. Still, Markström is a pretty good goalie who should be able to help out the Devils.
In return, the Flames received left-shot defenceman Kevin Bahl, a third-pairing guy who scored a goal and 11 points in 82 games, while sitting in the box for 82 minutes. The 2025 first-round pick will be top 10 protected, but with a real goalie, the Devils will probably make the playoffs next season.
Pierre-Luc Dubois traded to Washington
The other big move of the day was a pretty comical one, as the Los Angeles Kings traded Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Washington Capitals in exchange for netminder Darcy Kuemper.
Pierre-Luc Dubois was picked one pick before Jesse Puljujärvi in the 2016 draft and now is on to his fourth team since the beginning of the 2020-21 season. He spent three seasons in Winnipeg with the Jets, scoring 27 goals and a career-high 63 points in 2022-23. The Jets traded him to the Kings, a certified fleece, and the Kings signed him to an eight-year, $68 million extension.
Spending one season with Los Angeles, PLD scored 16 goals and 40 points in 82 games, along with one goal and 20 penalty minutes in five postseason games.
Darcy Kuemper, 34, is a Stanley Cup champion who has a .914 save percentage and a 2.54 goals-against average in 389 career NHL games, mainly serving as a backup netminder. Prior to this season, Kuemper had spent two prior seasons as a starter. Last season he started 57 games for the Capitals, and the year prior in 2021-22 he was the starter for the Stanley Cup champions, the Colorado Avalanche.
However, he lost his starting role to Charlie Lindgren, who carried the Capitals to the postseason, where they were promptly swept by the New York Rangers.
Still, the Kings are going to lose in the first round to the Oilers in 2025, it doesn’t matter what netminder they have.
Ty Dellandrea traded to San Jose
The comparisons to June 29, 2016 come to an end here. You can compare the PLD trade to the Hall trade, and the Markström trade to the P.K. Subban trade, but you can’t compare the San Jose Sharks trading a fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft for fourth line forward, Ty Dellandrea, to Steven Stamkos re-signing with the Lightning.
This isn’t a bad move though for a rebuilding Sharks’ team by any stretch. Dellandrea was selected 13th overall in the 2018 draft and wasn’t able to find a spot in Dallas’ top six. This past season, he scored just two goals and nine points in 42 games, far behind his career-high of nine goals and 28 points in 82 games the season prior.
With the Sharks, the right-shot centre will have an opportunity to play in the top six.
San Jose claims Barclay Goodrow
Later on Tuesday, the San Jose Sharks claimed Barclay Goodrow and his $3.64 million deal for the next three seasons off waivers from the New York Rangers.
The two-time Stanley Cup champion started his career with the Sharks, playing with the team from the 2014-15 season until he was traded during the 2019-20 season. That was the same season he won the Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who went back-to-back in 2021, defeating the Montréal Canadiens in the finals.
Afterwards, the left-shot centre signed a six-year deal with the New York Rangers, scoring 13 goals and 33 points in 2021-22 and 11 goals and 31 points 2022-23. However, Goodrow scored just four goals and 12 points in the regular season, before going off in the postseason scoring six goals in just 16 games.
Not only was that a career-high for him in a single postseason, but he matched his career total that came in 81 postseason games prior to New York’s 2024 run.
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