NHL Notebook, pre-draft edition: Golden Knights send Reilly Smith to Penguins and extend Ivan Barbashev, Canadiens may trade fifth overall pick, Predators making Yaroslav Askarov available? and more
By Zach Laing
1 year agoLots to get to ahead of the NHL draft, which kicks off exactly one hour from now.
Top of the notebook today is that the Vegas Golden Knights have moved forward Reilly Smith to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a third-round pick. Smith, who was an original misfit, had two years left on a deal paying him a $5-million AAV.
It cleared the way for them to sign forward Ivan Barbashev to a five-year, $5-million contract extension. They acquired him at the NHL’s trade deadline in exchange for prospect Zach Dean and he went on quite a run.
In the regular season, Barbashev scored six goals and 16 points in 23 games adding another seven goals and 18 points in 22 playoff game. Despite that, his regular season PDO with Vegas in all situations was 107 and in the playoffs, it rose to 108.3. There’s going to be some buyers remorse here, I think.
NHL DRAFT CONTENT PRESENTED BY BETWAY
Habs moving out of 5?
The Montreal Canadiens are reportedly considering moving out of the fifth overall spot, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported Wednesday.
Seravalli said the Habs have up to five potential offers for the pick all from teams looking to move up the draft board. Montreal, meanwhile, are likely to wait until they see who the San Jose Sharks take fourth overall before making a decision.
Sources say the Canadiens have placed at least one call to the Sharks to inquire about swapping slots, but the belief is Sharks GM Mike Grier was unwavering in his desire to keep the pick. If the Habs have their sights set on one player in particular and he is taken, it’s possible to see the Canadiens pivot and slide a little further down to get their hands on another player while collecting some additional value in the meantime.The Philadelphia Flyers are another team to watch. Aside from their crop of players still hovering on the Trade Targets board, including Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton and Travis Sanheim, the Flyers may also push to move up into the Top 5 from No. 7 overall so they can get their guy. As one of the teams to meet with Michkov in Nashville, they are definitely open and intrigued about the possibility of getting their hands on the best Russian-born prospect in years.
It’s worth noting that Oilers forward Kailer Yamamoto has slid up to 11th on Seravalli’s latest trade board, while Cody Ceci sits 35th, and Warren Foegele 40th.
Askarov available?
A big one to monitor as the Nashville Predators look to trade up in the draft: goaltender Yaroslav Askarov might be available in a deal.
It was speculated by Seravalli, who reported there’s “lots of chatter that Yaroslav Askarov is in play.”
Askarov was a highly touted goaltender coming to North America, and just completed his first year here. He appeared in 48 AHL games with the Milwaukee Admirals posting a 26-16-5 record, a .911 save percentage and a 2.69 GAA.
Panthers have interest in Hanifin
The Florida Panthers reportedly have an interest in Calgary Flames defenceman Noah Hanifin.
Hanifin is one of the Flames involved in the ongoing exodus that saw them trade Tyler Toffoli to the New Jersey Devils yesterday.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported that Calgary could be looking at Anthony Duclair as a player coming back the other way.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
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