Renaud Lavoie reports that St. Louis defenseman Vince Dunn is available for trade.
Dunn will be a RFA at the end of the season and is four seasons away from unrestricted free agency. He could be of interest to a number of teams, including the Bruins and Flyers, who could use help on the blueline.
Around 10 PM EST last night, Darren Dreger tweeted out a bomb that WPG were the front runners for CBJ F Pierre-Luc Dubois. About an hour later, it was revealed that Laine would be going the other way if a trade gets done, and a deal could be completed by tomorrow. Around 10:30 PM EST this morning, it happened. Dubois became a Winnipeg Jet, and Laine and F Jack Roslovic became a Columbus Blue Jacket. Time to wrap our head around this blockbuster trade.
OFFICIAL TRADE
WPG acquires F Pierre-Luc Dubois and a 2022 3rd Round Pick
CBJ acquires F Patrik Laine and F Jack Roslovic
This trade is undoubtedly huge and definitely career changing for 3 players. One adds to an already incredible and solid future at the center position, and two add to an already good offense as well. Pierre-Luc Dubois is mainly a center, who will provide good stability on the second line with (assuming) Ehlers and Statsny. He adds to a great young center core, with him, Scheifele, and Cole Perfetti. That’ll be a dangerous team soon up the middle. As for Laine, I assume he will play with Atkinson and Domi. He could provide a great deal of goal scoring with his shooting skills, and with Atkinson, another great goal scorer on a line with him, they could become a pretty high scoring line (that is if Laine and Tortorella end up getting along). Roslovic will be perfect to have while Koivu is out, and when Koivu comes back, Roslovic can switch to win on the second or third line. I think he will have the best fit with his new team.
On who wins this trade? I would personally say CBJ here. I think that Laine and Tortorella will end up getting along here, and Laine will thrive with his great line of Domi and Atkinson, and Roslovic is a solid fit in Columbus, with his ability to play Center and Wing. He’s the middle top 6 player CBJ needed in my option. As of Winnipeg, I don’t see this trade being bad for them, but not as good as it will for CBJ. Dubois is a pretty good player, but I think he will get stuck behind Scheifele for most of his young career. Unless something wild like Scheifele struggles, or asks for a trade, I see CBJ being the most beneficial team from this trade.
TVA Sports relays a report from a podcast of Guillaume Latendresse and Maxim Lapierre that suggests that the Montreal Canadiens are planning on offering a 5-year contract worth $5 million per season to Phillip Danault.
They mention that Danault would be looking for a 6-year deal in the range of $5.5 to $5.7 million per season.
Danault, 27, is eligible to be an unrestricted free agent after the season. He is a strong even-strength producer and one of the best defensive forwards in the league. In 71 games last season, he had 13 goals and 34 assists.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have acquired Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic from the Winnipeg Jets for Pierre Luc Dubois and a third -round pick in 2022.
Frank Seravalli reports that the Jets will be retaining 26% of Laine’s contract, which expires this off-season. With the salary retention, the cap-hits of Dubois and Laine essentially match each other, making the cap impact minimal.
The Jets and Blue Jackets likely won’t see any of their new players in their lineups for a number of weeks, as they will be required to quarantine after crossing the border.
Jack Roslovic, who was an unsigned RFA, has signed a new 2-year deal with the Blue Jackets, who will likely give him an opportunity to center one of their top three lines with Dubois’ departure opening up the spot.
It will be interesting to see how Dubois and Laine adjust to their new teams. One of the reasons it has been suggested that Dubois wanted out of Columbus is that he wanted a bigger stage and Winnipeg isn’t among the bigger stages in the league. It will also be interesting to see how Patrik Laine’s personality meshes with head coach John Tortorella’s.
Darren Dreger reports that indications are the Jets front runners to land Columbus’ Pierre-Luc Dubois.
He suggests that other teams are still trying to stay in it, noting specifically the Anaheim Ducks and the Montreal Canadiens.
He says that Patrik Laine would likely be in any potential trade with the Jets, and unsigned center Jack Roslovic is worth keeping an eye on as well.
Dubois’ benching by John Tortorella after a lackluster first period shift expedited the trade talks.
Dreger says he would be surprised if Dubois isn’t traded this weekend with a deal possibly coming as soon as Saturday. Aaron Portzline reports it’s safe for trade-watchers to go to bed Friday night, with the anticipation that Saturday will be a big day.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed Jason Spezza and Aaron Dell on waivers.
One would have to think that goaltender Aaron Dell would be an attractive target for the Edmonton Oilers who recently put Mike Smith on long-term injury reserve. Dell would obviously not have the border issues that other Oilers targets might have as he’s in Toronto.
Spezza being put on waivers is a bit of a surprise. The 37-year old center seemingly does his job for the Leafs well. Chris Johnston wonders if Spezza would report if he was claimed by another team.
On this day in 1999, the Vancouver Canucks traded Pavel Bure, Brad Ference, Bret Hedican and a 3rd round draft pick to the Florida Panthers for Ed Jovanovski, Kevin Weekes, Dave Gagner, Mike Brown and a 1st round pick.
The trade of Pavel Bure, who had scored 50 goals three times in his seven seasons with the Canucks, caught no one off guard. Bure was sitting out the 1998-99 season, and the accompanying $8 million in salary, until the Canucks moved him to another team. Three days after the trade, Bure went into his reasons for wanting to move on. These included a strained relationship with Canucks’ management, due in part to what he felt was dishonest dealings from team management. Chief among them was story in 1994 that Bure was threatening not to play during the playoffs unless his contract was extended, which he believed was planted by management. According to Brian Burke’s autobiography, Burke’s Law, Pat Quinn confirmed the story about the demand was not true, but there was no denial made by management at the time of the story.
Rumors about Bure’s eventual destination were abundant in the months leading up to the trade being executed. On December 2, Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Sun suggested it looked like only the Kings and Rangers were potential suitors for the star winger. On December 7th, Larry Wigge of the Sporting News quoted Panthers’ GM Bryan Murray about his interest in either Bure or Islanders holdout Ziggy Palffy: “Are you kidding? We know one wants $8 million to $10 million — and the other is telling teams he wants the same. It makes no sense to pay one player two and three times more than any other player you have on your team. Even the Rangers. What do they say to Wayne Gretzky?”
Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun reported that Burke asked the Kings for forwards Jozef Stumpel, Glen Murray and 1997 3rd overall pick Olli Jokinen, but was denied. Rumors were consistent throughout December that Burke wanted three out of Stumpel, Murray, Jokinen, Aki Berg and Jamie Storr from the Kings.
Rick Carpiniello of the Westchester Journal News wrote on December 5th that any package from the Rangers would involve Niklas Sundstrom and Dan Cloutier, but the Rangers would refuse to include Todd Harvey or Manny Malhotra. Both Carpiniello and John Dellapina of the New York Daily News wondered if acquiring Bure would take the Rangers’ out of a potential offer-sheet for Peter Forsberg the following summer, lessening the Rangers’ interest in the Canucks’ winger. The Rangers were also aware of fellow wingers and pending unrestricted free agents Theo Fleury and Mark Recchi available on the market (the Rangers would eventually sign Fleury that summer).
There were rumors surrounding the Islanders involving their own holdout Zigmund Palffy. After Palffy signed a five-year contract with the Islanders, Burke indicated that the Canucks’ interest in Palffy was strictly to flip him to another team. Rumors were abound that the Canucks’ were using the Islanders to put pressure on the Rangers. Another Eastern team linked to Bure was the Washington Capitals. Pierre McGuire wrote in Sports Illustrated about a possible trade with Washington that would include Sergei Gonchar, Richard Zednik and a 1st round pick.
Brian Burke said on December 13th, about why no deal had been struck: “The deal will make sense or we’ll take five first-rounders. That’s our safety net. It wouldn’t bother me a bit if he sat out all year.” Bure was to be a restricted free agent the following summer and the compensation to the Canucks from a club signing him would be five first round picks.
Despite what was rumored, the trade that materialized for Bure was with the Panthers. Former #1 overall pick Ed Jovanovski was the centerpiece of the deal. The big blueliner burst on to the scene in his rookie season which saw the Panthers go to the Stanley Cup Finals when he was just 19 years old. In the three seasons with the Panthers following his rookie season, he failed to build substantially on his early success. Once Jovanovski was agreed to, the Panthers took promising young center Rob Niedermayer off the table.
The Canucks also received center Dave Gagner, goaltender Kevin Weekes, pugilist prospect Mike Brown and a 1st round pick in either 1999 or 2000 (at the Panthers’ discretion). Gagner, 33, put up 20 goals and 28 assists in 72 games in his first season with the Panthers in 1997-98. Kevin Weekes was considered a promising young goalie, but had asked for a trade from the Panthers after not being able to wrestle time from either Kirk McLean or Sean Burke in the Florida crease. Mike Brown finished the 1998-99 season with 28 goals (and 285 penalty minutes) with the Kamloops Blazers.
Ed Jovanovski would reach another level with the Canucks. After putting up 37 points in his first 106 games with the Canucks, Jovanovski set career-highs with 12 goals, 35 assists and 47 points in 2000-01. In seven seasons with the Canucks, Jovanovski put up 57 goals and 177 points, as he and Mattias Ohlund lead the Canucks’ defense during the Markus Naslund-lead era.
Kevin Weekes would carve out an NHL career, but played only 31 games over two seasons with the Canucks. He was traded to the Islanders in December 1999 in a trade that brought Felix Potvin to the Canucks.
Dave Gagner would finish out the 1998-99 season with the Canucks and proceed to retire at age 34. He was hired by the Canucks in June 2008 by Mike Gillis, Bure’s former agent, as Director of Player Development. He stayed in that role until 2013.
Once traded, Pavel Bure did report to the Panthers. They re-negotiated his 1998-99 contract. The new contract included no retroactive pay, something agent Mike Gillis called “cost of doing business to get out of Vancouver”. In 11 games in his debut season with the Panthers, Bure put up 13 goals and 3 assists.
In the two following seasons, Bure would win the Rocket Richard trophy with the Panthers scoring 58 and 59 goals respectively. His Panther career was cut to 223 games however, as he would finally be traded to the New York Rangers days before the 2002 trade deadline. He registered 12 goals and 8 assists in 12 games for the Rangers during their playoff push, which would fall short. His career would be limited to only another 39 games, as a knee injury would force his retirement.
Sources referenced (in addition to those linked):
Pavel Bure Fan Club: December 1998 Archives
Pavel Bure Fan Club: January 1999 Archives