<div class="mb-5"><em class="text-lg italic">Welcome back to NHL Notebook — the series here at <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/">CanucksArmy</a> where we deliver you news and notes from Around the National Hockey League, oftentimes through a <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/combinations">Vancouver Canucks</a>-tinted lens. </em></div>
<p>We are just two days away from Friday&#8217;s NHL Trade Deadline, and we&#8217;ve already got big names on the move.</p>
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<p>Earlier in January, we saw Mikko Rantanen and <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-officially-announce-jt-miller-trade-new-york-rangers">JT Miller</a> move. But just in the past week, we&#8217;ve seen Seth Jones traded to the Florida Panthers with Spencer Knight in return, Ryan Lindgren going to the Colorado Avalanche, Gustav Nyquist sent to the Minnesota Wild, and most recently, Trent Frederic joining the Edmonton Oilers.</p>
<p>But we may have seen the biggest trade occur today, as well as a significant injury for the New Jersey Devils. Let&#8217;s get into it.</p>
<h1>Jack Hughes&#8217;s season is over</h1>
<p>The New Jersey Devils announced Wednesday afternoon that forward Jack Hughes underwent shoulder surgery. The club expects Hughes to make a full recovery and be available for next season&#8217;s training camp.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NEWS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NEWS</a>: Jack Hughes underwent shoulder surgery earlier today and will be placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR).</p>
<p>Jack is expected to make a full recovery and be available for training camp.</p>
<p>📰: <a href="https://t.co/m06KjtAdPj">https://t.co/m06KjtAdPj</a> <a href="https://t.co/E2qNzfROk6">pic.twitter.com/E2qNzfROk6</a></p>
<p>&mdash; New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) <a href="https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1897400267349598542?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Hughes sustained this injury in the dying minutes of the Devils&#8217; 2-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night. With Hughes on a shorthanded 2-on-1, Jack Eichel&#8217;s backcheck results in his left skate catching the front of Hughes&#8217;s left skate, and he crashes hard into the boards.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just saw this angle of Jack Hughes&#39; injury&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/uUPlKiixfM">pic.twitter.com/uUPlKiixfM</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Em👹🐳🦑❄️ (@Hughes_Fan4386) <a href="https://twitter.com/Hughes_Fan4386/status/1896483646997135631?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Hughes was left lying on the ice in obvious pain. He was able to skate off the ice under his own power, but did not join the Devils in Dallas and flew home back to New Jersey.</p>
<p>Teammate and brother of Jack, Luke Hughes, was reportedly left emotional in the locker room after the game, indicating his worry for his brother. While there was no intent to injure on Eichel&#8217;s behalf, Sportsnet&#8217;s Elliotte Friedman reported that Eichel was fined $5,000 for the incident.</p>
<p>In the same move, the Devils placed Hughes on long-term injured reserve (LTIR). With the trade deadline just two days away, reports are that the Hughes injury has not changed their stance as buyers for Friday&#8217;s deadline.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">I&#39;m told that the Devils had time to accept that they won&#39;t have Jack Hughes this season, and this will not alter their plans to try to add pieces before the deadline.</p>
<p>&mdash; Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) <a href="https://twitter.com/Hockey_Robinson/status/1897402972835078331?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>The Devils were in the market for a centre, and will now need one more than ever if they&#8217;ll be without their leading scorer and top centre, Jack Hughes.</p>
<h1>Blockbuster Kraken-Lightning deadline deal</h1>
<p>Now this was what hockey fans have been waiting for as we approach the trade deadline: a blockbuster deal. The Seattle Kraken and Tampa Bay Lightning pulled one off on Wednesday afternoon.</p>
<p>The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Oliver Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gourde, Kyle Aucoin and a 2026 fifth-round pick in exchange for Mikey Eyssimont, first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 and a 2025 second-round pick. The Kraken retain 50% of Gourde&#8217;s contract. The Detroit Red Wings also entered the deal as a broker, retaining 50% of the remainder on Gourde&#8217;s contract and acquired a 2025 fourth-round pick from the Lightning for doing so.</p>
<p>Sportsnet&#8217;s Elliotte Friedman highlighted more of the details on the trade with the pick conditions going to Seattle:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here&#39;s how it looks:</p>
<p>TB: Bjorkstrand, Gourde, 5th 26 &amp; Kyle Aucoin.</p>
<p>SEA: Eyssimont, 1st 26 &amp; 27 (both top-10 protected), 2nd 25. Retain 50% Gourde. If either first is in top 10, it slides back one year. So, both picks could slide to 28 &amp; 29. SEA gains additional third from TB…</p>
<p>&mdash; Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) <a href="https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1897390313821630941?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Bjorkstrand, 29, is a Dannish winger coming off a career year last season, scoring 20 goals and 39 assists for 59 points in 82 games. His efforts last season earned him an All-Star appearance. The sniper is on pace for his fourth consecutive 20-goal season, setting a career-high in 2021-2022 with the Columbus Blue Jackets with 28 goals.</p>
<p>The former third-round pick is slated to play on the second line with Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli. Bjorkstrand has one year remaining on his $5.4 million contract after this season.</p>
<p>Gourde, 33, returns to the team with which he started his career back in the 2015-2016 season. He spent the first six years of his career in Tampa Bay, winning two Stanley Cups during his time there. He centred an all-important third line of himself, Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman – who all got paid in the following free agency.</p>
<p>This season, Gourde has struggled with injuries. He has played just 36 games this season, scoring six goals and 11 assists for 17 points. The undrafted forward saw his minutes decline by nearly two minutes with Chandler Stephenson joining the team in the offseason, but he gelled perfectly in a middle-six role during his first stint with the Lightning.</p>
<p>The 5&#8217;9&#8243; forward is projected to resume his role centring the third line with Nick Paul and Gage Goncalves. Gourde is in the final year of his contract, paying him $5.167 million per season – Tampa Bay only pays $1.292 million, given the double retention.</p>
<p>Now to put on our Canucks-tinted glasses:</p>
<p>If players like Bjorkstrand and Gourde can net a return of TWO first-round picks, what would the Canucks get in a return for <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/unknown-scary-vancouver-canucks-boeser-speaks-amid-uncertainty-ahead-nhl-trade-deadline">Brock Boeser</a>?</p>
<p>No offence to Bjorkstrand or Gourde, but they got a first-round pick each. And in 2026 and 2027, drafts that are projected to be much deeper than the 2025 class. Now, they had already shipped off their 2025 first-round pick, but still. They parted with two strong assets for these players.</p>
<p>Boeser has the best season of them all, scoring 40 goals and 73 points last season. He is also the youngest of the three. As we all know the loyalty Boeser has to the Canucks, one can assume he&#8217;ll have similar loyalty to whoever pays premium assets to trade for him by re-signing there. That&#8217;s no guarantee, however.</p>
<p>This is clearly a seller&#8217;s market. If you can&#8217;t <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-keeping-brock-boeser-rental-needlessly-reckless">re-sign Boeser by the deadline</a> – honestly, even if they can – it might be more beneficial to be able to move those assets at the draft when those picks and prospects could nab you a better player than they will now.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ll see what happens before Friday&#8217;s trade deadline.</p>
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<div class="mb-5"><em class="text-lg italic">Welcome back to NHL Notebook — the series here at <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/">CanucksArmy</a> where we deliver you news and notes from Around the National Hockey League, oftentimes through a <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/combinations">Vancouver Canucks</a>-tinted lens. </em></div>
We are just two days away from Friday's NHL Trade Deadline, and we've already got big names on the move.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2111" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="329"></div>
&nbsp;

Earlier in January, we saw Mikko Rantanen and <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-officially-announce-jt-miller-trade-new-york-rangers">JT Miller</a> move. But just in the past week, we've seen Seth Jones traded to the Florida Panthers with Spencer Knight in return, Ryan Lindgren going to the Colorado Avalanche, Gustav Nyquist sent to the Minnesota Wild, and most recently, Trent Frederic joining the Edmonton Oilers.

But we may have seen the biggest trade occur today, as well as a significant injury for the New Jersey Devils. Let's get into it.
<h1>Jack Hughes's season is over</h1>
The New Jersey Devils announced Wednesday afternoon that forward Jack Hughes underwent shoulder surgery. The club expects Hughes to make a full recovery and be available for next season's training camp.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1897400267349598542

Hughes sustained this injury in the dying minutes of the Devils' 2-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night. With Hughes on a shorthanded 2-on-1, Jack Eichel's backcheck results in his left skate catching the front of Hughes's left skate, and he crashes hard into the boards.

https://twitter.com/Hughes_Fan4386/status/1896483646997135631

Hughes was left lying on the ice in obvious pain. He was able to skate off the ice under his own power, but did not join the Devils in Dallas and flew home back to New Jersey.

Teammate and brother of Jack, Luke Hughes, was reportedly left emotional in the locker room after the game, indicating his worry for his brother. While there was no intent to injure on Eichel's behalf, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported that Eichel was fined $5,000 for the incident.

In the same move, the Devils placed Hughes on long-term injured reserve (LTIR). With the trade deadline just two days away, reports are that the Hughes injury has not changed their stance as buyers for Friday's deadline.

https://twitter.com/Hockey_Robinson/status/1897402972835078331

The Devils were in the market for a centre, and will now need one more than ever if they'll be without their leading scorer and top centre, Jack Hughes.
<h1>Blockbuster Kraken-Lightning deadline deal</h1>
Now this was what hockey fans have been waiting for as we approach the trade deadline: a blockbuster deal. The Seattle Kraken and Tampa Bay Lightning pulled one off on Wednesday afternoon.

The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Oliver Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gourde, Kyle Aucoin and a 2026 fifth-round pick in exchange for Mikey Eyssimont, first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 and a 2025 second-round pick. The Kraken retain 50% of Gourde's contract. The Detroit Red Wings also entered the deal as a broker, retaining 50% of the remainder on Gourde's contract and acquired a 2025 fourth-round pick from the Lightning for doing so.

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman highlighted more of the details on the trade with the pick conditions going to Seattle:

https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1897390313821630941

Bjorkstrand, 29, is a Dannish winger coming off a career year last season, scoring 20 goals and 39 assists for 59 points in 82 games. His efforts last season earned him an All-Star appearance. The sniper is on pace for his fourth consecutive 20-goal season, setting a career-high in 2021-2022 with the Columbus Blue Jackets with 28 goals.

The former third-round pick is slated to play on the second line with Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli. Bjorkstrand has one year remaining on his $5.4 million contract after this season.

Gourde, 33, returns to the team with which he started his career back in the 2015-2016 season. He spent the first six years of his career in Tampa Bay, winning two Stanley Cups during his time there. He centred an all-important third line of himself, Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman – who all got paid in the following free agency.

This season, Gourde has struggled with injuries. He has played just 36 games this season, scoring six goals and 11 assists for 17 points. The undrafted forward saw his minutes decline by nearly two minutes with Chandler Stephenson joining the team in the offseason, but he gelled perfectly in a middle-six role during his first stint with the Lightning.

The 5'9" forward is projected to resume his role centring the third line with Nick Paul and Gage Goncalves. Gourde is in the final year of his contract, paying him $5.167 million per season – Tampa Bay only pays $1.292 million, given the double retention.

Now to put on our Canucks-tinted glasses:

If players like Bjorkstrand and Gourde can net a return of TWO first-round picks, what would the Canucks get in a return for <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/unknown-scary-vancouver-canucks-boeser-speaks-amid-uncertainty-ahead-nhl-trade-deadline">Brock Boeser</a>?

No offence to Bjorkstrand or Gourde, but they got a first-round pick each. And in 2026 and 2027, drafts that are projected to be much deeper than the 2025 class. Now, they had already shipped off their 2025 first-round pick, but still. They parted with two strong assets for these players.

Boeser has the best season of them all, scoring 40 goals and 73 points last season. He is also the youngest of the three. As we all know the loyalty Boeser has to the Canucks, one can assume he'll have similar loyalty to whoever pays premium assets to trade for him by re-signing there. That's no guarantee, however.

This is clearly a seller's market. If you can't <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-keeping-brock-boeser-rental-needlessly-reckless">re-sign Boeser by the deadline</a> – honestly, even if they can – it might be more beneficial to be able to move those assets at the draft when those picks and prospects could nab you a better player than they will now.

We'll see what happens before Friday's trade deadline.

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