Welcome back to NHL Notebook — the series here at CanucksArmy where we deliver you news and notes from around the National Hockey League — oftentimes through a Vancouver Canucks-tinted lens!
It’s officially NHL’s draft week! And after a quiet weekend around the league, we have a trade of significant involving what could have been a possible second-line centre for the Canucks.
The Abbotsford Canucks have a chance to wrap up their Calder Cup Final series tonight in Charlotte. Maybe once that series is over, we start to see some dominoes fall on the trade front, as we saw today between the Anaheim Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers:

Ducks trade Zegras to Flyers

It was quite the morning for the Ducks and Trevor Zegras.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman released an article titled, “Ducks having ‘significant discussions’ about trading Trevor Zegras.”
And those rumours did not last long, as within the same hour, the Ducks pulled the trigger and sent Zegras to the Flyers.
In exchange for Zegras, the Ducks received Ryan Poehling, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 2025 second-round pick (47th overall) and the Flyers’ own 2026 fourth-round pick.
The Ducks drafted Zegras ninth overall in the 2019 NHL draft – one pick ahead of the Canucks, who held two meetings with the forward. In his five seasons in Anaheim, Zegras scored 67 goals and 119 assists for 186 points in 268 games. The American forward is a walking highlight reel when he’s on, or should we say, on the ice.
Health has been one of the biggest issues when it comes to Zegras. He has yet to play a full 82-game season (81 in 2022-2023), already missing 116 games over the span of his five-year NHL career. Zegras will hope for a fresh start and hopefully turn into a complete player under new head coach Rick Tocchet.
Now putting on our Canucks tinted lenses, when reports last year came out about Zegras potentially being a target for the Canucks, it was pretty clear that the fit between Zegras and Tocchet was not a fan favourite. But now, the two are going to connect in Philadelphia, and we’ll see if they can work together.
The price of Zegras is certainly something the Canucks could have paid. There are some character concerns, which would make sense as to why the price was as low as it was. But when with such a glaring need, it’s hard not to see that compensation and feel the Canucks missed out on a cheap asset here.
Here is the trade comparison that the Canucks would have sent. Would you be comfortable trading that for Zegras to be the Canucks’ second-line centre?

Blachawks’ busy weekend

Well, if we’re being honest, they weren’t that busy. But when they were involved in the only two roster moves made this weekend, they technically were.
First, the Blackhawks put defenceman TJ Brodie on waivers for the purpose of a buyout, and cleared the next day. Brodie signed a two-year, $3.75 million AAV deal in Chicago last summer. However, the first year of his Blackhawks career was difficult for the Canadian defenceman.
Brodie only suited up for 54 games this season, scoring two goals and 10 points, with a career-worst minus-18. This was also the first time since his rookie season that Brodie averaged under 20 minutes a night, averaging out at just 15:38 per game.
Secondly, the Blackhawks traded recently acquired Joe Veleno to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for Andre Burakovsky.
Veleno was acquired from the Detroit Red Wings at this past trade deadline in exchange for Petr Mrazek and Craig Smith. But after a disappointing stint in Chicago, scoring three goals and four assists in 18 games with a minus-9 rating in 12:38 minutes per game, the Blackhawks decided to move on from the 25-year-old centre.
Heading back to Chicago, Burakovsky brings an added scoring touch to the Blackhawks that they so desperately need.
After setting a career high en route to a Stanley Cup Championship in the 2021-2022 season, Burakovsky signed a five-year, $5.5 million AAV deal with the Kraken. It’s safe to say that didn’t work out as both parties had hoped.
Expecting to lead as the team’s main shooter, Burakovsky scored just 30 goals and 92 points in 177 games over the three seasons.  The Russian forward became expendable after the Kraken acquired Mason Marchment earlier in the week.
Being able to shed Burakovsky’s salary and upgrading to Marchment in the meantime, while the Blackhawks are hoping they’ve found a goal-scorer to attach to Connor Bedard’s wing, is a win-win for both sides.

Bruins extend Lohrei

The Boston Bruins announced on Monday morning that they had extended defenceman Mason Lohrei to a two-year, $3.2 million AAV contract.
The Bruins drafted Lohrei in the second round (58th overall) of the 2020 NHL draft. After making his NHL debut last season, the 6’5″ defenceman emerged as a heavy contributor this season after the Charlie McAvoy injury at the 4 Nations Face-off. Lohrei tallied five goals and 28 assists for 33 points, but with an abysmal minus-43 rating.
Sponsored by bet365