NHL Morning Skate for Saturday, March 8, 2025

March 8, 2025

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* A total of 47 players and 28 draft picks changed hands across 24 deals made Friday ahead of the 3 p.m. ET trade deadline. Click here to read the full list of transactions on the League’s Media site, which also had a special edition of Live Updates featuring a trade-by-trade breakdown with #NHLStats mixed in along the way.

* The division-leading Jets, Capitals and Golden Knights generated wins Friday, while the Canucks and Blues beat opponents to gain ground in the Western Conference’s tightly-contested Wild Card race.

* Today’s 10-game schedule is highlighted by an ABC Hockey Saturday doubleheader followed by a three-game Hockey Night in Canada slate.

TRADE DEADLINE PASSES WITH FOCUS NOW ON RUSH TO THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS
The reigning Stanley Cup champions continued to bolster their roster, with the hopes of becoming the NHL’s third team to win back-to-back championships in the past decade, ahead of the 2024-25 NHL Trade Deadline as the playoff push intensifies with less than six weeks remaining in the regular season. A look at some of the moves made Friday by clubs currently in a playoff position:

* The Panthers acquired forward Brad Marchand from the rival Bruins, their fifth trade since March 1 following the acquisitions of Seth Jones, Vitek Vanecek, Nico Sturm and Kaapo Kahkonen. The former Bruins captain has gone head-to-head with the Panthers in each of the past two Stanley Cup Playoffs and will join Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett for the second time in as many months after teaming up for a championship at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

* Marchand became the third Bruins captain in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to be traded in-season, following Joe Thornton to the Sharks (Nov. 30, 2005) and Ray Bourque to the Avalanche (March 6, 2000). This marks the third time in four seasons that multiple captains have been traded in-season, asMarchand joined Jacob Trouba (NYR to ANA on Dec. 6). The others were in 2022-23 (Ryan O’Reilly & Bo Horvat) and 2021-22 (Mark Giordano & Claude Giroux). Since 2005-06, the most captains traded in one season is four (2013-14).

* The Stars – challenging for top spot in the Central Division and the Western Conference – acquired Stanley Cup-winning forward Mikko Rantanen from the Hurricanes and then signed the two-time 100-point scorer to an eight-year contract extension. Rantanen is the only Stanley Cup champion on Dallas’ active roster and owns 34-67—101 in 81 career postseason games; his 1.25 points per game in the playoffs rank within the top 10 in NHL history (min. 50 GP).

Friday featured conference-leading Jets, Capitals collecting wins
Friday’s six-game slate featured the Jets (44-16-4, 92 points) maintaining their two-point lead on the Capitals (41-14-8, 90 points) atop the NHL standings as well as the Golden Knights (38-18-6, 82 points), Canucks (29-22-11, 69 points), Blues (31-27-6, 68 points) and Blackhawks (20-35-8, 48 points) also recording victories. More notes in addition to the ones below can be found in the latest edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates.

* Kyle Connor (1-1—2) collected his team-leading 23rd multi-point game of the season to reach the 80-point mark and help the Jets defeat the Devils. Connor became the second-fastest Jets/Thrashers player to hit 80 points in a campaign behind Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk (61 GP in 2005-06). Connor’s three career 80-point seasons are also the second most in franchise history behind Kovalchuk (4).

* Aliaksei Protas (2-1—3) and Tom Wilson (1-1—2) had two shorthanded points apiece to help the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals erase a 2-0 deficit and earn their League-leading 21st comeback win of the season. Washington (63 GP) required its fourth-fewest games in franchise history to reach the 90-point mark behind 2015-16 (57 GP), 2016-17 (62 GP) and 2009-10 (62 GP).

* Mark Stone (1-2—3) logged his 23rd career three-point game with Vegas while Jack Eichel (0-1—1) boosted his career totals to 231-358—589 during his 600th career contest and tied Matthew Tkachuk (222-367—589) for the third-most points through the milestone among active U.S.-born skaters, trailing only Auston Matthews (388-304—692) and Patrick Kane (219-375—594). Vegas opened a six-point lead on idle Edmonton (36-22-4, 76 points) atop the Pacific Division.

* Kiefer Sherwood scored the go-ahead goal with 3:45 remaining in regulation for the Canucks, while Cam Fowler forged two assists in his return to Honda Center with the Blues. Vancouver leapfrogged idle Calgary (29-23-10, 68 points) for the Western Conference’s final Wild Card spot, while St. Louis remained one point back of the Canucks.

* Connor Bedard (1-1—2) scored the overtime winner after Frank Nazar became the first rookie in franchise history with a penalty-shot goal as the Blackhawks beat Utah Hockey Club. The tallies by Bedard and Nazar were preceded by a highlight-reel glove save from Spencer Knight, who improved to 2-0-0 through his first two appearances with Chicago (1.95 GAA, .951 SV%).

QUICK CLICKS

* Top storylines for final stretch of 2024-25 regular season
* EDGE stats: Mikko Rantanen trade makes Stars front-runners for Stanley Cup
* Nicklas Backstrom receives standing ovation from Capitals fans before ceremonial puck drop
* Roberto Luongo puts goalie gear back on, joins Panthers for practice
* The Gr8 Chase goal counter unveiled at Capital One Arena

KEY CLASHES HEADLINE 10-GAME SATURDAY

An ABC Hockey Saturday doubleheader prompts a 10-game schedule when the Kraken and Flyers meet at Wells Fargo Center and the Bruins and Lightning clash at Amalie Arena. Boston (28-28-8, 64 points) and Philadelphia (27-28-8, 62 points) are two clubs right in the mix for a playoff position in the logjammed Eastern Conference Wild Card race, which is also headlined by a head-to-head meeting between the Senators (31-25-5, 67 points) and Rangers (31-26-5, 67 points).

* Tim Stützle (20-44—64 in 61 GP) has been pivotal to Ottawa’s playoff push and owns an active 13-game point streak dating to Jan. 25 (5-14—19 in 13 GP). Stützle can become the second different player in franchise history to register a point streak of at least 14 consecutive games and the fourth in 2024-25 following David Pastrnak (17 GP), Leon Draisaitl (14 GP) and Mikko Rantanen (14 GP).

PIVOTAL PLAYOFF POINTS ON THE LINE FOR HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA SLATE

Three games are on tap for the latest Hockey Night in Canada slate as the Maple Leafs (38-21-3, 79 points) and Oilers (36-22-4, 76 points) take on Central Division opponents, while the Canadiens (30-26-6, 66 points) and Flames (29-23-10, 68 points) continue their push for the playoffs in their respective Wild Card races.

* Mitch Marner (19-58—77 in 61 GP) meets Nathan MacKinnon (25-73—98 in 63 GP) at Ball Arena with the Avalanche forward within striking distance of his third career 100-point season and third in as many seasons. MacKinnon, who can join Peter Stastny (6 from 1980-81 – 1985-86 w/ QUE) as the second player in franchise history with three consecutive 100-point campaigns, also sits within three points of 1,000 in his career (360-637—997 in 854 GP).

* Leon Draisaitl (46-48—94 in 62 GP) is also closing in on the 100-point mark and has done so thanks in part to an active 13-game point streak and at least one power-play goal in each of his past three home games. Draisaitl, who had a streak of four consecutive power-play goals in 2022-23, can become the fourth player to achieve the feat multiple times since 1998-99 (Sam Reinhart: 4 GP in 2022-23 & 2019-20; Markus Naslund: 4 GP in 2002-03 & 1998-99; and Teemu Selanne: 6 GP & 4 GP in 1998-99).

* Saturday’s Oilers-Stars game will mark the first-ever Hockey Night in Canada in Inuktitut, extending the hockey programming in Indigenous languages and reaching more communities in a meaningful way. Hockey Night in Canada in Inuktitut will be on APTN, hosted by Pujjuut Kusugak and David Ningeongan, and the first of three games broadcast in Inuktitut this season (also Senators-Devils at 7 p.m. ET on March 22 & Canadiens-Maple Leafs at 7 p.m. ET on April 12).

* Lane Hutson (4-45—49 in 62 GP) has helped the Canadiens produce a 5-0-1 record in their past six games and owns an active four-game assist streak after also posting runs of five or more games earlier this season (9 GP from Jan. 4-21 & 7 GP from Nov. 27 – Dec. 9, 2024). He can become the first rookie defenseman in NHL history with three assist streaks of five-plus games in a single season and the second to do so on three separate occasions in their career (Brian Leetch: 7 GP and 5 GP in 1988-89 & 6 GP in 1987-88).