The best hockey save of the year might’ve just happened in Sweden thanks to a goaltender who initially didn’t recognize he needed to make one.
Gustaf Lindvall is a goalie for Skellefteå AIK in the Swedish Hockey League. In a semifinal playoff game against Frölunda HC on Tuesday, he made a full-extension diving stick save to prevent a goal.
Except, there was no whistle — the play hadn’t stopped.
Frölunda forward Jayden Halbgewachs saw the wide-open net at the other end and shot the puck from the neutral zone. As Lindwall realized his mistake, he turned and dove back across the ice, raising his goalie stick high enough with his right arm to deflect the puck out of play with the shaft of his stick.
Frölunda ended up defeating Skellefteå AIK, 2-0. Lindvall finished with 21 saves, including one that’s going to be played in highlight reels for years to come
NHL trade grades: Report cards for J.T. Miller back to Rangers
The NHL trade deadline for the 2024-25 season is not until March 7, but teams have not waited until the last minute to make major moves.
For every significant trade that occurs during the season, you’ll find a grade for it here, the Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks swapping goaltenders, Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues, Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken, the blockbuster deal sending Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes and Martin Necas to the Avalanche, the four-player swap between the Flyers and Flames, J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Rangers, and the Canucks staying busy and getting Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Read on for grades from Ryan S. Clark and Greg Wyshynski, and check back the next time a big deal breaks.
It’s been a week for the Dallas Stars.
Saturday was another extension of that week, with the Stars getting forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks for a 2025 first-round pick and a conditional 2025 third-round pick.
How did both GMs perform in this trade? Let’s find out.
Let’s go back to the week the Stars were having. A week that started with a healthy complement of players saw them lose four players and extended amount of time. It started Thursday when they announced Miro Heiskanen was going to be out for multiple weeks with a lower-body injury. It continued Saturday when they placed defenseman Nils Lundkvist and forward Tyler Seguin on Long Term Injured Reserve while moving forward Mason Marchment to injured reserve.
Less than two hours later, they traded for Granlund and Ceci in a move that should help the Stars in the interim and throughout the rest of the season.
As for the short-term outlook, Granlund provides them with another top-six, two-way forward who can be trusted to play in key minutes in 5-on-5 situations, the penalty kill and the power play. It’s possible that the Stars would use Granlund as their third-line center with Seguin out of the lineup.
Heiskanen’s absence created a top-four opening and the additional loss of Lundkvist meant there was an even greater need on the back end. Ceci gives them a player who can operate in a top-four role while Heiskanen is out. When Heiskanen returns, Ceci can be shifted into a third-pairing role, allowing the Stars to have a rotation between Lian Bichsel and Matt Dumba on that final pairing.
It’s the sort of move that fits for a team in a championship window like the Stars. Ceci and Granlund are pending unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. They’ll be part of an eight-player UFA class that features captain Jamie Benn and Wyatt Johnston.
The Sharks have built their roster in a way that allows their young core of Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, William Eklund and Yaroslav Askarov more opportunities to develop. But it’s also been constructed in a manner that has allowed them to have pending UFAs they could move ahead of the deadline.
That’s what made having Ceci and Granlund so valuable for the Sharks.
With this trade, San Jose was able to accomplish two objectives. It was able to get what is now a second first-round pick in this year’s draft while adding a third-round pick to give them a total of eight picks — and they could add more.
Another is it didn’t have to take on any salary or need a third-party broker to facilitate a trade for two players who had some of the higher salaries on the team.
Part of the challenge facing the Sharks ahead of this particular trade deadline is the lack of salary retention slots. They’ve retained money on Brent Burns, Tomas Hertl, and Erik Karlsson. They’ll get the Burns contract off the books this year while having two more years of Karlsson and three more years of Hertl.
So, to get a deal done for two of their more coveted UFAs without having the retain any salary creates the potential to move some of their seven remaining pending UFAs without any additional financial challenges.So, to get a deal done for two of their more coveted UFAs without having the retain any salary creates the potential to move some of their seven remaining pending UFAs without any additional financial challenges.
The NHL. Where apparently Friday nights are the prime time for blockbuster trades?
This time it was the New York Rangers, who acquired long-time target and center J.T. Miller in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks. The Rangers received Miller, defenseman Erik Brannstrom and prospect defenseman Jackson Dorrington, with center Filip Chytil, prospect defenseman Victor Mancini and a protected 2025 first-round pick going to the Canucks.
Let’s look at how each GM did and what the impact could be going forward.
