Evan’s NHL Daily: MacKinnon Milestone, Trade Deadline Prep

Nathan MacKinnon became the second player in the NHL this season to hit the 100 point mark. In doing so, he did something no Colorado Avalanche player has ever done before, which is incredibly surprising given all the talent that has come through Denver.

One day after the Chris Tanev trade, word came out that the Avalanche were one of the teams interested in him. We took a look at what Colorado’s trade board might look like ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline.

That Tanev move did kick-start things just a little bit, as the Maple Leafs added a defenseman, although not exactly a very good one if you ask me. Guess they felt like they missed out and had to do something.

All that and more in this Friday edition of Evan’s Daily.

Colorado Hockey Now

It would be a major surprise if Colorado didn’t make a move before the NHL Trade Deadline. What does their trade board look like right now?

The Avalanche were in on Chris Tanev, but the Flames didn’t want to take a disappointing contract back from Colorado to make the deal happen.

On the ice, Justus Annunen posted his first career shutout, making things a little more complicated for Chris MacFarland.

MacKinnon Milestone

Nathan MacKinnon became the second NHL player to hit 100 points this season with his third period snipe past Petr Mrazek. It’s the second straight year MacKinnon has crossed the century mark, and if not for injuries, we know he would have hit that number a few more times earlier in his career.

By hitting 100 points, he became the first player in Avalanche history to have back-to-back 100 point seasons. A crazy stat when you consider the likes of Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg played here for several years.

MacKinnon is the 1st @Avalanche player to post back-to-back 100-point campaigns (4th franchise player)
 
Surpasses 100 points in his 61st game, the fastest @Avalanche player to reach century mark. 2nd fastest franchise player to 100, one game behind Peter Stastny (60) in 1981-82

— Brendan McNicholas (@bmcnich) March 1, 2024

KHL Playoffs

Both Mikhail Gulyayev and Nikolai Kovalenko will start their playoff runs over in the KHL on Friday. I’ll try to watch both and report back.

In the meantime, Kovalenko’s teammates played a joke on him Thursday, knowing that he’s headed to the NHL soon to play with Nathan MacKinnon.

Looks like Nikolai Kovalenko’s teammates decided to mess with him today.

📸 Torpedo’s Instagram pic.twitter.com/EdapTjfu5f

— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) February 29, 2024

Around The NHL

The Maple Leafs missed out on Chris Tanev, so they decided to settle for…Ilya Lyubushkin. Yes, the same guy they traded for two years ago. He wasn’t exactly good then, and he’s not great now.

Ilya Lyubushkin has been pulled from the Ducks lineup due to his involvement in trade talks. #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/uU2jbSAQz1

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) March 1, 2024

In order to get Lyubushkin, the Leafs had to give up a third round pick to Anaheim, and a sixth round pick to the Hurricanes, who helped by taking 25% of his cap hit. Fascinating that the Hurricanes would be willing to help, considering they may face the Leafs in the playoffs at some point, but maybe they also know Lyubushkin isn’t very good.

Speaking of the Hurricanes, apparently they were deep in talks with the Vancouver Canucks to acquire…Elias Pettersson?!? Just an absolutely crazy story when you consider where the Canucks sit in the standings. Alas, the deal fell through, and now it appears a Pettersson extension is close with the Canucks. Could you have imagined the chaos if they had dealt him while sitting in first place?

National Hockey Now

Now that it’s all public, Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney is talking about the “gap” in negotiations with Jake Debrusk.