*For some reason, the NHL was incredibly active on a Wednesday in the middle of the Stanley Cup Final. First, Jakob Markstrom solidified the New Jersey Devils’ goaltending and potentially fixed the biggest roster hole in the entire league at the cost of a mediocre prospect and a top-10 protected first-round pick. Stupid, stupid Devils solving their problems. [Daily Faceoff]
*Next, the Los Angeles Kings undid a terrible mistake and contract by sending off center Pierre-Luc Dubois and his million-year extension to the Washington Capitals as they try to get as much out of Alex Ovechkin as possible. And in return, received the corpse of Darcy Kuemper and his own bad contract to form a swap of unfavorable situations. [ESPN]
*Even the San Jose Sharks got in the action, sending a mid-round draft pick for former first-rounder, center Ty Dellandea from the Dallas Stars and claiming former New York Rangers winger Barclay Goodrow off of waivers. While the Sharks will still be bad, they’re trying to at least be a little more respectable for the incoming Macklin Celebrini, but they also tremendously helped the Rangers on the way so we hate them. [ESPN]
*What makes the Goodrow claim even spicier is that according to a report, the Sharks were on Goodrow’s no-trade list so by putting him on waivers and having San Jose claim him for nothing, was a way of circumventing that. Could be called ruthless. [New York Post]
*This hasn’t been a great Final, but Tuesday night’s game showed at least some promise that this is really a chess match between two good coaches. [Sportsnet]
*Okay, enough about the other teams actually doing stuff. It’s time to get into some rumor meat. As the chaos unfolded across the league with trades and waiver claims galore, the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators were linked together as having a “framework of a trade” in place. Who could it possibly be? [BSH]
*In more Flyers news, they are bringing back Ian Laperriere as the head coach of the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms on a two-year contract extension through the 2025-26 season. [BSH]
