In Vancouver, the surprise of the night came from an unlikely place: Leevi Meriläinen.
The waiver-wire pickup from Ottawa turned in a performance against Calgary that was hard to miss. The Flames produced 2.07 expected goals against him, but he allowed only one, finishing with a 1.07 GSAx.
In plain terms, he stopped about a goal more than an average goalie likely would have. He didn’t do it alone, either.
Vancouver’s defensive structure held up well in front of him and limited Calgary to just three high-danger chances for the game.
That kind of outing doesn’t prove anything on its own, but it does give the Canucks something interesting to monitor. For a rebuilding team still sorting out what it is, getting a solid night from a goalie nobody expected to be much more than a waiver claim is the sort of development that can sneak up and matter.
Edmonton, meanwhile, may be looking to make a different kind of move.
According to Elliotte Friedman, the Oilers are shopping for a forward and are open to moving a depth defenseman to make it happen. The names that keep coming up are Ty Emberson, Spencer Stastney, and Shakir Mukhamadullin, all of them inexpensive depth options earning under $2 million.
Emberson has quietly stood out as steady and dependable in a more disciplined defensive setup. Mukhamadullin has had a rough start, sitting at minus-6, though the coaching staff still likes his size and upside.
Stastney has not played yet this season and could be the easiest piece to move if Edmonton is treating him as emergency depth.
There’s no rush for the Oilers, though. They’re at the top of the NHL standings with five points in three games, and injured forwards Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are both expected back soon. That puts Edmonton in a position to negotiate from strength rather than chase a fix, which usually changes the way a trade conversation goes.
And then there’s the weirdest thread in the mix: the idea that a bunch of recent NHL trade requests all somehow trace back to one Team USA locker room.
The names being tossed into that theory include Tkachuk, Hellebuyck, Larkin, Werenski, and Hughes, which is enough to make people wonder if the players fed off one another’s frustrations during the tournament and came away with a shared sense of what they wanted. It’s a compelling thought, especially with the timing looking so strange and previous Team Canada groups never producing anything similar.
But the individual cases don’t really line up neatly with a grand theory. Hughes and Tkachuk wanted to play with their brothers before the Olympics ever entered the picture.
Werenski has not asked for a trade; he has simply been noncommittal. Larkin and Hellebuyck appear to have their own separate issues with their organizations.
And Auston Matthews, the team’s actual captain, is said to be perfectly happy in Toronto. So the pattern is real enough to notice, but the explanation probably has more to do with separate frustrations than any secret Team USA pact.
In Other News...
Hurricanes Enter Connor Hellebuyck Talk With One Big Timing Question
Around the league, the Connor Hellebuyck chatter has started to settle into a familiar pattern: contenders wondering whether there is a real path to land one of the NHLs top goaltenders, and clubs with questions in net trying to see if the timing can ever line up. Elliotte Friedman reported that the San Jose Sharks and Winnipeg Jets briefly explored a trade involving Hellebuyck, while other teams such as the Oilers and Hurricanes have been floated as fits because of their goaltending situations and their desire to keep pushing toward a championship window.
What makes the discussion interesting is the standard Hellebuyck appears to be using. He is open to San Jose despite the uncertainty around that roster, but his bigger aim is to end up with a team he believes can win the Stanley Cup within the next three years. For Edmonton, that creates a clear but unresolved question: whether the organization can present the kind of immediate contender profile that would make a goalie of Hellebuycks stature view it as the right destination. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Suddenly Face Real Risk With Simon Edvinsson
With the NHL calendar still early, the trade market is already starting to take shape around a few clubs trying to solve very different problems. Detroits situation with Simon Edvinsson has become one of the more notable ones, as contract talks have reportedly run into trouble and the Red Wings are at least looking at trade possibilities if they cannot get the defenseman locked in.
For Edmonton, the ripple effect is less direct but still relevant. The Oilers are weighing ways to add forward depth, and that kind of search can quickly pull other teams into the discussion as front offices look for pieces that fit their needs. Around the league, there is plenty of movement and speculation already, from the Red Wings' uncertainty on the blue line to other clubs testing trade ideas, which is the kind of backdrop that can turn a quiet stretch into a much busier one. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Have A Better Answer Than Trading For Forward Help
Early-season injuries have left the Oilers thin up front again, and the ripple effect is already being felt through their top-nine forward depth. With the roster still sorting itself out, there has been talk around the possibility of flipping a depth defenseman for a forward, a move that would give Edmonton another body while trying to preserve some balance on the blue line.
The wrinkle is the cap, which makes every adjustment a little harder than it looks on paper. Recent transactions have only added to the maneuvering, and while outside help remains a live option, the more practical path may come from within the roster math rather than from a bigger trade swing. [Read more 🡒]