BOSTON — The Boston Bruins ended Monday’s NHL trade deadline with one more piece.
Instead of one of the flashier names on the market, the Bruins shipped a 2019 second- and 2020 fourth-round pick to the New Jersey Devils for left winger Marcus Johansson.
Johansson, 28, who has spent time with the Devils and Capitals, has 12 goals and 15 assists this season. He’s an unrestricted free agent after the season and carries a $4.5 million cap hit. The Devils will retain 40 percent of his salary.
While a left-handed shot, Johansson has played right wing and early in his career played some center, but has primarily been a left wing.
“There’s versatility,” said General Manager Don Sweeney. “Marcus represents a lot of versatility and production in a top-nine role. It’s something we felt, coming down the stretch, we still could use that.
“We’ve been exploring things for a while at different levels. Going back to the acquisition of Charlie Coyle. Trades don’t happen just because you pick up the phone today. A lot of times it’s just periodic conversations …We were in on a bunch of things we were exploring.”
It seemed the Bruins were going to stand pat as 3 p.m. passed, but the Johansson trade came in late.
The Bruins added Charlie Coyle for Ryan Donato and a fifth-rounder to Minnesota on Wednesday ahead of the deadline. Coyle played in his first game with the Bruins on Saturday in St. Louis and will make his home debut Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, the West just got wilder, and the Columbus Blue Jackets are going all-in on their late-season playoff push.
The Blue Jackets followed up last week’s additions of Ottawa forwards Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel by acquiring New York Rangers defenseman Adam McQuaid and New Jersey goalie Keith Kinkaid. Those moves were then overshadowed by a series of trades made by some top Western Conference contenders.
A year after reaching the Stanley Cup finals, the Vegas Golden Knights not only acquired Ottawa forward Mark Stone but reached an agreement to sign the pending unrestricted free agent and five-time 20-goal scorer to a contract extension.
“You hope it brings something,” Coach Gerard Gallant said. “He’s one of the top players in this league and should definitely bring a lot of energy to our room.”
The Golden Knights are 3-9-1 in their past 13 and third in the Pacific Division.
The Central Division-leading Winnipeg Jets completed six trades, most notably acquiring center Kevin Hayes by sending forward Brendan Lemieux and a first-round pick to the retooling New York Rangers. Hayes has topped 40 points in four of his five NHL seasons, and projected to take over the second-line center spot alongside Patrik Laine.
“It’s obviously tough to leave New York but I’m excited to join the Jets,” Hayes said. “I mean, everybody knows how good they are and the type of players they have on their team.”
Predators General Manager David Poile was certainly aware of moves made by his nearest competitors, but said they had no influence on him striking two deals to upgrade on offense.
“You can’t help but keep an eye on that. We got all the TVs in the room and you see what someone’s doing,” Poile said. “But we have to be focused on ourselves.”
Nashville acquired forward Mikael Granlund in a trade that sent Kevin Fiala to Minnesota, then added forward Wayne Simmonds in a deal that sent Ryan Hartman to Philadelphia.
The Predators, 3-4-1 in their past eight, began the day a point behind the Jets.
“You look at the top of the food chain in the West, each team added some players. It will be a challenge going forward,” San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson said.
Wilson improved his lineup by acquiring Gustav Nyquist in a deal with Detroit.
MONDAY’S GAMES
MAPLE LEAFS 5, SABRES 3: John Tavares, Auston Matthews and Frederik Gauthier scored three quick goals in the second period, and Toronto held on at home.
Tyler Ennis also scored in Toronto’s four-goal second.
DEVILS 2, CANADIENS 1: Nathan Bastian scored his first NHL goal, Kurtis Gabriel got his second and New Jersey won at Newark, New Jersey.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
