Not to be mistaken with the Las Vegas Raiders head coach, Jonathan Gruden was selected in the fourth-round (No.95 overall) in 2018. The 6-foot, 180 lbs. centre moved from Miami (Ohio) University to the London Knights (OHL) for the 2020 season, where he was second on the team in goals (30) and fourth in points (66) in 59 games.
The Penguins made their decision in net when they locked up Tristan Jarry last week. With so many free agent goalies becoming available on Friday it was a priority to get this trade done before then to maximize Murray's value. He is coming off of a down year, having posted a 2.87 GAA and .899 SV% in 38 starts but Murray is a huge upgrade in net for the Senators, who have improved drastically over the last 24 hours.
Anderson dealt with shoulder issues all throughout 2020, limiting him to just 26 games and four points (1G / 3A). In 2019, Anderson scored a career-high 27 goals with 20 assists (47 points) in 82 games. He was one of three players who had 20-plus goals and 200-plus hits in 2019--Alex Ovechkin and Blake Coleman were the other two, pretty good company. Anderson's rugged style of play is exactly what the Habs were in search of and he will pair nicely on the second line with Nick Suzuki.
Domi is coming off of a bit of a down year, scoring just 17 goals with 27 assists (44 points) in 71 games. That's down from his 28 goals and 44 assists in his debut season with Montreal but still would have been second on the Blue Jackets in points in 2020. Domi is exactly the type of player the Blue Jackets were in need of and pushes Boone Jenner to a third-line centre role, which is a much better fit for him. The acquisition of Domi, who will likely skate on a line with Gustav Nyquist and Cam Atkinson, signals that the Blue Jackets are likely done with Alexander Wennberg.
Dubnyk struggled mightily in 2020, going 12-15-2 with a 3.35 GAA and .890 SV% in 30 games. San Jose is taking a low-cost, low-risk flier on a 34-year-old, who had a 2.41 GAA and .918 SV% in the four seasons prior to 2020. The Wild are retaining the maximum of half of Dubnyk's salary, so he'll cost them $2.17M AAV against the cap next season.
Donato is entering the final year of a two-year deal that pays him $1.9M AAV. With the addition of Nick Bjugstad and Kirill Kaprizov coming over from the KHL, Donato was going to be a fringe roster player in Minnesota. San Jose on the other hand, is in desperate need of some middle-6 wingers. Donato was solid in his 1.5 years in Minnesota, scoring 18 goals with 21 assists (39 points) in 84 games.
Maatta has two-years left at $4.083 million but Chicago retained 18.37 percent of the deal, so he'll only cost the Kings $3.33M AAV. That makes him the Kings' second-highest paid defenseman for 2021. Maatta had four goals and 13 assists (17 points) in 65 games in 2020.
Morrison was originally a fourth-round pick of the Rangers in 2015 before turning pro in 2019 and signing with the Kings. In his first professional season, he had 20 points (10G / 10A) in 50 AHL games but spent all of 2020 in the ECHL, where he had six goals and 13 assists (19 points) in 17 games. This is more of a salary dump for Chicago--Maatta had two years left at $4.083M AAV but the Blackhawks will retain $750K per year.
Brown was originally a sixth-round pick of the Panthers (2013) and worked his way into an NHL defenseman in 2020. Brown spent the whole season in Florida, where he played primarily as Keith Yandle's D-partner and scored three goals with five assists (eight points) in 56 games. At 6-foot-5, 217 lbs. Brown can be a physical force on the ice but had just 77 hits (to lead FLA defensemen) in 2020.
Pirri was originally drafted by the Blackhawks in 2009 and played in Chicago for three and a half years. He has bounced around the NHL since then and spent most of his time with Vegas in the AHL. This past season, he had 35 points (15G / 20A) in 38 games with Chicago (AHL) and will be a fringe NHLer with the Blackhawks.
Sikura was a sixth-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2014 and turned pro in 2018. The 25-year-old winger spent most of the 2020 season with Rockford (AHL), where he was second on the team with 33 points (14G / 19A) in 45 games. Sikura has 14 points (1G / 13A) in 47 career NHL games and will be a fringe NHLer with Vegas following this trade.
Staal has one-year left on his contract that carries a $5.7M cap-hit. The Rangers gave up a second-round pick to Detroit to take that deal off of their books, clearing cap-space to get RFA's like Ryan Strome, Brendan Lemieux, Tony DeAngelo and Alexandar Georgiev under contract. Staal comes into Detroit to help replace Jonathan Ericsson and Trevor Daley, who the Red Wings announced they will not be bringing back. The 33-year-old had 11 points (2G / 9A) in 52 games in 2020.
Sceviour is 31-years-old and has one-year left on a deal that pays him $1.2 million. With so many high-priced assets up-and-down the Penguins lineup, Sceviour is a cheap option to replace Patrick Marleau in their bottom-6 in 2021. With a career-high of 26 points, Sceviour's ceiling is quite low but he's a hard-working winger that will likely be reunited with his former Panthers' teammate Jared McCann.
Matheson has a massive contract, with six years left at $4.875M but the 26-year-old was brought in to replace Justin Schultz, who is a UFA. Matheson has tremendous mobility for a 6-foot-2 defenseman and heads to Pittsburgh with at least eight goals and 20 points in three consecutive seasons. Matheson fell out of favour in Florida in 2020 but should be a fine second or third pairing defenseman in Pittsburgh.
Hornqvist has three years left on his current deal that pays him $5.3M AAV. At 33-years-old, Hornqvist isn't as effective as he once was and injuries have become a major issue for the wing. Over his last four seasons in Pittsburgh, Hornqvist has missed 54 of the 315 games (17.1%) but was sixth on the team in points-per-game, registering 162 points (85G / 77A) in 261 games. In Florida, he will likely slot-in one the first or second line and on the top power-play.
The Wild likely acquired Johansson with the idea of him playing centre but he hasn't been very good in the middle throughout his career, including last year in Buffalo. Johansson had just nine goals and 30 points in 60 games with the Sabres in 2019-20 and now joins a Minnesota team devoid of a No.1 centre.
Staal will be 36 in October and is entering the final year of a two-year contract that carries a $3.25M AAV cap-hit. The move actually saves the Sabres $1.25M in cap space and they are getting the better player. Staal may be nearing the end of his career but he will be a great No.2 centre behind Jack Eichel and reunites with Jeff Skinner. They didn't play together a ton in Carolina but there should be familiarity there five years later.
Edmundson is a pending unrestricted free agent that just wasn't a part of the future of the Hurricanes blueline. In Montreal however, Edmundson will help bolster a left-side that features Ben Chiarot (2 years left), Brett Kulak (2 years), Victor Mete (RFA) and the up-and-coming Alexander Romanov (2 years). It will be interesting to see if Montreal has plans to move any of them to loosen up the logjam. Edmundson doesn't provide a lot offensively but led the Hurricanes' blueline in hits (118) and was tied for second in blocked shots (91) in 2020.
Bjugstad missed 46 games after undergoing core muscle surgery in 2020 and then was hurt again three games after returning to the lineup and then the season was paused. Bjugstad has missed a total of 92 games (39.5%) over the last three seasons but will look for a fresh start in his hometown. Bjusgstad was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and went to the University of Minnesota, so this should be a welcomed move for the 28-year-old centre. Both Mikko Koivu and Alex Galchenyuk are UFAs at season's end, so there could be a very clear path to a bottom-6 role for Bjugstad.
Allen is a 30-year-old netminder who is heading into the final year of a four-year contract that carries a $4.35 million cap hit. Allen is likely the first of a few cap causalities in St. Louis, who have very few contracts coming off of the books this offseason and both Alex Pietrangelo (UFA) and Vince Dunn (RFA) looking for new deals. As for Allen, he will backup Carey Price in 2021 and is coming off of a year in which he was 12-6-3 with a 2.15 GAA and .927 SV% in 21 starts and three relief appearances.
