Mason McTavish off to St. Louis
The 2026 NHL Draft is making headlines as trades are picking up yet again in the primary round. While it took a while, the Anaheim Geese have traded center Mason McTavish to the St. Louis Blues for the fifteenth and twenty ninth overall picks within the 2026 NHL Draft.
Anaheim trades Mason McTavish to St. Louis for picks 15 and 29.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 27, 2026
We all know the Blues and Geese have been talking since Thursday night. It was between the Blues and the Latest York Rangers, and Geese GM Pat Verbeek took the higher of the 2 offers because the Rangers, which we’ll get to later, gave away certainly one of their trade pieces for Pavel Dorofeyev.
The Blues and Rangers Make Offers for Mason McTavish
McTavish is an ideal second-line center that many teams were trying to get. There are those that are concerned about his foot speed and defensive involvement, forgetting that he missed all of last season’s training camp on account of a contract holdout. There’s an expectation that he bounces back as Jeremy Swayman did in Boston.
Some rumours about Mason McTavish potentially being on the move (MTL?). He’s still young and has some promising small-area skill, but his lack of footspeed, defensive involvement, and limited time with the puck are all red flags. pic.twitter.com/S0JkIhcij5
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) June 13, 2026
Mark Stone, Alex Ovechkin, and Does Mason McTavish Have a Future with the Geese?
Nonetheless, some teams were unwilling to overpay for that player, including the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens.
RE: Mason McTavish.
There’s league-wide interest (MIN, OTT, PHI, etc), but the value stays high on him despite some pretty big questions marks.
The Habs do have some level of interest, and sure would pursue if Pat Verbeek lowered his price.
Little interest in overpaying.
— Marco D’Amico (@mndamico) June 25, 2026
McTavish has five years left at $7 million a season. That’s two years in a row that players with contract disputes have been traded by Verbeek and the Geese. The others were Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale. Clearly, Verbeek wants his form of guy in Anaheim. With the fifteenth overall selection, they chose Nikita Klepov. This deal needed to occur if and provided that this player was available.
Pavel Dorofeyev heading to broadway
As previously mentioned, the Latest York Rangers were in trade talks with the Anaheim Geese; nevertheless, GM Chris Drury pivoted and traded restricted free agent Pavel Dorofeyev. As a part of the trade, the Rangers have the twenty sixth overall pick in 2026 (Originally the Dallas Stars), a third round pick (92nd overall) in 2026, and a top-10-protected first-round pick in 2028.
To NYR:
DorofeyevTo LV:
2026 1st (Originally Dallas)
2026 third (92)
2028 Top-10 protected first— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 26, 2026
NHL Rumors: Edmonton Oilers, and the Vegas Golden Knights
As a part of the deal, the Latest York Rangers gave Dorofeyev a seven-year, $77 million take care of an annual average value of $11 million.
Confirming Dorofeyev extension with Rangers is 7 years x $11M AAV
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 27, 2026
That’s an excellent chunk of change for a player who put up back-to-back 30-goal seasons. He had 35 goals two seasons ago and 37 goals last season.
Pavel Dorofeyev, acquired by NYR, is a top line sniper with a sick shot, sparkling off-puck hockey I.Q., and an underrated defensive conscience. Not a puck dominant player but makes essentially the most of his touches. pic.twitter.com/ID0lze5OTZ
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) June 26, 2026
Vegas had a cap crunch, and GM Kelly McCrimmon was not going to pay Dorofeyev the quantity he got from the Rangers. The Golden Knights still have cap issues, as they still have to pay Rasmus Andersson. Will they make some other moves?
J.J. Peterka on the Move Again
Things got began before the NHL Draft when the Utah Mammoth traded JJ Peterka to the Boston Bruins for the twenty third overall pick in 2026 and a 2028 first-round pick (top 10 protected) that the Bruins got from the Florida Panthers within the Brad Marchand trade.
Peterka to Boston in exchange for a pair of first round picks https://t.co/gxwgsyg7xS
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 26, 2026
NHL Trade: Buffalo Sabres Trade JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth
Picks going to Utah from Boston:
2026 1st
2028 Fla 1st (top 10 protected)— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 26, 2026
Remember last, the Mammoth acquired Peterka from the Buffalo Sabres for Michael Kesselring (now in San Jose) and Josh Doan. Peterka never slot in Utah after signing a five-year, $38.5 million take care of a $7.7 million AAV. He has 4 years left and gets to play under head coach Marco Sturm.
Let’s see if a change of scenery does Peterka some good.
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