It appears the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking south in an attempt to help aid their blue line.

The Maple Leafs continue to scout the Carolina Hurricanes' available defensemen, reports TSN's Darren Dreger.

Carolina is reportedly open to trading Dougie Hamilton, and teams have apparently been calling about Brett Pesce. The Hurricanes also reportedly hope to land a top-six forward in exchange for a defenseman.

The Maple Leafs and Hurricanes have often been linked as potential trade partners. Toronto possesses an abundance of forward depth, while Carolina has four NHL-caliber right-handed defensemen, which the Maple Leafs lack.

Hamilton has seen his production falter in his first season with the Hurricanes. He has seven goals and 10 assists after producing four straight 40-point campaigns. The 25-year-old Toronto native comes with a $5.75-million cap hit and won't hit free agency until the summer of 2021.

While Hamilton has gained a reputation for his offensive abilities, Pesce has developed into one of the more reliable shutdown blue-liners in the league. Among defensemen who have played 500 minutes at five-on-five this year, he's been on the ice for the 14th-fewest scoring chances against per 60 minutes, and the 16th-fewest high-danger scoring chances against per 60 minutes - all while primarily being tasked with shutting down opponents' top players. The 24-year-old is signed through the 2023-24 season and carries a $4.025-million cap hit.

The Hurricanes also employ right-handed defensemen Justin Faulk and Trevor van Riemsdyk, though their names haven't surfaced in trade rumors.

Toronto's blue line is particularly weak on the right side. Left-handed shooting veteran Ron Hainsey plays on the right side of the team's top pairing, while Nikita Zaitsev and rookie Igor Ozhiganov hold down the right side on the bottom two units with limited effectiveness.

(Advanced stats courtesy: Natural Stat Trick)

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The Edmonton Oilers fired general manager and president of hockey operations Peter Chiarelli, the club announced Wednesday.

Bob Nicholson, the team's CEO, will oversee hockey operations in the interim.

Assistant GM Keith Gretzky will take on more responsibility until a new GM is hired, according to The Associated Press' Stephen Whyno.

The shakeup comes hours after the club stumbled into the All-Star break with a third consecutive defeat on home ice. It's the second major change in Oilers leadership this season, following the November move to fire Todd McLellan as head coach and hire Ken Hitchcock as his replacement.

The decision to dismiss Chiarelli was made before the Oilers' loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night, according to TSN's Darren Dreger, and the move itself was carried out before the game's conclusion.

Chiarelli exits after three plus-seasons with Edmonton. He joined the organization in 2015, two months before the Oilers won the chance to draft Connor McDavid first overall.

Since then, Edmonton's inability to capitalize on landing a generational talent - qualifying for the playoffs just once in McDavid's first three seasons and currently standing at risk of missing out once again - has largely been attributed to roster decisions made by Chiarelli.

Most notable among those franchise-altering moves were the separate trades of Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, which landed the club only Adam Larsson and Ryan Strome in return, as well as the free-agent signing of Milan Lucic on a seven-year, $42-million deal in 2016.

Edmonton also raised eyebrows with another move one day prior to Chiarelli's dismissal, giving goaltender Mikko Koskinen a three-year, $13.5-million extension after just 27 games with the team.

The Oilers currently sit below all but three teams in the Western Conference standings, owning a 23-24-3 record and 49 points.

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Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has decided what game he'll sit for as part of his one-game suspension for missing the NHL All-Star Game.

Ovechkin will play in Wednesday's contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs, head coach Todd Reirden confirmed following Tuesday's loss to the San Jose Sharks. The decision means Ovechkin will miss the Capitals' first game following the break against the Calgary Flames Feb. 1.

He will be eligible to return to the lineup for Feb. 3's contest against the Boston Bruins.

The 33-year-old announced at the beginning of the month he would not attend this year's installment, even after being named captain of the Metropolitan Division, stating that his body "needs a rest."

Ovechkin has attended seven All-Star Games during his 14-year career. With a hat trick on Tuesday, he now has a league-leading 36 goals in 49 games.

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Welcome to "Puck Pursuit," a weekly NHL podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's National Hockey Writer.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play.

In this episode, John is joined by Scott Cullen of The Athletic and NHL.com to discuss a variety of topics ahead of All-Star weekend and trade season:

• Picking participants for the skills competition
• Western Conference buyers/sellers
• Eastern Conference buyers/sellers

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The Edmonton Oilers handed a three-year, $13.5-million contract extension to goaltender Mikko Koskinen on Monday - and all indications suggest this was an unnecessary overpay by general manager Peter Chiarelli.

A second-round pick by the New York Islanders in 2009, Koskinen joined the Oilers on a one-year, $2.5-million deal last offseason after spending the preceding nine years in the KHL. He's become Edmonton's No. 1 netminder, largely due to the struggles of Cam Talbot.

The 30-year-old Koskinen's been inconsistent in his first season in North America in nearly a decade. He owns a .911 save percentage and a 2.78 goals-against average in 27 games, and he enjoyed a hot streak shortly after Ken Hitchcock replaced Todd McLellan as Oilers head coach. However, in his last 11 appearances, he's gone 3-7-0 with an .879 save percentage.

Given his recent struggles, why extend Koskinen at all, let alone now?

Talbot is a pending unrestricted free agent after this season and doesn't appear to be in Edmonton's plans. The franchise likely wanted to assure itself of having an NHL netminder signed beyond this season. Extending Koskinen to do so, though, compounds the Oilers' long-standing mediocrity in the crease and makes their salary-cap situation that much more hairy.

What's Koskinen worth?

Koskinen's $4.5-million cap hit makes him the 17th-highest paid goalie for next season. Once some of the league's pending unrestricted and restricted free-agent goalies sign new deals, he'll likely be bumped into the low 20s. Still, the Oilers are paying Koskinen mid-to-low-tier starter money. The problem is, he hasn't proven to be capable in that role.

If any single stat is best for evaluating a goalie, it's goals saved above average (GSAA), which Corsica Hockey explains as "goals allowed below the expectation based on shot danger faced." Koskinen's 0.44 GSAA ranks 27th in the NHL among goalies with at least 500 minutes of ice time.

Using Cap Friendly's comparable contracts tool, the best match for Koskinen's extension is Arizona Coyotes goaltender Antti Raanta's three-year pact with a $4.25-million cap hit, which he signed in April 2018.

However, Raanta was 28 years old when that contract was signed, had 124 NHL starts under his belt, and was coming off a season where he ranked seventh in the league with a 19.95 GSAA.

If the Oilers were eager to extend Koskinen this season, something in the neighborhood of Carter Hutton's deal with the Buffalo Sabres - three years with a $2.75-million cap hit - would've been more appropriate.

What does it mean for the Oilers?

The Oilers project to have $6.5 million in cap space next season after committing to Koskinen. This projection doesn't include pending RFAs Tobias Rieder, Jesse Puljujarvi, Ty Rattie, and Jujhar Khaira, or pending UFAs Alex Chiasson, Kevin Gravel, and Alex Petrovic. Even if the Oilers wanted to retain just three of those six players - let's say Puljujarvi, Chiasson, and Petrovic - that would conservatively cost them around $4 million, leaving them with just $2.5 million in cap space and plenty of holes on the roster.

There's no reason the Oilers couldn't have rode out the season with Koskinen's expiring deal. If he excelled, they could've likely retained him for a similar price. Alternatively, they could've explored this summer's goaltending free-agent market, which features several unspectacular but solid, affordable veterans with better track records than Koskinen.

Edmonton took a major risk by investing $4.5 million annually in a goaltender who hasn't proved he can solve the team's issues in net. The lack of cap space means the Oilers will now essentially sink or swim with Koskinen as "the guy" between the pipes over the next few seasons - and that's less than ideal during Connor McDavid's prime years.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are inching closer to signing Auston Matthews to a contract extension.

On Tuesday, general manager Kyle Dubas said that the two sides have made progress on a new deal, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston. Dubas added that he'd like to get an extension done as soon as possible for long-term clarity before the Feb. 25 trade deadline.

Contract talks between Matthews and the Leafs began last July.

The 21-year-old is a pending restricted free agent in the final year of his entry-level pact. He ranks second on the club in goals (20) and fourth in points (42) despite being limited to 34 games this season due to injury.

Fellow Leafs forward Mitch Marner is also a pending RFA, but Dubas said the club isn't negotiating with Marner at the request of the winger's agent, Darren Ferris, who told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun earlier this month that his client "100 percent" doesn't want to engage in contract talks until season's end.

Dubas insisted Tuesday that he isn't pressuring Matthews or Marner to sign quickly, but said that's his preference.

"Yes, it would be selfishly for me beneficial," the GM told reporters, according to Johnston. "But for the players, I think they have to make sure they're fully comfortable in going into any arrangement."

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Micheal Ferland's days as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes appear to be numbered.

The club is "very likely" to move the pending unrestricted free-agent forward, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

Ferland's on a team-friendly expiring contract carrying a $1.75-million cap hit, and he'd been thriving on the Hurricanes' top line alongside Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen before suffering a concussion in November.

The 26-year-old returned from the concussion in late December, but is now dealing with an unspecified injury.

Last Wednesday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported the Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Vancouver Canucks were among the teams interested in Ferland. One day later, the Hurricanes landed forward Nino Niederreiter from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for fellow forward Victor Rask.

Meanwhile, teams are calling Carolina about defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce, according to LeBrun, who added that the Hurricanes are willing to move a top-four blue-liner in exchange for a top-six forward with offensive skill.

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It appears Andre Burakovsky's time in D.C. could potentially be nearing its end.

The Washington Capitals are listening to offers for the Swedish forward, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

Burakovsky possesses a rare blend of size (6-foot-3), speed, and skill, but has apparently fallen out of favor with the Capitals. He's posted just 11 points in 42 games this season, is averaging a career-low 11:32 of ice time per contest, and has been a healthy scratch on multiple occasions.

The 23-year-old was selected 23rd overall by the Caps in the 2013 draft. He's shown flashes of promise, scoring 17 goals as a 20-year-old during his second NHL season in 2015-16.

Many expected Burakovsky to break out following the departures of top-six forwards Marcus Johansson and Justin Williams before last season, but he couldn't carve out a prominent offensive role and was eventually passed by rookie Jakub Vrana in the pecking order.

Burakovsky's currently in the final year of a contract with a $3-million cap hit and will become a restricted free agent on July 1.

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