The Los Angeles Kings acquired forward Zack MacEwen from the Philadelphia Flyers for forward Brendan Lemieux and a 2024 fifth-round pick, reports TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

MacEwen has four goals and nine points in 46 contests this season. The 26-year-old was activated off of injured reserve Friday.

More to come.

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Quick-hit analysis of big-league trades completed Friday, March 3.

Penguins bring back Bonino

Pittsburgh acquires: F Nick Bonino
San Jose acquires: TBD

Bonino, a member of the Stanley Cup-winning Penguins of 2015-16 and 2016-17, is headed back to Pittsburgh after a six-year hiatus in a reported three-way trade. Now 34, Bonino's not the player he used to be, but he's not entirely washed up. He can fill a bottom-six role and block shots on the penalty kill for the Pens, who currently occupy a playoff spot. Bonino's been hot and cold this year, recording one point in his first 20 games, then 18 in his past 39 games. There's nothing wrong with this move in isolation; the player is useful and the price is fair. However, the Penguins' approach to the deadline has been puzzling. Instead of pulling the trigger on deals that include difference-makers, general manager Ron Hextall has only acquired Bonino and Mikael Granlund. Simply put, neither veteran will move the needle down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Blues take chance on Vrana

St. Louis acquires: F Jakub Vrana
Detroit acquires: F Dylan McLaughlin, 2025 7th-round pick
(Red Wings retain 50% of Vrana's salary)

This trade is about giving Vrana a fresh start. The 27-year-old winger spent several months earlier this season in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program dealing with an undisclosed issue. After returning to the Wings in December, Vrana played three NHL games (no points) and 17 AHL games (11 points). St. Louis is banking on the classic change-of-scenery bump while Detroit is offloading half of Vrana's $5.25-million cap hit this year and next. Vrana's shown flashes of 40-goal potential during previous stretches with Detroit and Washington. The Blues recently picked up Kasperi Kapanen, another project at forward, off waivers. Vrana and Kapanen are low-risk adds for a franchise trying to turn over most of its roster while remaining relatively competitive. It's worth a shot, though there's no guarantee either pans out.

Recapping weeks of activity

As we wait for trade activity Friday, below is a high-level recap of the past month - perhaps the wildest lead-up to a trade deadline in NHL history.

The first domino fell when Bo Horvat was shipped to the New York Islanders on Jan. 30. Between then and Thursday, 46 trades were registered with the league, according to the indispensable CapFriendly. The swaps involved 59 NHL players, as well as 38 minor leaguers and prospects. A whopping 62 draft picks were transferred, including 13 guaranteed first-rounders and three other potential firsts (if conditions are met). Four trades saw one team move "future considerations" to the other in lieu of a player or pick. Meanwhile, 15 of the 46 trades - or roughly 33% - featured salary retention of some kind.

The 48-8-5 Bruins, who became the fastest team in history to hit 100 points in a season on Thursday, bulked up with the acquisitions of defenseman Dmitry Orlov, and forwards Tyler Bertuzzi and Garnet Hathway. (For good measure, Boston threw in a $90-million extension for David Pastrnak.)

In an attempt to keep pace with their division rivals, the Maple Leafs added six pieces - Ryan O'Reilly, Noel Acciari, and Sam Lafferty up front, and Jake McCabe, Erik Gustafsson, and Luke Schenn on the back end. Out the door: forwards Pierre Engvall and Joey Anderson, and blue-liner Rasmus Sandin.

The Eastern Conference has owned the West on the ice this season, and on the trade market. The Devils won the Timo Meier sweepstakes. The Senators landed highly sought after Jakob Chychrun. And the Rangers double dipped by reeling in two impact forwards, Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane.

The Capitals and Predators have been the most compelling selling teams. Washington has been aggressive in unloading veterans as part of a retool, bidding farewell to Lars Eller, Marcus Johansson, Gustafsson, Orlov, and Hathaway. Nashville, a club cutting deep into its core, has flipped Mattias Ekholm, Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, and Tanner Jeannot.

That Jeannot trade - a middle-six winger moving from the Predators to the Lightning for defenseman Cal Foote and five draft picks, including a first-rounder - boggled minds across the league. Will anything top it Friday?

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

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The St. Louis Blues acquired forward Jakub Vrana from the Detroit Red Wings for forward Dylan McLaughlin and a 2025 seventh-round pick, the teams announced Friday.

Detroit will retain 50% of Vrana's salary. He's signed through 2023-24 at a $5.25-million cap hit, so St. Louis takes on Vrana at $2.625 million.

The 27-year-old entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program in October. He returned to the Red Wings in December and was subsequently placed on waivers.

Vrana tallied six goals and 11 points in 17 AHL contests. Detroit called him up in February, but he failed to find the scoresheet in three games. He scored a goal and two points in two games before entering the player assistance program.

Prior to 2022-23, Vrana struggled to remain in the lineup due to various injuries. He played a combined 76 games across 2020-21 and 2021-22. However, when he's been in the lineup, he's been an efficient scorer.

Since 2020-21, Vrana's 1.60 goals per 60 at five-on-five ranks behind only Auston Matthews among players with more than 80 games, according to Natural Stat Trick.

McLaughlin was signed by St. Louis in July 2022. The 27-year-old, who returned to action Feb. 25 after a lengthy injury, has one goal in six AHL contests this season. The pending unrestricted free agent has yet to play in the NHL.

After the trade, the Red Wings have a little over $8 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly.

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Journeyman defenseman Luke Schenn isn't taking his second stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs for granted.

The 33-year-old was re-acquired by the Leafs in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, nearly 15 years after Toronto drafted him fifth overall in 2008 and over 10 years since he was traded away to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012.

"There's no question, for where I'm at in my career, this is pretty special," Schenn said following his first game back with the Leafs, a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames, according to The Athletic's Jonas Siegel.

Schenn added that he got "chills" when he put the Maple Leafs sweater back on again.

It was a stellar debut for Schenn, too, who posted a plus-1 rating with four hits and two blocks in 10:42 of action. His 60.56% expected goals share at five-on-five topped all Leafs defensemen in the contest, per Natural Stat Trick. His effort was enough to earn him the player of the game belt.

Schenn played for six different teams across 11 seasons between stints with the Maple Leafs.

"I've had some ups and downs throughout my career as well, too, so when you come back and get this opportunity, you definitely don't take it for granted," he told TSN during the first intermission.

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