The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect channeled his inner Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the Toronto Marlies' practice facility Thursday morning, doing his countryman proud by booting one over the ice surface.
Ladd's a pending unrestricted free agent who carries a cap hit of $4.4 million. The Jets captain has improved his trade value lately, scoring four goals over the past three games.
“We are pleased to have Shawn return for another season,” Panthers chairman Vinnie Viola wrote in a release Thursday.
“Shawn is the embodiment of the selfless, team-first culture we are trying to create on and off the ice with the Florida Panthers and has made himself an important part of the South Florida community. We look forward to having this man of character as a leader within our organization for many years to come.”
The 38-year-old winger was a pending unrestricted free agent with a cap hit of $1.2 million in 2015-16.
Thornton has three points and 50 penalty minutes in his second campaign with the Panthers after spending seven seasons with the Boston Bruins.
"Shawn is a highly respected and hardworking member of our hockey club, both on and off the ice,” Panthers general manager Dale Tallon said. “His experience and leadership have made a positive impact on our locker room and on our young players as they continue their development.”
Thornton spent his first three NHL seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks and one more with the Anaheim Ducks before joining the Bruins.
Joni Pitkanen's comeback bid has apparently been shelved.
The former NHL defenseman won't play again this season after suffering a foot injury in his third game with Oulun Karpat in Finland, according to Finnish reporter Pasi Tuominen.
"The foot simply did not cope," Pitkanen told Tuominen. "It's likely I will never play again."
Earlier this month, the 32-year-old blue-liner made his return to Karpat, where he spent the first three seasons of his career before being selected fourth overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2002 draft.
Last week, while playing in only his second pro game since 2013, Pitkanen scored a goal and was named the first star in a 3-2 victory.
"Joni Pitkanen proved he's still a top-level player," Karpat sports chief Harri Aho told Tuominen on Thursday.
Pitkanen's NHL career ended abruptly in April 2013 when, as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes, he crashed into the boards in a race for the puck and suffered a gruesome heel injury.
He played five seasons for the Hurricanes, one for the Edmonton Oilers, and spent four campaigns with the Flyers, notching 282 points in 535 NHL games.
There will be self-satisfaction experienced Monday afternoon when 30 NHL executive teams dangerously hopped up on caffeine close the phone lines and sit back in leather chairs.
In time, delight will live to be regret inside many of those war rooms, but for legitimate Stanley Cup contenders like the Washington Capitals, Los Angeles Kings, and Anaheim Ducks, inaction over the next several days might be the only thing they rue.
Here are three deals that could launch contenders over the top:
Weise to Washington
As is, the Capitals roster is operating in near-perfect harmony.
Washington's top six is dynamic, balanced, seemingly coated with kevlar, and is backed by youngsters of similar likeness. Its defense now runs eight-men deep and is healthier than it's been all year. And while the multi-use bottom-six functions quite effectively, why not add another component to the Swiss Army knife?
In theory, Dale Weise would be the depth added up front akin to Mike Weber on defense, but he can provide so much more than that. And at just a shade over $1 million, and speaking solely to contributions on the dollar, he might be the most valuable asset on the rental market.
There's no obvious place to slot Weise, but he can fill in on wing up and down the lower nine, providing energy and defensive contributions in a quality scheme (ahem, Trotz). And with career-best totals on the horizon, he's proven to be of value offensively.
Hamhuis to Los Angeles
Los Angeles is still tilting the ice, repressing shots with the best of them. But despite their steadiness this season, and sheer dominance, frankly, on most nights, the Kings' defense is inadequate from the second pair down.
Hamhuis is in the twilight of his career, and is amid a season interrupted by having his jaw jigsawed by an arrant shot, but quiet effectiveness remains into his 12th season, and his high-level contributions represent a massive, massive upgrade on Schenn.
He'll need convincing, as Hamhuis owns both a no-trade clause and strong affinity for Vancouver. But the lure of a possible championship, a possibility made very real with himself in the fold, would be difficult to pass up.
Ladd to Anaheim
Andrew Ladd is a captain coming off career-best numbers and a Stanley Cup champion to boot. So we know the major players will attend his auction, but who has most to offer?
The path of least resistance points to Anaheim, which has ample cap room, a surplus of defensive prospects (or players as good as gold on the open market), and an obvious need.
Anaheim has filled the net in its ascent of the Pacific Division, but remain thin in terms of capable scoring wingers behind Corey Perry. Ladd, a big body with a nose for goal and a contributor at 200 feet, would thrive in the lockdown scheme that's turned around the Ducks' season.
What's more, his acquisition would keep him out of Chicago.
Spaling, who scored just the one time in 35 games with the Maple Leafs, got his second of the season with a rocket fired on his first shift with the club.
Matthias answered with his second of the season, cleaning up the crease roughly 10 minutes later, and ensuring that ex-Leafs would account for all the goal-scoring in the period.
Spaling was considered a throw-in along with defenseman Roman Polak in a deal that saw the Leafs add a pair of second-round picks to their collection of draft tickets.
Matthias was had for a fourth-round pick and a prospect.
Brad Marchand is staking his claim as a premier scorer, and it's affecting how the Boston Bruins proceed with Loui Eriksson as the NHL's trade deadline rapidly approaches.
First, some numbers.
With a goal in Wednesday's 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Marchand continued to up his career high, with only three players recording more than his 31 this season.
Player
Games Played
Goals
Alex Ovechkin (WSH)
56
39
Patrick Kane (CHI)
62
35
Jamie Benn (DAL)
61
32
Tyler Seguin (DAL)
61
31
Brad Marchand (BOS)
55
31
Marchand, 27, is in the penultimate season of a four-year, $18-million deal signed back in 2013, and will therefore be looking for a tidy raise based on how his overall game has improved since that time. He'll be eligible to sign an extension with the Bruins as early as July 1, a date that coincides with Eriksson's impending foray into unrestricted free agency.
The conundrum for general manager Don Sweeney, then, is trying to retain Eriksson's services while also not handcuffing his team in terms of salary obligations over the next several years.
Reports, however, suggest negotiations aren't going well between the Bruins and Eriksson.
Ongoing contract discussions between Loui Eriksson and the Bruins. It's believed a significant gap remains in both term and $. #TradeCentre
With 23 goals and 25 assists, Eriksson has recorded one more point than Marchand, and will certainly be looking to parlay a strong season into a long-term, high-money deal that will carry him into his mid- to late-thirties.
But the reality is the Bruins, who have major deficiencies on the blue line, won't be able to both meet Eriksson's demands and sign Marchand to the kind of extension he'll warrant.
So in the immediate future, the question becomes whether to trade Eriksson, keep him for a potential Stanley Cup run and risk losing him for nothing on the open market this summer, or, ideally, sign him to a more team-friendly extension that leaves room for Marchand's big deal and allows the team to address other areas of the lineup.
Eriksson, of course, is under no obligation to take a hometown discount, and although the Bruins are no doubt celebrating Marchand's break out, his looming free agency is indeed greatly affecting what the Bruins choose to do with his fellow winger.
MIke Condon has brought his best for the league's best.
The Montreal Canadiens netminder wisely kept with his momentum despite being caught turning in the wrong direction in order to deny Mike Richards of his second goal as a member of the Washington Capitals with an unorthodox, but absolutely brilliant blocker save.
The goal also marked the first-ever penalty-shot attempt by a Bruin against the Pittsburgh Penguins, according to PittsburghHockey.net, and contributed to another Bruins record:
With Pastrnak's goal, this marks the first time in #NHLBruins history the team has tallied 3 penalty shot goals in one season.
Larsen, a former fifth-round selection with 125 games of NHL tread, has spent the last two seasons in the KHL after a 30-game stint (in which he netted 12 points) with Edmonton in 2013-14.
TSN's Bob McKenzie is reporting that the fifth-round pick could be elevated to a fourth-round selection should Larsen hit production thresholds.
The Oilers, who acquired Larsen in the Shawn Horcoff trade, extended the slight defenseman a qualifying offer before he bolted to Russia, thus retaining his rights.
The fifth-round pick used to land Larsen is the second 2017 draft selection that the rebuilding Canucks have parted with.
McKenzie also notes that Vancouver intends to sign Larsen before July 1, and have him join the team for next season.
