The Colorado Avalanche traded defenseman Ian Cole to the Minnesota Wild for blue-liner Greg Pateryn, the team announced Tuesday.

Both veteran rearguards are pending unrestricted free agents. Cole carries a cap hit of $4.25 million, while Pateryn's deal holds an annual value of $2.25 million. Colorado is retaining $800,000 of Cole's cap hit, according to CapFriendly.

Cole, 31, is a veteran of 543 NHL games. He won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins and is known for his gritty defensive play. His career high in points is just 26 - which he tied last season - but he's also posted strong underlying numbers, accounting for nine goals above replacement in 2019-20, according to Evolving Hockey.

Pateryn is one year younger than Cole, but also far less experienced with 270 NHL games under his belt - and 41 career points. He was worth 3.9 goals above replacement in his last full NHL season in 2018-19. Injuries limited him to just 20 games last season, though.

It's possible the Avalanche made this move to create room in the lineup for rookie Bowen Byram. Colorado was deep on the left side of the blue line with Devon Toews, Ryan Graves, Sam Girard (who had been playing his off side), and Cole. Byram, the No. 4 pick in 2019, now has an easier path to playing time, and the team saves cap space in the process.

Pateryn, a righty, will likely jostle for playing time with Conor Timmins until Erik Johnson returns from injury.

Cole is projected to play on the Wild's third pairing with Carson Soucy. Minnesota already boasted one of the league's best blue lines before adding the experienced depth piece.

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It's been 14 months since the Toronto Maple Leafs fired Mike Babcock, and the former head coach has finally opened up regarding an incident that generated headlines following his dismissal.

Rumors surfaced days after the firing that Babcock made Mitch Marner rank his teammates by work ethic during Marner's rookie season in 2016-17 and later revealed the list to the team. But Babcock said only parts of that story are true.

"Yeah, that's not how that happened, actually," Babcock said, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

He continued: "So Mitch was in my office. We were talking about work ethic. I asked him where he ranked on the scale. And that was no problem, that was just a private thing. It was a good meeting, Mitch left. But then I was meeting, I'm pretty sure it was with (Tyler) Bozak, afterward. Bozy was an important part of our team.

"What I ended up doing - and I made a big-time mistake, I knew as soon as I did it - when we were talking about competing and I said, 'Well, look where Mitch ranks it."'

Babcock said he immediately went to find Marner to address the situation.

"Well, as soon as I did that, and he saw the list, I knew that I had made a major mistake," Babcock said, according to LeBrun. "After the meeting with Bozak, I went right into the dressing room. I grabbed Mitch and said, 'Mitch, this is what I did. I screwed you here.'"

He added: "Now, in saying that, though, what I should have done in hindsight, I should have stopped everybody and said, 'This is what I did to Mitch. I screwed him.' Now, he didn't want to make a big deal out of it. But I could have made a lesser deal of it."

Marner said in November 2019 that the incident had been surprising, adding he felt lucky his teammates had supported him and hadn't taken the list to heart.

Babcock coached the Maples Leafs to a 173-133-45 record over parts of five seasons. The club made the playoffs in three straight campaigns under Babcock but failed to win a postseason series.

NBC hired the 57-year-old in a studio role last week.

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Tuesday's clash between the Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators is postponed due to COVID-19 protocol, reports ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.

More to come.

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Ottawa Senators rookie Tim Stutzle is day-to-day with a minor injury, the team announced Tuesday.

The ailment is unspecified, but Stutzle is not participating in practice and is unavailable for Tuesday's clash versus the Winnipeg Jets.

Stutzle appeared in his first two NHL games last week, averaging 13:32 of action per contest and netting his first goal in Saturday's tilt against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Drafted third overall by the Senators in October, the 19-year-old is Ottawa's top prospect.

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Elias Lindholm believes new Calgary Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom is worthy of the team's splashy offseason investment.

"For now, he deserves the contract," Lindholm said with a smile about his fellow Swede, according to Postmedia's Wes Gilbertson.

Markstrom signed a six-year, $36-million contract with the Flames as a free agent this offseason after seven campaigns in Vancouver. After shutting out the Canucks on Saturday, Markstrom picked up a second straight win against his former team on Monday, stopping 25 of 27 shots in the 5-2 victory.

Lindholm was especially impressed with Markstrom's performance early in Monday's contest.

"Obviously, the way the first period went he stole us a point or two there," Lindholm said, according to Sportsnet's Eric Francis. "We could have been out of the game there."

Vancouver outshot Calgary 16-4 in the first period and won the high-danger scoring chance battle 6-1, according to Natural Stat Trick. Markstrom held down the fort, allowing just one goal in the opening frame, and the Flames scored three second-period goals to secure the victory.

Markstrom now owns a sparkling .935 save percentage in three games with his new club.

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One of the NHL's most quietly impressive streaks came to an end on Monday.

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton failed to record a shot on goal for the first time since April 5, 2016, ending a streak of 296 consecutive games, according to NHL.com's Michael Smith. It was the longest active streak in the NHL.

Hall of Famer Ray Bourque holds the all-time record of 360 straight contests with a shot on goal since the league began recording the statistic. Bourque also holds records for most career shots (6,206) and most shots in a single game (19).

Alex Ovechkin and Jeff Carter have come close to Bourque's streak in recent years, but both came up 45 games short, TSN's Frank Seravalli wrote in 2017.

Hamilton still managed to pick up an assist in Carolina's 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators. He'll have a chance to start a new streak Tuesday in the Music City.

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Arizona Coyotes captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson is expected to miss three-to-four weeks with a lower-body injury, the team confirmed Monday, according to AZ Central's Jose M. Romero.

Ekman-Larsson suffered the injury late in the third period of Saturday's contest against the San Jose Sharks, taking a hit behind the net from Sharks forward Evander Kane and spilling awkwardly into the boards. He left the game and didn't return.

"You pencil him in every night for 20-plus (minutes). He's a power-play guy, he's a penalty-kill guy. He's a big chunk of our team," Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said, according to Romero. "We always talk about the old cliche, 'Next man up.' Well, we're going to need five, six men up on defense to help us out."

Ekman-Larsson had three assists against San Jose before exiting. The 29-year-old has averaged 19:22 of ice time across two games this season.

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