The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: David Pagnotta with the Latest Around the NHL Two Days From the Trade Deadline

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period stops by with the latest insider updates from around the NHL. Jeff and David break down the Robert Thomas situation that heated up yesterday, the Buffalo Sabres’ involvement in several big-name discussions, what the Utah Mammoth could be planning, and why this year’s deadline is shaping up to be a strong buyers’ market. With rumors flying and teams positioning themselves for the stretch run, it’s a packed episode covering everything you need to know ahead of the NHL trade deadline.Subscribe to the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel and drop your thoughts in the comments — which team do you think will make the biggest move before the deadline?Leave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let's get Dave aboard. Dave Panyoda, DFO Insider from the fourth period. And he has been everywhere and busy and is having no sleep, but I cannot believe. I don't think at 301, but maybe like later on Friday evening, like, are you already starting to have like immigrant fantasies about like what sleep is going to be like on Friday night, Dave? Like, oh, this is going to be so nice. The street will pave with gold and sleepy land on Friday. I'm getting extra pillows. I'm doing mega comforters, the heated blanket if I need it,

just to be prepped for it, just everything. And then I don't want to look at my coffee machine, my espresso machine for like a week. Yeah. It's working overtime. I get it. The phone and the coffee machine gets a workout.

Well, so I'm going to sort of jump all over the place here. Yeah. Well, just focus on the latest. So Tyler Myers goes from the Vancouver Canucks to the Dallas starts. First of all, as an aside, anybody who understands the acrimony

between the two families, Vancouver and Dallas, probably raises an eyebrow and says like, okay, well, we have seen some minor deals between the two before, but put it this way, these two teams are not going out of their way to help one another,

but here it is. No, correct. Tyler Myers had trade protection he was willing to lift, and so we end up here. Does Dallas surprise you at all for this one? No, they were kind of in it from the start, and the start being when these talks reemerged, about 10 days ago.

I think it was last, not this past weekend, the weekend before, where Detroit entered the mix with their second round pick, and then, you know, Dallas was kind of poking around. There were a few other teams that I think were kind of poking on that front as well. But his preference was always to be out west.

He wants to be as close to Vancouver as he can to where his family is. His son has certain requirements health-wise that are being addressed in Vancouver. So he wanted to make sure that A, he was close to that and B, that wherever he ended up, there was, there was, you know, the possibility of, you know, helping out in that regard. So in this case, you know, Detroit started to look around yesterday or Monday evening when, because they, they were hoping

to get an answer by the end of the weekend. That didn't happen. So they started to fish for additional options. Dallas was doing the same. Dallas, I was told, keep an eye on Rasmus Ristolin. He was definitely a target for, for the Dallas stars. I'm not sure where that's at. officially, I assume, now that they got Myers, that that's no longer going to be the case. But I don't know that definitively just yet, but they were very much in that. And now to bring in Myers at $1.5 million with the Canucks eating half, they've used up their second retention slot. They're saving the third one for Van der Kaine, by all accounts.

And then Kane and McKayev, who they are paying right now, those come off the books in July. So they'll have two full slots available with Myers next season. But they did them a solid, and they got a pretty solid return out of it as well, even though they're eating half of that deal, 1.5 million. They still get their second round pick next season, and they get a fourth round pick in a few years after that. So decent amount of business there, and it allows them to focus on others like Kane and Garland and so on in Vancouver. You know, Vancouver is interesting too because I've been under the impression. When Rutherford Alvin sent a note out saying listing on our players and then a couple of weeks later, you know, Queen Hughes goes to the Minnesota Wild and the season. and proceeds as it has and they find themselves

last in the NHL and lottery pick, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I still believe that they didn't think that they were going to take a massive step backwards and maybe use the lowercase R with rebuild. Now do you think that Vancouver, because it's starting

to feel this way, they're using capital R rebuild. Not lowercase R, capital R. The whole words in caps. They're going full for it. Yeah, they're going full steam ahead with the rebuild. Now, because of the return they got for Quinn, it may be a little bit of an escalated rebuild because those pieces are going to be, you know, ready to go in terms

of hitting their peak well in advance of, you know, whatever draft picks and fewer prospects they land. But it's full across the board. Like they're, if they can make additional moves, the Connor Garland is very much available. That mindset has shifted in the last bit. This week, the Islanders in Boston were two teams that were trying to, you know, to get into that mix. I don't think it's going to end up in that direction. But those are two teams that were poking around and had serious conversations with Vancouver about it. But there are others that are in the mix. And it seems like Vancouver might be swaying in a different direction there versus Boston and the Islanders. But still two days to go. We'll see if anybody circles back.

But he's very much there. Drew O'Connor is getting a ton of interest. Blugher's available. I mentioned Kane as well. DeBrusk also where he officially or unofficially. mentioned that he wants out to the media on Monday. So there are a lot of moving parts there, but they are willing to do whatever it takes and move as many guys as it takes to follow in this trend. And if there are more deals that come their way, they're going to seriously look at it.

And if it makes sense, they'll pull the trigger. I think they're going to be still pretty active. And like I said, those guys, they're fully engaged in those conversations with other teams about them. So this is a text that I got this morning from someone who works for an NHL. team. Not a manager.

Not a manager. It's putting that out there because it's kind of, it's a joke text and I kind of laughed this morning when I got it when I woke up. But I'll throw it to you and see if I can see what reaction you have. If you could trade Darnell Nurse for Gustav Forzling and Jack

Roslavik for Robert Thomas, could you still win with the oil? There's net minding, I say, no. That was the text that I got this morning from someone from an NHL team, not from any of the teams with those players name. But what's Edmonton doing here?

Like it seems as if, you know, every night they got to score a nickel to win a game. Last night, again, the same thing. What happens here? Like, do they just let Samanski run with the third line and then look at the goal tank again? Or like I've been of the mind that they've made their goalie move

and it's ride or die. But as we keep seeing the goals against pile up, I wonder about that. You ever thought on any of that? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I was of the same belief as you that they got Jari and that's who they're going to roll with for at least the rest of this season. Unless something completely falls into their lap with St. Louis and Binnington, I think that's a bit of a stretch because they'll have to effectively move Jari out in order to make money work. And then there's going to be other pieces involved because that won't make the whole cap hit work.

I guess you can convince St. Louis to retain on that contract, but what are you compensating them for in order to do it? And there are too many pieces involved. So, you know, they add Murphy on the back end, which I liked. And they're looking for another forward. Now, it seemed like it was only going to be a 3C. If they were going to go after a Nikwa or Scott Lawton out of Toronto or somebody like that, shore up the bottom six and keep nudge on the left. But it wouldn't surprise me if they also bring in an affordable guy to play the wing.

And that circles back to Toronto with Bobby McMahon at one point. $1.35 million. Law is at $3 million. Lotton's at one and a half. They have two retention slots left in Toronto. Actually, they may have all three. Needless to say, if they want to get creative and financially creative, there might be a couple of moves or a couple of players they can make in one move with Toronto in order to pull that off. But again, what's what's the opportunity cost there and are they willing to pay it? I think they're focused on that now. I think they're focused on bringing in at least a forward. They're still actively trying to trade Andrew Mangipani. They want to free up an additional one, one and a half million at least by moving him out.

And they're engaged in that. So still a lot of balls up in the air for the Evanton Oilers and Stan Bowman. But they're trying. They're trying to address that position right now. And again, barring something just completely falling into their lap, that's probably the direction they go in between now and Friday's deadline. Let me throw an name out at you. And this is with the Florida Panthers.

Like, really the Panthers have been out of it for a while here. But, like, the Panthers aren't making the playoffs. Okay, it's going to be a small little step back and then we're going to reload and they come right back at it. I don't think anyone thinks for one second that the Panthers not making the playoffs means, like, well, that's it for the franchise. No one would be surprised they'll come back and win the whole thing next year when they get healthy and change their lineup a little bit. So we wonder about AJ Greer. We wonder about Sergey Bobowski. and with Edmonton specifically when, you know, whenever you talk about the Oilers,

they need like this piece and that piece and someone of this spot and all that. And I wonder, can you solve all of your issues up front to some extent if you go to Florida about Evan Rodriguez? Rodriguez, yeah. One more year. Three million dollar cap hit. Yeah. Good piece. Versatile, really versatile player.

not as what I put this not as disliked as Atria Greer might be with that organization What are you talking about? So might be a better fit

more welcomed type of addition but at 3 million and where they're at again they'll have to finagle the cap anything basically over one and a half million they're going to have to they're going to have to find a home for Machapani. And again, that's that's a priority for

them. And still checking on it this morning, there's still an expectation that's going to happen between now and the deadline. I think the waivers thing might confuse a few people. It was primarily because they had the Murphy deal. They knew Yanmark was going on LTIR. They needed to make the money work at the time. So that's why that happened. But they still are aiming to trade him. And that's the goal. And that's the expectation that is going to happen. That would allow them, a lot more flexibility to potentially do an Evan Rodriguez type of thing. But they also really like him in Florida, Jeff. Like they talked about this at the start of the season

before they had additional injuries when camp got underway, that, you know, debating what was happening with Kachuk in terms of timeline. You know, there were teams that were curious about Rodriguez. And he was out there, at least from other teams spoken around. And, you know, Bill Zito kind of held firm on it. So it might take convincing. But in terms of type of player, I think, without a doubt, that'd be the type of player

they'd love to add to their roster in Edmonton. I just don't know. It might be a little tricky A, financially, but B, also, yeah, the cat still like the guy. What did you make of all the Robert Thomas situation from yesterday? Now, the Robert Thomas situation continues.

I don't think that the issue has gone anywhere, but at least perhaps on pause right now, is the Buffalo Sabres end of all of it. We can look at Utah. We can look at Seattle we can look at perhaps Montreal as well. You could make the argument for Boston,

although I don't think they'll have the same type of package that they'd be willing to part with to bring in Robert Thomas, but we'll see. What did you make of Robert Thomas Day yesterday? And what do you make of the rest of Robert Thomas week here? Yeah, I think it'll still keep going. Little pause and discussions, negotiation tactic, see who comes crawling back kind of thing.

and look, it's a steep price, and I get it. And I believe the player from Utah that St. Louis is looking at is Den, Y, who was fourth overall last year in the draft. And I think there's a willingness to explore that, but I don't know how much more Utah would be willing to add to that mix, because I've heard there's interest in a Ginla. I heard there was some interest in Sima Shev. And I don't expect either of those two guys to be going anywhere, quite frankly.

But, yeah, it sounds like there's, there's at least a willingness to consider Denguea as part of a package, but what else needs to be added to the mix? And that's what Utah's kind of been going back and forth on with the blues. And then, of course, yeah, all the, excuse me, all the Buffalo stuff going on there, there was chatter of Owen Power. There was talk of some of their Heleneus and a couple other their top kids. I think there's a pathway to reconvene. And I don't know this definitively, but I'm curious if things got a little too big and that's why things temporarily

have been put on pause or temporarily temporarily derailed because they're also looking at Pareco and or Falk. There's interest in both of those guys from Buffalo's side and maybe things got a little bit too big and you've got to just hey hit pause let's hit a reset here and let's try to get back to the basics. Maybe they focus on D as opposed to Thomas

or as opposed to a combo but Buffalo's got a lot of irons in the fire right now. It doesn't look like they're signing Alex Tuck. It doesn't seem like that's going to happen between now and then, barring a huge change from their side, the Sabre's side. It looks like he's going to go past the deadline without an extension, but they have no intention of trading him either. Again, anything is possible. Somebody comes and, you know, blows their socks off different ballgame. But the intent right now is to hold on to tuck even without an extension in place beyond the deadline. Don't worry about that in the summer. So he effectively comes off the board.

and they focus on other areas. There was some talk of looking at depth. I mentioned Lottin and Hwa. I think Buffalo is looking at that caliber player for their bottom six, but obviously when you get an opportunity to bring in a guy like Thomas or even somebody on the back end to improve things, that might take priority. But I think they'll circle back on that if they haven't already,

but also take into account the discussions around D and what they'd like to do on that back end, try to improve it. Yarmos not messing around. You know, one of the, oh, really quick, because you're all over this, the beginning of the season, Kiefer Sherwood and the contract extension with the San Jose Sharks 575 times five according to, according to CJ. Ever thought on that one? You've been all over Sherwood all year. Yeah, I mentioned on at least morning take with our boy Al Berger this morning that it, yeah, they were finalizing a five-year deal. It was getting down to that. And, you know, it looked like

it there was, I think when they first had those discussions after the trade from Vancouver, because they weren't allowed to talk prior, that everyone is going, oh, I didn't think you wanted that much. And his side went, I don't think you were willing to go that low. But then obviously, you find the gap and you find that he's meshed well on and off the ice so far with his crew, a little bit on ice, but off ice, he's meshed well, excuse me, with that group. Yeah, decent. I mean, he was great last night. He really was. Great last night with the Canadian. Excuse me, against the Canadians. And that kind of, it seems that maybe that put the stamp of approval on things.

But they really liked them. There's a reason why they went after them. They lock it in here on that five-year deal. And everybody's kind of happy in San Jose can focus on other areas because they're looking at, this is another team looking at defense. And they're looking at short, excuse me, younger guys and veterans, but controllable, either, you know, under contract or RFA status on the young guys or guys with extended term from a veteran presence to add to that blue line.

And if they can't get it now, they'll do it in the summer. But that's a priority for Mike Rear and the Sharks. Detroit Red Wings. I was mentioning the Berkey before he came on. No go on Quinn, Graz Anderson, Tyler Myers. We know they're looking for a defenseman. Like that's not exactly. They'd probably like a top six forward two.

Right shot. But yeah, right? But like 0 for 3. Like it happens. Like on the one hand, you can just say like Steve Eisenman has his prices. And the price for Cohen Hughes was astronomical. And Bill Garron was willing to pay it where Steve Eisenman wasn't. So Garan gets the player.

But you know that a red wings. And we all remember what happened last year with Dylan Larkin and Steve Eisenman. Larkin essentially saying like where were the reserves? Like, you know, how come you didn't send the posse? And Isman saying, well, essentially, you didn't deserve it. And that's why I didn't do it. But this year, like the Red Wings deserve it. Like we expect Detroit to do something based on what they've done this year to put themselves in a position to finally get some playoff games in the, I don't want to call it new rank, Little Caesar's Arena.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I mean, look, first of all, you know, these teams try and try and try and they strike out, you know, three, four, five, six, ten times before they get their guy. Just seemed to be a little more publicized with Detroit, which I'm sure Steve is thrilled about. but another guy if they're going to pivot they've expressed interest in Rasmus Ristelainen and with one year left on his contract 5.1 million maybe that's the approach they go maybe they circle in that direction I think him more so than a guy like Falk presumably but I know for sure that they've checked in on Ristelainen a few times and it wouldn't shock me if they go back in this direction it was like I mentioned earlier it was about Monday when

and they didn't have an answer about Tyler Myers that they said, all right, this has gone on for quite a bit. We're still in this, but if we find another option, we're going in that direction, and Myers actually beat them. So they've been compiling additional options.

They're engaged in those right now, but it's not only the decor, you know, Jeff, I think it's up front too. Like they're looking up front. Depending who you talk to, they're real about Thomas. They're sort of,

they're kind of in it. again, depending who you talk to, I don't know if they go hunting in that big of a pond, but they are looking at other guys to bring in, and it sounds like center is a priority, but I don't think it's the be-all end-all. If they bring in a winger that fits the top six, they can do that, especially on that right side.

I think they can do that. But it sounds like center might be a priority, but again, we'll see what they end up doing. I think they're going to do something. I think they're going to probably address both areas to what degree of player, it's hard to gauge. Okay, quickly, a couple of names I'll just throw out at you.

Simon Nemich. Like if Quinn Hughes was going to the New Jersey Devils, Simon Nemich would have been part of the package, we would assume, that would be going back instead of a Z-Boy in with the Minnesota wealth. Simon Nemich's availability here, Dave. Yeah, that picked up over the last few weeks after Olympics, and for decent reason, you know, hell of a player.

But, I mean, his stock overall has driven. dropped, dripped, dropped a little bit over the last, you know, season or two, but still valued as a very high asset. And New Jersey's priority is finding somebody to put the puck in the net. They've got guys on paper that seem to be able to do it. It hasn't translated in real life and on the ice. So priority for them is to bring in an offensive weapon for this club, but somebody controllable with term, especially if you're dealing with a guy like Nemich.

Dawson Mercer's name has kind of popped in and out of discussions this season. I'm not sure where that stands right now, but I'm sure they're going to listen because they want to address, again, they want to bring in somebody to play with Jack. They can put the puck in the net, presumably on that right side. You got brat him and someone. That's someone is what they're trying to fill ideally. And Nemich is a player that they're listening on.

I don't know how far along those conversations have gotten to this point. I'm curious about Jordan Cairo in St. Louis, because there are teams that are still poking on him, and he would fit the bill for the caliber of player that the devils want. Can they put something together that makes sense? I guess we got to wait. Okay. Last team here.

And this is a perhaps is a tough decision for Don Waddell, but his team has put together two wins in a row here. One against the Rangers, where they went up for a cob and then had to hang on and win it in overtime. And then last night they beat the National Predators, and that is the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are sort of, you know,

picking at the edges of a playoff spot here, the out of town scoreboard didn't help them. The Bruins beat the penguins yesterday to, well, I mean, Columbus kept pace, but I mean, that's still like Columbus has 22 games left and 13 of them are against playoff teams. And they have decisions to make, whether it's Mason, Marchman, Boone Jenner, Charlie Coyle, Eric Goodbranson. Like, we're used to the Blue Jackets being out of it by now and wondering where all these players are going to end up.

But this year it's tighter. And they've made the coach move with Rick Bonas and the seven game win streak before the Olympic break and now they've strung two back to back together. They got one more game before the deadline on Friday which is against the Florida Panthers. Do you have an idea of which way the blue jackets

are leaning here? I think the playoff percentage is like, is it around like 40, between like 48 to 52% It's not horrible. It's not horrible but. Not ideal. Yeah.

I mean, you know, they feel they like their team. They feel they're a playoff team. And especially after bringing bones in and making the change behind the bench and getting everybody to click, they feel that there's enough there

to be a playoff team. Whether there's enough runway, I don't know. They did tell their guys after having conversations back and forth that let's table these discussions, these extension discussions, until after the season.

Presumably you're still going to stick around. So we'll have those talks afterwards. So let's focus on on making the playoffs. And I get that. That makes sense. Very similar to what's happened in Seattle, although they're in a playoff spot, they told their free agents,

unless we're blown away, you're staying. We have no intention of actually moving you. It sounds like it's a similar situation in Columbus. Unless there's an offer that they just comes out of left field and they didn't expect and they have to consider, I think they want to roll with this group and try to push for that playoff spot because they feel they can maintain

this level of play, maybe not, you know, 800 hockey, but at least maintain a very sound, efficient level of performance that is worthy of, you know, being a playoff team. So I think that's where they're kind of sitting. You know, the market would love to get back in the postseason. Certainly that fan base, it's fun, let that cannon go nuts come playoff time. But I think they feel that they have enough horses there to make it happen. I don't know if they're going to add anything in that regard unless it's a hockey type acquisition that makes sense in terms of controllability and term. But in terms of their pending UFAs, unless they're blown away, I think they want to hold

on to them because they really like their chances. Should point out to those back-to-back wins for Columbus this week, both done without Zach Werenski, who was sick for both of those. So maybe they just stick with it and they say, you know what, we'll try to sign what we can. And I will add, I just. just quickly as well because they did scratch Kent Johnson for a couple games. They made it clear. I reached out about,

they made it clear they have no intention to trade him. Vancouver what? They just want him. Sorry what? Vancouver what? Yeah, maybe. They're saying they have no intention of trading them. We'll see.

But this is more message sending trying to get him on track. Again, somebody blows him out of the water. They'll listen, but that was the message being brought. That one still baffles. He is so skilled. That guy is so talented. That one is the one that. He really is.

That really baffles me. But nonetheless, hope that he can turn things around. All right, great stuff, as always, appreciate the contributions and early this week as well. We've got trade deadline on Friday,

where you will be front and center on our trade deadline coverage. Thanks as always, Dave. You'd be good. You got it. See in a couple days.