Appleton brings the sauce back to Winnipeg after Jets trade with Kraken
Nathan Beaulieu traded to Penguins while Bryan Little's contract shipped to Coyotes
Mason Appleton is back with the Winnipeg Jets.
The Jets re-acquired the 26-year-old forward from the Seattle Kraken for a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NHL draft.
Appleton, from Green Bay, Wisc., had six goals and 11 assists in 49 games for the Kraken this season. He was selected by Seattle in last year's NHL expansion draft.
He returns to Winnipeg, the team that drafted him in the sixth round (168th overall) in 2015.
During the first 138 games of his NHL career, Appleton scored 20 goals over three seasons with the Jets.
Beaulieu to Penguins, Little's contract to Coyotes
The Jets on Monday also traded defenceman Nathan Beaulieu to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2022 NHL draft.
Currently on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury, the 29-year-old had four assists in 24 games with the Jets in 2021-22.
Another injured Jet is also on the move, sort of. Winnipeg shipped the contract of centre Bryan Little to the Arizona Coyotes for a 2022 fourth-round draft pick.
Unsigned Jets prospect Nathan Smith was part of the deal, too.
Little, who hasn't played since November 2019 after being hit in the head with a puck that left him with a perforated eardrum and dealing with vertigo, has two years left on a contract that carries an annual average value of just over $5.29 million US.
Beaulieu, meanwhile, is in the final season of a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1.25 million US.
The pending unrestricted free agent was originally selected 17th overall by the Montreal Canadiens at the 2011 draft.