Canadiens get younger up front, deal for Gurianov in forward swap with Stars

The Montreal Canadiens have acquired forward Denis Gurianov from the Dallas Stars in exchange for forward Evgenii Dadonov, the team announced Sunday.

The Canadiens will retain 50 per cent of Dadonov's salary through the end of the season.

Gurianov, a first-round pick of the Stars in 2015, has two goals and nine points in 43 games for Dallas this year.

The six-foot-three, 205-pound right-winger has produced 46 goals and 103 points across 257 NHL regular-season contests in five-plus seasons for the Stars. Gurianov, 25, is set to be a restricted free agent this coming off-season.

The NHL trade deadline is next Friday at 3 p.m. ET.

Dadonov, 33, is in the final year of a three-year, $15-million US contract he signed with Ottawa in 2020. He was traded to Montreal for defenceman Shea Weber by Vegas last June.

The right-winger has four goals and 14 assists in 50 games this season.

Lightning pay high price to Predators for forward Jeannot

The slumping Tampa Bay Lightning added an element of grit into their lineup to punch up their late-season playoff push by acquiring forward Tanner Jeannot in a trade with the Nashville Predators on Sunday night.

And the Lightning paid a high price in doing so by trading away third-year defenceman Cal Foote, as well as five draft picks, including a 2025 first-round selection that is top-10 protected. Tampa Bay also traded its second-round pick in the 2024 draft, as well as its third, fourth, and fifth-round selections this year.

The trade was completed shortly after the Lightning fell to 2-2-2 in their past six following a 7-3 loss at Pittsburgh, and comes less than a week before the NHL's trade deadline on Friday.

Signed by Nashville as an undrafted free agent, the 25-year-old is better known for his hard-hitting style and defensive play. He leads the Predators with 213 hits and the team's forwards with 51 blocked shots this season.

Overall, he has 34 goals and 62 points with 217 penalty minutes in 152 career games.

The Lightning maintain a strong hold on third place in the Atlantic Division, and are likely to open the playoffs facing Toronto in a rematch of last year's first-round playoff series, which Tampa Bay won in seven games. The Lightning, who have reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of the past three seasons and won in both 2020 and '21, trail Toronto by four points in the race to determine which team will have home-ice advantage to start the postseason.

Nashville is retooling for the future while still in the fringes of the Western Conference race — sitting in 10th place, and six points out of a playoff spot. The Predators traded Jeannot after improving to 4-1 in their past five following a 6-2 win at Arizona.

In a separate move, Nashville gave up future considerations to acquire minor-league forward Isaac Ratcliffe in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers. A second-round pick in the 2017 draft, Ratcliffe has a goal and three assists in 10 career games with the Flyers.

Golden Knights add Barbashev before deadline

The St. Louis Blues traded forward Ivan Barbashev to the Vegas Golden Knights.

In return, the Blues received forward Zach Dean, a first-round pick in 2021.

Barbashev, 27, has recorded 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 59 games in his seventh season with St. Louis.

He has 78 goals and 178 points in 410 NHL regular-season games since the Blues drafted him in the second round in 2014.

Vegas drafted the 20-year-old Dean 30th overall in 2021 draft. The Alberta native has 49 points in 38 games this season with the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Longest-serving NHL GM Poile retiring?

David Poile, the only general manager in Nashville Predators history and a U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer, will retire from the position June 30 and former coach Barry Trotz will take over the job, Sportsnet and the Tennessean reported Sunday.

Poile, 73, is the longest-serving general manager in NHL history, with 15 seasons as GM of the Washington Capitals followed by his 26-year run with the Predators since the then-expansion team hired him in 1997. He became the first person to reach 3,000 regular-season games as an NHL general manager earlier this season.

Poile won the NHL's general manager of the year award in 2017, when Nashville reached its first Stanley Cup final.

Trotz was the Predators' first head coach, leading them for their first 15 seasons in the league. He then coached stints with the Capitals (2014-18) and New York Islanders (2018-22), leading Washington to its first and only Stanley Cup title in 2018.

Trotz, who was fired by the Islanders following last season, is the third-winningest coach in NHL history with 914 wins across 23 seasons.

Sportsnet reported Trotz, 60, is expected to start working with the Predators immediately but won't officially become the GM until after June 30. The new league year is expected to start July 1. Poile is likely to stay on as a consultant for the Predators, according to Sportsnet.

Tuch hurt in Friday win over Panthers

The Buffalo Sabres' playoff push hit a speed bump on Sunday, with top-line forward Alex Tuch and top defenceman Rasmus Dahlin ruled out from playing against the Washington Capitals.

Tuch was placed on injured reserve and will miss at least two weeks with a lower-body injury, general manager Kevyn Adams said before the game. Dahlin, a Norris Trophy candidate, is considered day to day and requires resting an injury he's been playing through, Adams said.

Without revealing the nature of the players' injuries, Adams said Tuch does not require surgery and is projected to return before the end of the season.

Tuch was hurt in the third period of a 3-1 win at the Florida Panthers on Friday.

The 26-year-old Tuch has been a mainstay on a line centred by Tage Thompson and rounded out by Jeff Skinner, and he ranks second on the team with 28 goals and 62 points — both career highs. He had scored four goals in his past five games, including the game winner at Florida.

"It's a tough loss," Adams said, referring to Tuch. "We believe internally in what we have in our locker room. It's opportunity for guys to kind of step in and play a bigger role. But yeah, it's just a massive player in our lineup from everything he does, not just the offensive side, but you guys see the minutes he plays, the situations he plays."

The Sabres called up Vinnie Hinostroza from the minors to fill Tuch's roster spot.

Adams acknowledged Tuch's injury places what he called "urgency" on trade talks leading up to Friday's deadline.

Buffalo opened Sunday 30-23-4 and in a tightly contested race for the Eastern Conference's two wild-card playoff berths as it tries to end an NHL-record 11-year post-season drought.