The Coyotes have elected to take Toronto’s 2025 second-round pick instead of their 2023 third-round selection to complete last year’s Nick Ritchie trade, reports NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston (Twitter link). Arizona had until yesterday to make the decision. This means that Toronto now has three draft picks remaining this season with the other two being later-round selections (fifth round and sixth round). Meanwhile, the Coyotes now have four second-round selections for the 2025 draft.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Wild announced (Twitter link) that they’ve re-assigned forward Adam Beckman to AHL Iowa. The 21-year-old has been held off the scoresheet in nine games with Minnesota this season but has 18 goals and nine assists in 43 games in the minors. They now have one spot open on their 23-man roster.
- We’re at the time of the year when players on expiring contracts being absent is worth keeping track of. However, while the Capitals were without Marcus Johansson for their game this afternoon against the Rangers, NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti relays (Twitter link) that the winger has a non-COVID illness. Johansson is on an expiring deal that carries a $1.1MM cap hit and has 28 points in 60 games this season which could draw some interest around the league.
- On the heels of Bally Sports skipping an interest payment earlier this month which is causing some concern for the NHL and the dozen teams with regional rights under that umbrella, another regional broadcaster is pulling the plug. John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal relays that Warner Bros. Discovery, which operates AT&T SportsNet and has a stake in Root Sports, is intending to divest its interests in regional sports rights by the end of March. Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal adds that they’re proposing to the impacted teams (Vegas, Seattle, and Pittsburgh are the NHL ones) that they take back the rights at no fees as long as they sign a release stating there are no future financial claims against the network. With nearly half the league having their regional rights in question, it’s quite possible this could materially affect the salary cap moving forward.