Day 2 of the NHL Draft has been hectic. As Hasan mentioned in a previous post, the action has been fast and furious at Sphere in Vegas.

After a relatively quiet first night that saw only a few teams move up into the first round, there have been a lot of trades involving both players and picks.

The biggest one is Mikhail Sergachev, who was dealt to the Utah HC for J.J. Moser, Conor Geekie, the number 199 pick, and the rights to a Leafs’ 2025 second. The Lightning got Utah to take the entire $8.5 million cap hit to free up space. They also moved Tanner Jeannot to the Kings.

Despite those two moves, it’s been reported by Elliotte Friedman that the Bolts are after Jake Guentzel, whose contract negotiations with the Hurricanes fell apart. He was close to re-signing for eight years at $8 million per season.

If it’s true that they low balled Steven Stamkos with a ridiculous $3 million cap hit over eight years, then he probably is gone. That makes no sense for the well-respected Lightning captain who scored 40 goals and had 81 points this past season. If he leaves, I wonder where he’ll wind up.

One team making the biggest headlines is the Devils. After sending John Marino to Utah HC to select goalie Mikhail Yegorov in the second round and free up room to potentially sign free agent defenseman Brett Pesce, they traded Akira Schmid and Alexander Holtz to the Golden Knights in exchange for Paul Cotter and a Vegas 2025 third round pick.

Schmid is best known for how well he played in the Devils’ first round series win over the Rangers in 2023. The former 2018 fifth round pick came out of nowhere to post a 2.13 goals-against-average (GAA), and .922 save percentage in 2022-23. In five starts versus the Rangers, he went 4-1 with two shutouts and a .951 save percentage to backstop the Devils to the second round last year.

Unfortunately, Schmid couldn’t duplicate that success. He struggled mightily in 2023-24, going 5-9-1 with a 3.15 GAA and .895 save percentage in 19 games. Eventually, his struggles led to him being sent down to Utica.

Holtz is a former number seven pick in 2020. Once viewed as a big part of the future due to his lethal shot, he fell out of favor under former coach Lindy Ruff. Despite going through both Ruff and former interim coach Travis Green, who became the new Senators coach, Holtz played in all 82 games, posting 16 goals and 12 assists. He was never trusted by the coaching staff. Now, he gets a fresh start in Vegas.

Cotter is a 24-year-old forward who had seven goals and 18 assists with 41 penalty minutes in his second season with the Knights. Listed at six-foot two, 212 pounds, Cotter adds size and strength to the Devils. He was second on the Knights with 233 hits in 2023-24.

So, the Devils get stronger. The question is at what expense? What if Holtz becomes the player most thought he could be? Only time will tell.

At the present time, there’s nothing new to report on the rumored deal involving Jacob Trouba. Friedman hinted earlier today that the Rangers and Red Wings were close on a trade that would send Trouba back home to Detroit. We’ll see what happens.

I’ll have more on that and the Rangers draft weekend.