Flames trade Ritchie brothers, get Stecher from Arizona at trade deadline

The Calgary Flames trade deadline included a brother swap.

Calgary also acquired winger Dryden Hunt from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Radim Zohorna.

Brett Ritchie, 29, is leaving after three seasons in the Calgary organization. In total he scored 13 goals and seven assists in 107 games as a Flame.

Stecher, 28, of Richmond, BC, had seven assists in 61 games for the Coyotes. He has played 420 career games with the Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings and Coyotes.

Hunt came to Calgary from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League to join his fourth NHL organization this season.

The 27-year-old from Cranbrook, BC, has 15 goals and 28 assists in 202 NHL games with the Coyotes, Florida Panthers, New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche and Toronto.

Mackey, 26, has appeared in 10 games for the Flames this season for two goals and one assist. Zohorna played eight games for the Flames.

The 26-year-old Czech collected 10 goals and 19 assists in 40 games for the AHL Wranglers.

Calgary is five points out of a Western Conference playoff spot. The Flames’ deadline moves were their first trades of the season.

General manager Brad Treliving engineered blockbuster trades last summer when he traded for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar and signed free agent Nazem Kadri.

Canadiens deal for defensemen Allard, Sund

The Montreal Canadiens acquired the rights to two defensemen before the NHL trade deadline, making separate deals with the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks on Friday.

Montreal received defenseman Frederic Allard from LA for forward Nate Schnarr.

The Habs then acquired defenseman Tony Sund, currently playing in Sweden, and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft from the Sharks in a three-team trade that also included the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Montreal is also retaining 50% of forward Nick Bonino’s salary in the trade that saw him move to Pittsburgh.

Sud is a 27-year-old defenseman and has one goal and eight assists in 40 SHL games this season.

Allard, 25, scored two goals and added five assists in 35 games with the Ontario Reigns of the American Hockey League this season.

The Saint-Sauveur, Que., native was selected by the Nashville Predators in the third round, 78th overall, of the 2016 draft.

Schnarr, 24, has three goals and four assists in 27 games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket this season. He was drafted in the third round, 75th overall, by the Arizona Coyotes.

Jets acquire center Vladislav Namestnikov

The Winnipeg Jets acquired Vladislav Namestnikov from the San Jose Sharks on Friday for a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

Namestnikov has scored 113 goals and 251 points in 610 career games with the New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars and Lightning.

The Russian forward and pending unrestricted free agent has added six goals and five assists in 48 playoff appearances.

Selected with the 27th pick in the 2011 draft by Tampa Bay, Namesnikov joins a Winnipeg team that has lost six of its last seven games.

Senators add center Patrick Brown from Flyers

The Ottawa Senators acquired center Patrick Brown in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.

Ottawa sent its sixth-round pick in this year’s NHL draft to Philadelphia for Brown.

The 6-foot, 210-pound Brown has eight goals and 11 assists in 120 games with the Carolina Hurricanes, Vegas Golden Knights and Philadelphia.

Signed as a free agent by Carolina in 2014 out of Boston College to begin his professional career.

Canucks deal Curtis Lazar to Devils

The Vancouver Canucks dealt Curtis Lazar to the New Jersey Devils for a fourth-round pick in the 2024 draft on Friday.

Lazar had three goals and two assists in 45 games with the Canucks in 2022-23.

Selected by the Senators with the 17th overall pick in 2013, Lazar has 38 goals and 95 points in 449 regular season games with Ottawa, Calgary, Buffalo, Boston and Vancouver.

He has added a goal and an assist in 24 playoff appearances.

The Canucks signed the unrestricted free agent from Salmon Arm, BC, to a three-year contract with an average annual value of US$1 million in July.

“[Lazar] he brought a lot of great energy and a positive attitude to the rink every day,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said in a statement. “We wish him the best of luck in New Jersey.”

Vrana to the Blues, Bonino to the Penguins

In other trade deadline deals, the Detroit Red Wings traded winger Jakub Vrana to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for fellow forward Dylan McLaughlin and a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, and the Pittsburgh Penguins re-acquired center Nick Bonino from the San Jose Sharks.

Vrana, 27, has a goal and an assist in five games this season. He entered the player assistance program in October before being released in December.

Also on Friday, the Los Angeles Kings acquired Zack MacEwen from the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday in exchange for fellow forward Brendan Lemieux and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.

MacEwen, 26, has nine points (four goals, five assists) in 46 games this season. He had just been activated off injured reserve on Thursday.

The serenity after the storm

The relative calm was in stark contrast to the past few weeks — especially since Sunday — as GMs across the NHL made a whirlwind of trades.

Surprise moves saw Jakob Chychrun headed to the Ottawa Senators from the Arizona Coyotes, while Jonathan Quick was traded away from the Los Angeles Kings before eventually ending up with the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Leafs were by far the busiest Canadian team before the deadline, making five trades and adding six players since mid-February.

“Especially this year, the calls started a lot earlier,” Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong said this week after trading Chychrun to Ottawa. “I don’t know why that happens. I think teams want to get the player they want to put in and they don’t want to wait until the last minute to do it. I think there’s a change when teams trade.

“They don’t wait until the last day. They aim for three weeks out.”