While Darnell Nurse wound up being traded to San Jose on the opening day of free agency, that may not have been Edmonton’s initial plan for him. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta recently reported on the DFO Rundown (video link) that there was a deal in place to send him to the Bruins but that one of the other players involved in the swap wouldn’t waive their trade protection. As a result, the Oilers moved on to the offer from the Sharks and got that trade finalized. Meanwhile, Boston then turned around and was able to make another move to address their back end, acquiring Will Borgen from the Rangers for a pair of draft picks.
Elsewhere in the East:
Flyers center Jett Luchanko did not take part in their recent development camp. Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays that the youngster underwent surgery to repair a lingering core muscle injury last month. The injury shouldn’t keep him out for too much longer as the expectation is that he will be able to resume on-ice activities within the next week. Luchanko spent most of last season in junior but got into four regular season games with Philadelphia plus one playoff appearance. GM Daniel Briere recently indicated that the expectation is that Luchanko will start next season with AHL Lehigh Valley.
The Sabres were one of the quieter teams in the opening few days of free agency. If GM Jarmo Kekalainen has his way, that will be the case moving forward in future free agent periods. Speaking with Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic, he noted that teams that are usually busy on July 1st in free agency are those that are either desperate or aren’t very good. Instead, his hope is to build from within with the addition of some quality prospects to the mix, banking on internal growth to help keep moving the team forward. Kekalainen also spoke of being ready and willing to use some of his strong prospect pool to make a trade to give his team a boost although clearly, the right move has yet to materialize this summer.