The weekend was replete with news in the NHL.
The weekend started with news of Elias Pettersson signing an eight-year, $92.8 million deal with the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. 
“I’m super excited; this is where I wanted to be,” Pettersson said on NHL.com. “My parents have probably been nervous throughout this whole journey and contract talks and everything. Talking to them yesterday and just getting a little emotional with them, how big of a decision this is for us, yeah, [I’m] super happy.”
Pettersson was reportedly reluctant to sign an extension until he could see where the franchise and team were going in the future.
“What they’ve been doing ever since they came in: first off building a culture, a winning culture for us to succeed, doing renovations in the rink, everything is trending in the right direction and I always wanted to stay but the more I saw, it just made it even more clear,” Pettersson said. “I was an RFA at the end of the season and I didn’t feel the rush to sign. But then more talks with Jim and Patrik, seeing the direction on the team, I always wanted to stay here but just seeing the commitment from them, we wanted to get it done before.”
Pettersson has been productive this season with the Canucks posting 75 points on 29 goals.
“I do think, regardless if you say [the contract is] not in your mind, it’s obviously in your mind,” Vancouver’s Brock Boeser said. “That’s a lot of money and it’s a big commitment and I’m just happy that he can put it past him and really just focus on doing what he does best and that’s being a leader and producing for our team.”
The New York Ranges locked Jonathan Quick for another year on Broadway. Over the weekend it was announced that Quick had been extended for an additional, and a bit of a raise.
For the 2024-25 season, Quick was signed for $1.275 million, still a bargain.
This season, Quick has posted a record of 13-5-2 with a 2.45 goals-against average and .916 save percentage in 21 games.
More importantly, he saw the Rangers through a period of games where their No. 1 Igor Shesterkin was seeing BBs and not beach balls in the net.
On Sunday, the Washington Capitals announced that forward Evgeny Kuznetsov had cleared waivers.
He will be assigned to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. Apparently not for a conditioning assignment.
Kuznetsov was cleared by the NHL and NHLPA to return to action after going through their treatment program.
“I think he’s been looking for a change in an environment, and this might set the wheels in motion for that to be accomplished,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said.
Kuznetsov, 31, have one year left on a contract with the Caps at $7.8 million annually.
The Caps will need to buy him out or eat part of his salary to get him off their hands.
“I think we’re in the mix,” MacLellan said. “I see the math that it’s unlikely, but you could get some help from other teams too. We have a week left to make some decisions. I think our priority would be the future of our club. All decisions will be based on [that]. It’s not, ‘Hey, we’re going to go out and rent a guy for the playoffs.’ We’re not in that game.
“We’re here to look for opportunities to find more young players, add more young players to our roster and compete — still compete.”
That’s a big ask this late in the season, for a player who needs to prove himself.
On the ice, two teams found a way to sink a bit lower in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The New Jersey Devils lost back to back games of the weekend, including a 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
Timo Meier staked them to a 1-0 with 15 seconds gone in the game. That was the end of the offense.
The Kings reeled off five unanswered goals, including a hat trick by Phillip Danault.
“We got the start we wanted, came out and scored a goal,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. “You can do a lot of great things in the game, and then you can beat yourself. I thought we beat ourselves.”
Well, that’s true, but the other 59:45 of the game was pretty much a waste of time.
“I don’t think it’s about effort, it’s more between the ears,” New Jersey’s Erik Haula said. “We keep kind of shooting ourselves in the foot, we keep making similar mistakes, and at this time of the year, it’s going to hurt you.”
Again, truth be told, that’s not entirely true.
New Jersey is a soft team. There is no push back from the roster.
“Get yourself in a 4-1 hole, it’s a pretty steep hill to climb,” Haula said. “We basically got to start winning out here to have a really good chance of making it. We can’t lose many more games.”
It’s harder to climb out when you glide into the defensive zone, and fail to pick up an open skater in your own zone. The Kings scored their goals on easy shots after being uncontested in their set up. 
New Jersey’s goaltending corps has been the object derision all season. Nico Daws and Akira Schmid may be underwhelming, but their defense has left hanging out to dry most of the year. Yes, you need your goalie to make “the” save in a game, but Daws and Schmid are frequently the only New Jersey players in a still photo on an opposition goal.
Making matters worse in Newark, the Devils are 3-6-0 since Jack Hughes was jawing at a Kings player across penalty boxes that “people pay to watch him play”.
Hughes’ immaturity is giving fodder t the opposition.
Also in the East, the Pittsburgh Penguins are in a state of staleness.
On Saturday night, the Calgary Flames rallied past the Pens for a 4-3 win, highlighted by an absolutely sick end to end rush by the Flames’ Nazem Kadri.
That was followed by a 6-1 embarrassment in Edmonton on Sunday.
“I think we had a tough loss (in Calgary), and I don’t know if we did a good enough job of just moving by it,” Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. “I think that you got to find a way even when it’s one like that, to move by it.
“We probably didn’t do a good enough job.”
Not even close. The Penguins are missing Jake Guentzel who is on long term injured reserve with an upper body injury.
The problem for the Penguins is, there is no “next man up” on the deeper roster to take his place. Granted few can fill his role, but the Pens are not able to ice a competent replacement.
The 29-year old Guentzel, is in his final year of a $6 million annual deal, and rumors of trade have been floating.
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Guentzel apparently has no interest in being part of a coming rebuild in Pittsburgh.
“One of the issues we have is that we need to get younger,” Penguins president and general manager Kyle Dubas said. “We have a lot of guys in their 30s signed, some are the best players in the history of the franchise and it’s tough with Jake, because I’ve said to him, because he’s an excellent player and playing at an elite level. But we have to find a way to continue to have those solid veteran guys, but continue to get younger at the same time.”
That’s ominous for the aging Penguins.
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