Former Columbus Blue Jackets forward Manny Malhotra, head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks of the AHL, won the Calder Cup last night by defeating the Charlotte Checkers in six games.

The Canucks finished the regular with a 44-24-2-2 record, which was good enough for second in the Pacific Division. Abbotsford beat Tucson, Coachella Valley, Colorado, and Texas before beating Charlotte in the Final.

Manny was hired by Abbotsford in May of 2024 after spending a few seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs Organization.

Malhotra played 344 of his 991 career NHL games with Columbus. He scored 53 goals and totaled 145 points for the Jackets. Two months into the 2015–16 season, Malhotra signed a professional try-out contract with the Lake Erie Monsters on December 3, 2015. He played in 23 games and had six points. He was drafted 7th overall by the New York Rangers in 1998.

Congrats to Manny Malhotra and the Abbotsford Canucks on their Calder Cup Championship.

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Former Blue Jackets Draft Pick And Calder Cup Champion Signs In EuropeAnother former Blue Jacket has found a new home in Europe. 

2025 NHL Draft Order Officially ReleasedThe 2025 NHL Draft is this Friday, and the Blue Jacket picks are official. 

Columbus Blue Jackets 2025 Draft Target: Cameron ReidWe are officially four days away from the 2025 NHL Draft and there are no shortage of news and rumors. Today, we saw Trevor Zegras be dealt to the Anaheim Ducks and it seems like there could be more moves like that happening over the next few days. The Columbus Blue Jackets could find themselves dipping into the trade market as well as we lead up to the draft. There are some reports suggesting that they are willing to part with one of their first round picks to make the team better now.

On Monday morning, the Anaheim Ducks traded forward Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Ryan Peohling, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick.

Moving on from Zegras after a pair of injury-riddled seasons that followed two 60-plus point seasons to start his career was a bold and divisive move by Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek, and one that has a likelihood of reflecting poor asset management.

Ducks Trade Trevor Zegras to the Flyers

Ducks GM Pat Verbeek on Trevor Zegras-Ryan Poehling Trade

A Timeline of Trevor Zegras' Tenure with the Anaheim Ducks

However, the Ducks did acquire a piece in the trade that fills a significant need within their depth chart and that provides a more suitable fit to what Verbeek is building in Anaheim.

"The big thing is we're trying to retool the roster in a way that all the pieces fit cohesively, where you have different players on different lines that complement each other," Verbeek told media following the trade.
"So, I think from that aspect, that's ultimately the decision that we came to, just kind of reshaping and retooling our roster."

Before Monday’s trade, the Ducks had $32.19 million in cap space and a need for a true two-way middle-six center who could provide depth offense, absorb difficult matchups, and boost the NHL’s 29th-ranked penalty kill.

Poehling (26) is on the lower end of the middle-six center spectrum, perhaps closer to the label of a bubble top-nine center, but he does provide what the Ducks were missing down the middle of their depth chart.

"Ryan's 6-foot-2, he's 215 pounds. He has really good speed and, as I had mentioned before, (improving) some of the special teams, Ryan is the No. 1 guy that goes over (the boards) for the Flyers on a penalty kill, and (we're) looking to improve in that area," Verbeek said.
"He is certainly going to add speed and he's going to add penalty-killing ability for our roster. I'm trying to shore up certain aspects of our special teams play, players who can do a good job there."

Career to Date

Poehling is a former first-round draft pick (25th overall in 2017) of the Montreal Canadiens out of St. Cloud State University and the USNTDP. He played three seasons in the NCAA between 2016 and 2019, tallying 13 (7-6=13) points in 35 games as a freshman, 31 points (14-17=31) in 36 games as a sophomore, and 31 points (8-23=31) in 36 games as a junior.

He signed his ELC in the offseason before the 2019-20 season and split his time that year between the AHL, where he scored 13 points (5-8=13) in 36 games for the Laval Rocket, and NHL, where he scored two points in 27 games for the Habs.

He spent the entirety of the 2020-21 season in the AHL, producing at a near point-per-game level with 25 points (11-14=25) in 28 games before suffering a wrist injury that required surgery, forcing him to miss the remainder of the season.

He played a total of 85 games for the Habs throughout his first three NHL seasons, totaling 22 points (13-9=22) before he was traded along with Jeff Petry to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a 2023 fourth-round pick and Mike Matheson.

Poehling played one season with the Pens and scored 14 points (7-7=14) in 53 games, but wasn’t extended a qualifying offer and became an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2023.

The Philadelphia Flyers inked him to a one-year contract with an AAV of $1.4 million on July 1, 2023, and extended him to a two-year deal with an AAV of $1.9 million on Jan. 26, 2024.

In his two seasons on the Flyers, he assumed a third-line center role, produced 59 points (23-36=59) in 145 games, and was their second-most utilized forward on the penalty kill (235:16 TOI).

On-Ice Impact

Poehling has the makeup of a positively impactful two-way center who has prioritized the defensive side of the puck to this point in his career, and who hasn’t seen the offense fully click at the NHL level in his four full NHL seasons.

His skating stride isn’t technically perfect, but it doesn’t hinder his explosion, four-way mobility, or ability to cover vast amounts of ice. He’s tenacious on the forecheck and backcheck, displaying proper angling and sealing techniques with a disruptive stick, and he’s astute in defensive zone coverage.

An underrated aspect of his game is his ability to transition. He displays proper puck-supporting routes as pucks move throughout the defensive zone on breakouts, is confident and decisive with the puck on his stick, and makes smart decisions upon entry when the blueline is afforded. He makes deft connecting plays in the neutral zone and does well to present himself as a passing option. With a tad more effectiveness at the critical moments of a developing play, he could easily uncover another layer to his offensive production.

Poehling will likely never produce at a 50-plus point level consistently, but with his skill, 40 points per season is within reason, a decent output for a two-way third-line center behind an offensive duo of Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson in the top six.

Poehling has one year remaining on his contract and is set to become an unrestricted free agent upon expiry. If the fit in Anaheim is seamless, he could earn an extension and a stable roster spot as a bottom-six center for the foreseeable future.

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Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

While it was reported that the Montreal Canadiens had interest in Trevor Zegras some time ago, including at last year’s draft, GM Kent Hughes had since moved on from the former Anaheim Ducks player. The former ninth overall pick at the 2019 draft was once a promising prospect who oozed talent, but injuries have plagued his last two seasons, and he didn’t progress as expected, posting 15 points in 31 games in 2023-24 and 32 points in 57 games this past season.

When the Canadiens were interested in Zegras, they were drawn to his pure offensive skills and talent. However, after selecting Ivan Demidov and Michael Hage at the 2024 draft, their interest shifted elsewhere. It’s not that a team can have too much offensive talent, but you build a contender by carefully putting together an ensemble cast with complementary skills. The best example is probably the current champions, the Florida Panthers, who have found that balance. In contrast, the runner-up, the Edmonton Oilers, are still struggling to surround the best player in the world with the right pieces to take that last step.

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Speaking to the media after the trade, Ducks GM Pat Verbeek indicated that Zegras wanted to play center. Still, they saw him more as a winger, and they already had their top two centers in Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish. This made Zegras surplus to requirements, and while the return obtained may seem underwhelming, it simply reflects how much his value had declined.

To land Zegras, the Philadelphia Flyers only had to give former Canadiens player Ryan Poehling, the 45th pick at Friday’s draft, and a 2026 fourth-round draft pick. The pivot who was drafted 25th overall by the Canadiens at the 2017 draft and has since become a good depth center after being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Jeff Petry trade that landed the Canadiens Mike Matheson. He then signed with the Flyers as a free agent and posted 28 points in 77 games during the 2023-24 season and 31 points in 68 games this past season. His last two years have been more productive than Zegras's, and his style of play is more fitting for the Ducks’ needs at center.

For those who are lamenting the fact that it wouldn’t have been costly for the Canadiens to roll the dice on Zegras, you can be glad that Montreal is not in that stage anymore. At this stage of their rebuild, the Habs have more precise needs, they’re no longer seeing what raw assets they can acquire and foster as part of their foundation. They now know that they need and a player like Zegras just isn’t it.

At 6-foot and 185 pounds, he wouldn’t help address the Canadiens’ need for a big forward who can provide some physicality. If the playoffs taught us one thing, it’s that the Canadiens need more size and players who can handle the physical toll of the postseason. Players who can go to the dirty areas and establish a physical presence. Cole Caufield might have become less of a perimeter player, but he is still just 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds, try as he may, he remains easy to move off the puck in heavy traffic, he doesn’t have the big frame to protect the puck in those areas.

There’s no guarantee the Canadiens will be able to address that need through a trade or on the free agency market this Summer, but Hughes will try and to do that, he needs to target the right players. Forget about Mason McTavish, Verbeek’s chat with the media made it clear yesterday that he’s not going anywhere.

The top six players, especially centers, are tough to acquire when you don’t draft them. Hughes did try when he traded for Kirby Dach, believing in his potential, and so far, the 6-foot-4 and 221-pound pivot hasn’t lived up to it. At his end-of-season press conference, the Canadiens’ GM stopped short of saying that this upcoming season would be the big center’s last chance, but he did say it would be a crucial season for him.

Insane goal from 2019 Draft eligible Kirby Dach. No idea why people have him dropping... top 5 talent pic.twitter.com/XgCty1hAqm

— World Hockey Report (@worldhockeyrpt) April 8, 2019

If Dach was to show up to camp in fine form and find the form he was showing before suffering a knee injury in the second game of the 2022-23 season, he could a fantastic internal answer to the Canadiens’ need. He would however need to find a way to remain healthy, which has proven tricky for him since the start of his career. He has never played a full 82-game season, the most he has played in one campaign is 70 games and that was back in 2021-22.

In other words, Dach could be the solution, but there are a lot of ifs and buts there. When the puck drops on the new season, he will be entering the final year of the four-year contract he signed shortly after being traded to Montreal. That deal has a $3,362,500 AAV and once it’s up, he will be a RFA. So far, he’s not done anything to show he would deserve a significant raise or a long-term contract as a part of the Canadiens’ young core. The 24-year-old needs a big year and the Canadiens also need a big year from him.

Photo credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

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Another former Blue Jacket has found a new home in Europe. 

Former 2013 2nd round draft pick Dillon Heatherington has signed with EHC München of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga based out of Munich, Germany.

Per a EHC München press release, Christian Winkler, Managing Director Sports at Red Bull Ice Hockey: "Dillon is a player we've had on our radar for several years. He's characterized by his absolute dedication to the team and leadership qualities. He enjoys playing where things can get tough: in the corners and in front of the goal. Dillon comes to Munich highly motivated. 

In the same press release Heatherington says, "Red Bull Munich is a top-notch organization recognized worldwide. They treat everyone with great respect, which is certainly exceptional. I can't wait to get to Munich and meet my new teammates, the organization's staff, and the fans. I want to settle in quickly and get to know the city and Munich culture. The goal, of course, is to win every game. I want to quickly do my part and help us grow together as a team and improve throughout the season. I'm really looking forward to this new chapter."

Heatherington never played a game for Columbus and made his NHL debut for the Dallas Stars after he was traded on March 1, 2017, for forward Lauri Korpikoski. He's played 23 NHL games and has two points. 

Heatherington also played three years for the Jackets AHL affiliate, Springfield Falcons, Lake Erie Monsters, and then the Cleveland Monsters. In total, he played 104 games in the AHL for Columbus, scoring 4 goals and totaling 22 points. He also helped the Monsters win the Calder Cup in 2016 by playing in 15 games. 

Let us know what you think below.

Stay updated with the most interesting Blue Jackets stories, analysis, breaking news, and more!

Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News and never miss a story.

2025 NHL Draft Order Officially ReleasedThe 2025 NHL Draft is this Friday, and the Blue Jacket picks are official. 

Columbus Blue Jackets 2025 Draft Target: Cameron ReidWe are officially four days away from the 2025 NHL Draft and there are no shortage of news and rumors. Today, we saw Trevor Zegras be dealt to the Anaheim Ducks and it seems like there could be more moves like that happening over the next few days. The Columbus Blue Jackets could find themselves dipping into the trade market as well as we lead up to the draft. There are some reports suggesting that they are willing to part with one of their first round picks to make the team better now.

On This Day: In 2014 & 2017, The Blue Jackets Make Two Huge TradesOn June 23, 2014, and June 23, 2017, Jarmo Kekäläinen made two massive trades that would reshape the Blue Jackets franchise. In 2011, the Jackets also made another trade that would turn out to be the worst in CBJ history.