The Vancouver Canucks have announced that they have traded Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a 2028 fourth-round pick.
General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that the #Canucks have acquired a 4th round pick in the 2028 NHL Entry Draft from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Dakota Joshua.
Joshua's name has been floating around the rumor mill this off-season as the Canucks look to shake up their roster. Now, the Pacific Division club has officially dealt him to the Maple Leafs, where he will look to be a solid part of Toronto's bottom six.
Joshua appeared in 57 games this past season with the Canucks, where he had seven goals, 14 points, 193 hits, and a minus-13 rating. This is after he set career highs with 18 goals, 14 assists, 32 points, and 245 hits in 63 games with the Canucks during the 2023-24 campaign.
This is a reunion of sorts, too, as Joshua was initially selected by the Maple Leafs with the 128th overall pick of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Yet, he never played a game with Toronto after being drafted by them, as he was traded to the Blues during the 2019 off-season for future considerations. Yet, with this trade, he will now get the opportunity to make his Maple Leafs debut 11 years after being drafted by them.
In 42 games over two seasons with the Blues from 2020-21 and 2021-22, Joshua recorded four goals, five assists, nine points, 100 hits, and a plus-3 rating.
Blues Made Sneaky Good Move Signing New ForwardEarlier this off-season, the St. Louis Blues signed forward Nick Bjugstad to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1.75 million. With the Blues needing more center depth, seeing them bring in Bjugstad ultimately made sense. This is especially so when noting that Radek Faksa ended up leaving St. Louis and going back to the Dallas Stars in free agency.
Storied Blair Field, home of the Long Beach State Dirtbags, could be the site where an independent league team plays if an ownership group can reach a deal with the city. (Hiro Ueno / Associated Press)
Could the fourth time be the charm for minor league baseball in Long Beach?
On Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council is scheduled to consider whether to order city staff to work toward an agreement with the ownership group for a “new professional baseball team” that would play at Blair Field, the city’s storied ballpark.
The ownership group includes Paul Freedman, one of the co-founders of the Oakland Ballers, a successful independent league team launched last year amid the departure of the Oakland Athletics.
The new team would open play next season and participate as an expansion team in the Pioneer League, the same league in which the Ballers play. The league includes teams in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.
“I got into this industry because of love for baseball and the community, and love for Oakland,” Freedman said. “I see a tremendous amount of parallels between the city of Oakland and the city of Long Beach, and I think the kind of community-oriented baseball that is working in Oakland can work in Long Beach as well.”
In minor leagues affiliated with major league organizations, those organizations sign and pay players, then assign them to a minor league team. In an independent league, the teams sign and pay players, most of whom hope to play well enough to earn a contract from a major league organization.
Independent leagues also serve as labs for the major leagues: The “swing-off” that decided this week’s All-Star Game has been a rule in the Pioneer League since 2021.
Three independent minor league teams have come and gone in Long Beach over the last 30 years: the Barracuda (renamed the Riptide) in 1995-96, the Breakers (2001-02) and the Armada (2005-09).
Freedman said he believed the struggles reflected instability in the various leagues in which the teams played more than an inability of Long Beach to support a team.
“It’s a city with a huge baseball tradition,” Freedman said. “It’s a diverse city on the rise. It’s hosting the Olympics. I think now it’s time to have a team to represent the town.
“I think baseball has worked in Long Beach, and I think Long Beach is in an even better condition now to embrace a new kind of baseball.”
The Long Beach State baseball team, proudly known as the Dirtbags, attracted more fans last season than any of the other nine Big West Conference teams based in California. The Dirtbags are the primary tenant of Blair Field, and the motion before the city council would require city staff to work with Long Beach State on a “collaborative partnership agreement.”
A city spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.
Nine-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard is reportedly heading back to the Portland Trail Blazers.Photograph: Morry Gash/AP
Damian Lillard is returning to the Portland Trail Blazers. The nine-time NBA All-Star is finalizing a three-year, $42m contract with the franchise where he spent the first 11 seasons of his career, ESPN reported Thursday. The deal includes a player option for the 2027–28 season and a no-trade clause.
Lillard, who turned 35 this week, was waived by the Milwaukee Bucks on 7 July. The team stretched the $113m remaining on his contract to make room for free-agent center Myles Turner.
The veteran guard is expected to miss the entire 2025–26 season after undergoing surgery in May to repair a torn left achilles tendon. He sustained the injury on 27 April in the first quarter of the Bucks’ Game 4 loss to Indiana in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. It was just his third game back after missing a month due to a blood clot in his right calf. He also sat out the final 14 games of the regular season.
Despite receiving interest from playoff contenders offering mid-level and veteran minimum deals, Lillard chose to return to Portland, where his family resides. Talks with general manager Joe Cronin and head coach Chauncey Billups intensified in recent weeks, with all sides aligned on a reunion. His agent, Aaron Goodwin, is finalizing the terms this week.
Between his stretched Milwaukee salary and the new Portland contract, Lillard will earn $70m next season and $141m over the next two years.
Lillard initially requested a trade in 2023 after the Trail Blazers began a rebuild. He was dealt to Milwaukee in a three-team blockbuster that sent Jrue Holiday and Toumani Camara to Portland. Holiday was later traded to Boston, then reacquired by the Blazers this offseason.
With Lillard’s return, the Blazers now boast a core that includes Holiday, Robert Williams III, Scoot Henderson, Camara and a stockpile of future picks and swaps.
Lillard averaged 24.9 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds in 58 regular-season games with Milwaukee. He owns career averages of 25.1 points, 6.7 assists, and 4.3 rebounds over 900 games.
He ranks fourth all-time in made three-pointers (2,804) and eighth among active players in scoring (22,598 points). In Portland, he remains the all-time leader in points and threes and second in assists. He led the franchise to eight playoff appearances, including a run to the 2019 Western Conference finals.
After spending the first five seasons of his career with the New York Rangers, K’Andre Miller is beginning the next chapter of his career with the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Rangers and the Hurricanes agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that sent Miller to Carolina. Miller ultimately signed an eight-year, $60 million contract with the Hurricanes.
During his introductory press conference with the Hurricanes, the 25-year-old defenseman expressed his excitement to join the Hurricanes, while also making sure to acknowledge his gratitude toward the Rangers organization.
A couple of weeks after his departure, Miller took the time to send out a formal farewell to the Rangers and their fans on his Instagram.
“To the Rangers fans — I’ll miss the roar of the crowd and the ‘Let’s Go Rangers’ chants that will forever echo in my mind. Your fandom is second to none,” Miller wrote via Instagram.
“To my teammates — Thank you for your support and lessons along the way. You made me a better player and person. Grateful.”
“To the Rangers coaches, trainers and support staff — thank you for teaching me, caring for me, and helping me. Most appreciated.”
“Thank you for giving me my start and allowing me to live out my dream in the greatest arena in the world. Thank you.”
The Rangers selected Miller in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He quickly blossomed into one of the team’s most promising defensemen with expectations he could be a legitimate top-four blueliner.
However, over the past two seasons, Miller has shown signs of regression, and the Rangers were unwilling to offer him a long-term contract extension due to his inconsistent play.
This move certainly leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of Rangers fans that once believed in Miller’s potential, but that potential is still there, and it could very well be unleashed in Carolina.
Ofahengaue scores two tries as Leigh close on top two
Leigh Leopards further underlined their position as bona fide Super League title contenders with another statement victory, this time winning at fourth-placed St Helens to close the gap further on the competition’s top two.
A month ago, Leigh conceded 50 points at Leeds and with fixtures against the league leaders Hull KR, second-placed Wigan and the Saints on the horizon, it was not inconceivable to consider whether the Leopards could find themselves in a scramble just to make the play-offs in the final two months of the season.
The NHL’s off-season free-agent and trade frenzy has now died down, which means it’s time to evaluate how each squad has done so far.
We’re kicking off The Hockey News’ NHL summer splash rankings. Day by day, we’re ranking which teams did the most to improve, based on acquisitions, departures, hirings and firings.
The general criteria is examining which teams improved, stayed the same or got worse. There are exceptions for teams that kept star players off the market by re-signing them and clubs that didn’t necessarily get much worse but did significantly less than what was expected.
The last-place squad in this series fits into one of those exceptions – you can guess which one.
The NHL summer splash rankings begin with Team No. 32 – the Buffalo Sabres.
Additions
Josh Doan (RW), Justin Danforth (RW), Michael Kesselring (D), Conor Timmins (D), Alex Lyon (G)
The Breakdown: The Sabres made their defense corps deeper by adding Kesselring (via the JJ Peterka trade) and Timmins (via the Connor Clifton trade). Kesselring has potential as a top-four defenseman, but neither D-man can be considered a massive difference-maker.
Similarly, young winger Doan has shown promise in his game, scoring seven goals and 19 points in 51 games while splitting this past season between the NHL and AHL. But he’s a depth player, as is 32-year-old former Columbus Blue Jackets winger Danforth, who gives experience to Buffalo’s bottom six forwards.
Lyon signed as a free agent to compete with youngster Devon Levi for the supporting role behind starting goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Departures
JJ Peterka (RW), Sam Lafferty (C), Connor Clifton (D), Jacob Bernard-Docker (D), James Reimer (G)
The Breakdown: Peterka was traded to the Utah Mammoth, where he quickly signed a five-year deal with an average annual value of $7.7 million. Clearly, either Buffalo wasn’t willing to offer that contract, Peterka wasn’t willing to sign the same deal with the Sabres or both.
Meanwhile, depth center Lafferty was dealt to Chicago, Clifton was shipped off to Pittsburgh, Bernard-Docker signed a free-agent deal with Detroit, and Reimer, 37, remains unsigned.
The Bottom Line
The Sabres’ off-season moves are extremely underwhelming. They lost a dynamic point-producer in Peterka and ostensibly used his cap space to re-sign young defenseman Bowen Byram.
But while Buffalo’s defense corps now has solid depth, its overall offense has taken a hit, and that’s not good news in the highly competitive Atlantic Division. They scored the 10th-most goals-for this past season, and Peterka was their second-top scorer, with 68 points.
The Sabres have about $7.39 million in cap space, but a chunk of that will have to go to RFA goalie Levi and RFA blueliner Timmins. All in all, Buffalo hasn’t improved, and they’ve gotten worse in the grand scheme of things.
Sabres fans don’t need to be reminded, but their team hasn’t made the playoffs in 14 years. They were one win away from making the playoffs in 2022-23, with 91 points, and subsequently finished with 84 and 79 points in the following two seasons. How patient can a fan be?
If the Sabres extend their playoff drought to 15 years by missing out on the post-season in 2025-26, the Sabres should be radically remaking their front office and starting over to at long last come up with a team that can compete with the best organizations in the NHL.
They haven’t done nearly enough to go toe-to-toe with top Atlantic teams like Florida, Toronto and Tampa Bay, and Buffalo’s lack of improvement this summer is probably dooming them to another letdown season. That's why they're last in the NHL summer splash rankings.
He started that game as an unknown, even to himself. He departed a hero. By the end of the month, he was a World Series champion.
The momentum he gained in the playoffs carried into this season, which explains why the 26-year-old right-hander was at the All-Star Game in Atlanta earlier this week reliving what might have been the most consequential start of his career.
The Dodgers will return from the All-Star break on Friday with Yamamoto as the only dependable arm in their billion-dollar rotation, and his newfound status as one of the best pitchers in baseball makes him their likely Game 1 starter when they open the postseason.
“He’s just to the point where he knows he’s a really good pitcher, he’s an All-Star and he has high expectations for himself,” manager Dave Roberts said.
The sense of stability that Yamamoto provides was something the Dodgers couldn’t have dreamed of in his up-and-down rookie season last year. Yamamoto encountered difficulties that were unknown to him as a three-time Pacific League most valuable player with Japan’s Orix Buffaloes, missing three months with shoulder problems. Even when he pitched, he performed inconsistently, and in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Padres, he gave up five runs in only three innings.
“The more I failed, the more it felt like things were piling up,” Yamamoto said.
With a two-games-to-one deficit in the series, the Dodgers managed to win Game 4 in San Diego to set up a winner-take-all Game 5 in Los Angeles. Yamamoto was assigned to start the deciding game.
Yamamoto had difficulty sleeping the night before his start. When he tried to think of anything other than the game, he couldn’t.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the Chicago White Sox on July 1. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
He felt the weight of his 10-year, $325-million contract, which was the most lucrative deal signed by any pitcher from any country. He was also pitching opposite Yu Darvish, making this the first postseason game featuring two Japanese starting pitchers.
His worst fears were never realized. He pitched five scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory, delivering a performance that changed how everyone viewed him — the fans, the team, even himself.
“Being able to contain them there,” Yamamoto said, “became a source of confidence.”
Yamamoto downplayed his psychological fortitude that was required to regroup in the wake of his Game 1 calamity, describing his turnaround as a function of his ability to identify problems and remedy them.
“I’m by no means strong mentally,” he said. “When I get hit, there are times I get really down. But as time passes, things clear up. What I have to do becomes clear.”
Between the two NLDS starts, for example, Yamamoto adjusted the positioning of his glove, which the Dodgers believed revealed in Game 1 which pitches he was about to throw.
His celebration, however, was short-lived.
“I felt like I cleared a mountain,” Yamamoto said. “But there was no time to relax before the next game started.”
Yamamoto started twice more in the playoffs, in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets and Game 2 of the World Series against the New York Yankees. He gave up a combined three runs in a combined 10 ⅔ innings over the two games, both of which the Dodgers won.
“I think it was a really valuable experience,” he said. “Because of what I experienced, along with the advances I made from a technical standpoint, I think I was able to grow.”
He also drew from the unpleasant times, particularly the three months he was sidelined with a strained rotator cuff.
“I spent the time determined to grow from that,” he said. “I don’t want to forget how frustrated I was.”
The experiences gave him a baseline of knowledge he could take into his second season. As a rookie, he had reported to camp without any expectations.
“I didn’t know what my ability was relative to everyone else’s,” he said. “I lacked a basic understanding of, ‘If I do this, it will work, or if I do that, it won’t.’ So I wasn’t thinking I’d be successful and I wasn’t thinking I wouldn’t be either. I really didn’t know.”
This spring training, he knew. He knew he could succeed.
He also knew what he was up against. Standing a modest 5-foot-10, Yamamoto was struck as a rookie by the imposing physical frames of the other players.
“More than that, when you get to the ballpark, for example, Mookie [Betts] will be finishing up hitting drenched in sweat ,” he said. “ I was surprised by the amount of training, that players weren’t just relying on their talent. It was a little shocking.”
Recognizing that he lost weight over the course of last season, Yamamoto was determined to report to spring training this year with a stronger body. He also benefited from increased comfort with low-quality American baseballs and the pitch clock. He purchased a home, the off-field stability permitting him to focus more on his work.
Pitching once a week as he did in Japan, Yamamoto was 4-2 with a 0.90 earned-run average in his first seven starts of this season. He started pitching on five-days’ rest after that, and he wasn’t nearly as dominant. He initially struggled pitching on a shorter cycle, but he said the causes of that were disruptions to his between-starts routine rather than anything fatigue-related.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the San Francisco Giants on June 13. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“I think there is absolutely no problem with that,” he said. “You pitch on six days’ rest in Japan, but you throw 120, 130 pitches in seven or eight innings. That was tough. You have one less day to recover here, but you’re also throwing fewer pitches, so you don’t feel the fatigue that much.
“There are things that come up in between starts. For example, there could be two flights or you could arrive in a city in the middle of the night and have to pitch the next day. You won’t be able to spend every five-day period the same way.”
Yamamoto said he learned to better maximize his time between starts, which he pointed to as the reason he was able to regain his form leading up to the All-Star break. In his penultimate appearance before the intermission, he didn’t make it out of the first inning and was charged with five runs, three of them earned. But in two of his last four starts, he didn’t give up any runs. In another, he yielded just one.
In fact, Yamamoto said that if the team asks, he thinks he could pitch on four days’ rest.
“This year, my body has recovered really well,” he said. “I often check with the trainers after the game, and we talk about how if it’s like this, I could throw in four days, or how if I feel like that, I might be a little later. We go through different scenarios like that every week. I still haven’t started on four days’ rest, but I think my preparation to do that has gone well.”
Yamamoto enters the final 2 ½ months of the regular season not only as the Dodgers’ leader in wins (eight) but also games started (19) and innings pitched (104 ⅓).
His increased comfort has extended into the clubhouse. He forged a somewhat unlikely friendship with South Korean Hyeseong Kim, the two of them often conversing on the bench during games.
“We speak to each other in broken English,” Yamamoto said with a chuckle. “I really like Korean food, so he teaches me about that. There are differences between Korean and Japanese baseball, and the major leagues are a little different too, so stuff like that. They aren’t deep conversations, but I think it’s important to communicate, so we talk a lot.”
Yamamoto has also developed a particularly strong admiration of Clayton Kershaw.
“In him, you have a player on the team whom you can model yourself after,” Yamamoto said. “I also learn a lot watching him pitch. He’s someone you can admire in every aspect. All of my teammates think of him like that too. That’s the kind of player I would like to be.”
The kind of player who could be counted on to take his turn in the rotation. The kind of player who can deliver for his team in big moments.
Coming off a strong rookie season, Warriors big man Quinten Post figured to be the perfect candidate to utilize the NBA Summer League as a means of improving his game entering Year 2.
Quinten Post is not on the Warriors’ summer league roster. He will not be playing summer league for the Warriors anymore I’m told, but likely will be around the team working out @NBCSWarriors
An ankle injury flaring up before the California Classic is the culprit behind Post’s summer league absence, the SF Standard’s Danny Emmerman reported Tuesday. It was an injury that Post dealt with throughout the second half of the 2024-25 NBA season, and it appears Golden State wasn’t keen on taking any risks with the sharpshooting big man.
Emmerman’s report also notes that Post spent time working out in Golden State’s facility, while taking in the games themselves from a courtside seat in Las Vegas.
Post averaged 8.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game in 42 appearances during his rookie season, becoming a key cog in the Warriors’ rotation down the stretch of Golden State’s playoff run.
Renown for his shooting ability, Post was able to provide the Warriors with invaluable floor spacing, knocking down 40.8 percent of his 3-point attempts, offering instant impact despite working through the growing pains that NBA rookies typically face.
Golden State appears to have struck gold after selecting Post with the No. 52 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, with the Warriors hoping their luck of second-round hits continues this season after taking Alex Toohey and Will Richard last month.
Coming off a strong rookie season, Warriors big man Quinten Post figured to be the perfect candidate to utilize the NBA Summer League as a means of improving his game entering Year 2.
Quinten Post is not on the Warriors’ summer league roster. He will not be playing summer league for the Warriors anymore I’m told, but likely will be around the team working out @NBCSWarriors
An ankle injury flaring up before the California Classic is the culprit behind Post’s summer league absence, the SF Standard’s Danny Emmerman reported Tuesday. It was an inujury that Post dealt with throughout the second half of the 2024-25 NBA season, and it appears Golden State wasn’t keen on taking any risks with the sharpshooting big man.
Emmerman’s report also notes that Post spent time working out in Golden State’s facility while taking in the games themselves from a courtside seat in Las Vegas.
Post averaged 8.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game in 42 appearances during his rookie season, becoming a key cog in the Warriors’ rotation down the stretch of Golden State’s playoff run.
Renown for his shooting ability, Post was able to provide the Warriors with invaluable floor spacing, knocking down 40.8 percent of his 3-point attempts, offering instant impact despite working through the growing pains that NBA rookies typically face.
Golden State appears to have struck gold after selecting Post with the No. 52 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, with the Warriors hoping their luck of second-round hits continues this season after taking Alex Toohey and Will Richard last month.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired another forward.
The Maple Leafs have added Dakota Joshua from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2028 fourth-round pick. The 29-year-old played 57 games with the Canucks last season, scoring 14 points (seven goals and seven assists).
The Maple Leafs selected Joshua in the fifth round (128th overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft. Toronto then traded him to the St. Louis Blues for future considerations in July 2019, after four years at Ohio State University.
Since then, the Dearborn, Michigan forward has appeared in a total of 241 NHL games, split between the Blues and Canucks. Joshua has played most of his games in the NHL with Vancouver, where he has dressed in 199 games, scoring 69 points (36 goals and 33 assists) in that span.
Joshua is entering the second season of a four-year, $13 million contract he signed with the Canucks in June 2024. The annual average value of the contract is $3.25 million. After this trade, the Maple Leafs have just over $2 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia.com.
The forward's most productive year in the NHL came during the 2023-24 season. Joshua had 32 points in 63 games before coming up huge in the playoffs for Vancouver, scoring four goals and four assists in 13 games.
He'll join a Maple Leafs team which is full of depth. The left-shot forward lined up on the left wing with Vancouver for most of last season.
Last summer, Joshua was diagnosed with testicular cancer and underwent surgery in September, forcing him to miss the first few months of the regular season. He made his season debut against the New York Islanders on November 14.
"Dakota went through a lot last season before the year even started and we were very impressed in how he handled such a difficult off-ice situation," said Canucks GM Patrik Allvin in a statement. "Once healthy, he tried hard to help the team in many ways, and we want to wish him the best moving forward in Toronto."
With the starting rotation back at full strength and All-Star festivities now complete, the Mets announced on Thursday that they'll open the second half of their season with Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, and David Peterson taking the mound at home against the Reds this weekend.
The first left-hander on the bump will be Manaea, who made his long-awaited 2025 debut last Sunday in a road loss to the Royals. He entered as a bulk reliever for Holmes in the sixth inning, and completed 3.1 frames before allowing the game-winning run in the ninth. Overall, Manaea gave up five hits and struck out seven across 65 pitches.
Holmes will be tasked with Saturday's middle game, and the Mets are hoping that the reliever-turned-starter can regain some sharpness. While his workload has been closely monitored of late, the veteran right-hander has logged a 5.28 ERA through three July outings. By design, he also hasn't completed six innings of work since June 7.
The series finale on Sunday will belong to Peterson, who entered the All-Star break on a positive note. The veteran southpaw registered seven innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts in the Mets' road win over the Orioles on July 10, and produced 6.2 one-run frames one week prior at home against the Brewers.
The Mets (55-42), who trail the rival Phillies by a half-game for first place in the NL East, are scheduled to host the Angels for a three-game set (July 21-23) after the Reds leave town.
The Toronto Maple Leafs improved their forward depth by trading for left winger Dakota Joshua from the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
In return, the Canucks got a fourth-round pick in the 2028 NHL draft.
In 57 games this past season, Joshua recorded seven goals and seven assists for 14 points, along with 193 hits. He missed the beginning of the season recovering from a procedure that removed a tumor that was diagnosed as testicular cancer.
In 2023-24, Joshua scored 18 goals, 14 assists and 32 points, all career highs. His 244 hits that season led the team and were the ninth-most in the NHL.
The 29-year-old center carries a $3.25 million cap hit and is under contract for the next three seasons. Toronto now has $2.083 million in salary cap space, according to PuckPedia.
This is a reunion for Joshua and the Maple Leafs. He was originally selected 128th overall by the organization in the 2014 NHL draft. Toronto traded him to the St. Louis Blues for future considerations in 2019 before Joshua played his first NHL game.
Joshua has played parts of five NHL seasons, including two with the Blues and three with the Canucks. In 241 career games, he's scored 40 goals and 78 points.
He also has some solid playoff numbers, including four goals and four helpers in 13 contests in 2023-24. He was tied for third on the Canucks in goals while averaging 15:49 of ice time in those playoffs, when they lost in Game 7 of the second round to the Edmonton Oilers.
This marks the third top-nine forward Treliving has acquired in this off-season. The others include Matias Maccelli, who was acquired for a 2027 conditional third-round pick from the Utah Mammoth, and Nicolas Roy, who was the return from the Vegas Golden Knights for the signing rights of Mitch Marner.
Joshua, Roy and Maccelli earn between $3 million and $3.5 million against the cap and spread out Toronto's forward depth following Marner's departure.
The Vancouver Canucks have traded forward Dakota Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fourth-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft. Joshua had just completed the first year of his new four-year contract, which carries an AAV of $3.25 million. With the addition of a fourth-round pick, Vancouver now has eight selections in both the 2027 and 2028 drafts.
In a press release, GM Patrik Allvin wrote, "Dakota went through a lot last season before the year even started and we were very impressed in how he handled such a difficult off-ice situation. Once healthy, he tried hard to help the team in many ways, and we want to wish him the best moving forward in Toronto."
Joshua has spent the last three seasons with the Canucks. In 199 regular-season games with Vancouver, the 29-year-old recorded 69 points and 660 hits. Joshua was also a key member of the Canucks 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs roster, as he scored four goals and recorded eight points in 13 games.
The 2024-25 season did not go the way Joshua or the organization had hoped for. He missed training camp and the beginning of the season as he was recovering from off-season surgery to remove a cancerous tumour, while also missing some time in January with a lower-body injury. By the end of the campaign, Joshua had played 57 games, recording 14 points while throwing 193 hits.
While Vancouver did receive a draft pick, the main asset the Canucks acquired by trading Joshua to the Maple Leafs is cap flexibility. Vancouver now has around $4 million in cap space that they can use to strengthen their center depth. As for Joshua, he now returns to Toronto, which was the organization that drafted him 128th overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
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Over the last 12 months, the San Jose Sharks’ goaltending has undergone wholesale changes. MacKenzie Blackwood is now a member of the Colorado Avalanche, and Vitek Vanecek won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers before finding his way to the Utah Mammoth this summer. Meanwhile, Alexandar Georgiev and Georgi Romanov are currently unrestricted free agents. All four of those netminders suited up for the Sharks during the 2024-25 season, and now they’ve moved on.
The only remaining Sharks goaltender from last season is Yaroslav Askarov, a highly-touted 23-year-old who they acquired from the Nashville Predators less than a full calendar year ago. Askarov’s potential seems sky-high; however, as history has shown, potential is far from a guarantee in the NHL.
He’s been a consistent high-end performer at the AHL level, whether that was with the Milwaukee Admirals or the San Jose Barracuda, but he’s been unable to sustain that high level of play at the top level of hockey.
With that being said, the Omsk, Russia native has had flashes of brilliance, but there have been moments where he’s struggled mightily, such as January 23 against his former team when he gave up six goals on 38 shots.
When free agency opened on July 1, Mike Grier made a trade to acquire his apparent battery-mate, Alex Nedeljkovic, from the Pittsburgh Penguins. While Nedeljkovic has had some success at the NHL level, his play has deteriorated since his rookie season with the Carolina Hurricanes when he was named a finalist for the Calder Trophy during the 2020-21 season.
Nedeljkovic brings a competitive spirit to the Sharks, famously sparking the Penguins after being pulled against the Flyers last season, with an outburst that then head coach Mike Sullivan credited as a turning point in the game.
According to Michelle Crechiolo of NHL.com, after that game, Sullivan told the media, “For me, that's just an indication of how invested he is. He cares. He's competitive. He wants to win. That's raw emotion, and I have no problem with that. Quite honestly, I thought he inspired the group to want to compete for him. I thought our team responded. I thought Ned was a big part of it.”
One thing to keep in mind regarding Askarov was the state of the defensive corps in front of him. The Sharks' defense struggled mightily regardless of who was between the pipes. Grier set out to resolve that problem this summer, adding the likes of Dmitry Orlov, Nick Leddy, and John Klingberg into the organization.
While this has led to a glut of NHL-caliber defensemen, it will create competition in training camp, which should push every single player to work their hardest, as it seems very few spots will be guaranteed. The Sharks have already moved Henry Thrun in order to attempt to clear the logjam, but more moves may be necessary after training camp gets underway.
The Sharks added another top goaltending prospect into their ranks, drafting Joshua Ravensbergen late in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft. Although he’s not expected to battle for an NHL role for at least a few years, the move put Askarov on a timeline to prove he can be a top goaltender in the NHL. With just Nedeljkovic to beat, he has the opportunity to earn the starting job this fall with minimal resistance compared to last season.
Nedeljkovic told local media that he was surprised about the trade to San Jose, but he was also looking forward to a new opportunity. “Definitely very excited,” Nedeljkovic said. “It’s going to be a great opportunity to play some games and work with some new guys, get to know some new guys, and hopefully make some good friends.”
The Sharks took a similar approach, bringing in Georgiev last season, and although that didn’t work as intended, there’s always a chance that Nedeljkovic thrives in San Jose. With just a single season remaining on his contract, if he’s able to play at a high level for the first half of the 2025-26 season, Grier may be able to flip him for assets similar to Blackwood closer to the trade deadline. Otherwise, the Sharks only gave up a third-round pick for a player to fill a role this coming season, which isn’t a bad piece of business either way.
Last season, Nedeljkovic was the highest-performing goaltender of the Penguins’ trio. He split time with Tristan Jarry and Joel Blomqvist, but the Parma, Ohio native started the most games with 38. His save percentage, .894, and goals against average, 3.12, left quite a bit to be desired but the fact that he outperformed the organization’s other goaltenders appears to be a positive sign.
A tandem consisting of a young, high profile prospect and a veteran looking to show he can get back to a high level of play has the potential to be a major strong point for the Sharks this season. At the same time, though, it could also be a weakness. As a result, goaltending will certainly be a boom-or-bust factor for the team in teal as they look to start moving up in the standings.
Blues Made Sneaky Good Move Signing New ForwardEarlier this off-season, the St. Louis Blues signed forward Nick Bjugstad to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1.75 million. With the Blues needing more center depth, seeing them bring in Bjugstad ultimately made sense. This is especially so when noting that Radek Faksa ended up leaving St. Louis and going back to the Dallas Stars in free agency.
