Flood of trades slows to trickle at deadline

Excuse Seattle Kraken general manager Ron Francis if he had to check his calendar once or twice.

Given all the wheeling and dealing that took place around the NHL over the past few weeks, he wondered if the league's trading deadline had been switched.

The Minnesota Wild made the most notable moves by acquiring Anaheim defenseman John Klingberg for defenseman Andrej Sustr, the rights to forward Nikita Nesterenko and a fourthround pick in the 2025 draft. Anaheim also retained half of Klingberg's salary.

Minnesota, which began the day three points behind Central Division-leading Dallas, also acquired center Oskar Sundqvist for a fourth-round pick sent to Detroit. The Wild freed up roster room by trading under-performing forward Jordan Greenway to Buffalo in exchange for a 2023 secondand 2024 fifth-round pick.

Next in line were the Pittsburgh Penguins, who sit seventh in the Eastern Conference standings and made several last-day trades in a bid to secure their NHLleading 17th consecutive playoff berth.

The Penguins acquired Dmitry Kulikov from Anaheim for forward Brock McGinn and a 2024 third-round pick.

Nick and Brett Ritchie changed teams in what is believed to be the first NHL trade involving two brothers. The Calgary Flames traded Nick Ritchie and defenseman Troy Stretcher to Arizona for Brett Ritchie and defenseman Connor Mackey.

KRAKEN 4, BLUE JACKETS 2

Alex Wennberg and Jared McCann each had a goal and an assist, and Seattle won at Columbus for its third straight road win and a season series sweep.