Blackhawks deal McCabe, Lafferty to Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs continued to add ahead of the NHL’s trade deadline by acquiring defenseman Jake McCabe, forward Sam Lafferty, and a conditional fifth-round draft choice in both 2024 and 2025 from the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday.
Toronto sent a conditional first-round pick in 2025, a second-round pick in 2026, and forwards Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev back to Chicago as part of the deal. The Blackhawks will also retain 50% of McCabe’s $4 million cap hit through the 2024-25 season.
McCabe, 29, is the centerpiece of this deal for Toronto. The veteran is having a strong season despite Chicago’s ongoing struggles, adding two goals and 20 points in 55 games while averaging 19:29 TOI per game. McCabe can play on the left or right side of the Leafs’ defense and has experience on the penalty kill.
Having the Blackhawks retain half of McCabe’s salary for the next 2½ years was imperative for Toronto. The Leafs placed Jake Muzzin on long-term injured reserve earlier this season with a neck injury, which gives them some breathing room against the salary cap for now, but they have little projected space moving forward.
That relief from Chicago holding part of McCabe’s contract sweetened the deal enough for the Leafs to part with another first-round pick; Toronto now has only one remaining in the next three drafts.
Lafferty, 27, is a serviceable bottom-six depth option, with 10 goals and 21 points through 55 games this season. A defensive-minded forward, Lafferty adds insurance for the Leafs as a projected fourth-line skater.
Monday’s deal is the second major move by Toronto GM Kyle Dubas, and once again the Leafs did not give up a skater from their current roster in the transaction. Earlier this month the Leafs acquired Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from St. Louis in exchange for a first-, second- and third-round pick over the next two seasons and a pair of prospects.
In the swap with Chicago, Toronto again gave up draft capital but not a regular from its lineup.
The Blackhawks’ return fits the framework of their current rebuild. Chicago now holds two first-round choices in each of the next three drafts and brings on a pair of young players in Anderson and Gogolev who could carve out roles in the team’s future plans.
The trade deadline is Friday at 3 p.m. ET.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are rolling. The Carolina Hurricanes are reeling.
Sam Bennett scored one of his two goals in Florida’s three-goal first period, Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves, and the Panthers beat the Hurricanes 5-0 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Gustav Forsling and Matthew Tkachuk also scored in another tone-setting opening 20 minutes for the Panthers, while Carter Verhaeghe had three assists in the win.
“It might have been natural for us to take a little bit to get going tonight, and it was the exact opposite,” said Tkachuk, whose putaway off the feed from Verhaeghe at the crease marked his first goal since Game 3 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “It was an unreal start from us. The goals aside, just the way we played in the first period was as good as it gets. Yeah, that’s just a hell of a road trip.”
Florida had already ripped home-ice advantage away Tuesday night with a 5-2 win, the opener in a rematch of the 2023 conference finals swept by the Panthers with four one-goal wins. Florida tightened its grip on the series with this one and now heads back south to host Game 3 on Saturday night.
Bennett scored a second time by skating in to clean up an attempt at the right post in the final minute of the second period to make it 4-0, ending a long shift in Carolina’s end prolonged by Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns being stuck on the ice after breaking his stick. Aleksander Barkov added a goal midway through the third as punctuation.
Bobrovsky had his third shutout of the playoffs this year and the sixth of his career, with Florida’s defense smothering a Carolina team that typically peppers the net with shots but found little daylight.
Florida has won four straight road games by a combined score of 22-4, this time sending Hurricanes fans fleeing for the exits early.
“It’s fun when you’re on the road and it goes quiet,” Verhaeghe said. “It feels like we’re doing our job.”
It wasn’t all great news for Florida. Veteran forward Sam Reinhart was knocked from the game in the first period after taking a hit from Sebastian Aho in the left leg, causing Reinhart’s knee to bend awkwardly.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after the game that Reinhart would be evaluated Friday and that there would be no update on Reinhart’s status until Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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