The Anaheim Ducks trade for Ilya Lyubushkin
NHL.com: The Buffalo Sabres have traded defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin to the Anaheim Ducks for 2025 fourth-round pick. The pick originally belonged to the Minnesota Wild and was acquired by the Ducks from the John Klingberg trade.
“We are excited to add Ilya to our blue line as we targeted another defenseman for the right side this offseason,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said. “He is a big, physical, hard-nosed player that can kill penalties and will make us harder to play against.”
Ryan Merkley signs in the KHL
Kunlan Red Star: Defenseman Ryan Merkley signed a one-year deal with Kunlun.
“Oakville, ON native, Merkley (2000, 6’0”, 185 lbs) has 39 games for @SanJoseSharks in NHL Merkley is Hlinka Memorial champion with @HockeyCanada and 21st overall pick in 2018 #NHLDraft“
Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad seem to be progressing well
David Dwork of The Hockey News: The Florida Panthers will be without defensemen Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad for the start of the season after they both had surgery earlier this offseason.
GM Bill Zito on the SiriusXM NHL Power Play show said earlier this week that both are on schedule.
“The intel I’m getting back is that they’re on time,” Zito said. “It’ll be a month or two. Is it four (months)? Probably not. Is it one (month)? Probably not. That’s as well as I could get, but every time I check in, I’m told (they’re) on schedule).”
So that sounds like they could be ready sometime in October. They open the season on October 12th and their home opener is on October 19th.