Winnipeg Makes One Move – Adds Namestnikov From Sharks

The NHL’s March 3, 3:00 PM EST trade deadline has come and gone. Just 19 total trades were made on the day, with the majority of moves being minor in nature.

The past two weeks saw over 40 trades completed leading up to deadline day, with Friday’s climax being that of John Klingberg shipped from the Anaheim Ducks back to the Minnesota Wild as time ran out on the clock. Suspected trade candidates James van Riemsdyk and Joel Edmundson stayed put in their respective cities, while a few minor league swaps also occurred.

In Winnipeg, it appeared to be a bit of a ‘rest day’ from general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. He did make one trade, albeit minor.

Having acquired top-six forward Nino Niederreiter last weekend, Chevy opted to simply stand pat and hold the cards he had close to his chest.

Reports came out on Friday morning that big defenceman Logan Stanley had, in fact, requested a trade. News of that report gained traction, but there simply wasn’t a buyer to be found before the deadline hit. In his post-deadline media availability, Cheveldayoff did little to confirm or deny the report of Stanley’s request. He did make it clear that the 6-foot-7 blueliner was not impressed with his usage throughout the season.

The move that Chevy did make was that of acquiring Russian forward Vladislav Namestnikov from the San Jose Sharks – a team he had been a member of for a grand total of two days.

The move saw the Jets deal a 2025 fourth-round draft pick to San Jose.

Interestingly enough, Namestnikov was acquired by the Sharks from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday afternoon in a trade that saw former Winnipeg Jet Michael Eyssimont head south to the Lightning, after being claimed off Waivers from Winnipeg by the Sharks earlier this season.

And Namestnikov, who signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract to return to Tampa Bay – the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft – had his hopes of joining a strong playoff contender crushed, and then potentially re-shaped as news of his deal to Winnipeg became apparent.

From 2013-2018, Namestnikov played with the Bolts but was ultimately dealt to the New York Rangers midway through the 2017-18 season. He stayed in New York for one season, before spending time on the Ottawa Senators and Colorado Avalanche the following year. He played two seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, before finding himself back with Rick Bowness‘ Dallas Stars to conclude the 2021-22 season.

He signed the one-year deal to return to Tampa, but only got into 57 games before being run out of town. In those games this season, the now 30-year-old had six goals, 15 points and 19 penalty minutes in a depth role. In his 10-year career, Namestnikov has scored 113 goals and 251 points while compiling 315 penalty minutes in 610 regular season games. He has another six goals and 11 points in 48 postseason games.

“It’s a good addition,” Bowness said of Namestnikov – a player he coached both in Tampa and Dallas. “Vladdy, first of all, he’s a great person and a great teammate. He’s a very versatile forward who can play all three forward positions. He can kill penalties, you can throw him into the top six every now and then, and if the power play is struggling, he can help that. It’s his versatility that’s the big attraction to him. Plus, he’s a great teammate and a great person.”

Namestnikov will likely find himself playing somewhere within the team’s bottom-six forwards unless further injuries take their toll on the Jets’ offence.

Once Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cole Perfetti return from their injuries, the offence will likely line up this way:

Ehlers-Dubois-Niederreiter
Connor-Scheifele-Perfetti
Appleton-Lowry-Wheeler
Maenalanen-Stenlund-Namestnikov

There would be a significant number of forward scratches includng Gagner, Barron, Gustafsson, Kuhlman and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby.

The defence will be:

Morrissey-DeMelo
Pionk-Dillon
Schmidt-Samberg

With Stanley, Capobianco and Heinola as extras on the back-end.

For the time being, Winnipeg will use what it has at its disposal and hope that its offence can get healthy in time for a strong postseason push. Namestnikov is expected to arrive in Winnipeg laster Friday evening and prepare to join his new teammates in the second game of the home-and-home with Edmonton on Saturday night at Canada Life Centre.