NHL Trade Buzz: Korpisalo held out by Blue Jackets

Welcome to the NHL Trade Buzz. There are three days remaining until the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline (3 p.m. ET; Friday). Here's a look around the League at the latest deadline doings.

RELATED: [2022-23 NHL Trade Tracker | Players to watch ahead of NHL Trade Deadline]

Columbus Blue Jackets

Joonas Korpisalo was held out by the Blue Jackets for their 5-3 win at the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.for what they called "trade-related reasons."
The 28-year-old made 42 saves in a 6-5 victory against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. He's in the final season of a two-year contract he signed with Columbus on April 18, 2020.
Also, defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov was held out for an eighth straight game for the same reason. He reportedly was expected to be traded to the Boston Bruins before they acquired
Dmitry Orlov
from the Washington Capitals last week, and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen acknowledged to The Athletic that the Blue Jackets had an offer for Gavrikov that fell through.
Gavrikov is in the final year of a three-year, $8.4 million contract and can become an unrestricted free agent after the season, so he would likely be a rental for interested teams. The 27-year-old has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) and 30 penalty minutes while averaging 22:20 in ice time in 52 games this season.

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Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings' approach to the trade deadline could be changing after seeing Atlantic Division rivals such as the Boston Bruins (
Dmitry Orlov
, Garnet Hathaway), Toronto Maple Leafs (Ryan O'Reilly, Noel Acciari, Jake McCabe, Sam Lafferty) and Tampa Bay Lightning (Tanner Jeannot) add big pieces in the past two weeks. Darren Dreger of TSN reported Monday that the Red Wings are listening to offers for forward Tyler Bertuzzi, who can become an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Hampered by injuries this season, Bertuzzi has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 28 games, including a goal in a 6-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Monday, but set NHL career highs with 30 goals, 32 assists and 62 points in 68 games last season.
The Red Wings (28-24-8) are five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference and tied with the Senators following a 6-1 loss in a rematch at Ottawa on Tuesday.
If Detroit becomes a seller, it apparently won't be moving defenseman Jake Walman after the 27-year-old signed a three-year, $10.2 million contract Tuesday. Walman would've been eligible to become an unrestricted free agent after this season.

Philadelphia Flyers

Pending unrestricted free agents have drawn most of the interest from teams calling about potential trades prior to the deadline, Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said Tuesday. But Fletcher didn't rule out doing something bigger to get younger, including moving forward Kevin Hayes, who has three seasons left after this one on the seven-year, $49.18 million contract (average annual value of $7.14 million) he signed with Philadelphia in 2019.
When asked specifically if he is open to trading Hayes, Fletcher said, "Yeah, potentially. It's a fair question. It'll depend on market and opportunity and fit. But I've expressed to teams we're open to ideas and we're willing to listen on lots of different type of scenarios. Without addressing Kevin specifically because I don't know if it's fair to single out names, clearly we'd like to get even younger if we can and if we can do that we're going to try to do that."
The Flyers (23-28-10) trail the Pittsburgh Penguins by 11 points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference and Fletcher conceded they are likely to miss the postseason for the third straight season, so he'd like to add more pieces for the future. Forwards James van Riemsdyk and Patrick Brown and defenseman Justin Braun are eligible to become unrestricted free agents after this season and could bring back draft picks or prospects as rental players.
Fletcher said the Flyers would be willing to retain salary to make a potential trade work salary-cap wise for another team.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes added to their forward depth Tuesday when they acquired Jesse Puljujarvi in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers for forward
Patrik Puistola
, a third-round pick (No. 73) from the 2019 NHL Draft. Puljujarvi, who had 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 58 games with Edmonton this season, isn't the scoring forward many are expecting Carolina to acquire after losing Max Pacioretty (torn Achilles tendon) for the rest of the season. But perhaps joining a roster with that includes four other natives of Finland -- forwards Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and goalie Antti Raanta -- will help unlock Puljujarvi's offensive potential.
The No. 4 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Puljujarvi helped Finland win the 2016 World Junior Championship and led the tournament with 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in seven games skating on a line with Aho and Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine. Whether Puljujarvi plays with Aho for the Hurricanes remains to be seen, but he gives coach Rod Brind'Amour another option.
It's a low-risk move for the Hurricanes because Puljujarvi is on a one-year, $3 million contract he signed July 26, and they can choose not to re-sign the 24-year-old, who is eligible to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights after this season.

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