2017 NHL Trade Deadline: Ottawa Senators acquire Viktor Stalberg for 2017 third rounder

Update: An hour after this was first floated as a possibility, a deal has been struck. Viktor Stalberg is indeed headed to the Senators for a third-round pick in this year’s NHL Draft. The release from the team is below, and below that is our earlier report.

CANES ACQUIRE THIRD ROUND PICK FOR STALBERG
Senators’ third-rounder gives Carolina seven picks in draft’s first three rounds

Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has acquired Ottawa’s 2017 third-round pick from the Senators in exchange for forward Viktor Stalberg. The Hurricanes now hold seven picks in the first three rounds of the 2017 NHL Draft – Carolina’s own picks in Rounds 1, 2 and 3, along with Pittsburgh’s and the NY Rangers’ in the second round, and New Jersey’s and Ottawa’s in the third round.

Stalberg, 31, has notched nine goals, earned three assists (12 points) and scored a team-best two shorthanded goals in 57 games with the Hurricanes this season. The Gothenburg, Sweden, native is in his eighth NHL season and has totaled 80 goals and 84 assists in 470 career NHL games with Toronto, Chicago, Nashville, the New York Rangers and Carolina. He was originally drafted by the Maple Leafs in the sixth round, 161^st overall, in the 2006 NHL Draft.

One of the names that’s been mentioned as a possibility to move at the NHL’s trade deadline tomorrow - not that the Carolina Hurricanes have a significant number of them - is Viktor Stalberg. The Ottawa Senators, who yesterday picked up Alexandre Burrows from Vancouver, are apparently among a few teams sniffing around acquiring Stalberg to shore up their bottom-six ranks even more before tomorrow’s 3:00 p.m. deadline, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Stalberg is one of four pending unrestricted free agents remaining on the Hurricanes’ roster; Jay McClement, Derek Ryan and Matt Tennyson are the others, plus Bryan Bickell who is currently in Charlotte. He makes $1.5 million this season, and has nine goals and 12 points in 57 games this season. The Senators have plenty of cap space available and could fit Stalberg without the Hurricanes needing to retain any salary, unless the Canes feel they need to do so to stay above the $54 million minimum cap floor.

Given the prices being paid for rentals around the league, Stalberg could fetch a mid-round pick, perhaps as high as a third-rounder depending on the circumstances.