Oilers add size, depth scoring by acquiring Bjugstad from Arizona
Nick Bjugstad is the newest Edmonton Oiler as the team continued to load up for a playoff run.
The 6'6", 215 pound right-shot forward was acquired Thursday afternoon from the Arizona Coyotes for their 2023 third-round draft pick and defenceman Michael Kesselring.
Bjugstad has 13 goals and 23 points this season, both of which rank fifth most on the Oilers roster.
He said he was napping at home with his two-year-old daughter when he got a phone call telling him he had been traded.
"Super excited to join the Oilers here and definitely a team I was hoping I was getting a call about," Bjugstad said.
"Tons of excitement on my end and can't wait to join the boys and try to help this team win a Stanley Cup."
Bjugstad, who scored 19 goals for the Florida Panthers in 2017-18, said he feels he's "reestablished himself" this year after struggling to stay healthy. He scored seven goals last year with Minnesota.
He said he'll likely play for the Oilers on Saturday, which will be his 600th NHL game.
Bjugstad can play both centre and right wing, makes $900,000 this season and is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.
The Coyotes agreed to retain 50 per cent of Bjugstad's salary, TSN's Ryan Rishaug reported, making his cap hit to the Oilers $450,000.
The Oilers also get defenceman Cam Dineen in the deal. The 24-year-old was drafted in the third round in 2016 and has seven assists in 34 NHL games. He is left handed and had 35 points in 50 games for the AHL's Tucson Roadrunners this season.
Kesselring, 23, was a sixth-round draft pick of the Oilers in 2018. He had 22 points in 49 games for the AHL Bakersfield Condors this season.
This is the third trade Oilers General Manager Ken Holland has made in as many days. He also brought in big defenceman Mattias Ekholm from Nashville and traded forward Jesse Puljujarvi to Carolina for a prospect on Tuesday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From essential goods to common stocking stuffers, Trudeau offering Canadians temporary tax relief
Canadians will soon receive a temporary tax break on several items, along with a one-time $250 rebate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
She thought her children just had a cough or fever. A mother shares sons' experience with walking pneumonia
A mother shares with CTVNews.ca her family's health scare as medical experts say cases of the disease and other respiratory illnesses have surged, filling up emergency departments nationwide.
Trump chooses Pam Bondi for attorney general pick after Gaetz withdraws
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, to be U.S. attorney general just hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration.
A one-of-a-kind Royal Canadian Mint coin sells for more than $1.5M
A rare one-of-a-kind pure gold coin from the Royal Canadian Mint has sold for more than $1.5 million. The 99.99 per cent pure gold coin, named 'The Dance Screen (The Scream Too),' weighs a whopping 10 kilograms and surpassed the previous record for a coin offered at an auction in Canada.
Putin says Russia attacked Ukraine with a new missile that he claims the West can't stop
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday that Moscow has tested a new intermediate-range missile in a strike on Ukraine, and he warned that it could use the weapon against countries that have allowed Kyiv to use their missiles to strike Russia.
Here's a list of items that will be GST/HST-free over the holidays
Canadians won't have to pay GST on a selection of items this holiday season, the prime minister vowed on Thursday.
Video shows octopus 'hanging on for dear life' during bomb cyclone off B.C. coast
Humans weren’t the only ones who struggled through the bomb cyclone that formed off the B.C. coast this week, bringing intense winds and choppy seas.
Taylor Swift's motorcade spotted along Toronto's Gardiner Expressway
Taylor Swift is officially back in Toronto for round two. The popstar princess's motorcade was seen driving along the Gardiner Expressway on Thursday afternoon, making its way to the downtown core ahead of night four of ‘The Eras Tour’ at the Rogers Centre.
Service Canada holding back 85K passports amid Canada Post mail strike
Approximately 85,000 new passports are being held back by Service Canada, which stopped mailing them out a week before the nationwide Canada Post strike.