Coast To Coast is FloHockey’s monthly, cohesive news on North American hockey and live-streaming partnerships.

The pandemic controlled 2020-21 hockey seasons across North America and as leagues finished out their seasons last month, drafts, free agency, and trades followed quickly with the shortened summers at hand.

Atlantic Hockey

The Canisius Golden Griffins announced former NHL forward and 2011 Stanley Cup winner Daniel Paille as a full-time assistant coach. Paille spent his 11-year NHL career as a depth center embodying defensive play and penalty killing. Canisius finished 20th of 51 programs last season in goals-against and 33rd of 51 teams in penalty killing.

Meanwhile, not all is lost on the Robert Morris Colonials return for the 2021-22 season, but a lot remains up in the air. If the program does find a path to return to Atlantic Hockey and ice a program this fall, it will largely be starting fresh after a strong season has turned into transfers, departures, and uncertainty following the sudden expulsion.

Army West Point, who also had a surprise season has upped the ante for 2021-22. Coach Brian Riley scheduled games with Big-ten champion Wisconsin, Hockey East powerhouse Providence, National Champion UMass, and Yale, Princeton, and RPI.

The Black Knights will get a good look at some of the nation’s top teams and after a 2020-21 season that saw a consistent upward trajectory, they’re likely to put opponents on notice.

ECHL

Last month, the Tampa Bay Lightning hoisted the Stanley Cup for the second-straight year, representing an ECHL alum for the 21st straight year. The affiliation of the ECHL to the AHL, and thus the NHL is strengthened every year as the league regularly extends an arm to further develop players that dedicate themselves to continued growth and a chance at carving out an NHL career.

The CHL also released its list of qualifying offers, giving teams controlled rights over a handful of players that meet the criteria.

NHL Entries and Exits

Trades have swept the offseason, largely due to the flat salary cap and the team needs to reduce total salary ahead of the 2021-22 season, making for huge headlines and plenty of talent changing hands. 

The Detroit Red Wings turned a weakness into strength over the course of two days last month; goaltending. General manager Steve Yzerman traded pending unrestricted free agent netminder Jonathan Bernier along with a third-round pick to the Carolina Hurricanes for goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. 

Yzerman traded up from soon-to-be 33-year-old Bernier, who has been a consistent Brightside across his career. Nedeljkovic, 25, is coming off a rookie season in which he eld the NHL with a 1.92 GAA and .932 SV%. The following day, Yzerman traded up to draft WHL goaltender Sebastian Cossa at 15th overall after already selecting Swedish defenseman Simon Edvinsson sixth overall. Cossa posted a 17-1-1 record with a 1.57 GAA and .941 SV%, both league-leading numbers.

Stanley Cup contender, the Colorado Avalanche, took their own goaltending in a different direction after starter Philip Grubauer left for Seattle in free agency. Colorado brought in Darcy Kuemper, whose play in Arizona has singlehandedly kept the Coyotes above the basement dwellers, despite a lack of playoff opportunity.

The Nashville Predators shook up their core, sending defenseman Ryan Ellis to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for the second-overall pick in 2017, Nolan Patrick. GM David Poile turned around and sent Patrick to the Vegas Golden Knights for 2017 sixth-overall pick Cody Glass.

Three-time Stanley Cup Champion netminder Marc-Andre Fleury was traded out of Vegas to the Chicago Blackhawks for no return other than cap relief. Chicago also brought in defenseman Seth Jones from the Columbus Blue Jackets for defenseman Adam Boqvist and a first- and a second-round pick in the 2021 draft.

Other noteworthy trades include Columbus swapping Cam Atkinson for Jakub Voracek for Philadelphia. Sam Reinhart was traded from the Buffalo Sabres to the Florida Panthers and the Sabres also sent Rasmus Ristolainen to Philadelphia. Pavel Buchnevich from New York Rangers to St. Louis Bleus for Samuel Blais.

Have a question or a comment for Jacob Messing? You can find him on Twitter @Jacob_Messing.