Most productive player
For the first time this season, a Czech player is in this position. Boston are still struggling, but their superstar is back in full swing.
After an embarrassing start to the season, David Pastrnak has been a key pillar of the team, picking up the most points of any NHL player since the start of January (22) and he was on fire this week as well.
He averaged 20 minutes on the ice, scored three goals and assisted five others. He scored in all four games, of which the Bruins lost only one. He shined the brightest on Saturday, getting a goal and two assists in a 3-1 win over Colorado and was named the second star of the game. He is ninth in the league in points.
Goaltender of the week
At 37, he is one of the oldest players in the competition, but his age is certainly not a limit. On the contrary. Cam Talbot is one of the reasons why Detroit are doing so well after the coaching change.
He got into the game on Tuesday and Thursday, helping his team claim a 4-2 win over Montreal with 27 total tackles, and against Tampa in a 2-0 win getting 28 hits and his second zero the season
Highlight of the week
Blockbuster. That's the only word to describe Friday's shocking trade between Carolina, Colorado and Chicago, which means the Hurricanes now have Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall, and the Avalanche have Martin Necas and Jack Drury.
All four have already had less than successful debuts in their new colours, but what's more interesting is everything that's happened around the trade. "Never in a million years would I have said he wouldn't be here. It's a shock," teammate Nathan MacKinnon said of Rantanen's departure.
The Finn, who helped the club to a Stanley Cup in 2022, is out of contract after this season and Colorado calculated there would be no room under the salary cap for a new one. But Rantanen was reportedly caught off guard by the departure, complaining that he hadn't even had significant discussions with the club about a new contract over the past few months. He wanted to stay. Necas said goodbye in the Hurricanes' booth in tears.
So Colorado are without all but one (Cale Makar) of their first-round draft picks from 2015 to 2020. Tyson Jost, Martin Kaut, Bowen Byram, Alex Newhook, Justin Barron and now Rantanen have all left in succession.
Conflicted feelings about this are also shared by some Avalanche fans. "If someone told me that the day we won the Stanley Cup was the last time Rantanen, MacKinnon and Landeskog played together..." said one on X, formerly known as Twitter.
There are also rumours that this Friday's trade wasn't supposed to be the biggest one that day. We can only wonder what else the general managers in the NHL actually had planned...
Stat of the week
While there are only four Danes currently playing regularly in the NHL, their roles are quite significant and two of them also reached decent milestones during the week.
Winnipeg mainstay Nikolaj Ehlers became the first Danish hockey player in franchise history to record 500 points (216+284) thanks to three points against Utah on Friday.
Also shining is Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen, whose minutes are probably even more valuable. The 7-4 win over Columbus marked the 300th win for him in the competition, and his 501st game in the league. Only one man in NHL history, Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tampa Bay, reached that mark faster.
Social media highlight
Auston Matthews on the ice with a goalie stick - you read that right. It was Elvis Merzlikins's and Toronto's American goalscorer held it for just a few seconds, but it looked great, too bad he didn't get to shoot.
"I lost my stick, I saw his, so I thought I'd try to play with it for a while. I should probably read the rules," Matthews said after the game.
Photo of the week
The NHL loves stats of all kinds and some look good in a picture. When Matt Rempe and Adam Edstrom of the New York Rangers combined for one of the goals during a 5-0 win over Ottawa, they became the tallest pair in NHL history to do so!
Rempe is officially 206 centimetres tall, according to the Eliteprospects website, and his Swedish teammate is 201. They surpassed Boston's former defensive duo of Zdeno Chara (205) and Dougie Hamilton (197).
Ladislav Smid's take
"The trade of Martin Necas for Mikko Rantanen is a big shock for the whole NHL, but the fans love this kind of action. After all, it's not that often that similarly big names change colours in a trade. I think Carolina originally wanted J.T. Miller or Elias Pettersson, but there's a lot of interest in those guys around the league and it probably dragged on, so the deal with Colorado and Chicago came to fruition.
"Rantanen will need a new contract and the difference of opinion between the two sides was probably too great, so Colorado didn't wait and tried to get back the best players they could. It certainly wasn't easy, as Rantanen is a regular scorer and will want a fat contract. And I'm not surprised.
"Necas can also benefit in Colorado, the team is full of great players, he'll play on the first power play, he'll pick up points and he'll fit into the system thanks to his speed. I don't see a problem here. And Carolina? I'm sure they will want to attack the Stanley Cup and Rantanen can help them a lot with that. Plus, they brought in Taylor Hall, who if on a good team can still be productive. I'm looking forward to more trades this year, I'm really excited about it."
