We already have had our first team eliminated from playoff contention in the NHL as the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks were eliminated on Saturday the Golden Knights won 5-3 against the Red Wings after Chicago lost 4-1 at the Capitals. After qualifying for the playoffs nine straight seasons and winning the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015, the Blackhawks have made the playoffs once in the past six seasons (2019-20). Here’s a look at two intriguing early-week matchups around the league.

Top NHL Betting Picks of the Week (March 11th, 2024)

With the final, frantic swap talk happening ahead of Friday’s trade deadline, @Dixononsports is using this edition of the Power Rankings to take a quick peek at the GM situation for all 32 teams. https://t.co/59adJDiuiA

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 7, 2024

New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers

• When: Monday, March 11th, 2024, 7:00 PM ET
• Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• TV: NHL Network
• Radio: WFAN 101.9 FM (Devils) // 98.7 FM ESPN New York (Rangers)
• Live Stream: ESPN+
• NHL Betting Odds: Devils (+1.5) // Rangers (-1.5)

The Devils were busy ahead of last Friday’s Trade Deadline as they shipped out forward Tyler Toffolo to the Jets yet weren’t completely sellers as they also acquired goaltenders Jake Allen from Montreal and Kaapo Kakhonen from San Jose.

Toffoli’s efforts in New Jersey — 26 goals and 44 points in 61 games — since he was traded there from Calgary over the summer didn’t have the desired impact given the Devils’ overall struggles. He is also a pending unrestricted free agent this summer, so it was smart for New Jersey to ship him out. The Jets sent the Devils a third-round draft pick in 2024 and a second-rounder in 2025. New Jersey retained 50% of Toffoli’s salary in the deal.

The Devils sent a conditional third-round pick to the Canadiens, who are retaining 50% of Allen’s $3.85 million salary. The draft pick could improve to a second-rounder based off a games-played contingency. The Sharks got goaltender Vitek Vanecek and a 2025 seventh-round draft pick for Kahkonen. The Devils have a team save percentage of .891 this season between Vanecek, Akira Schmid and Nico Daws. It is the second-worst mark in the league. No New Jersey goalie has recorded a shutout this season. Neither Allen nor Kahkonen were very good this season for their former teams, however.

The Rangers also were busy ahead of the deadline, getting defenseman Chad Ruhwedel from the Pittsburgh Penguins and forward Nic Petan from the Minnesota Wild in trades Friday. The Rangers worked hard to bolster their offense, also acquiring forward Jack Roslovic from the Columbus Blue Jackets and Alex Wennberg from Seattle. Wennberg led all Kraken forwards with 18:49 in average ice time, and he had nine goals and 25 points in 60 games for the Kraken. He will be the third-line center for New York and contribute on the penalty kill — another void for the Rangers after releasing veteran Nick Bonino.

New Jersey comes off a 4-2 home loss to Carolina on Saturday. Jesperi Kotkaniemi broke a tie with a sharp-angle shot early in the third period. Nico Hischier and Timo Meier scored for the Devils, who are 1-2 under interim coach Travis Green. Nico Daws made 23 saves. Either Allen or Kahkonen could debut with their new team Monday. New Jersey star Jack Hughes has become the fourth player in franchise history to record multiple 40-assist seasons before age 23. The others: Kirk Muller (3x), Scott Gomez (2x) and Wilf Paiement (2x).

The Rangers were 4–0 winners over St. Louis on Saturday to snap a two-game skid. Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for his 13th career shutout in his 200th career NHL game. It was the second shutout of the season for Shesterkin, who played his first game for the Rangers in January 2020. He improved to 27-13-2 this season while helping the Rangers improve to 22-8-0 at home. They have won nine of their last 10 at Madison Square Garden. Chris Kreider scored the 105th power-play goal of his NHL career and needs one to tie Brian Leetch (106) for third place on the franchise’s all-time list.

New York is 2-0 vs. New Jersey this season. They last played on Feb. 22 in Newark and the Rangers prevailed 5-1. Shesterkin had 39 saves and even had an assist. Hughes broke up Shesterkin’s bid for a shutout with 2:07 to play. Daws made 13 saves for New Jersey.

NHL Betting Pick: Rangers

Detroit Red Wings vs. Buffalo Sabres

• When: Tuesday, March 12th, 2024, 7:00 PM ET
• Where: KeyBank Center, Buffalo, NY
• TV: NHLPP, ESPN+
• Radio: WXYT-FM 97.1 (Red Wings) // WGR 550 AM (Sabres)
• Live Stream: ESPN+
• NHL Betting Odds: TBA

The Red Wings remain without captain and forward Dylan Larkin with a lower-body injury. Larkin, 27, leads the Red Wings in goals (26) and points (54) through 55 games this season. He leads the team’s forwards in ice time per game (19:52). Larkin has 491 points (205 goals, 286 assists) in 639 games since being selected by Detroit in the first round (15th overall) in 2014.

The Wings were strangely quiet ahead of Friday’s Trade Deadline. Detroit’s lone trade acquiring defenseman Radim Simek, who was immediately loaned to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, from the San Jose Sharks and a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Klim Kostin.

General Manager Steve Yzerman expressed confidence in the club’s current roster and belief that key reinforcements will come from within the organization heading into the final stretch of the 2023-24 regular season.

“Ultimately, I’d like to think part of why we weren’t very active this year at the deadline is that we like the depth we have within the organization,” Yzerman said. “We have some good players in Grand Rapids. So here, sitting at the deadline, looking at some of the areas we felt maybe could help us, ultimately giving up a first, second or third-round pick for depth, we’re better off bringing up our guys from Grand Rapids for that.”

The Wings enter on a five-game skid after losing 5-3 in Vegas on Saturday. Patrick Kane sits tied with Larkin for the team lead in game-winning goals this season (4). With 72 career game-winning goals to date, Kane sits one shy of tying Joe Mullen for the sixth most by a U.S.-born player in NHL history. Center Michael Rasmussen scored a goal and added an assist Saturday versus the Golden Knights before departing late in the third period with an injury. He snapped a four-game point drought with his two-point game, which gave him 13 goals and 15 assists through 64 outings overall.

Buffalo shipped out veteran defenseman Erik Johnson to Philadelphia for a 2024 fourth-round pick. Johnson hit the open market for the first time in seven years this summer, signing a one-year, $3.2 million deal with the Sabres. They scratched Johnson, 35, the last five games to protect their asset before this afternoon’s deadline.

The Sabres snapped a three-game skid with a 3-2 shootout upset victory over Edmonton on Saturday. After an offside video review led to Owen Power’s goal with two seconds remaining in overtime being disallowed, the Sabres showed no letdown by returning from their locker room to have Alex Tuch score the decisive shootout goal. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 30 shots through overtime, and two more in the shootout.

Detroit leads the season series 1-0 thanks to a 5-3 win in Buffalo in early December. Larkin had two goals. Robby Fabbri, Moritz Seider and Rasmussen also scored for the Red Wings. Alex Lyon made 29 saves. Eric Comrie was in net for the Sabres.

NHL Betting Pick: Red Wings

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READ MORE: Top NHL Betting Picks of the Week – March 18th, 2024