NHL News: Rasmus Andersson trade, Oilers' Nugent-Hopkins hits 1000 games

In their 5-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, Edmonton Oilers former first overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit 1000 games, becoming the first Oilers player to hit the milestone all with the franchise.

He celebrated with a pre-game ceremony where his teammates followed the same warm-up routine as him and the player even opened the scoring against the Blues in the first period, scoring the eventual game winning goal.

The Oilers victory comes on the second-half of a back-to-back that saw the Oilers defeat the Vancouver Canucks 6-0 on Saturday night.

Andersson traded to Golden Knights

Three hours south of Edmonton, the Oilers Battle of Alberta rivals the Calgary Flames finally traded defenceman Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights for a big trade package. Andersson is possibly the top defender rumoured to be on the trade market according to various insiders.

The Flames acquired defenceman Zach Whitecloud, prospect defenceman Adam Wiebe, and conditional first round pick in 2027 and conditional second round pick in 2028.

Now with Andersson off the market, it could have a dam-breaking effect with other big dominoes potentially falling in the near future. Especially as teams that were rumoured to be in on the sweepstakes such as the Boston Bruins, now potentially turning their sights onto other players on the market.

Leon Draisaitl takes leave of absence

Ahead of the Oilers game on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, the club announced that they would be without their star forward Leon Draisaitl for a period of time. He is taking a leave of absence until 'later next week' according to their press release.

The Oilers stated that Draisaitl will be away from the team and flying back to Germany to attend to a family illness. Of course, there are no details into the private matter but as the press release outlines "He is expected to return to the team later next week."

So far in 48 games played this season, Draisaitl has scored 25 goals and 42 assists for 67 points. He is expected to compete for Germany at the 2026 Winter Olympics later next month in Milan.

New York Rangers pen another letter to fans

Nearly eight years after releasing a letter to their fans, the New York Rangers once again have penned an open letter stating they are going back to the drawing board once again.

In the letter signed by general manager Chris Drury, the Rangers state they are entering into a 'retool' phase and will be building around their core players and prospects. Saying; "We are not going to stand pat - a shift will a shift will give us the ability to be smart and opportunistic as we retool the team."

This has lead to many fans to speculate about the availability of players, playing armchair GM and make mock trades surrounding the Rangers pending free agents and veteran pieces. Including elite winger, 34 year old Artemi Panarin amongst others.