> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Monday's FTB: Trades already - URL: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/mondays-ftb-trades-already/ - Published: 2026-11-02T11:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-02T11:00:05.000Z - Description: Teams aren't waiting for winter anymore. - Author: Cathy Squires - Tags: From The Branches The Washington Capitals sent a pick to New Jersey for the goalie the Devils had grabbed on waivers while they waited to see if they'd get Connor Hellebuyck. They did, and now Remi Poirier is going to be one of three goalies on the Capitals. That seems unusual. Poirier himself has had an unusual season; an AHL goalie, he went to New Jersey near the end of training camp and has not yet played a single game. He requires waivers again to go to the AHL, so if Washington only wants him for some unknown injury insurance, he may well sit and not play even longer. Kris Draper, AGM of the Red Wings, has been seen at two consecutive Capitals games, and Washington is on Dylan Larkin's list of teams he's willing to go to. It's hard not to speculate that the Capitals are looking to send one of their tandem of goalies to Detroit in a trade. Or someone is hurt, and they just haven't announced that yet. Nashville traded Matthew Wood to Seattle for Shane Wright. Wood was drafted 15th overall the year after Wright was fourth overall, and neither has done much to make anyone think they are NHL level yet. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/34/01/3401a938-f468-4c02-a227-9bc4cc09bad4/content/images/2026/11/download.png) They scored in junior, though. The NHL is only 226 games into this season (not counting all of yesterday's) but this is about the time when things settle down into the averages that will persist all season. I don't think it's quite settled yet, though, but some interesting things to consider: - Goals per team per game are at 3.15 which isn't completely unprecedented in recent years, but is the highest (by one hundredth) since the early nineties. - Average Save % is at .891, which is lower even than last year's and is the lowest since 1989-1990. - Power Play Opportunities are at 3.18 and that's more like the mid 2010s than the more recent years. - PP and PK percentages are right at their normal levels from the last ten years. - Shots Against are almost identical to last year's and only one per team per game lower than the year before. These three years are, however, lower than the years before, which is likely a sign of changes in how shots are recorded. PPO is always high at the beginning of the season, and is a nice lesson in not taking early season numbers too seriously. It will come down a little more, I expect. I think the really interesting thing is the still low Save % average. If you use that to measure goalies, but your expectation is still that a good goalie should be at .90something, you will have lots to complain about! As the PPO comes down, the goal rate will too, and the Save % might creep up, but by now, we're very close to our normal averages for this season. At the league level that is. Anyone thinking there are enough games at the team or individual level to firmly declare who and what they are is fooling themselves. So far, all we have are hints. The big hint about the Leafs is that their five-on-five play is not quite there. It is really difficult to see trends in this, to see if a team is improving or not because the schedule and chance have so much say game-by-game. Also if you look at a chart nicely smoothed, one really bad game can skew the picture quite dramatically. (Or one really good game.) The chart: [https://moneypuck.com/t.htm?t=TOR](https://moneypuck.com/t.htm?t=TOR&ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) If absolutely pressed, I would say that yes, the second half of October is better than the first, but it should be, shouldn't it? Given the new guys on the team, the new coach and everything else going on. An uptick should be backed into the expectations. The next three weeks will decide! You'll hear that, and the old saw about the playoffs and American Thanksgiving, and Elliotte Friedman's "improved" version that uses November 1\. That's all pretty silly now in a league with so many teams virtually indistinguishable by their five-on-five play. I don't, and did not in July or in September or the day of the Marchenko trade, expect the Leafs to be in the elite group at the top of the NHL. Right now, I'd like to see some evidence that improvement at five-on-five is a real measure and not noise from the volatile nature of this game. I'd really like to see evidence it's ongoing. We'll have to play a few more games and see.