The Vegas Golden Knights announced Thursday that they have signed trade deadline acquisition Noah Hanifin to an eight-year contract extension.

The 27-year-old defenceman will earn an average of $7.35-million per year.

Since joining the Knights in a trade that saw the Calgary Flames move him to Vegas for a 2025 first round pick, a conditional third-round pick in 2025 and defenceman Daniil Miromanov, Hanifin has fit in well scoring two goals and nine points in 16 games.

With him on the ice at 5v5, the Golden Knights have controlled 54.64 percent of the shot attempt share, 55.56 percent of the goal share, 55.49 percent of the expected goal share, and 56.24 percent of the scoring chance share.

Hanifin’s contract will include a full no-trade clause through the first six seasons with a modified no-trade clause for the final two. On July 1, 2030, he will submit a 15-team no-trade list.

Andersen’s return

It hasn’t been an easy year for Carolina Hurricanes netminder Freddie Andersen.

Early in the year, he was diagnosed with a blood clotting issue discovered during medical testing, which ultimately kept him out of the lineup from November to March. Since he returned on March 7th, all he’s done is shut the door for the Hurricanes, posting an 8-1 record and a stunning .954 save percentage.

He, along with trade deadline acquisitions in Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov, have helped the Hurricanes surge down the stretch.

And on Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, former NHL netminder Carter Hutton joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli to talk about his impact:

Frank Seravalli: One of the great stories of the year has been Freddy Andersen and his return after the blood clotting issue that he had. He came back March 7 — in the nine games [since], 8-1-0 with a .954, scoring hot as the ‘Canes have played really well. What have you liked about his game?

Carter Hutton: I think just his simplicity, right? Like, they play a man-on-man in-zone, but for me, Freddy Andersen is never out of position. I’ve always been a goalie that’s jealous of the way Freddy plays. I’ve played a lot of games head-to-head with him, especially when he was in Toronto. He’s always had that knock of, ‘He can’t get it done in the playoffs.’ For me, it’s just his health is where it’s at — and the fact that they used this in the right sense of, they give him spotted starts and at times when, if he’s not playing, he cannot even be on the bench at times, just trying to get him ready for the playoffs. The biggest sign for me is the other night, when he gave up three to the Bruins and they lost 4-1, the next night, he came back — I know it was against Columbus — and he gets a shutout. He’s got two shutouts in his last three games. The additions that Carolina has made up front are obviously paying dividends as well, but I think this is going to be a player that can be a big difference-maker. This Carolina team wants to go the distance.