NHL Rumors Update

NHL Rumors Update for 03/30/2020

March 30, 2020

The latest NHL rumors from The Hockey Writers.

 

03/30/2020 edition:

By Jim Parsons on Mar 29, 2020 02:15 pm

In today’s NHL rumor rundown, the Edmonton Oilers have told one of their top defensive prospects to stay where he is and not join the team or its AHL club next season. The Toronto Maple Leafs are front-runners to land Alexander Barabanov and the Arizona Coyotes have begun the process of talking to Taylor Hall about an extension. In Washington, Braden Holtby may struggle to get what he’s worth and in Boston, Torey Krug may have no choice but to leave.

Oilers Tell Broberg to Stay in Sweden

According to Postmedia’s Jim Matheson, the Edmonton Oilers have informed defense prospect Philip Broberg that instead of having him come to North America, they would prefer him to remain in Sweden for another year. Broberg was the Oilers’ eighth-overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft and struggle a bit offensively.

The idea behind the decision to keep him in a familiar league where he can work on getting more minutes and develop his offensive skills. The Oilers still have Evan Bouchard, and Dmitri Samorukov in their defensive pipeline, so there’s not really a rush to move Broberg over.

Maple Leafs to Land Barabanov?

There is a report out of Russia that the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to sign KHL free agent winger Alexander Barabanov. Barabanov and Ilya Mikheyev share an agent and Barabanov is also a teammate of Alexei Melnichuk.

A recent report from Sport-Express’ overseas reporter Igor Eronko also suggests the Maple Leafs are the leading candidate to sign the 25-year-old, but that there are three teams he’s considering, which also includes the Arizona Coyotes. TSN’s Darren Dreger adds that nothing is confirmed and said Barabanov may not elect to join the NHL next season. Dreger reports that Barabanov and his agent Dan Milstein will begin interviewing teams next week.

Coyotes GM Talking With Taylor Hall‘s Agent

Craig Morgan of The Athletic noted during a recent Q&A that Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka has begun the process of talking to Taylor Hall’s people about a possible extension with the Coyotes. Chayka says he’s spending a lot of his time these days getting ready for free agency.

Chayka said that he’s had some talks with the agent of pending unrestricted free agent Taylor Hall.

“Obviously, our intent was always to get through the season and not having any conflict with Taylor’s play. This leaves us in a bit of a limbo where it’s obviously not technically the end of the season, but it also wouldn’t conflict with his play to talk. All I would say right now is that both sides are gathering information and having some discussions. Where that goes I’m not entirely sure today. As we talk, we’ll see where things go.”

source – ‘Neutral Zone: A wide-ranging Q&A with Coyotes GM John Chayka’ Craig Morgan – The Athletic – 03/28/2020

Chayka says that they haven’t spoken with other pending free agents, just Hall’s people.

Holtby to Be Casualty of Bobrovsky Signing?

Emily Sadler of Sportsnet took a look at a number of pending unrestricted free agents and one not of interest was her take on what might happen with goaltender Braden Holtby.

His career-low numbers and the emergence of Ilya Samsonov means that the Washington Capitals may elect not to re-sign the veteran netminder, and that while in most other summers Holtby would get a big contract from another team, the uncertainty of the salary cap and the disaster that is Sergei Bobrovsky’s recent deal might have teams concerned. Holtby will have a hard time getting the kind of money he’ll want on an extension this off-season.

Sadler also took a closer look at the Boston Bruins’ Torey Krug. Noting the Bruins will likely have to shed salary, Sadler believes they’ll be hard-pressed to re-sign the defenseman. There’s speculation the Michigan native might be willing to return home and join the Detroit Red Wings.

By Jim Parsons on Mar 28, 2020 02:30 pm

In today’s NHL rumors rundown, another player has tested positive for COVID-19 from the Colorado Avalanche, the Edmonton Oilers are looking to sign a couple of international prospects and one NHL scribe notes that this year’s crop of free agents might have hit free agency at the worst possible time.

Another Avalanche Player Tests Positive

The Colorado Avalanche announced that a second player from the team has tested positive for COVID-19. Earlier this week, they announced that one player had tested positive, put himself in isolation and already recovered. Such is not the case for this new positive test.

The full statement from the team is below.

The Colorado Avalanche were advised late last night that a second player has tested positive for COVID-19. The player is in self-isolation. All other Avalanche players, staff and others who might have had close contact with the player have been informed and remain isolated as per prior League direction and are monitoring their health and will be in touch with Club medical staff as necessary. No other Avalanche player or staff member has shown symptoms at this time.

This is now four NHL players who have tested positive, but from only two teams. The hope is that the league ceased play early enough to see the virus not hit a number of teams.

Oilers Hoping to Sign Two Prospects

Sportsnet’s Mark Spector notes that the Edmonton Oilers are hoping to sign defensemen Markus Niemelainen and Filip Berglund before June 1. Both players were draft picks in 2016 and have until that date to sign their entry-level deals.

Both players are signed with their respective international teams, but because of transfer agreements with the leagues, both can sign NHL deals. Spector notes, “These are two survivors from the Oilers’ Class of 2016 that, right now, has delivered only Tyler Benson to the Oilers system, with [Jesse] Puljujarvi gone AWOL.”

Senators To Land Artyom Zub

According to Darren Dreger of TSN, the Ottawa Senators are expected to sign KHL free agent defenseman Artyom Zub.

“The expectation is that Zub, who’s got the potential to be a top-four shutdown D-man in the NHL, will sign with the Ottawa Senators,“ TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger said Thursday on Insider Trading.

Dreger had previously reported that the Senators were one of two teams Zub had narrowed his decision down to but speculation was that Zub had the Sens as his top team.

Free Agents With Unlucky Timing

Sportsnet’s Luke Fox took a look recently at the crop of this year’s NHL free agents and noted that they may be among the most unlucky free agents in recent memory. With the financial windfall that is expected to come as a result of the NHL stoppage and being unable to get more games in to show their worth, they’ll have some decisions to make.

Assuming the players face a flat salary-cap as a result of the loss of hockey-related revenue, how many will consider signing one-year contracts with teams just to showcase their skills and hit the jackpot next off-season? For someone like Taylor Hall, that might be a good option. Fox writes:

“If your name is Taylor Hall, Braden Holtby, Jacob Markstrom, Tyson Barrie, Alex Pietrangelo or Torey Krug, this is a concerning development”, wrote Fox. “Same goes for soon-to-be RFAs like Max Domi, Anthony DeAngelo, Sam Reinhart, and Tyler Bertuzzi.” He suggested bridge deals might make more sense until NHL revenue stabilizes.

Of course, there will some teams that can take advantage of other franchise’s ability to make moves. Those teams include the Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators, all of whom have cap space. The question will be, do these free agents want to sign there? Maybe they’d rather wait until more options present themselves?

By Jim Parsons on Mar 27, 2020 02:30 pm

In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is news on the New York Rangers potentially having trouble signing Tony DeAngelo, there is interest by a few NHL teams in a KHL goaltender and P.K. Subban has floated the idea of an NHL game show to the league who is thinking about it. Finally, there is talk of the NHL holding a virtual draft and not postponing things.

Rangers Face Daunting Task with DeAngelo

Larry Brooks of the New York Post noted that the New York Rangers face what could be a daunting challenge to re-sign Tony DeAngelo this off-season. The soon-to-be restricted free agent is just 24 years old, scored 53 points in 68 games this season and could be asking for as little as $6 million per year on a long-term deal.

Different options could include a short-term bridge deal of around $5 million per season or, of course, the Rangers could trade DeAngelo from a position of strength and where they have some depth on the right side of the blue line. The Rangers would like to add a legit top-nine forward with top-six upside who would fill a position of weakness.

That said, Brooks notes the Rangers are concerned with potentially giving so much money to a player that could be third-pairing minutes behind Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox. The alternative is moving him to the left side.

Brooks also reports that Jesper Fast‘s future with the Rangers is in doubt. The 28-year-old winger will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season and nothing more than preliminary discussions with Fast’s camp have taken place. They failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension.

Subban and the NHL Making a Game Show?

Dan Rosen recently tweeted that New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban and the NHL could be working on game show “to create content and bring some joy to people, give people something to laugh about.”

There is no better person in the NHL to host something like that than Subban. If the idea takes off, the NHL may come up with more content as one of their big concerns is keeping hockey in the minds of hockey fans.

Alexei Melnichuk on Many NHL Radars

KHL free agency opens on May 1 and there has been speculation a number of players jump to North America and take their shot at the NHL. Among them, young goaltender Alexei Melnichuk of SKA St. Petersburg is expected to get some attention, reportts TSN’s Darren Dreger.

Dreger adds that it is down to three or four teams competing for Melnichuk’s services and that, by the end of April, the goaltender while he whittled it down to just one team, likely based on opportunity to play. It is expected he would sign a standard entry-level deal.

Controversy Brewing Over How to Resume Season

Frank Seravalli noted that Sidney Crosby said yesterday during conference call among representatives of each of the Metropolitan Division team that he “wouldn’t mind starting right with the playoffs” but “I think you try to get in as many games as you can. More games you play, I think that’s better for the integrity of it.” Alex Ovechkin was more straight to the point saying, he “was bored” and the Capitals wanted to get right into the postseason.

There were other team reps that said going straight into the playoffs was best but some teams that were on the outside looking in, but still felt they had a shot at it, wanted the rest of the regular season.

A Virtual NHL Draft?

Pierre LeBrun wrote a column for The Athletic taking a look at the optios for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. He notes that the least likely play would be to push back the draft and still hold it in Montreal.

Instead, he’s under the impression a virtual draft would take place and that’s the outcome most insiders see occurring. Steve Mayer, the NHL’s Chief Content Officer noted the NHL was looking at a virutal draft and said:

“Which is probably, you know, one of the more likely (scenarios) at this point, given where we are in the world. We’d have cameras set up in every war room. Bring in as many prospects as we can. Have a team representative, etc.’’

source – ‘LeBrun: NHL weighs options for this year’s draft, assures Montreal another chance’ Pierre LeBrun – The Athletic – 03/26/2020

All this said, Mayer also noted the NHL has not made up their minds and they are looking at a number of possibilities.

Recent Articles:

Latest News