- Morning Skate
- Posts
- NHL Rumors Update
NHL Rumors Update
NHL Rumors Update for 10/02/2019
The latest NHL rumors from The Hockey Writers.
10/02/2019 edition:
By Kyle Gipe on Oct 01, 2019 11:50 am
To kick off October, today’s NHL rumors rundown includes the Buffalo Sabres potentially having interest in Daniel Sprong and a look into Alex DeBrincat’s next contract. Plus, expansion is occurring in the American Hockey League (AHL) to coincide with the NHL’s own expansion.
Could the Sabres Have Interest in Sprong?
On Monday, the Anaheim Ducks placed forward Daniel Sprong on waivers in an effort to send him down to the AHL. The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington thinks Sprong could be a good fit for the Sabres and that they should place a claim on him. It’s easy to see why a team like the Sabres, who are hoping to get back to relevance, would have interest in Sprong.
He dominated the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), both before and after being drafted, with 261 points in 199 games, and has even excelled in the AHL (65 points in 65 games). However, he hasn’t lived up to expectations in the NHL (28 points in 89 games). Yet despite his struggles, the skills that led to the Pittsburgh Penguins drafting him 46th overall in 2015 remain. It’s what led the Ducks to deal promising defense prospect Marcus Pettersson for him in 2018-19. Considering the Sabres tied for 21st in goals scored last season, claiming Sprong without having to give up assets makes sense.
Another reason the team could have interest in Sprong is that Sabres general manager Jason Botterill was a member of the Penguins front office when they drafted Sprong. So there’s certainly familiarity with both Sprong’s on-ice abilities and personality.
… has a relationship with both Sabres General Manager Jason Botterill and assistant GM Randy Sexton from their days in Pittsburgh.
The Sabres are currently three players above the 23-man NHL roster, but, as Harrington points out, Matt Hunwick, Zach Bogosian, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen are all likely to be placed on some form of injured reserve to start the season. If necessary, they can also assign Henri Jokiharju to the AHL without placing him on waivers in order to create a roster spot.
What Will DeBrincat’s Next Contract Look Like?
Yesterday, NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis speculated on what Alex DeBrincat’s next contract could look like with the Chicago Blackhawks. DeBrincat, who will be on the last year of his entry-level contract in 2019-20, will be a restricted free agent (RFA) at season’s end. He’ll be in a similar situation that Patrik Laine, Mitch Marner, Brayden Point, and Mikko Rantanen were this offseason. And, considering is coming off 28- and 41-goal seasons as a rookie and second-year NHLer, DeBrincat will get paid; the questions are how much and for how long on his next contract?
Roumeliotis comments that it’s virtually impossible to find a direct comparison to this offseason’s RFAs. He also thinks that DeBrincat isn’t in the category of Marner or Rantanen but could be in the range of Laine. Both are goal-scorers rather than playmakers, although DeBrincat has been the more consistent scorer.
The difference between DeBrincat and Marner/Rantanen is that the latter are playmakers while the former is more of a pure goal scorer. While DeBrincat may not be a perennial 90-plus point player, he will score 35-40 every year and that’s certainly nothing to sneeze at.
Ultimately, Roumeliotis believes that DeBrincat’s third season, assuming he doesn’t sign an extension mid-season, will be the final factor in his contract. Both Marner and Rantanen drastically increased their production in their third seasons, and if DeBrincat does the same, he’ll be due a hefty payday. He concludes by saying that DeBrincat’s contract is sure to start at $7 million, but that it could approach the $8-9 million range depending on term. Luckily for the Blackhawks, they’ll have plenty of cap space to get a deal done, although they also have re-sign Dylan Strome.
The AHL Is Heading to Palm Springs
The AHL recently announced that the league was expanding to Palm Springs, California and will begin playing in the 2021-22 season. The franchise will be the AHL’s 32nd and will be the affiliate of the NHL’s Seattle franchise. Considering that the AHL is the NHL’s top development league, this is the next step in Seattle becoming the NHL’s 32nd team.
The AHL team will play in a brand new, 10,000-seat arena in downtown Palm Springs. The location of the team is important as it continues a trend in which franchise’s have their AHL affiliate in relatively close proximity to the NHL team.
Sabres Make Interim Coaching Changes
In other Sabres news, the team is making an interim change to their coaching staff as assistant coach Don Granato has been hospitalized with a severe case of pneumonia. According to the team’s press release, he will be taking a medical leave of absence. In his absence, Chris Taylor, head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, will join the Sabres coaching staff. Considering that the Sabres have a new head coach in Ralph Krueger, it’s unknown how much Granato’s absence will affect the team’s performance.
The post NHL Rumors: Sabres, DeBrincat, AHL Expansion, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
By Kyle Gipe on Sep 30, 2019 01:00 pm
In today’s NHL rumors rundown, we look at the Minnesota Wild’s plan for Victor Rask, Sidney Crosby’s injury, and the latest waiver transactions. Plus, are the Pittsburgh Penguins close to dealing Jack Johnson?
Rask’s Role with Wild
Since the Wild acquired him from the Carolina Hurricanes last season, Victor Rask has been been a letdown, with only 3 points in 23 games post-trade. Considering that Nino Niederreiter, the player the Wild dealt for Rask, had 30 points in 36 games with the Hurricanes, the trade was abysmal and it is part of the reason the Wild fired general manager Paul Fenton. Now the Wild are stuck with an underperforming player who has a $4 million cap hit through 2021-22.
According to NBC Sports’ James O’Brien and Minnesota Star Tribune writer Sarah McLellan, Rask may not have a roster spot to start the season. McLellan reported on Sep. 27 that Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau listed Rask as being behind four other centers on the depth chart:
At this moment, I would say that there are four centers ahead of him [Rask] now that we’ve seen that [captain Mikko Koivu’s knee] is fine and he can play…
O’Brien points out that if the Wild are interested in trading Rask, the best thing to do would be to put him in the best situation to succeed by playing him, thus improving his trade value. However, because the Wild are determined to compete this season, it seems more and more likely that he won’t be in the starting lineup to start the season.
By not playing Rask, the Wild are left with few options of how to proceed. In order to trade him, they’d have to add a sweetener to any deal or absorb a large percentage of his salary. They could also buy out his contract but would be stuck with a $1.3 million cap hit for each of the next four seasons. It’s safe to say the Wild are in a bit of a tough situation regarding Rask.
Will Crosby Miss the Start of Season?
After being hit in the skate in the Penguins’ final preseason game on Sep. 28 against the Buffalo Sabres, Sidney Crosby has been sidelined with an injury. The Penguins captain is officially listed as “day-to-day” but was absent from the team’s practice on Sunday, according to Trib Live reporter Seth Rorabaugh. Rorabaugh mentioned that Crosby was able to skate before practice on Sunday and quoted head coach Mike Sullivan who described Crosby’s progress as “encouraging.” (from ‘Crosby, Galchenyuk, Rust remain sidelined for the Penguins,’ Trib Live, 09/29/2019) Why does this matter?
Besides the fact that Crosby is one of the game’s best players, the Penguins still find themselves in a salary cap crunch, although that has been alleviated by placing goaltender Casey DeSmith on waivers. More on that later. But, if the Penguins don’t want to rush Crosby back and feel he may not be ready for the team’s season opener on Thursday, they could place him on injured reserve and get the relief from doing so, buying them time to sort out their cap situation.
Penguins Close to Trading Johnson?
In other Penguins news/rumors, Rob Yohe of The Athletic is reporting that GM Jim Rutherford is close to trading defenseman Jack Johnson. It’s been mentioned countless times, including in recent Rumors posts, that the Penguins aren’t happy with Johnson’s performance and getting out from under his contract is of interest to them. For a team experiencing a cap crunch like the Penguins are, his $3.235-million cap hit (through 2022-23) sticks out like a sore thumb.
For several days, it appeared that Rutherford was trying to move a goaltender to get under the salary cap, but according to Yohe, Johnson is the most likely player to get moved. Yohe even went as far as to quote an unnamed source who said that Johnson has been told that a trade within the next 48 hours is possible.
Although a trade isn’t certain, Rutherford, according to sources, wanted to be transparent with Johnson about the situation and warned him that a trade within the next 48 hours is quite possible.
Of course, given Johnson’s struggles in recent seasons, it’s almost impossible that the Penguins shed his contract without taking a bad contract back, retaining some salary, or sweetening the deal with picks/prospects. None of those scenarios are good for the Penguins, a team with a bad farm system and without the flexibility to absorb another bad contract.
Notable Waiver Transactions
Tomorrow, Oct. 1, at 5:00 pm ET is the deadline for teams to become cap compliant to start the season while today is the last day for teams to place players on waivers and have them clear before rosters are submitted.
As a result, we are seeing a flurry of transactions taking place today, with some notable names being placed on waivers as teams cement their rosters for opening day and attempt to get below the salary cap. Some interesting names include:
Sven Baertschi – Placed on waivers by the Vancouver Canucks. This indicates that prospect Adam Gaudette is likely to make the NHL roster.
Casey DeSmith – Penguins placed him on waivers. This is interesting because it was thought that DeSmith was going to back-up Matt Murray while the Penguins potentially looked to trade Tristan Jarry. This move helps the team get below the salary cap and DeSmith is an interesting option for any team looking to add goaltending depth.
Thomas Hickey – Veteran New York Islanders defenseman was one of the players blocking prospect Noah Dobson from making the NHL roster. Hickey was viewed as a potential trade option for the Islanders, but with him being placed on waivers, it appears that Dobson will get an extended look to start the season.
The post NHL Rumors: Rask, Penguins, Waivers, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
Recent Articles:
Latest News