NHL Rumors Update

NHL Rumors Update for 04/24/2020

April 24, 2020

The latest NHL rumors from The Hockey Writers.

 

04/24/2020 edition:

By Jim Parsons on Apr 23, 2020 01:25 pm

In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is speculation the NHL has abandoned some of their plans for resuming the NHL season, but created new ones. There is no news on when the season might come back, but speculation is that things could move along more quickly than expected if the NHL can find a solution.

In other news, did Alex Ovechkin just hint at the idea of retirement during an interview with NBC Sports? And, what will the Detroit Red Wings do with their many restricted free agents?

Neutral Site Games Idea Scrapped

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, the league is scrapping the idea of “neutral site” locations for games and considering a small number NHL cities to host the remaining contests. That means places like North Dakota or New Hampshire are out and a small number of NHL cities are in. Friedman figures the NHL is looking at city from each division.

Emily Kaplan of ESPN tweets that the favorites to host these games at this point are Raleigh (Metropolitan), Edmonton (Pacific), Minnesota (Central), and a to-be-determined city for the Atlantic Division. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet confirmed this: “Gary Bettman tells Ron MacLean that the NHL is looking at as many as four locations to resume play in a centralized way: “We need a lot of ice.”

Craig Morgan of The Athletic notes the Coyotes have pitched their name in for consideration as a host site and Michael Russo of The Athletic adds that the Minnesota Wild are being considered as well.

How Would Games Be Scheduled?

There is no timetable on when all of this might start but Friedman suggests that one idea is playing a triple-header per day in each location. This would speed up how quickly teams could get through their remaining games, potentially doing everything in a matter of three weeks.

The focus is still on playing some games before the playoffs would begin. Greg Wyshysnki of ESPN writes:

Latest push is for NHL to return to 2-4 of its arenas in areas where the COVID-19 outbreak has been managed and restrictions would allow it. Very much targeting completion of the regular season. No timetable. NHLPA needs to sign off on any of it.

Ovechkin Talks Retirement From NHL

Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin said, in respect to continuing to play in the NHL, “We’ll see, I have one more year after this season and we’ll see.”

During an interview with NBC Sports’ Kathryn Tappen and Wayne Gretzky on Tuesday, Ovechkin talked about being grateful that he’s healthy and talked his love for the game, but hadn’t made a decision on his future when his contract with the Capitals runs out. He explained:

“I’m healthy, thank God, and I still love this game. As soon as I’m not going to love this game, I’m not going to cheat on it. I respect it a lot, and I don’t want to put my name on the caliber players who just play out there and take somebody’s spots. I don’t want to do that.”

The good news is, it sounds like he might be leaning toward still playing. Noting that he knows what he’s done to date in his career is big, he said, “Right now, I can’t even realize what I did throughout all my career because you know my career is not ending, but to be eighth all time (on the all-time goals list), it’s special.”

Red Wings Free Agent News

Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News writes that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman has 12 restricted free agents on his list to take care of. He notes that Tyler Bertuzzi will likely get a long-term deal, but that Anthony Mantha might sign a one-year deal. He writes:

Mantha is the most interesting of the RFA cases. If it weren’t for two significant injuries, Mantha may have had a career-best season. At age 25, Mantha is on the threshold of his peak years. But can Mantha and the Wings agree on the terms of a new contract? It might be tricky. Mantha might be willing to sign a one-year deal, betting he can post big numbers before he could be unrestricted in two years. Or the Wings could sign Mantha to a four- or five-year deal, believing he’s going to continue to progress. It’ll be interesting to watch.

source – ‘Steve Yzerman has tough calls to make on Red Wings’ 12 restricted free agents’ – Ted Kulfan – Detroit News – 04/20/2020

By Jim Parsons on Apr 22, 2020 12:45 pm

In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is news on when the NHL Draft might take place, the Toronto Maple Leafs may get back one of their forwards for cheap, and the New Jersey Devils have interviewed a candidate for the open head coaching spot. Finally, are the Vegas Golden Knights and Ryan Reaves working on a contract extension?

NHL Draft To Go Virtual?

TSN’s Pierre LeBrun is reporting that word today from NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly is that the league has considered a virtual format for their NHL Draft. They’ll be keeping a close eye on the NFL Draft this weekend and if things go smoothly, could do something similar, allowing the NHL to go ahead in June as originally planned.

Originally, the idea was to postpone the draft, but as the NHL pause lingers, a longer delay would cause far more issues than going virtual would. The biggest problem with this idea would be the NHL basically abandoning the regular season because there’s really no way to fairly determine a draft lottery, draft order, and conditional picks based on holding the draft first and playing the remainder of the regular season afterward.

So too, any insistence on playing the rest of the season makes the draft extremely difficult for teams that were looking to make trades as none would likely be permitted.

Jason Spezza to Stay in Toronto

Veteran forward Jason Spezza told reporters today, including Luke Fox of Sportsnet, there is “nowhere else” he’d rather be than in Toronto. The assumption is that he’ll be willing to take another team-friendly deal to stay next season.

Despite a bit of a rocky start to the season under coach Mike Babcock, Spezza scored nine goals and 25 points in 58 games. He did so averaging fewer than 11 minutes a night. The Maple Leafs will be looking for cost-effective depth players, so Spezza seems like an easy solution to one of the team’s bigger issues, which is how to fit everyone in.

Still with the Maple Leafs, Fox also addressed speculation the Leafs might be interested in St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo via free agency. He hints that Pietrangelo joining the Maple Leafs is unlikely. He suggests instead that the Maple Leafs would prefer dealing for players with term left on their contracts and lists Anaheim’s Josh Manson, Buffalo’s Rasmus Ristolainen, and Minnesota’s Matt Dumba as possible trade targets.

Fox also believes Andreas Johnsson is the player the Leafs are most interested in trading but the player other teams are least likely interested in because of his injuries.

Devils Interview Gallant

He was considered one of the early candidates for the new opening in New Jersey and Pierre LeBrun reported on today’s Insider Trading for TSN that Gerard Gallant has been interviewed for the Devils head coaching position. He, along with a number of other candidates were interviewed by interim GM Tom Fitzgerald.

That alone is interesting because it might hint that Fitzgerald is getting the nod as the team’s permanent GM. Typically, a GM will hire his coach.

Golden Knights to Extend Ryan Reaves?

SinBin.Vegas, which is a trusted source out of the Vegas area is reporting that the Vegas Golden Knights and Ryan Reaves are discussing a new contract extension and may have already signed one. They were not able to detail terms of the deal.

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