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NHL Rumors Update
NHL Rumors Update for 03/18/2020
The latest NHL rumors from The Hockey Writers.
03/18/2020 edition:
By Jim Parsons on Mar 17, 2020 01:35 pm
In today’s NHL rumors rundown, there is news that the Edmonton Oilers are closely watching what happens with the NHL pause as any drop in the projected jump in next season’s salary cap could be an issue for them. The Dallas Stars might be considering moving a veteran forward and a Swedish hockey club plans to try and acquire a few NHL free agent defensemen,
Oilers Plans Will Change if Salary Cap Doesn’t Jump
Allan Mitchell of The Athletic wrote an article examining what difficulties the Edmonton Oilers will face if this season suspension causes the salary cap to remain stay stagnant at $81.5 million for 2020-21. If the pause in NHL action means a drop in the estimated cap increase, the Oilers could have issues keeping everyone and re-signing RFAs like Andreas Athanasiou, Ethan Bear, and Matt Benning, who could cost as much as $7.5 million collectively.
The Oilers currently have over $71.2 million invested in 17 players and there’s still UFA players like Mike Smith and Tyler Ennis to look at, with rumors the Oilers had some interest in free agents like Taylor Hall and Mike Hoffman (not sure that rumor has many legs). There’s simply not enough room for everyone which means potentially having to try and move a player like Kris Russell or flipping Athansiou.
Mitchell writes:
It goes without saying the increased pool of talent at the deadline has the potential to either solve roster issues or open up more trade options for summer. Athanasiou, as an example, could be signed for one year, several years or dealt over the summer (perhaps for a pick). That would mean signing Ennis or possibly a big-name free agent before the fall.
Stars to Shop Radulov?
It’s hard to imagine that there’d be many takers but Matthew DeFranks of The Dallas Morning News pondered whether or not the Dallas Stars could move Alexander Radulov, trying to clear up cap space to land a young second-line center.
Radulov’s no-movement clause becomes a modified no-trade on July 1 and at that time, he’d have to submit a 15-team no-trade list. But, as DeFranks also points out:
“This is the player you’d be trading: a 34-year-old (on July 5) winger with a cap hit of $6.25 million that is coming off a career-worst goal-scoring year. That’s not going to get the value Radulov probably gets last year at this time.”
This is not, unfortunately, the best time for the Stars to try and maximize Radulov’s value in trade, especially when the UFA market will have plenty of wingers to select from, most of which who will be less expensive.
LeBrun on College Free Agent Signings and Olympics
With the news of the NHL rosters being frozen, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun notes NHL teams can conduct business with regards to college free agents and future year deals, “But no current year contracts allowed until anyone knows what the current year looks like.” So for now, any signing means the deal is dated July 1 and goes into effect next season.
LeBrun also noted that the Olympic decision, one way or another, will play a part in the NHL’s playoff scheduling decision. He cites that the Tokyo Games are slated to go July 24-Aug. 9 and with the pause, the NHL playoffs could go deep into July should the season start back up again.
In no uncertain terms, there is a lot more to consider if NHL games are possible in the not-so distant future.
Swedish Club Targeting NHL Blueliners
According to Swedish news source Hockey Sverige (article requires translation), the club Biel plans to go after some impending NHL free agent defensemen. Specifically, the article names Anaheim Ducks’ blueliners Christian Djoos and Joel Persson and the Carolina Hurricanes’ Gustav Forsling.
While the club might be interested in these players, there’s no indication that any of these defensemen are looking to leave the NHL or jump to the NLA to play for Biel. Mostof these players will likely fair well enough in NHL free agency to find a team and a contract that works.
The post NHL Rumors: Oilers, Stars, Olympics, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
By Jim Parsons on Mar 16, 2020 02:07 pm
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is buzz the NHL is working on a 24-game playoff outline and that players have been told they can head home, leading to the belief the NHL regular season is probably done. And, while the NHL figures out what to do about playoffs, teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins are thinking about whether or not to re-sign a player like Justin Schultz and the Arizona Coyotes might be thinking about how to regroup in the off-season.
Justin Schultz Done With Penguins?
Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that Justin Schultz has probably seen his last games as part of the Pittsburgh Penguins organization if the season doesn’t resume. The 29-year-old defenseman is a UFA this summer and his lack of strong play and poor underlying numbers this season likely means the Penguins, who are limited in cap space, will elect not to keep him.
That rookie blueliner John Marino stepped up this season also doesn’t help Schutlz’s case and a serious ankle injury probably has the Penguins unsure about retaining his services. If Schultz is willing to take a pay cut, there are a number of teams who might be interested.
Vensel writes:
Asked about his future, Schultz said he will worry about that this summer. His current concern is helping the Penguins have a special spring. Schultz playing like the guy we saw three years ago will certainly aid them in that quest.
NHL Mapping Out 24-Game Playoff Scenario
While there is talk the NHL is looking at multiple scenarios, one idea that is reportedly kicking around and getting a serious look is a 24-team playoff format. The news was broken by Sport-Express hockey writer Igor Eronko.
Eronko didn’t give much detail, only that a 24-team playoff might include a playout round. That playout round would then get the group of 24 down to the more desirable 16-team playoff while solving the problem of what to do with teams who were hovering right around the playoff cutline when the NHL’s regular season was paused.
There’s no response from the NHL on how it might break down, but the thought seems to be that the NHL would choose twelve representatives from each conference and divisional leaders have automatic playoff berths.
The most challenging part would be how to seed or decide which 12-or-so team makes the extra Wild Card spots.
Coyotes Could Be Busy Over Off-Season
Craig Morgan of The Athletic took a look at the strong opening but terrible finish for the Arizona Coyotes and what that means in terms of their off-season plans. He believes they could be among the busier of organizations this summer.
Morgan feels like the team is targeting a first-line and they still need a legitimate goal scorer, with more production from their blueline. He writes:
At this point, the list of untouchable players in trades should be shockingly small, confined probably to goaltender Darcy Kuemper, forwards Lawson Crouse, Conor Garland, Hayton and defenseman Jakob Chychrun. All else is negotiable if the Coyotes can land the missing pieces they sorely need.
What happens to Taylor Hall will be a real question for the organization as the team went 19-12-4 before they added Hall and 14-16-4 after they added him.
Resumption of NHL Season Could Take a While
After the CDC (Center for Disease Control) recommended that any and all events that are 50 people or more in size be cancelled for the next 8 weeks, it was pretty clear a regular season was going to be delayed, if not cancelled for the NHL. The feeling expanded exponentially on Monday when the NHL advised players they could return home, including to their homes in Europe.
This means that the league is not expecting any resumption in play for least two months and as TSN’s Frank Seravalli writes, is a “significant loosening on the NHL’s initial plan when the season was paused last Thursday, which instructed players to stay in their NHL city to self-quarantine.”
The post NHL Rumors: Penguins, Coyotes, 24-Team Playoffs, Travel, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
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