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NHL Rumors Update
NHL Rumors Update for 07/05/2019
The latest NHL rumors from The Hockey Writers.
07/05/2019 edition:
By Jim Parsons on Jul 04, 2019 11:55 am
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there are updates on the biggest names still on the board in free agency but not yet signed to a deal, there is news out of Calgary and their progress on getting Matthew Tkachuck re-signed to a new deal, and the Pittsburgh Penguins still need to move out salary. Who will they move?
Big-Ticket Free Agents and Where They’ll Land
Luke Fox of Sportsnet wrote on the status of the Top 10 remaining free agents that haven’t yet signed. It was a slow day Wednesday and there might be a reason:
Jake Gardiner
A bad back may be scaring some teams but he wants a long-term deal. Chicago and Montreal have been linked to Gardiner and he’s reportedly interested in going to Florida, Los Angeles or Minnesota. This one could take some time and the money or term might need to come down first.
Ryan Dzingel
Dzingel reportedly turned down a $20 million dollar, five-year offer from the Ottawa Senators. The teams being discussed when his name is mentioned now are Chicago, Colorado, and Edmonton.
Micheal Ferland
Ferland was heavily discussed at the NHL Trade Deadline but didn’t move. Now, he’s looking for a long-term deal and teams are hesitant to give that out to a two-time 40-point player. Calgary may have interest in bringing him back but they’d need to move out some salary.
Patrick Maroon
Edmonton and Calgary are among the teams that have shown some interest and St. Louis could still be an option. Maroon should be careful that he doesn’t see a repeat of last summer where he waited so long, he lost $3 million per season and a long-term deal.
Among the other names, Marcus Johansson wants a long-term deal, Joe Thornton wants to play with the Sharks but they don’t have much cap space, Justin Williams hasn’t decided if he wants to keep playing and more.
Tkachuk Not Going to Sign Offer Sheet
Pat Steinberg reports that Calgary Flames assistant GM Craig Conroy said that they aren’t concerned about the fact restricted free agent forward Matthew Tkachuk hasn’t re-signed with the team yet. They certainly aren’t worried about an offer sheet despite the fact it’s already happened once this summer.
Conroy said, “Matthew has always said he wants to be back. It’s not like anything is negative here. Both sides would like to get this done as quick as possible.”
Penguins Likely to Trade Three Players
Josh Yohe of The Athletic gave a rundown of the least to most-likely to be traded players on the Pittsburgh Penguins roster. He said there are three in the “Favorite” category.
Nick Bjugstad carries a $4 million salary cap hit and has had his name in the rumor mill, Bryan Rust is moveable for the right offer and Tristan Jarry could be a good sweetener on a deal trying to move out some salary.
Yohe writes:
A glance at the Penguins’ financial situation indicates they must make at least one more trade this summer to become salary cap compliant.
Then, there is this: Jim Rutherford has traded 45 players during his five years as Penguins general manager. Forty-five!
Marc Methot Considering Retirement
Marc Brassard of leDroit reports that Marc Methot is continuing to rehab after his recent surgery, but is unsure if he will be able to play next season.
Methot has been dealing with lingering injury issues in his left knee and hasn’t played much over the past two seasons. He hit the free agent market this summer and there hasn’t been much talk about him going anywhere or any teams being interested.
Happy Fourth of July for hockey fans in the United States!
The post NHL Rumors: Big-Ticket Free Agents, Flames, Penguins, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
By Jim Parsons on Jul 03, 2019 11:56 am
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is still fallout from the first day of free agency. The New Jersey Devils aren’t done, the Oilers have more to do but are working at an experienced pace, and was there more to the Nazem Kadri trade than people realized?
Devils Not Done Adding
Mike Morreale of NHL.com says the New Jersey Devils will continue to look at adding to their roster despite having added Jack Hughes, P.K. Subban and Wayne Simmonds in the past few weeks.
Devils general manager Ray Shero said he’s made a ton of calls and will continue to make more. “We certainly would want to see what’s out there,” Shero said. He added:
“If you have a chance to improve your team you will. We’re still in good shape, cap wise, and we’ve utilized that space well. Our managing partners (Josh Harris and David Blitzer) have been very supportive, and we’ve kind of laid out that when the time is right, we’ll take advantage of a couple opportunities and will continue to do so, if it’s available.”
Ken Holland Has a Plan For Oilers
While the Edmonton Oilers signed a few players on the first day of free agency, there were no big blockbuster names headed to Edmonton. This despite the fact the Oilers need some dramatic improvements in certain places.
According to Mark Spector of Sportsnet, Holland said of his lack of action:
“In the short term we’re going to try to compete for the playoffs in 2020. Long-term, it’s about building. But short term we need more competition and more pace on the bottom of the roster.
I’ve been a general manager for 22 years. I know when it’s time to pay, and when it’s not time to pay. Ultimately I’m trying to build this team to be an elite team in the Western Conference.
As Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic pointed out, Holland had lots of holes to fill and he prioritized goaltending and depth forwards on the first day of free agency. He’ll now move to finding a scoring winger and it might not be acquired through free agency.
Calgary Flames Interested in Nazem Kadri
Regarding the Nazem Kadri trade to Colorado, Pierre LeBrun reported there were two teams showing interest on Nazem Kadri but were on his 10-team no-trade list. Kadri wouldn’t waive it for those teams and obviously, the Colorado Avalanche weren’t one of them.
Ryan Pike says he believes the Calgary Flames were one of the teams he refused to accept a trade to.
Canadiens Interested in Kyle Turris and Jake Gardiner?
Eric Engels of Sportsnet says that after the Carolina Hurricanes announced they would match the Montreal Canadiens offer sheet on Sebastian Aho, they wouldn’t go the offer sheet route again.
Engels wondered if Bergevin would have interest in Nashville Predators center Kyle Turris. Or, Engels proposes pursuing free-agent defenseman, Jake Gardiner. Engels suggested seeing if the Predators will add another asset in the deal or convince them to pick up part of Turris’ $6 million annual salary-cap hit.
Penguins to Clear Some Space
Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette believes the Penguins will make another cost-cutting trade. After signing Brandon Tanev, they only have around $1.6 million in salary-cap space. Vensel speculates Nick Bjugstad or Bryan Rust could become trade candidates.
He writes:
Rutherford admitted Monday that there is a “good chance” they’ll have to trade somebody to ensure they are cap compliant for next season.
… So it seems logical that if they need to subtract somebody, it would be a forward pulling in significant paychecks.
The post NHL Rumors: Devils, Oilers, Canadiens, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
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