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NHL Rumors Update
NHL Rumors Update for 09/23/2019
The latest NHL rumors from The Hockey Writers.
09/23/2019 edition:
By Jim Parsons on Sep 22, 2019 01:10 pm
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is news that the Montreal Canadiens are still interested in a defenseman from the Dallas Stars, the Tampa Bay Lightning have a long way to go to get Brayden Point signed according to Point’s agent, and Edmonton Oilers still have needs in certain positions and one Boston Bruins forward is in a fight to save his NHL career.
Canadiens Still Interested in Honka
Marc Dumont of The Athletic adds to the news that the Montreal Canadiens are kicking tires on acquiring Julius Honka from the Dallas Stars. He’s not surprised and says there’s some logic to the Habs being interested.
Dumont writes:
At first glance, Montreal doesn’t seem like a logical landing spot for the right-shooting defenceman. Jeff Petry and Shea Weber are the mainstays on the right side, with Christian Folin, Noah Juulsen, Cale Fleury and Josh Brook fighting for the remaining roster spot on the third pairing.
But given the muddied waters that surround the available spot, there’s seemingly an opening to fill.
The are that the Stars are looking for a mid-round pick for Honka and that there were no takers when the team was asking for a third-rounder. Montreal would like to send a player over in any deal whereas, the Stars want a draft choice. Dumont goes on to write about how little GM Marc Bergevin likes to send draft picks away in trades.
Point’s Agent Surprised By Slow Moving Negotiations
According to Mike Johnston of Sportsnet, Brayden Point‘s agent Gerry Johansson is a bit shocked by how slowly things are moving between the Tampa Bay Lightning and his client. We’ve reported before that the two sides are not close, but Johansson notes this could become an issue for the season.
“Well, we’re talking, I guess is the good news,” Johannson told Sportsnet 650 on Thursday. Unfortunately, he added, “We’re a ways apart right now.”
Johansson is optimistic they can figure something out in a hurry if both sides are eager to do so but he says, “… we’re not that close frankly.” and “We’ve been sort of ready to go since last July.”
Domingue Clears, Lightning Hopes Someone Calls
Still with the Lightning…
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic notes that Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Louis Domingue surprisingly cleared waivers yesterday and was assigned to the AHL.
The Lightning know that there were some teams interested and are hopeful that a team will come calling for him before the start of the season.
The Oilers Not Filling Holes Internally?
There was a lot of hope that the Edmonton Oilers would have the pieces internally to fill holes in the lineup.Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal writes that the Oilers are still looking to find a left winger to play with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and James Neal, a third line center and a right-handed defenseman to play with Oscar Klefbom.
The hope was that someone like Gaetan Haas would emerge in training camp of Riley Sheahan might show he could play more than a fourht-line center role. Colby Cave, Ryan McLeod and others haven’t really shown their capable of making the jump yet.
What will the Oilers do? Are there more moves coming or will they continue to try and look for that solution where there might not be one?
Kurt Leavins of The Edmonton Journal notes the Oilers sent a scout to Saturday’s game between the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens. Perhaps centers Chris Tierney and Jean-Gabriel Pageau are of interest?
Leavins writes:
Center Chris Tierney is an expiring UFA at $2.9m. But so is Jean-Gabriel Pageau at $3.1 and is a right shot. Tierney is a lefty and wasn’t even in the lineup. But Pageau was and had 4 shots in a 4-0 loss. A dip in his production last season may lower the asking price.
Backes to Compete for Role on Bruins?
It sounds like David Backes is in a dog fight for a spot on the Boston Bruins this season. According to The Athletic’s Joe McDonald, Backes will have to win the job if he wants to stay in the league.
McDonald writes:
Despite earning $6 million per season for another two years, Backes is not guaranteed a roster spot. As a respected veteran, he would usually play three preseason games in the past. But it’s different for him now because he battling for playing time.
Backes is aware of his situation and while he was hoping for a clean slate and an opportunity on the team to start the season, he knows it’s not guaranteed and that he’ll have to make an impact every shift.
The post NHL Rumors: Canadiens, Oilers, Bruins, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
By Jim Parsons on Sep 21, 2019 02:05 pm
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is news on the specifics of the offer by Justin Faulk from the Anaheim Ducks, there is news on the goaltending competition within the St. Louis Blues organization, news out of Pittsburgh on Justin Schultz and Alex Galchenyuk and more. Finally, are the Boston Bruins and defenseman Torey Krug talking extension yet?
Faulk Offered 7 Over 7
As per reports by Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register, the Anaheim Ducks apparently offered an extension to Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk a contract valued at $7 million per season over seven seasons.
Teaford writes:
Asked specifically about a potential deal with the Ducks, Bartlett said “you never know what can happen.” Faulk must waive his no-trade clause for the Ducks to acquire him. It’s believed the Ducks offered Faulk an extension of a little less than $7 million per season to sweeten the deal.
When it came back that Faulk was not interested in taking that offer, that’s when the trade fell apart. The feeling must have been that this was a very generous offer and that if he wasn’t going to accept it, it probably wasn’t smart to part with assets to acquire him.
One has to also assume that if this report is true, other teams have to be reconsidering what they might offer in trade if they were interested knowing Faulk either wants a huge payday or simply didn’t want to play in Anaheim. It would be worth finding out if that team is kicking tires.
Related: Gretzky vs Lemieux: Head-to-Head
Jake Allen Promised Not to Be Traded?
Despite the fact that Jake Allen’s name came up in trade talks throughout the summer, Allen said he wasn’t worried about being traded. Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that Allen states that Blues GM Doug Armstrong and company assured him he wasn’t going anywhere.
Allen said:
I knew internally all along this summer that I wasn’t getting dealt. They had told me that. You know, people talk and things like that, but I knew that they don’t want to get rid of me, so it was good to be reassured that way. I knew that I was coming back. So just put my mind at ease and get really focused on being the best Blue I can. There was a lot of chatter obviously with the way the summer went and the run that Binner went on. But internally I knew I was coming back, so I wasn’t worried about it at all.
That gave Allen the opportunity to focus on the upcoming season and he says he’s ready to go. He’s going to need to win the starting job from Jordan Binnington however.
Penguins Won’t Talk Contract With Schultz and Murray
Rob Rossi of The Athletic writes that even though both Matt Murray and Justin Schultz will be free agents after this season and need new contracts, the Pittsburgh Penguins have no desire to talk new deals during this upcoming 2019-20 NHL season.
Along with Murray, the Penguins also have Marcus Pettersson, Jared McCann, Dominik Kahun and Dominik Simon as RFA’s, while Alex Galchenyuk is the other UFA.
Knowing it could cost as much as $31 million to keep everyone, Rossi quoted Rutherford who said:
“With the amount of contracts that are expiring, I think we have to let it play out to see how many pieces we can fit into that puzzle.”
Rossi added:
Rutherford said he is “probably not” going to negotiate with the agents for either Schultz or Murray during this season. Seemingly, that would guarantee Schultz becomes a UFA and Murray’s future in Pittsburgh becomes the talk of next summer.
Krug Still Waiting in Boston
Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports notes that despite the Boston Bruins getting all of this year’s big free agent signings done, they’ve yet to start talking to Torey Krug who needs an extension after this season.
Krug said of the lack of conversation between himself and the Bruins:
“I’ve made no secret that I want to be part of this room, part of this organization and part of this city . So I’m hoping sooner than later it gets dealt with so I can clear my mind and focus on hockey. But that being said, it’s never a distraction. I’ve done it year after in my career aside from the four-year deal.”
Most reports are that Krug is willing to take a bit of a discount to stay in Boston and that this shouldn’t be too difficult a deal to get done once the two sides start talking.
The post NHL Rumors: Ducks, Blues, Penguins, Bruins, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
By Jim Parsons on Sep 20, 2019 12:35 pm
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, it looks like the Tampa Bay Lightning are going through with their goaltending plans, the Vancouver Canucks were interested in a player that wound up going to Calgary, there are updates out of Colorado when it comes to Mikko Rantanen and can fans expect to see more KHL players try to make their way over to the NHL in the next few seasons?
Lightning to Waive Two Netminders
Waivers open for the 2019-20 season today, and according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports Louis Domingue will be on them. This reports comes after GM Julien BriseBois explained explained to team reporter Caley Chelios that the Lightning kept both Mike Condon and Domingue in a “controlled environment” throughout training camp, with the intention of placing them on waivers.
Moving both goaltenders will save the Lightning $1.075 million off of each contracts cap hit and potentially give BriseBois extra room to sign Brayden Point. According to Point’s agent Gerry Johansson, the two sides are talking and a bridge deal might be where this negotiations lead. Johansson said:
We don’t really have a grand plan. If we could get Brayden into Tampa Bay this afternoon we would do that. So we don’t have some grand scheme to manage this long-term. We’re just taking the next step. We’re talking with Tampa, that’s the good news. Hopefully we can get something done, and if not we’ll figure it out then.
As for Domingue, there are teams interested in him and there is a good chance he will get claimed off of waivers.
Lucic and the Canucks Almost Happened
Despite the fact that Milan Lucic ended up in Calgary and James Neal went to the Edmonton Oilers, Luke Fox of Sportsnet writes that Lucic’s agent Gerry Johansson said on Sportsnet 650 Lucic could have landed with the Vancouver Canucks.
There were a number of rumors that Loui Eriksson for Lucic was a deal that might be out there and while Johansson didn’t confirm that, he did say there had been talks with the team and Lucic was into the idea.
The Flood Gates Out of the KHL May Open
There was plenty of talk on TSN 1260 yesterday about the KHL and newly signed PTO player Anton Burdasov in Edmonton. Part of the discussion revolved around why Burdasov chose to give it a try in the NHL.
Another media analyst, Jim Matheson discussed the topic of KHL players coming over and quoted Burdsaov’s agent Shumi Babaev who said that with the KHL having a $15 million salary cap next season, there could be more Russian free agents considering the NHL.
This should be interesting because it will certainly take the KHL off the table as an option for many NHL’ers knowing they can’t get an equal payday or use the KHL as leverage in negotiations.
Rantanen Contract Term Update
Ryan Clarke of The Athletic writes in an exclusive update that his understanding is that the Colorado Avalanche are looking to sign Mikko Rantanen to deal from six to eight years with an (AAV) in the range of $8.4 and $8.75 million.
This may still be lowballing what kind of deal Rantanen will actually receive. To 80-plus point seasons and comparables to Mitch Marner suggest he’ll be much closer to $10 million per season, if not over that.
Darren Dreger said of Rantanen, I think there’s more of a gap there and that one becomes more of a contentious issue. He added that there might be a team out there who was targeting Mitch Marner, might now see an opportunity in Colorado.
The post NHL Rumors: Lightning, Canucks, Avalanche, KHL, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
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