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NHL Rumors Update
NHL Rumors Update for 07/13/2020
The latest NHL rumors from The Hockey Writers.
07/13/2020 edition:
By Jim Parsons on Jul 12, 2020 12:08 pm
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is lots of information out there as it pertains to the Montreal Canadiens, more specifically Max Domi and Karl Alzner. Mike Green has opted out from the Edmonton Oilers camp, as has Sven Baertschi from the Vancouver Canucks. Romak Polak makes an expected decision in Dallas and there is talk about the Maple Leafs plans for a flat salary cap.
Domi To Wait, Alzner Opts Out
The Montreal Canadiens have announced that forward Max Domi has decided to wait 7-10 days before making a decision on whether he intends to return to the team for Phase 3. With players now starting to notify teams of their intentions not to return, Domi was a player already under a microscope because of his Type-1 Diabetes. Contracting the virus would put him more at risk.
The team released a statement:
Considering Max’s health condition (Type 1 diabetes), both parties have agreed to take this responsible approach and to take this time to evaluate the ongoing situation, in order to make the best decision for Max’s health at the end of this period.
Still with the Canadiens, defenseman Karl Alzner has opted out. Alzner, 31, played only four games for the Canadiens this season. No specifics regarding Alzner’s decision were immediately available but one assumption could be that his status with the team and not being a regular in the lineup wasn’t worth the health risks associated with a return.
Oilers’ Mike Green Opts Out
Defenseman Mike Green is out for Edmonton as well. He said in a statement.:
“Due to the uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 and after much consideration, I’ve decided for deeply personal family health reasons, not to participate in the return to play. This has been a hard decision knowing I’m going to miss the opportunity to compete in the playoffs with a Stanley Cup contender. I wish the best of luck to the guys and I appreciate the Edmonton Oilers support.”
For the Oilers, this isn’t great news but it isn’t devastating news either. There was talk Green might have gotten the nod as a defenseman because of his veteran experience but that wasn’t a given. Potentially in and out of the lineup, it might not have been worth the risk.
What’s more interesting is what it means for him after this season. Green didn’t get much of a chance thanks to an injury to show the Oilers what he could do. Now, as an unrestricted free agent, he won’t have the luxury of a strong playoff season behind him as he negotiates a new contract.
Of note, his decision not to play completes his Feb. 24 trade, with Detroit getting a 2020 fourth-round pick from Edmonton. That could have upgraded to a 2021 third-rounder if the Oilers reached the conference finals and Green played in 50% of the games.
Baertschi Elects to Sit As Well
Vancouver forward Sven Baertschi was also added to the list of players not returning. Canucks general manager Jim Benning said, “Sven informed us late yesterday that he has chosen to opt out of the NHL return to play program,” “It was a difficult decision but ultimately one we respect and understand.”
Maple Leafs Plans for a Flat Cap
Rory Boylen of Sportsnet took at a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs and their salary cap situation, noting they have $76.908 million already committed to salaries next season. Among their notable UFA’s are Jason Spezza, Kyle Clifford, Tyson Barrie, and Cody Ceci. RFAs include Travis Dermott and Ilya Mikheyev.
The consensus seems to be that Barrie and Ceci are likely gone. Frederik Andersen will be a UFA after next season and is not a shoo-in for a long-term extension. For whatever reason, Andersen has a history of starting seasons slowly. This long break could hurt him and any contract talks is that trend continues.
It is expected that Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas will make cost-cutting moves, especially knowing they’ need to replace the outgoing contracts of Barrie and Ceci. The Toronto Sun’s Michael Traikos writes:
Chances are, the Leafs will have to let someone go when the playoffs end this year. It could be Kasperi Kapanen or Andreas Johnsson. It might be Nylander and his $6.9-million salary.
Stars Not Surprised Roman Polak Didn’t Return
Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News notes that Dallas Stars defenseman Roman Polak will not be on the Stars training camp roster. This isn’t a huge surprise considering Polak voiced concern about returning and announced his new deal with HC Vitkovice of the Czech Extraliga.
Thomas Harley and Ty Dellandrea will be brought to camp, but DeFranks notes, “We’ll see how much of a role they’ll have in postseason games.”
The post NHL Rumors: Canadiens, Oilers, Canucks, Maple Leafs, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
By Jim Parsons on Jul 11, 2020 11:55 am
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, the first NHL player has informed their team that they will not take part in the play-in round. Who else might be next? The Tampa Bay Lightning potentially got some bad news as Steve Stamkos suffered an injury. Finally, there could be some interest in Taylor Hall from the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames, plus trade talk out of Vancouver for Brock Boeser.
Stamkos Injured During Phase 2
Tampa Bay Lightning insider Erik Erlendsson has revealed that Lightning star forward Steven Stamkos suffered an injury at some point during Phase 2 of the NHL’s Return to Play. He is now expected to miss the start of training camp. Joe Smith of The Athletic added that Stamkos is getting treatment and doing land work right now.
The injury is being described as a “lower-body injury” and there aren’t additional details regarding severity of it. Lightning general manager Julien Brisebois has however confirmed that Stamkos is still skating and should join the Lightning prior to the start of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
For now, the Lightning will bring Alex Barre-Boulet to training camp, which will have give the team 10 d-men, 18 forwards and four goalies.
Taylor Hall to Flames or Canadiens?
Among the few teams that will have some salary cap space and room to make a pitch to higher-end free agents is the Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Flames. Maybe for exclusively that reason, there are some connections being made to winger Taylor Hall.
NHL insider John Shannon stated, “I think there will be a small market and I think the two places that are obvious for Hall to go, other than staying in Arizona, would be Montreal and Calgary.”
Montreal could certainly use the extra scoring help and there was talk at the trade deadline the Flames would try and improve their scoring punch, with links to Tyler Toffoli. There’s also buzz that Calgary could be in for a shakeup if they have a poor playoff series. Perhaps Hall could trigger the start of that change.
Travis Hamonic Opts Out of Return to Play
Not helping the Flames play-in chances, defenseman Travis Hamonic has decided not to join the team for training camp that starts Monday or return for the play-in series against the Winnipeg Jets. He informed the team of his decision Friday.
“Earlier this evening Travis called me to inform us that he has decided to opt out of the NHL Return to Play Program,” Flames GM Brad Treliving said in a statement. “Travis explained that due to family considerations, he has made the difficult decision not to participate in the Stanley Cup Qualifier and Playoffs.”
Obviously, we wish the best for Hamonic and his family and there will be no punishment or consequence from the team or the league for choosing not to participate. What will be a question is how much this opens the door to other players opting out?
There was talk, just a couple of weeks ago, that a survey of players suggested as many as 75% of those eligible to return were uncomfortable doing so. Are more players going to take Hamonic’s lead and inform their teams of their desire to exclude themselves?
Could Canucks Trade Brock Boeser?
TSN 1040’s Rick Dhaliwal cites colleague Matt Sekeres saying he was told the Vancouver Canucks are exploring the possibility of trading Brock Boeser. Sekeres wasn’t suggesting Boeser is being shopped, instead, the Canucks are looking at ways to fit everyone into a flat salary cap and Boeser’s $6 million cap hit could be worrisome if the team wants to retain Tyler Toffoli.
If the Canucks can get a sold return for Boeser and keep Toffoli, there could be potential for a trade. The potential asking price would be a first-round pick and a good young defenseman.
The post NHL Rumors: Flames, Canadiens, Lightning, Canucks, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
By Jim Parsons on Jul 10, 2020 12:52 pm
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, the Dallas Stars are making front office changes, while the NHL changes rules about performance bonuses. There is news about ELC contracts being signed and those players being allowed to participate in training camp and there is buzz that the NHL is watching the Golden Knights ensuring they don’t take advantage of being exempt from the expansion draft.
Finally, what would a team need to send to Buffalo to pry Jack Eichel loose? One scribe provides a few scenarios.
Stars Change Management Team
According to Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas News, Brad Alberts will soon be installed as CEO and Team President of the Dallas Stars, replacing Jim but Lites who will transition to a chairman role. Per the team release on NHL.com, his new title will be Chairman of the Dallas Stars and Managing Director of Northland Properties Corporation, US Division.
Based on the move, it sounds like Lites is staying with the organization, just moving away from the hockey operations part of the business.
Change to Overage Bonuses
Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, there’s some good news for NHL clubs who have players who hit significant bonuses, bonuses that will affect their available salary cap for next season.
Teams who incur a Performance Bonus overage will be able to distribute the penalty evenly across each of the next two seasons. Friedman writes, “Very interesting: Clubs that have a Performance Bonus overage from this year will have the option to evenly distribute it between 2020-21 and 2021-22 (50% each season).”
It might not seem like much, but this will be helpful for teams that were going to be handcuffed thanks to bonuses and a flat cap. For a team like Boston, that means Zdeno Chara’s potential $1.75 million in performance bonuses could give the Bruins an extra $800K in cap this offseason. The Oilers can spread out potentially close to $2 million in Mike Smith bonuses, giving them an extra $800K to $1 million, and Dallas can spread out potentially $1.5 million for Corey Perry.
ELC Signings Can Take Part in Training Camp?
While it has been determined that unsigned players who sign entry-level deals in North America – Alex Romanov, Ilya Sorokin, Kirill Kaprizov, and others – can’t participate in 2019-2020 season, there is potentially still a bonus for signing them.
Per TSN’s Bob McKenzie, it’s still possible these players would be allowed to participate in Phase 3 training camp. This is a small consolation for teams like the Minnesota Wild who are seriously considering burning a year of Kiril Kaprizov’s ELC to get him comfortable with his new teammates. Any time spent with NHL players is valuable time.
Possible Returns in Trade For Sabres Jack Eichel
Saying he believes there’s “no way in hell” the Sabres will trade 23-year-old superstar Jack Eichel, Joe DiBiase of WGR550 decided to play along with the game of ‘What would it cost to acquire Eichel in a deal?’
DiBiase believes the asking price is a young No. 1 center and something of significance, which quickly eliminates 19 of the 31 NHL clubs since they don’t have the necessary components to make that trade. He does give a few examples of deals that could work, suggesting Calgary could move Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, and a first-round pick or the Edmonton Oilers could send Connor McDavid over. The New Jersey Devils could send Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and two first-round picks or the Toronto Maple Leafs could trade Auston Matthews and Rasmus Sandin.
The trade returns are outrageous, and likely a bit skewed in Buffalo’s favor but there’s an argument they’re probably also fair when you consider what Buffalo would be giving up.
Golden Knights Working With Teams Before Expansion Draft?
As per a report by Jesse Granger of The Athletic, the Vegas Golden Knights are being watched closely by the NHL because they are exempt from the Seattle expansion draft. Granger writes:
That means teams won’t be allowed to “park” players in Vegas and then trade for them back after the expansion draft is over. The NHL will be keeping a close eye on all transactions leading up to the expansion draft, especially those including the Golden Knights.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity for the Golden Knights to be smart around the expansion draft process. There will be teams willing to trade players in order to get something versus losing them in the expansion draft for nothing.
Interestingly, because teams can only protect one goaltender, this could be an opportunity for Vegas who may lose Robin Lehner in free agency (or give up on Marc-Andre Fleury in favor of Lehner).
The post NHL Rumors: Stars, Sabres, Performance Bonus Rule Changes, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
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