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NHL Rumors Update
NHL Rumors Update for 06/17/2020
The latest NHL rumors from The Hockey Writers.
06/17/2020 edition:
By Jim Parsons on Jun 16, 2020 02:15 pm
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, as the Buffalo Sabres announced the firing of GM Jason Botterill and then the hiring of Kevyn Adams as his replacement, the question being asked is, ‘Why hire a new GM so quickly?’ The Vegas Golden Knights have extended Ryan Reaves but why did he take such a big pay cut? Will Vancouver Canucks’ Loui Eriksson retire? And, is there any chance Tyler Bozak returns to the Toronto Maple Leafs?
Sabres Clean House, More Changes Coming
One month after announcing his job was safe, then announcing the release of the GM and both assistant GM’s, it became clear the Buffalo Sabres were cleaning house. What changed ownership’s mind and why the rush to hire another GM so quickly? It seems hurried considering Botterill’s name was still on press releases for signings by the organization fewer than 24 hours ago.
For the Sabres organization, there’s no draft, likely no trades (technically they can) and no return to play, so the team could have taken their time with any new hire. Instead of conducting an exhaustive search for the perfect candidate, they named a replacement immediately.
Ownerships response is that they felt they had the right guy in-house. On Adams’ promotion, the Pegula’s said:
New General Manager Kevyn Adams and Head Coach Ralph Krueger already have a close working relationship and we are excited to see what they can do together as we reconfigure our hockey operations…We have had the pleasure of watching Kevyn build his post-playing career over the past nine years under multiple roles throughout our organizations. We are confident Kevyn and Ralph will work together to build a consistent contender. As always, we are here to provide the necessary resources…”
Let’s hope the Sabres are correct because with their quick decisions to hire and fire management, they are now paying three GM’s instead of just one. Pegula said, “We’ve known Kevyn for nine years … This wasn’t some scattershot decision we made.”
Still, during their media Zoom call to introduce Adams, the Pegula’s spent a lot of time trying to explain their decision. Elliotte Friedman said the changes might not be done yet either. He noted, “More changes are coming in BUF. I believe several members of hockey operations are being let go.”
Reaves Re-Signs, Takes Huge Paycut
In big news yesterday, the Vegas Golden Knights re-signed forward Ryan Reaves to a two-year extension. The deal is worth worth $1.75 million per season, which is actually a pay cut over last season by a significant margin.
While this could be a sign that less-skilled forwards will be losing money over the next two seasons, Reaves posted his excitement about the deal. Without directly addressing his salary, he somewhat tried to explain his decision in that he wants a chance to win a Stanley Cup and that knowing he’ll never win a scoring title, he can’t win the trophy without a contract.
Jets Goaltending Situation Gets Interesting
After the Winnipeg Jets signed prospect Kristian Reichel to an entry-level deal, the team signed goaltender Arvid Holm to three-year, entry-level contract as well.
The Jets goaltending situation is interesting because the team has Eric Comrie and Mikhail Berdin under contract, while Laurent Brossoit is slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Does that mean Brossoit is going to walk and that the Jets may be looking for a backup behind Connor Hellebuyck.
Vancouver Canucks Updates
Iain MacIntyre was asked in a recent Sportsnet mailbag segment if Loui Eriksson might retire after this season. MacIntyre said he can’t imagine why since Eriksson is owed $5 million over the next two seasons plus a $3 million bonus this summer. Even if the two sides agree to mutually terminate the contract, he’ll wait for that bonus to be paid out.
As for Tyler Toffoli, MacIntyre believes the forward coul dhave landed a five-year deal worth an annual average value of around $5 million when the cap was projected to rise to between $84 million and $88 million. Now, there are questions about whether or not that’s possible and if Toffoli will test free agency.
Related: Top 15 NHL Power Forwards
Will The Maple Leafs Bring Back Bozak?
Luke Fox was asked if the Toronto Maple Leafs might bring back Tyler Bozak seeing as how the St. Louis Blues need to shed salary to make room for defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. There are rumors the St. Louis Blues have put Bozak on the trade block.
Bozak has a year remaining on his contract at $5 million so the Leafs don’t have room to bring Bozak back. Fox adds, when you consider his age, declining production, and cap hit, it simply doesn’t make sense.
In other Toronto-related news, Steve Simmons is reporting that Toronto is the choice the NHL would want if there was a Canadian hub city allowed. This comes after news that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he’s open to allowing a Canadian city to serve as a hub city if local health authories gave the go-ahead.
It might be too soon to rule out other cities like Edmonton and Vancouver. Both made strong cases for consideration.
The post NHL Rumors: Sabres, Golden Knights, Canucks, Maple Leafs, More appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
By Jim Parsons on Jun 15, 2020 01:45 pm
In today’s NHL rumors, there is more news as it pertains to a possible return of Jesse Puljujarvi to the Edmonton Oilers. Plus, will the team sign Mike Green for another season? And, in Dallas, it appears Roman Polak just publicly removed himself from the NHL and competing with the Stars going forward.
Update on Puljujarvi and the Oilers
Kurt Leavins of The Edmonton Journal has more information on reports out of Finland that Jesse Puljujarvi might have had a change of heart about returning to the Oilers.
Leavins writes:
I am made to understand that while NHL clubs kicked a tire here and hummed and hawed there the Oilers never heard anything approaching an offer equal to fair market value.
He also believes the 22-year-old forward may have realized he got bad advice trying to leverage the Oilers and force a trade.
Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Sun digs deeper into what a deal might look like to bring Puljuarvi back and says he wouldn’t be making a lot.
Matheson writes:
If he wants to come back to the Oilers for the 2020-21 season, he will be playing for $874,000 on a one-year qualifying offer, which is a five per cent bump off his $832,000 base salary. He might have made $350,000 in Karpat with a heavy tax rate.
At this point, it seems Puljujarvi might be looking at how he got to this point and what kind of situation he’s put himself in, at least when it comes to an NHL return. The Oilers are firmly in the drivers seat now and Puljujarvi could be a cost-effective addition to the bottom six forward group.
In other Oilers news, Dmitri Samorukov’s departure is potentially a sign that the Oilers intend on trying to re-sign veteran defenseman Mike Green for another year.
Roman Polak Might Be Done With Dallas Stars
According to Sean Shapiro of The Athletic, defenseman Roman Polak is done in the NHL. Saying he’d prefer not to even return to the Dallas Stars for the remainder of this season, he’s signed in another league.
Shapiro writes:
The Dallas Stars defenseman has signed a three-year contract with HC Vitkovice in the Czech Republic, set to begin during the 2020-21 season. The deal, which was announced on Monday morning, includes the caveat that he’ll be able to finish his current NHL contract before joining the Czech team.
Polak, however, has made it known he would prefer to not return to Dallas for the scheduled NHL training camp that would open on July 10 as part of Phase 3.
Reports are Polak told iSport.cz that if he “really had to finish the NHL, I would go. But I will do everything to make it unnecessary. I will definitely be here next season.”
GM Jim Nill said he has no idea where Polak’s decision is coming from but it sounds as though he was unhappy with the playing time and deployment this past season. He said, “Sometimes, I was sitting on the bench asking myself, ‘What am I doing here? I don’t want to be here.’”
It will be interesting to see if the Stars and Polak agree to terminate the remainder of his deal, which would potentially forfeit the final cheque owing.
Polak is also concerned about coming back and risking injury. Quotes from translations from @JVitek94 read, “I can’t imagine playing games after just three weeks of practicing on the ice. I need two month to prepare, othewise there is a risk of an injury.”
The post NHL Rumors: Oilers News, Plus Stars Potentially Lose Polak appeared first on The Hockey Writers.
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