Sunday NHL Rumor Roundup – January 12, 2020
More speculation on the Canadiens, Rangers, Leafs, Golden Knights, Sharks, and Ducks in the Sunday NHL rumor roundup.
SHOULD THE CANADIENS SHOP PRICE AND WEBER?
LE JOURNAL DE MONTREAL: Michel Bergeron believes it’s time for the Montreal Canadiens to consider trading goaltender Carey Price and defenseman Shea Weber. Bergeron points to Price’s obvious frustration as the club continues to struggle on the ice. He points out Price and Weber aren’t getting any younger, suggesting management sit down with both players to find places where they’ll each have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. Price has a full no-movement clause, but Bergeron believes he could waive it to join a contender.
NEW YORK POST: Larry Brooks suggests the Carolina Hurricanes should at least look into acquiring Price or New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, though he doesn’t see any scenario where Lundqvist leaves New York. He doesn’t see the Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup with the tandem of Petr Mrazek and James Reimer.
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman reports Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin is expected to wait until the club’s pre-All Star break before meeting with his staff to determine their plans.
Should the Montreal Canadiens consider shopping Shea Weber? (Photo via NHL Images)
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I don’t see the Canadiens putting Price or Weber on the trade block unless they ask to be moved. Given their expensive contracts, however, I don’t believe those are moves that can be made during the season. Those types of deals tend to take place in the offseason when teams have more salary-cap room and more willingness to spend.
Even then, it won’t be easy to move either player. The Habs would probably have to absorb a portion of their annual average salary to facilitate a deal or take back an expensive contract in return.
RANGERS WILLING TO ENTERTAIN OFFERS FOR GEORGIEV
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman reports teams have been told the New York Rangers are willing to take calls on goaltender Alexandar Georgiev if what’s being offered impresses them. He believes the asking price could be a young NHL-ready forward or one who’s close to it.
NEW YORK POST: Larry Brooks wonders if the Tampa Bay Lightning might be interested in a package of Georgiev and Chris Kreider. The problem for the Rangers, however, is the Bolts would be reluctant to part with a meaningful player to add another. The Blueshirts could load up on draft picks, but that return isn’t likely to help them push for the playoffs over the next couple of years.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Until promising Igor Shesterkin made his recent impressive NHL debut, I didn’t see the Rangers moving Georgiev while they were in the chase for a wild-card spot. It appears their position has changed. If they get a return they like, Georgiev could be moved before the Feb. 24 trade deadline.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS IN THE MARKET FOR A DEFENSEMAN
THE ATHLETIC: Jesse Granger reports league sources are claiming the Vegas Golden Knights are shopping around for a top-four defenseman to take some pressure off Nate Schmidt and Shea Theodore. Given their limited salary-cap space, Granger believes it’ll have to be a dollar-for-dollar swap. He feels a deal could happen at any time between now and the Feb. 24 trade deadline.
Granger suggested the New York Rangers’ Anthony DeAngelo as one of the most attractive defensemen potentially available in the trade market. His puck-moving skills and low salary for this season ($925K) would make him a perfect fit. Another would be the New Jersey Devils’ Sami Vatanen, though his $4.875 million salary-cap hit and pending UFA status could rule him out.
Other sugessted options are Los Angeles’ Alex Martinez, San Jose’s Brenden Dillon, Chicago Erik Gustafsson, and Carolina’s Jake Gardiner.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Vegas’ cap limitations will force GM Kelly McCrimmon to get creative. He could be forced to ship out a decent salaried forward to bring in that top-four rearguard.
I’m surprised to see DeAngelo mentioned as a trade candidate. Granger believes his defensive play is why he could be available in the first place. His restricted free agent status with salary-arbitration rights could be another. The Rangers aren’t under any pressure to move DeAngelo now, but his situation could be worth monitoring in the coming weeks.
SHARKS, DUCKS COULD BE BUSY IN THE TRADE MARKET
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman reports the San Jose Sharks hope to contend next season if they fail to reach the playoffs this year. They don’t intend on moving any of their core players. They’re willing to talk about pending UFAs like defenseman Brenden Dillon and forward Melker Karlsson. Friedman said the Toronto Maple Leafs could be kicking the tires on Dillon.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Dillon’s annual average value is $3.27 million. The Leafs have over $1.3 million in projected trade-deadline cap space.
The Anaheim Ducks, meanwhile, have let it known they’re willing to use their salary-cap space to help other clubs with limited cap room. However, they’ll also want good, young assets as part of the return.
Vegas is 9th on Powerplay and 19th PK. Not sure ADA improves the PK situation but he would help their transition game on the 2nd or 3rd pairing
Staal in NY may help their PK BUT the West is all about speed and not sure he can keep pace. I couldn’t think of what dollar for dollar move can be made either but Staal is available.
Staal will get burned out West. Vegas can have Staal and or Smith. If the Rangers move Kreider,Fast etc they will need some NHL caliber forwards back if they move ADA
Nobody is taking Staal or Smith. Definitely not a contender. Neither of these guys make anything better, unless we’re talking from the opposition stand point.
Kreider is as good as gone imo. Ditto Georgiev. Unless they are blown away by an offer for Deangelo, they shouldn’t even consider trading him just yet.
Last year I would have sent him packing for a broken pair of 🤪🤪🤪Mike Rupps🤪🤪🤪 skates!
If this shows up twice , it’s because “I was posting too fast”.
The price of doing business with Godaddy based websites.
ADA is a dilemma but with Neils Lundqvist almost ready and K’Andre Miller also almost ready….perhaps get the most you can for ADA now too and then have massive cap space the following summer.
Almost ready for what? They’re both 19 years old and haven’t even signed a pro contract, never mind play a pro game.
I don’t know many 19-20 year old d-men coming into the nhl making any type of impact…. do you
Neither one of these guys are Nhl ready, and probably shouldn’t be forced or expected to fill the role Deangelo is playing today. Or any role….
Thinking more bottom pairing with Hajek
as Fox & Lindgren become the 2nd pairing.
Not saying ideal but an option to consider.
Lots of $ & cap to figure out for NY.
I think it’s a bit premature to be rushing either one of these guys into the NHL next year in any role. 19-20 is just too young. Neither have played a pro game. Doubtful either is anywhere near nhl ready.
Let them develop like they should. A year or 2 in Hartford before even thinking about playing in NY.
I don’t think these are valid options. A better option is letting Deangelo hit arbitration, take the one year settlement. Let Staal, Lundqvist, Smith expire, and figure out if Deangelo is in the long term plan, or not next year.
Shero needs to do a lot to rebuild his floundering team, he should be active in all trade rumors whether is be players or taking on a salary dump. Otherwise the seat gets a little hotter….
Well, it got hotter obviously….
Price should want to head to the warm & sunny coast of Cali.
to SJ: Price ($1m retained)
to MTL: Dillon & Jones
nothing to lose really by either club.
This looks as awful today as it did yesterday. Maybe try it again tomorrow?
Price to Carolina …how could they fit that salary even if Reimer goes back the other way.
Weber to Vegas would change HowTheWestWasWon
And why would they do it even if they could? Price played a great game last night but his stats the past two years say clearly he is not the goalie he once was.
Weber to Vegas would be good for Vegas but the Habs simply must make the playoffs next year or even the most patient Habs fans will storm the Bell Center. They need to hold on to Weber one more year.
I could see Habs wanting to go out west, but not to a non-playoff team. If he waves his NMC, it’s to go to a contender
(which, as noted, may not even be possible, as there might be none who are a good trade fit)
The buyout of Shattenkirk really hampered the flexibility for the NYR in getting ADA signed to a more term friendly deal. They got the $ they needed because of the buyout but now so many issues.
Rangers should call up Anaheim (since they are willing to listen) and ask what they want to take Staal, Smith or both offf their hands to help alleviate their cap situation in order to sign Strome, ADA, and possibly even Kreider.
Bruins McAvoy had one of his better games of the year last night, his all around play ROS will determine whether the Bruins will sign Krug to a multi year $7+ million per year contract …..
I love the idea of Lundqvist in Carolina. Every time he plays there he shuts them out and makes like 143,247 saves. Imagine a Storm surge where he goes and sits in a barber chair at center ice and the rest of the team coiffs his hair while they play Brass Bonanza in the background! Seriously, I think Bettman needs to mandate this trade happens, screw his NMV.
Ha
Brass Bonanza is fantastic. A host on TSN 1260 here in Edmonton plays when they come back from commercial every Friday PM. Positive Fridays.
Michel Bergeron should not quit his day job!!!!!
Saturday night without the Leafs is the loneliest night of the week….
Probably could have done without a Sunday night game as well, hey BC?
Carey Price at ten million per season isnt going anywhere. Only a “contender” with cap space and a need to “upgrade” in goal would even consider such a deal.
Which top tier team needs Price? Boston? Tampa Bay? Toronto? St Louis? Washington? Vegas? Only two I can see Price being an upgrade for is Calgary, Dallas or Colorado. Flames and Stars lack the $$ to do it and Price isnt much of an upgrade if at all for the Avalanche.
Bergevin made his bed, now he has to sleep in it at least until he gets fired. Which should have happened ages ago.
Weber may have trade value and be moveable but Price isnt going anywhere.
Bergevin isn’t going to be fired, nor should he be.
He has brought in good players (Petry, Domi, Tatar, Danault), landed Armia and Chiarot via free agency and tried to get Duchene and Aho to come to Montreal. Not his fault they didn’t land.
There are good young players on the roster now, and more coming up. Missing the playoffs last year given their point total was an anomaly, and injuries this year will do them in.
you can not be serious Bergevin has had 7 years as gm . the team still does not have a true number 1 or 2 center on the team or in the pipeline . besides weber there is no true top four dman on the team or in the pipeline and the have ten players under 6 feet tall . these are all problems the team had 7 yrs ago and have not changed 7 yrs later in fact the defence has regressed by far .
George,
Totally agree.
George: Are you serious that Petry is not a top 4 D? No way he is a 5-6.
I agree with the earlier post that Price can not be traded and that Weber would get looks if he hit the block. He is still a top D and could be a key piece for a contender. Obviously some cap gymnastics would have to be done but not anything un-imaginably/never done before sort.
About a month ago someone here (can’t remember who) was trying to convince me (or himself) that of Price were to become available, 30 teams would come not only looking… but ready to throw the kitchen sink to get him.
Reality, I don’t see one team in the nhl taking on that contract without Montreal taking 2 horrible contracts in return. The reason I say 2 in return is because there isn’t one single contract in the NHL as horrible as that Price deal! Lucic looks like a bargain next to that deal!
My guess is simply this: If Price is to be traded, it’ll be to VAN to be closer to “home”.
I don’t even want to imagine the pieces involved.
Just a hunch.
Who would want Carey Price at $10 million? Maybe 3 years ago when he was on top…not now
He isn’t elite anymore at least not like he used to be…still good
Wouldn’t mind seeing Toffoli to the Bruins along with Kyle Clifford…..upgrade scoring depth and take pressure off Chara to play Cop ….
Yeah, I’d take both of em.
I’ve been catching up on the Kings games and Tyler Toffoli.
Clifford wont hurt, he’s pretty responsible, plus he has snarl.
Toffoli plays the right way, yet has no term on his contract.
Not sure what the cost involved would be, though.
Rumor – Penguins/Wild trade , Blugstad for Zucker.
Terrible trade for Minny.
I think Billy G is more astute than that.
The smart GM will pull the trigger on an earlier deal. Get it done in January or early Feb. Kreider will stay in the east .
i would go hard after a player like Palmieri and he would look good on the Flames (and a number of teams.) Bennett , a second next and third the following . Throw in Jankowski if you have to and the Devils could push in Wood.
This is probably too late in the day for anyone to read, but no way Palmieri is enough for Calgary to give up Bennett PLUS two picks. I know he hasn’t blown anyone away so far in his career, but I wouldn’t even trade Bennett for Palmieri, 1-for-1. Palmieri is too old and the Flames’ core too uncertain, if Calgary ends up having to retool in a year or two due to lack of progress, Palmieri being here will do nothing. Bennett still might.
I think the Habs should be patient. They have 11 picks in this years draft, maybe they can tank and hope the lottery balls fall in their favour for Alexis Lafreniere.
To make a big splash at the deadline will only cement them into the mushy middle, unless they get a another lottery pick next year for Weber.
To build a championship team you have to do it through the draft, AND you have to be lucky the draft year includes a generational player or a lot of high end players.
A lot of people poke fun at the Oilers when they were winning the lottery and picking first in 2011 and 2012 but those draft years were terrible in terms of talent. I would say they were some of the weakest drafts on record. Fast forward to 2015 and 2016 which were very strong draft classes.
I would say only the scouting staff of each team really know for sure if the upcoming draft class will be good or bad, but if it is strong the Habs are in a good position.
FlameFan, from what I have read/heard, the top 6 in the 2020 draft are really good. Also pretty deep in the top 15. So supposed to be an excellent draft class.
It is a fact that Price’s contract is a disaster; however, given a solid defense in front of him, I have no doubt he’d still show pretty good numbers. The man is obviously tired of the lousy team he’s playing for; witholding, may be three million, there has to be a taker, somewhere ?
And, yes, Weber to Vegas would make’em hard to beat. No clue how the money could work, though.
Habs have been in the dirty middle for too long. Real fans, if they were plainly told the team is rebuilding, would cope with a few more years of misery.
The oldest guy I’d keep would be Gallagher (he’s 27). Which means that Price, Weber, Petry and Tatar would go. Hopefully, get a first, for each.
Get what we can (if anything) for Kovalchuk, Scandella, Thompson, etc. With a little luck on lottery day (hockey gods, remember, we’re MONTREAL !), and Romanov, Jordan Harris, Caufield, Norlinder, Oloffson,Kotkaniemi, Suzuki, Primeau, etc. already in the pipeline, we could seriously contend, in a few years.
How dare you be reasonable! 😆
exactly lol—montreal its fine—stay a middle of the pack junker with no direction —its ok lol
They’re not far off.
I wonder if Chicago would do:
To CHI: Carey Price,Con 1st 2021
To MTL: Jonathan Toews, Robin Lehner
Then Maybe:
To WPG: Shea Weber, Max Domi
To MTL: Patrick Laine
To EDM: Ilya Kovalchuk, Thomas Tatar, MTL’s 2nd 2020
To MTL: Jesse Puljuujarvi, Sam Gagner, Alex Chiasson
No. No they wouldn’t do any of that.
BCLeaf fan Toronto may not have played Saturday but they are playing Sunday