Updates on the Jets, Devils, Penguins, Oilers, Wild and Hurricanes in your latest edition of the NHL Rumor Mill.
Latest Winnipeg Jets speculation.
Could Winnipeg Jets defenseman Tobias Enstrom become a trade candidate this summer?
WINNIPEG SUN/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS: Ken Wiebe breaks downs which Winnipeg Jets’ free agents could be re-signed and those who won’t. Those who could return include Drew Stafford, Ben Chiarot, Paul Postma, Lee Stempniak and Anthony Peluso. Those who could move on include Michael Frolik, Jim Slater, Adam Pardy, Jiri Tlusty, Matt Halischuk and Keaton Ellerby.
Ed Tait observes the Jets must decide if they’ll re-sign Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglin (both eligible in 2016 for UFA status) to contract extensions this summer. Tait also wonders if defenseman Tobias Enstrom, slated to earn $5.75 million next season and carrying a no-trade clause, might become a trade candidate.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Of the Jets’ unrestricted free agents, re-signing Stafford is a priority. He quickly fit in well with the Jets after joining them in mid-February in the Evander Kane trade. It could cost upwards of $5 million per season on a four-year deal to re-sign Stafford but he could be worth every penny. If Ladd and Byfuglien wish to stay for a reasonable price they should be re-signed this summer, so as to avoid speculation over their future becoming unnecessary distractions next season. Otherwise, peddle them this summer for the best return you can get. The Jets defense played well in Enstrom’s absence to injury, and given the depth in quality blueliners in their system they can afford to shop him.
Latest Penguins, Stars and Wild speculation.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Jim Matheson believes the Pittsburgh Penguins should entertain offers for Evgeni Malkin this summer if they hope to address their crumbling roster…He also feels the Dallas Stars could shop struggling starting goalie Kari Lehtonen to middle-of-the-road teams desperate for goaltending, like Edmonton or Buffalo, this summer… Matheson thinks the Oilers should keep an eye on Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who could become expendable with the rise of blueliner Matt Dumba. He has a year remaining on his contract worth an annual cap hit of over $2.6 million and is an RFA next summer. The Carolina Hurricanes could also have interest…The Oilers want to re-sign pending UFA center Derek Roy, but he won’t get more than a one-year contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Latest I read out of Pittsburgh claimed the organization has no intention of trading Malkin, who also has a full no-movement clause. Unless he wants out, they won’t move him…Lehtonen has three more years at $5.9 million annually left on his contract, plus he has a modified no-trade clause. Unless the Stars agree to pick up part of his salary and provided he’ll accept a trade, I doubt the Sabres or Oilers could have serious interest in him…The Wild could move Spurgeon for a draft pick in order to free up some cap space for futures signings. Could be worth keeping an eye on his status…If the Oilers want to re-sign Roy, he should take whatever they’re offering. At this stage in his career, he’s not going to get much better on the open market. Take a one-year deal and work on rebuilding your value for next summer’s UFA market.
Latest on the Devils.
NJ.COM/NORTHJERSEY.COM: Rich Chere reports New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello recently said he hasn’t reached a decision yet on re-signing team captain Bryce Salvador, who missed most of this season to nerve damage in his right leg. Lamoriello also declined to say if he’s started his coaching search. Tom Gulitti notes the Devils could get a good player with the sixth-overall pick in this year’s draft, but Lamoriello hasn’t ruled out shopping the pick for a player to help the club right away. With several clubs facing a cap crunch this summer, the Devils GM could shop the pick to one of them for a skilled young player.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I doubt the Devils re-sign Salvador, whose playing days are likely over. I also expect Lamoriello will peddle that pick to clubs like Chicago, Vancouver and Los Angeles, who must shed salary this summer if they hope to retain some key players.
Said it the other day and I will say it again (also saw the rumor in NJ hackey column) that the Devils have interest in Kessel. The number 6 pick straight up for Kessel is a steal, even at his current cap hit. Kovalchuk learned to play a better 2 way game in Jersey, so there is potential that they could take a swing at Kessel. If Toronto has to take a bad contract back in return (Clowe or Zajac) then so be it. They need NHL ready players to fill out the roster anyways.
Agree that the 6th pick for Kessel would a steal for NJ as he’s an established player and the 6th pick is just that…a pick. No way I would take a bad contract back for Kessel in that scenario unless leafs get a prospect back as well as the 6th.
no way kessel gets the 6th pick is too one dimensional
Wow…I think it is you who is to one dimensional
lol its an opinion
I confess that the thing I was most wrong about going into the salary cap era was Lou Lam. With his long-term drafting record, I expected NJ to be one of the top teams of the cap era. Other than their trip to the finals in 2012, they and Lou have been tremendously disappointing.
Second point, is whether the Pens regret firing Shero last summer and replacing him with Rutherford? I agree that their roster is crumbling. Hopefully, Boston doesn’t regret firing Chiarelli, although I think it was the right move, as most of his moves since the Cup have been poor. He has sold low and bought high for the most part. Good luck to him in his next job. Both Shero and Chiarelli won cups and then were fired 4 years later in each case, IIRC.
This is kinda the thing with my point of view with Chiarelli. No doubt he took a club in Boston and made it back in to the storied franchise it once was but, there is this thing that it seems lots of people think it was all him, Chara and Rask were both there before him, Gorton was the acting GM who brought them in, the Kessel trade, debatable (imo) Seguin horrible deal dont like the Lucic deal, (dont hate it either) Boychuck no firstround pick….there were some mighty big bumbs along that road and now you hear people complaining that Chara, is signed to far beyond his best before date….I think he hired a verygood scouting staff and coach, he had a vision and stuck with it, which he deserves a tone of credit for but, to me he kinda resembles a guy like Tallon that tho good, definitely has a shelf life in an organization as opposed to a guy like Holland. Not a knock at all on Chiarelli, there is only 1 Holland, just seems sometimes guys careers with a team get kinda stretched in to legendary type proportion, ignoring some of the things that happened in it.
Chiarelli was hired on May 26th 2006. Chara was signed on July 1st 2006. Rask was traded for on June 24, 2006. Boston received 2 2nds & a 3rd for Boychuk.
Gorton was acting GM, until july 15 2006.
Jeff Gorton
Gorton has served as assistant GM of the New York Rangers for nine years, and is said to be heir apparent to the GM job after Glen Sather retires. Gorton, 45, started as a Bruins P.R. assistant in 1992 and became assistant GM under Mike O’Connell. He held the title of interim GM for three months in 2006 upon O’Connell’s dismissal. While in that role — with Peter Chiarelli not yet on the job — Gorton signed free agents Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard, and dealt goalie Andrew Raycroft to Toronto for prospect Tuukka Rask.
From the Boston Herald…
That means your implying that Chiarelli had no input into those player personal decisions prior to the NHL determining the compensation that Boston had to pay Ottawa for hiring Chiarelli?
Im not implying anything, Chiarelli could have steered some of those decisions, sure but he wasnt the GM and as far as trade talks between the Leafs and Bruins go with Raycroft and Rask chances are with the length 8f time it takes to put trades together it started before Chiarelli. Again I am not knocking Chiarelli, he did a good job and won a cup, just seems some think it was all his doing and I am not sure thats true. He did some good things and made some big errors.
Chiarelli “brought” Chara with him to Boston from Ottawa as that move was already in the works when Muckler opted for Redden.
Chairelli brought Chara and made him Captain. Doesn’t matter who was still in the seat at the time. You can’t convince me that Chairelli’s and Chara’s relationship on Ottawa did not influence Chara’s choice.
Chairelli then got Savard shortly after. A great move but floundered due to Savards injury. Despite that he continued to bring in other players to make this team a contender and ultimately win the cup.
The fact that people think that after winning a championship that it is easy to keep the players together under a salary cap is ludicrous. Chairelli did a great job and now Edmonton is going to be the beneficiaries of his good work.
Jeff there is more to the Bruins than Chara….., Krejci Bergeron, Rask Thomas Lucic Marchand…all there before Chiarelli, again he brought in a great coach and scouting team that put the finnishing touches on the blueline made some smart moves,and stuck with alot of these guys resigning them, but also dealt away away some young guys before he should have, a few other stinker kinda realy nothing deals and stuck the Bruins with an aging high priced core, Iginla pretty much cost him Boychuck, and those picks netted Connoly so the jury is
out on that one but, so far that doesnt look great either.
He did a good job won a cup he is a good gm…, is he some legendary gm like some seem to make him out to be that completely rebuilt a franchise by himself? Not so sure about that.
“middle-of-the-road teams desperate for goaltending, like Edmonton or Buffalo”. If Mathewson thinks Edmonton and Buffalo are middle-of-the-road teams when they finished 28th and 30th in a 30 team league, I wonder who he thinks are the crappy teams?
I’m no Matheson fan but middle of the road is a figure of speech & really meaningless. Buffalo played the entire season to finish 30th. Edmonton is, well Edmonton, a team with 2, maybe 3 NHL caliber Dman & bottom 6 at that. Even Schultz is really only a 1 dimensional offensive Dman that on most team would be a #3 at best. I think when evaluating teams we look a few years into the past & a few teams into the future to try & speculate where they might finish next season. Maybe that was Matheson’s thoughts.
I see Edmonton as the 10th or 11th best team in the west next season & if they could some how find a decent #1 or 2 Dman & a decent goalie, they could truly battle for a playoff spot but miss in the end. As for Buffalo. They are going to be bad for sometime but I doubt we see again from them what we saw this season. That being 1 of the worst teams in the history of the NHL. With the new weighting in the draft the odds don’t favor the last place team like they have in the past come draft lottery day. I’m no rocket scientist but under the new format there is an 80% chance you lose the lottery & those are great odds of not getting the pick so why play for it.
I think by ”middle of the road” he meant cap space wise, not their records last season
Ottawa would not let Chiarelli go to Boston until mid-July and they CERTAINLY did not him taking his draft list to the Broons’ table at the entry draft.
Certainly, Chara and Mark Savard knew that Chia was the new GM when they signed with the Broons on July 1.
However, Chia was NOT the GM on July 1, he did NOT trade for Rask and Chia did NOT run the Broons’ draft which netted them Kessel, Lucic, and Marchand in the first 3 rounds.
Chia did a lot of good things to get Boston the cup team; all 6 dmen were his acquisitions, and he traded for Nathan Horton, who scored two winners in Game 7s that spring (not too shabby). He also for Recchi was a great leader on that team.
Exactly, I guess thats what I was trying to say.
Peter Chairelli now in Edmonton; could be kind of ironic that the guy who got Boston into salary cap issues, could be the same guy who signs Dougie Hamilton to an offer sheet.
Chairelli is the GM let the Lucic to Edmonton rumours fly free!!!!!
I think Spurgeon would be a great target by any team in need of what appears to be a solid #3 if not #2 Dman. He’s a smurf at 5’9″ & 176 lbs but he just keeps getting better & better. He has 295 games of NHL regular season experience so 105 games from being the player he will eventually be.
Minnesota has 60.537 mil committed to 16 players next season & need to re sign RFA’s Granlund, Haula & Folin & UFA Dubnyk. Other UFA’s of some significance to their roster are Brodziak & Stewart who I assume will have to be let go. Granlund is due for a fairly significant raise, in or around 3 to 4.5 depending upon term. Bridge deal, 2 years 3 mil, 4 or more years pushing 4.5 to 5.
Even if they were to buy out Backstrom’s final year at 4 mil so 2.6664 spread over 2 years for a cap hit of 1.3332 saving 2.6668 against the cap next year they need to start to make some hard choices. Spurgeon, Dumba & Zucker are all up as RFa’s & Cooke & Fontaine as UFA’s in the summer of 2016 the year after next & resigning Dubnyk will cost in access of 3 mil +. That has Granlund & Dubnyk eating up over 1/2 Minny’s cap space if the cap comes in at 72 mil, slightly less in Backstrom is bought out.
Minny could probably make the money work next season keeping Spurgeon & depending upon the cap moving forward may be able to make it work long term buts it’s tight. In Suter, Brodin, Scandella & Dumba they look to be in a position to afford to be able to cut Spurgeon lose but I don’t see it happening solely for a pick unless it’s at least a 1st & even then they may want a prospect as well depending upon how high the 1st is. Spurgeon flys under the radar but is a solid up & coming Dman that if not for Suter getting all the PP time would have way more points.
Minny had the 27th worst PP in the league & Spurgeon played on the 2nd unit seeing 1:48 PP TOI less than Suter. He scored 9 goals in 66 games, 3 on the PP. On another team with better quality PP time his production jumps significantly. He & Ellis in Nashville are 2 young Dman I would be all over as an NHL GM. They are just scratching the surface of their potential & could be had a discount to their piers.
The most interesting thing to come out of New Jersey this summer, besides the smell, will be the status of Ilya Kovalchuk.
And which one of the Senators Goalies gets moved.
Anderson – true number one, pretty cap friendly contract, somewhat injury prone
Robin Lehner – probably got the contract he has a season or two early. Severely concussed, still needs seasoning in the minors but probably going to be a number 1 some day.
Andrew Hammond – ufa and who the hell knows. Is he legit? Flash in the pan? Will the Sens try and keep him? Should they?
I’m a big fan of Hammond as a person and I give big props to what he accomplished this season. That said, IMHO Hammond lacks a lot of the sound fundamentals that make up todays repetitive, “playing the odds”, robot goaltenders. Very few goaltenders succeed with the looser goalie style of Hammonds in which he’s using hockey sense and reading plays a lot. Those traits seem connected to hot streaks more than anything. Modern goalies play the percentages and rely on repetitive fundamentals, depending a lot on team defense and oversized equipment. I don’t see Hammond have a very sound goaltending technique to fall back on. He’s athletic but exposes room to score from angles that should be closed. He’s probably no Hasek, or Thomas type that reads plays like no other and compensate that way. As a no1 Hammond would be exposed after a while.
Someone should take a chance on Lehner. He’s 23. That’s a very interesting age for a goaltender with his pedigree and size.
I am not an Oiler fan-in fact the exact opposite. But the Chiarelli hire is a positive. He brings in some fresh outside blood, that is badly overdue. Nicholson is finally making those bold moves that Mac T promised years ago.
The you started on part of the truth of entertaining offers on Malkin. The other part is lack of trade partners, even if he wishes to move to another team the facts are there are very few teams with the assets to be able to pull of that trade little less use those assets to make that trade. The horrible deal that sent Jagr to Washington weights heavy over the penguins and they can’t pull the same half hazzard deal if they wish to keep the fans happy. Plus the high asking and payed prices on players this last deadline also doesn’t make trading Malkin a likely venture. Heck the kane trade is only a starting point plus it would have to be a bad contract with Malkin to weigh down the value on Malkin being traded. The pens only have really two bad contracts on the book and one has a year left and the other has two. So that being said I agree a trade of Malkin or Crosby is highly unlikely.
What bad contracts do the Pens have?
Teams will always make room and sacrifices for players like Malkin. They will gut their teams and rebuild around him at 27 he is in his prime and will be so for as long as the next 4-5 years.
I look at the Pens salary numbers and don’t seen any bad contracts ….
Kris Letang. Between health, injury and overall defensive play his contract is brutal. He is the 4th highest paid d-man in the league. And far from the 4th best d-man in the league.
His cap hit is 7.25mill so maybe he is over paid by about 1million. But when he signed that contract he was considered one of the top point producing Dmen in the league. Then he had a stroke and some other injuries and then his contract became a problem. Im sure you will be overpaid after your stroke and concussions too.
He signed that deal July 2nd 2013. The year prior he missed 31 games and the year he signed the deal had missed 13 games in a shortened season. No question he is one of the top point producers among d-men. But his defensive game is and always has been questionable.And the injury problem started before his health concerns. Either way, you asked “what bad contracts do they have?” Letang is without question a bad contract.
You sure can work the google … So just so I am clear the guys that work in hockey and that are paid to make decisions deemed the injuries he had before the contract was signed to not be significant enough to not sign him but you with a google search have determined Kris Letang to be overpaid by looking at one factor.
How many defensemen were available that year?
What was the going rate for players like him at that time?
What were the projections of the salary cap?
The list goes on of factors of why he is paid like he is. Either way as I stated earlier he is maybe over paid by 1 million max.
So back to the original post if Letang is one contract (Which he never mention because apparently one of these contracts has a year left and the other one has two) who are the two Pens with bad contracts?
So you’re saying overpay an injured guy because there are no better options? This place is a little weird……If Lupul comes up people kill his contract because of his injury history, but Letang is only overpaid by 1 million playing 60-70% or less of the last 4 years? Phaneuf has similar production, and that guy gets slaughtered on here daily.
If one factor is injury problems, that should be enough. It’s not like Pittsburgh cannot score from upfront and settle on a more defensively sound, cheaper alternative than Letang. You can say “No thanks, and good luck.”
When Sather signed Redden, I didn’t or don’t excuse it for the lack of better options that weren’t there.
Scuderi is making 4.0 not a great contract. …..
The only thing I “google searched” was when he signed the deal…..Other than that everything else was pretty obvious. This isn’t the first time I’ve have this conversation about Letang over the last 2 years.
Personally I dont like the Maf contract either…not even a little bit (could be just a goalie thing tho I admit) Didnt when he signed the extension even less now. Scuderri is a terrible contract aswell I would add…still almost if not every team has a few bad deals. Not saying they are alone with some “iffy” contracts
Great day for Oiler fans. An experienced executive with a hockey knowledge took a year to evaluate the organization and make the changes. We will see how the inexperienced Shanahan does with the same task.
What NHL job has Nicholson ever had? lol, I would say a guy who played in the league for nearly 20 years and found a competion committee worked for the league is kind of just experienced as a guy who spent his whole life in amature hockey, and yes Hockey Canada is considered amature hockey…not saying Nicholson wont be or isnt a great guy but please stop with everyone has more experience than Shanahan, its absurd… would you say Dubas or Hunter are experienced Hockey executives? They had sucsess in amature hockey aswell and Mark Hunter has NHL experience as a player. Linden Sakic Neely…there are other presidents and former players who have little to no real experiencein the NHL that never
or had an NHL job before becoming presidents of NHL teams.
Folks that’s what is called leaf bias!
lol how? 2 weeks ago you and jello were both carrying on about the lack of NHL experience the Leafs have, spouting off about Jr hockey is not the NHL, its almost been a year and Shanny hasnt done anything…now today Nicholson who is a guy who spent his career in amature hockey is a hockey wise executive who took his time, to evaluate the situation?…who’s bias?
Again there are other teams like the Sharks Bruins Avs
Canucks Canes…that have former players running them
that have little executive type experience, and there are
other teams with guys that got GM jobs after working in
other capacities for the NHL…Shanny has done both
player 2 time cup winner, played for some very good
organizations with great leaders like Holland Sather
Lamarello, had a job as head of the competition
committee ran player safety, where he dealt with GMs on
a daily basis…so he has seen great players dealt with
rules discipline, has established relationships around the
league….ya total lack of experience, question for ya what
do you think team presidents do exactly? lol
I am not saying he is the guy who is going to turn it all around, only time will tell that but its absurd the way some seem go out of their way with hypocritical “opinions” when it comes to the Leafs and their fans.
Nicholson has experience as executive running a organization. Chirieli has experience as an nhl GM. Shanahan has neither.
Pretty sure any GM could build a good team in Edmonton with the amount of pieces they have. Should be a contender for next 10 years.
You’re only a true contender for maybe a 3-7 year period in todays NHL (even if you make the post season every year). You’d better win then. This is why its hard to fault Bowman, Lombardi, Chiarelli and so forth, because they did win in a short window of opportunity, even though they left their teams in disarray after it.
Not Malkin..trade Sid
To Edmonton-Sid, Kunitz, and Tristen Jarry and Scott Harrington
To PIttsburgh- # 1 overall pick
No way. Don’t even try. Sid is too tied in to the success of Penguins commercial ventures. He will retire a penguin because of a combination of sports and business. Everybody else could move though.
Chara left because of the sign-n-swap hatchet job Muckler did on fellow countrymen Hossa.
Highlight of my playoff weekend was hearing Grapes call Islanders’ Coach Jack Cappuano “jack cappuccino” like 4 times.