Latest on the Oilers, Flyers, Blue Jackets and Devils.
Are any of the Kings UFAs of interest to the Oilers?
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Jonathan Willis wonders if any of the Los Angeles Kings’ current crop of unrestricted free agents might interest the Edmonton Oilers this summer. He notes former Oiler Jarret Stoll’s offensive game has dried up while there’s little need to add a right winger like Justin Williams. Andrej Sekera is among this summer’s best available blueline options while Jamie McBain could be an affordable third-pairing defense option.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The better question is, would any of the Kings’ pending UFAs consider signing with a club as poorly managed as the Oilers?
Flyers’ Hextall has decisions to make.
Will Philadelphia Flyers management remain patient with Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn?
PHILLY.COM: Sam Carchidi reports Flyers GM Ron Hextall has decisions to make regarding the futures of young forwards Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier. Both have shown promise but haven’t developed as quickly as the Flyers hoped. Carchidi believes Hextall is leaning toward giving both players more time to develop. Carchidi also recently noted the Flyers’ glaring need for a No. 1 defenseman, but because of salary-cap constraints Hextall said that player will have to come from within. The Flyers GM also doesn’t anticipate any problem re-signing blueliner Michael Del Zotto.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Schenn and Couturier will be given another season to prove themselves. If they fail to make significant improvement, I believe one or both could hit the trade block before the 2016 trade deadline.
No roster blowup for Blue Jackets.
ESPN.COM: Pierre LeBrun reports Columbus Blue Jackets president John Davidson said management isn’t about to get silly and blow up the roster because they missed the playoffs this season. “We feel pretty strongly about this group. Going forward, we’re going to try to improve it, for sure, but we’re not going to tear it down to improve it,” said Davidson.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Everyone knows it was injuries which killed the Blue Jackets’ season. Now that the roster is healthier we’re seeing what they’re capable of, as they’ve just won eight straight games. I don’t believe they need to shake things up, apart from perhaps adding an experienced top-two defenseman. With a healthier roster next season, the Blue Jackets are a playoff club.
Can the Devils attract free agents?
NJ.COM: Rich Chere wonders if the New Jersey Devils’ recent decline will adversely affect efforts to attract unrestricted free agent talent this summer. The Devils have a solid defense corps and last summer inked Michael Cammalleri to a five-year deal. They’ll also have plenty of cap space. Still, the club’s decline, and being overshadowed by the New York franchises could hurt efforts to bolster their depth via free agency.
the Devils problem is offensively. They can obviously play d and have a goalie but there best offensive guy shouldn’t have been jagr and now it shouldn’t be Henrique. He’s just not that type of player. It’s to bad they don’t seem to have any good prospects coming either.
Maybe kovulchuck resigns with them lol.
With flyers drafting in the 7/8 range they should be able to get a decent forward. They need skilled wingers. But if a centre is picked I can see moving either schenn or courtier. With tampa’s pick I would like to see them take a top ranked tender.
The Flyers draft position may be a bit of and advantage, from some of the things Ive seen and read about the D available this year, some of them (Werenski and Prorov) might be getting kind of overlooked with the ammount of talanted centers available and any other year would easily be top 5 type picks. Both could be available to the Flyers at that spot giving them another potential future top pairing type D in the pipeline….might not be a bad thing to take.
Totally agree with you Schticky. Provorov and Werenski are elite prospects that are somewhat overlooked. Both go in the top 10 for sure and Philly could easily select either of them. But the guy I really, really like is the Finnish winger Mikko Rantanen. Smart, big and skilled. Love this kid!
It will be interesting to see how the Flyers approach the remaining games. Currently they would pick in the 7th spot, and are 1 back of Columbus, 3 back of Colorado and 5 behind Dallas. The way Columbus and Dallas have been closing out the season hot) the Flyers likely won’t pass them.
Philly will draft a goalie, but not in the 1st round. Goalies rarely go in the 1st round anyway. They should use Tampa’s pick to take center Colin White. Gritty, competitive 2 way center.
The top 5 goalies in the draft are:
Daniel Vlader – 39th – 6’5″ 185 – HC Kladno Czech Rep;
MacKenzie Blackwood – 46th – 6’4″ 215 – Barrie, OHL;
Callum Booth – 47th – 6’3″ 196 Quebec, QHL
Matej Tomek – 60th – 6′ 3″ 181 – Topeka NAHL;
Ilya Samsonov – 84th 6′ 3″ 200 – Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk, MHL
They are a big lot, in keeping with the trend towards huge goalies.
McBain is a bottom-feeder
If there’s any team that’s open to giving Dougie Hamilton an offer sheet it’s the Flyers. Open from a philiosphical standpoint, but I am not sure how they would handle it financially.
Philly, you want your number 1 d-man for the next decade, well there he is. Broones need to sharpen their pencils now.
philly don’t have the cap space to sign Hamilton. They’ll have to do some salary shedding first.
Understood Caper, that’s why I said I don’t know how they would handle the sitaution financially.
But from a player / need standpoint, Hamilton is perfect for the Flyers.
Still think the Oilers make an offer to Hamilton. Force the Bruins hand..5m/5yrs n lose a ’16 1st n 3rd. Cheap really.
I think Boston matches 5 per. without hesitation.
If Im Hamilton why sign that? Id rather a bridge of 4 for 2 in Boston knowing in 2 years Ill get away better deal, and I dont have to play in Edmonton. No offense but, a 5×5 is a rather large discount for a top 4 guy. Sign for ayear or 2 make 2 mill less then cash in on a longterm deal its a matter of a mill or 2 over a year or 2 then signing a contract for way north of 30 mill. Boston I am sure would love to lock him up for judt 5 x 5, his agent? Not so much.
Broones should be in better shape after the bridge to give Hamilton the deal he’s looking for. $5M/5 isn’t going to get him.
Problem with signing with the Oilers is he would have to move to Edmonton…
Bruins matching is fine. I like more cap crunch for them.
I would think a team in the same conference would have more of a vested interest in putting the squeeze on Boston. I’m not sure Edmonton really has that interest.
If Philly can find the money they would gladly put the Bruins in a vice.
I can see your logic in a bridge contract but i’d not leave money on the table. Less risk n still will cash in again the following contract. He’s proved his worth. IMO very few D men r worth over 5m currently.
Free agent water hold is dry this year anyway. I think the Devils will try to trade with a team that’s looking to shed salary like the Isles did last year.
I predict the B’s will sign Hamilton to a 2 year, $9.5 million deal ($4.5 the first year and $5 million in year two). Chiarelli will get it done early. There won’t be an opportunity for offer sheets.
Agreed. Hamilton won’t make it to July 1st unsigned. He’ll get 4.5 to 5 on a 2 year deal. Boston has to bridge all these young guys currently due to cap issues.
Hamilton is already a top 2 Dman & will take over as Boston’s #1 next year. That transformation, increase in minutes & situations had already started this season.
Bruins will have no cap issues with the amount of young studs coming up. Some of the old boys won’t be resigned. Boston is in a good place great team for a long time.