Latest on Phil Kessel, T.J. Oshie, Patrick Sharp, Kevin Bieksa, Rick Nash and more.
Updates on Vermette, Kessel, Oshie and Sharp.
OTTAWA SUN: Bruce Garrioch reports Chicago Blackhawks pending UFA Antoine Vermette could return to the Arizona Coyotes on July 1. The Coyotes have $18 million in cap space.
Little interest in Phil Kessel on the trade market?
Garrioch wonders if the Calgary Flames were sniffing around Toronto’s Phil Kessel prior to their acquisition on Friday of defenseman Dougie Hamilton from Boston.
The Blues made T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund available during the draft weekend but found no takers.
The Florida Panthers are “kicking the tires” on Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Sharp.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wouldn’t surprise me if Vermette returned to the Coyotes. He enjoyed living in Arizona…If the Flames were interested in Kessel I daresay that’s no longer the case. They need their cap space to re-sign Hamilton…Interest in Oshie could pick up once the limited free agent market is picked clean…Remains to be seen if Sharp is willing to go to Florida.
Latest on Rick Nash, Brad Richards and Penguins pursuit of wingers.
NEW YORK POST: Larry Brooks reports the New York Rangers have no intention of trading right wing Rick Nash.
Brooks believes Chicago Blackhawks pending UFA center Brad Richards would be a good fit with the New York Islanders.
Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Sharp remain the prime target for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Brooks doubts they’re seriously pursuing Toronto’s Phil Kessel.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Brooks might think Richards could be a good fit with the Islanders, but GM Garth Snow could think differently.
Updates on the Leafs and Kings.
TORONTO SUN: Steve Simmons the damage of this past season has hurt the Toronto Maple Leafs efforts to trade Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak. Simmons claims the market for Kessel was thin, while Bozak didn’t attract any interest.
The Los Angeles Kings took some calls on suspended defenseman Slava Voynov but don’t intend to trade him.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s not just the Leafs horrible season that’s hampering efforts to move Kessel and Bozak. Their respective contracts are difficult to deal in a summer when the salary cap for 2015-16 rose marginally while over 20 teams had cap payrolls in excess of $55 million.
Latest on the Canucks, Penguins and Ducks.
ESPN.COM: Pierre LeBrun reports the Vancouver Canucks are still exploring trade options for defenseman Kevin Bieksa. The Canucks nearly had a deal in place to ship Bieksa to San Jose before the draft but it fell through.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are waiting for the asking prices on scoring wingers in the trade market to drop. LeBrun speculates they could kick the tires on Justin Williams via free agency. If they fail to find a suitable UFA option, they could circle back to the trade market.
The Anaheim Ducks aren’t done making move, but they’re not trading goaltender John Gibson.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I think it’s only a matter of time until Bieksa gets dealt this summer. It’s possible the Canucks and Sharks could revisit their earlier talks…Gibson has a year remaining on his two-way contract. They’ll likely start him in the minors and go with Frederik Andersen and Anton Khudobin as their tandem.
Brad Richards will resign in Chicago – he was a good fit last season with the Hawks.
He was, and he will be missed, but we just can’t afford him. I’d rather have Saad, frankly.
Biggest surprise for me this weekend was the Islanders moving Griffin Reinhardt. Interesting move.
That was a big surprise to me too, but the biggest in my mind was the Boston tear down, Soderberg, Hamilton and Lucic gone! Wow!
Soderberg was expected, Lucic a maybe, Hamilton a shock. Bruins should have received an impact player back for Hamilton.
I’m a canucks fan – so bluntly I don’t like the Bruins. You guys lost that Hamilton trade badly; I’m only angry my team wasn’t on the receiving end.
I’m curious about Bieksa getting moved. I wonder if it fell through because teams may want to sew up an extension with him prior to a trade, and he supposedly wants a four year deal after next year. Can’t see many teams being interested in that.
Still baffled by Bruins. Haven’t done the math but was it really necessary to ship out all of Boychuk, Lucic, Hamilton, Soderbergh in a short while? They might have been cap squeezed but must be other salary also coming off the books? I might look into their cap situation when I get time. All that salary…it perplexes me. I’m aware of Lucic pending UFA status but…a light rebuild? Really?
The Hamilton return wasn’t very good at all. Apparently many GMs were unaware of the trade opportunity and surprised of the low return. It seems that Sweeney/Neely again didn’t hold a proper auction to maximize return – same as with the Seguin trade. (What also puzzles me is that Chiarelli is reported to have offered a slightly better package of picks for Hamilton, but Sweeney chose to take the slightly lesser bid. WTF?)
What puzzles me further is the three 1st rounders. There were strong rumours of Bruins trying to move up. The optics of it is that they tried to get into the top 7 but failed, as I highly doubt the three picks in a row was very thoroughly planned.
I wasn’t very impressed with the picks either. Many considered them ranked lower than that. Personally, I liked some of the later picks much more than who they selected. IMHO there were ample opportunity to be patient, move down for picks or trade for prospects. They didn’t seem very ready.
This is my biased opinion, but when Sweeney speak, he seems not very sharp (comparatively). I get the same feeling as when hearing JFJ, Neely, Gillis, Rutherford. If I was a rival GM, I would definitely target Bruins, no offence. I’m not surprised he makes some stupid moves, but it’s more the magnitude and timing of them that makes my head spin.
If I get the time, maybe another look at their cap can explain some of it. Sweeney himself didn’t offer any good explanation other than a blanket cap salary reason. I’m not surprised that reports of concerned Bruins core players apparently were on the phone asking Sweeney about his motivations for his moves over the weekend. I hope he had a good answer. IMHO, this weekend he really looked like the rookie GM he is.
If you’re a Bruins fan you’re hiding your head today. Probably the worst draft day in recent history (mostly terrible picks, could have traded down for and terrible trades) and where does it leave them? Middle or nowhere, not quite a rebuild and not a playoff contender.
ya time to start questionin Neely Id think, Seguin Hamilton now Lucic all just coming in to their prime now gone (not to mention Soderberg or Boychuck) and guys like Kelly Paille Chara Sidenberg Talbot who are all older and past their prime remain? Thats not even getting in to the awful returns they are getting on these “trades” Boston is literally giving away their best players.
“Boston is literally giving away their best players.”
Which, to me, is a clear signal that NO ONE – will be getting what they think they should for the players they want to deal. Not Chicago, not Pittsburgh, not Toronto, not St. Louis. None of them. Hell, Ottawa got the best deal of the day by getting a 1st for Lehner AND dumping an unwanted $3 mil cap hit at the same time. This after some in here were adamant that they’d be lucked to get a 2nd. Period.
That or the Bruins made bad trades…there are 2 sides to it if no one is getting what they want howdo you explain the Sens Flames Canes Oilers getting exactly what they want? …no bias here lol
It does seem crazy doesn’t it George. The concensus value of a player gets toss aside when negotiations begin between two GM’s. Murray schooled his nephew, or his nephew did him a favour. Sweeney got hosed it seems. The rookie GMs are being out negotiated.
However I did think the Lucic return was very high. I win for Sweeney. But then you see how much salary he retained and you feel like hitting your head against the wall.
As far as the picks goes. It first glass it looks like the later two could of held off a bit. But apparently they were sleeper picks for many GMs. Time will tell.
This isn’t a rebuild. With the older guys staying. Perhaps it is a retool. But these draft picks are a few years away from helping.
I kinda think Boston attempted to trade up into the top 10 and failed. Now they wish they had Chiarelli back haha.
If the leafs don’t retain salary they will get what lucic got if they do it will be more plain and simple everyone knows the baggage that comes with kessel and the last few years of his contract will hurt his contract is hard to move
Lucic is not just coming into his prime, anybody that watched the bruins play last year knows that his time was done in Boston, he may have a resurgence in LA but it was time to move him. Seguin was given oppourtunity in Boston and instead of learning from guys like Bergeron and Chara on how to be a pro he decided to take the spolied brat approach and the Bruins wanted no part of it no matter how skilled he was on the ice. Boychuk I have to admit I wish he was still there but not for the money that he got from the Islanders as he’s aging. Hamilton is young, big and will be a big time d-man for years to come, but they offered him a deal and he turned it down so you have to move on. i’m a bruins fan and I’m holding my head up high with the decisions that they made.
After defending the Seguin and Hamilton trades you don’t need to mention you’re a Bruins fan
There is no way of justifying getting rid of a twenty year old top five player in the nhl a centermen with size at that . And a a 21 yrs old top two dman .Rule of thumb in any trade the guy who gets the better player wins the trade , both of these wre complete and inexcusably horrible trades . By the time these pics are ready to play and contend the bruin core of today will be retired or useless . Get ready to fight for a playoff spot for the next three years and completly forget about being a real contender ….
Ooh-kay.
For the record I didn’t say the Bruins won the Seguin trade, I just said they didn’t want him and his attitude around. I also did not say they won the Hamilton deal either, but you can’t force a player to sign a contract that he doesn’t want to.
my view, is that boston has historically been based a low spending, build from within organization, that prefers a “family” or all for one philophosy which helps in turn with the cap structure (home team discount).
Hamilton wanted more than $5mill without proving his worth a little more. Seguin probably wasn’t considered a “true winner” and, as well as with Hamilton, there salary demands exceeded the bruins philophosy as well as salary structure.
We look at it as losing talent; they look at it as “who do they think they are raymond bourque / phil esposite” prior to handing 6-8 million dollars, with or without a cap
Yet they pay Dave Krejci 7.2 million? Take a look at the whole roster.
boston is probably thinking, “who do seguin and hamilton think they are? Esposito and Bourque!
I think when you look into it (The Cap) you will find it even more surprising, they continue to carry 2.7 mil on Luch. They really gained next to nothing when you look at their cap situation, totally don’t understand this Hamilton move. At least the Luch deal almost looks like a hockey move until the draft was finished, after that I really was left shaking my head.
Yeah, I have no clue what Boston is doing. One would think that had Hamilton’s availability been widely known, the Bruins would have gotten a better return. The Lucic trade is perplexing especially since Sweeney said it was in order to create cap space. If that’s the case then why did the Bruins retain nearly 50% of Lucic’s salary?! I think the net cap space created by that trade was around 500k. Bruins fans had a bad weekend and Sweeney…well, not a great start as GM.
Yeah. I saw that too…! Really baffling stuff.
I understand that they cannot resign ALL pending UFAs, but at the end of the day, a GM has to identify and commit to a few pending UFAs he believes will build a core.
Let’s see…they wouldn’t commit to Kessel.
Then they wouldn’t commit to Seguin.
Then they wouldn’t commit to either of Boychuk, Soderbergh, Lucic, Hamilton…
…So when will Bruins commit to further sign core players with Bruins identity?
And another thing…Boychuk, Soderbergh, Lucic, Hamilton gone are like $20M-22M off the books (my estimation from memory). Were Bruins really in THAT much of a cap trouble? I must look at their cap situation more in depth or find an article about it. It’s nice with cap room, but come on, this was a club with many good players, no need for THAT shakeup.
And I haven’t even mentioned the barely necessary trade for goalie Martin Jones. Was it really necessary to target one of the more sought after backup goalies (projected as future no1) when any cheap backup would do behind Rask? It’s not like Jones will take Rasks spot anytime soon. IMHO LA Kings was the wrong trade partner in the Lucic dealings.
I’d like to ask Neely about where his “Big Bad Bruins” is now – that very fleeting identity he was so totally infatuated with…that which was partly responsible for setting the Seguin trade in motion…
Neely is a borderline hockey moron in my book. 🙂 Bruins fans should really question his executive position.
The worst thing to come out of this draft? That’s easy – Kessel wasn’t moved. Which means his name will be endlessly repeated in the rumor mill until the end of his 7-year contract. Oh joy! Once again Simmons has it right (and once again some will be calling him a hack) when he says “The damage of this past Maple Leafs season lingers and cannot be easily undone.” Although the headline said it in stronger terms.
Ya too bad the Leafs didnt make yet another bad deal on draft day to appease the likes of you and Simmons….lol
And now the spin-doctoring begins.
lol shticky is the spin master lol
The funny thing out of all of the Kessel talks and the die hard Leaf fans is how they think holding on to him is a good option. First of all…if the Leafs keep him, they get no value back. Secondly, if he stays in TO…the Leafs are just a little better team and will get worse picks in the upcoming drafts because of it. Simply put, if the Leafs truly want to rebuild and become a competitive team that has a chance to win a cup…they need higher draft picks and therefore need to finish lower in the standings. Keeping guys like Kessel (and Phaneuf for that matter too) hurts them both short term and long term. They should take as much salary back as possible (probably half) and then they could really get a very solid return on Kessel both in prospects and draft picks.
I agree greg in the big picture kessel scored yes but was on the ice for more than he scored lol the leafs made the playoffs once ( shortened season)in his tenure on the team they need to move him this summer it makes no sense not too! the longer it takes the worse the offer is gonna be lucic got a decent return but eating half the salary Hamilton I have no idea what Sweeney thinking with that trade but Hamilton wanted a lot of money and like kessels 8mill the return wont be huge without retaining salary
RoR (his whole career) & Rick Nash while he was with the BlueJackets 2 guys who are on the ice for more goals against than goals for +/- is a useless stat. Good players on bad teams are on the ice for more goals against than they score. When the Pens were bad Mario had a terrible +/-.
I don’t care about the plus minus stat maybe if he tried on defense it wouldn’t be so bad
I guess +/- is a “useless” stat only when applied to the -102 registered by Kessel-Bozak-Van Riemsdyk as opposed to -25 by their 2nd unit and when compared to the +104 by the Tampa Bay “triplets” line. Lucky they don’t give names to lines like that trio – it could be embarrassing.
They picked 4th with Kessel on the team, I pretty sure their draft picks are high enough. Unless you think the only way for a team to rebuild is getting a 1rst overall.
Haha nice one.
Funny that no one has mentioned that of all the players in on the Kessel to T.O. deal, that both Seguin and Hamilton have been traded away by the Bruins for the same reason that Phil was apparently traded to begin with…so they took one young kid with an attitude and sense of entitlement and turned him into two young kids with attitudes and overwhelming senses of entitlement, that they have since flipped for what exactly? So did T.O win the Kessel trade now? Can we finally put this one to rest? Yes he’s on the block…but it isn’t a forgone conclusion that he’ll be traded and could still have another 80+ point season under Babcock this year.
Enough with the insanity !!
Trade Kessel for a bag of pucks and keep half his salary because with him and Phaneuf they are a better team. Better then what ? Last year when both of them played ??
I like the do not panic approach, trade him when the deal is right, now, next week or 6 months from now.
I cant wait to hear fans if Toronto pays half of Phils salary and he is scoring 45 goals for soemone else.
STOp the insanity !!
lol cant wait till we keep him and he scores another 25 goals and his stock falls more! STOP THE INSANITY! lol he is a one dimensional player that makes 8 million a year im sticking to that I think he gets around what seguin,kessler and spezza got nothing more
I bet you’ll be one of the 1st to complain when Phil scores 40 plus and if the Leafs retained salary.
He might not get a huge retrun ( I do think it will be fair ) however like the players you listed their previous teams did not retain salary.
Lol I don’t care if he scores 50! He isn’t getting the leafs to the playoffs making 8 million time to move on he brings nothing to a rebuilding team
And guru they didn’t have to retain salary because the contracts weren’t 7 more years!
You seem pretty certain he will score 45-50 somewhere else. If some of the other 29 GMs were as confident as you he’d have been traded by now. He hasn’t. And won’t be.
Lol youre that c8nfident Kessel wont be traded George? Like ever?
I agree with you bigbear kessels time in Toronto is over.
I disagree with you moving Kessel right now and retaining salary. It makes no sense to deal him and retain salary because with or without Phil , they are still a bad team. You think he will continue to devalue in his worth, I disagree. It’s like gold prices they fluctuate and kessels value ( like anyone else Sharp for example ) will do the same.
You feel they will get a return similar to that of Spezza and Kesler. Each one of these players had their respective teams over a barrel and they needed to be moved at any cost. Seguin was different, Boston wanted him out again at any cost.
While the Leafs may want to deal Kessel it’s not ay any cost. I find it insane that you want them to do so and keep salary, heck why not throw in 20 million or so as well just so he can be gone. After all its only money and MLSE has oodles of it.
Kessel will move when the time is right. If they get a package similar top Kesler, Spezza then there is no way they hold salary.
Look at it this way , someone may pay Belesky 4-5 million a yr for 4-5 yrs pretty soon. Someone will pony up for kessel.
Give it time.
No doubt he will move but it’s gonna be tougher than you think not retaining salary it the new nature of the cap era. Kessels contract is huge for his all around game! You can say plus minus is a useless stat but when you see him floating around in his own end missing his man do you not think other teams don’t see that?
Put Kessel on a better team and see how he does. Plus minus is very misleading.
Everyone knows that. Some very good players have had bad plus minus years.
Nash was minus every year in Columbus ROR is minus for his career Ovie was a huge minus last year….sometimes very good players are on the ice for more goals against than goals for…jeezis. Kessel 2as a plus player in Boston, think the team might have something to do with it?
I said it was a useless stat but cmon you can’t tell anyone that kessel doesn’t float in his own end its just sad watching him not help in his own end
Im not arguing his playing style as you seem to have directed this conversatio towards.
He will bring a good return when moved.Without the Leafs retaining salary.
Wait for it………..
WHAT A SHOCK! SO FAR DOUG WILSON HAS DONE NOTHING LIKE HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO DO YET AGAIN! UNTIL THE SHARKS GET A BETTER GM IN THERE I DON’T THINK THEY’RE EVER WINNING THE CUP. HE’S JUST ALL TALK & NO ACTION. WE HAVE NO GM, NO DEFENSE & NOW NO GOALIE. UNLESS THEY THROW GROSENICK & STALOCK IN THERE.