The Patrick Marleau trade rumors take an interesting turn, plus the latest Colorado Avalanche speculation in your NHL rumor mill.
Three teams on Marleau’s trade list.
Could Patrick Marleau be shipped to the Ducks, Kings or Rangers?
CSNBAYAREA.COM: Kevin Kurz cites a source claiming long-time San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau would accept a trade to the New York Rangers, Anaheim Ducks or Los Angeles Kings. Kurz observes the Rangers had scouts at the last two Sharks games. He also reports it’s unclear if Marleau or management is pushing for the trade, though TSN’s Bob McKenzie suggests it’s more likely Marleau asked the club to explore trade possibilities. The 36-year-old is in the second year of a three-year deal with a $6.66 million annual cap hit and a full no-movement clause. GM Doug Wilson has said in the past he wouldn’t ask a player to waive their movement clause.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Either Marleau offered up the Rangers, Ducks and Kings to sabotage any attempt to move him, or he’s unaware of the difficulties in moving him to those three clubs. The Rangers and Kings have limited cap space, and while the Ducks have sufficient cap room, it’s believed they’re under a self-imposed cap ceiling much lower than the league’s.
I’ll be very surprised if Wilson is willing to ship Marleau to rivals like the Ducks and Kings. The Rangers make more sense in that regard, but given their cap space, it’ll have to be close to a dollar-for-dollar swap to pull it off at this time of year. The Blueshirts are currently atop the Metropolitan Division and second overall in the Eastern Conference, so they don’t have a pressing need for a blockbuster move. Unless Marleau’s willing to broaden his list, I doubt he’ll be traded anytime soon.
Big moves coming for the Avalanche?
BLEACHER REPORT NHL columnist and former Denver Post beat writer Adrian Dater weighed in on Twitter regarding possible moves by the struggling Colorado Avalanche. Dater claims things are very turbulent among the Avs brass, suggesting there could be changes if the club doesn’t improve over the next couple of weeks. He believes forward Matt Duchene will be traded this year, and perhaps veteran Jarome Iginla could agree to waive his no-trade clause at the trade deadline. He suggests the Montreal Canadiens could be a destination for Iginla at the deadline. Dater’s also heard rumblings that starting goalie Semyon Varlamov could be available. He also claims head coach Patrick Roy won’t be fired “no matter what”.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Interesting stuff from Dater. Duchene, a former first-round draft pick, has struggled with his consistency throughout his NHL career. Still, the 24-year-old forward will certainly attract interest if he’s put on the trade block. Ditto Varlamov, whose numbers have declined since his stellar performance in 2013-14. As for Iginla, if he gets a chance to go to a Cup contender, he could seriously entertain that notion. His $5.33 million cap hit through 2016-17 could be a sticking point, even for a team like the Canadiens. In my opinion, Roy is the problem, not the players, but if he’s not going anywhere, a roster shakeup is their only other option. I doubt they’ll see much improvement.
Matt Duchene would certainly attract interest, but you can’t think of him as a 3rd overall draft selection anymore. He’s 24 and in the modern NHL that is your prime for forwards so he’s no longer on the ascent.
Av fans are going to have to face the facts as they are at this stage: he’s a 2C on a good team, possibly even a 3C, that is overpaid at $6M. I can’t see him fetching a king’s ransom.
There would be huge interest in Duchene if he ever became available and the sheer number of suitors would drive the price up for him. $6M is no salary in todays NHL where non-exciting and average guys are making $4M. He’s 24 y/o and his offence is exciting to watch when clicking. He would absolutely be a commodity. Can’t really gauge his value but a NHL regular (not too old) + top prospect probably.
NHL regular (not too old) + top prospect would be a starting point in discussions IMHO. Probably a meaningful draft pick would need to be packaged as well to edge out other bidders.
Dater also sleeps in Patrick Roy PJs and wrote a book about Roy saving the Avs franchise…..not sure I believe the whole Roy wont be fired no matter what coming from that big a fan of Roy….if it is true tho the Avs are probably in more trouble than most think.
If I was a rebuilding team Id be all over trying to pick up Duchesne….hint hint. Much more than paying a guy 11 mill per yo come in and save my franchise.
Of course the Leafs would be interested, but what are you parting with to land Duchene that would be of interest to the Avs? Some combination of prospects plus Bozak, Gardiner, Phaneuf, with salary retained/coming back?
I can’t see them sending picks out the door for him given the strategy of equipping Hunter with as many as possible. Also Nylander, Reilly, Marner are not going to be dealt for older players.
Last year MacKinnon, Landeskog and Iginla were getting much of the top line PP time and that could be a reason for Duchene’s numbers dropping. I would love to get him
I think he went from playing with ROR and McKinnon to Tanguay and Iginla primarily…of course his numbers would drop.
Usually we are close to on the same page Dan but here we are not even in the same book. Look at Turris in Ottawa, at 24 its a little early to be looking at a player like Duchene and assuming he will work out to be a 3c or be a Bozakian like player. Even on a supposed “bad team” (I think the Avs have big issues with D but they are not really a bad team) he is still one of their best players…and thats with the slumps…if he becomes more consistent he will be a very good player. Good coaching would help.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Either Marleau offered up the Rangers, Ducks and Kings to sabotage any attempt to move him, or he’s unaware of the difficulties in moving him to those three clubs.
… or he absolutely knows how difficult the deals would be and he is just trying to give the appearance of flexibility on his NTC
I think what he meant to suggest is “thanks, but I think I’ll stay here. “
Which he could just say straight up. I doubt he’s giving a list of teams just to mess with the GM. He doesn’t want to go anywhere, they can’t do anything about it.
ROR no longer the whipping boy in Colorado.
And with being the 11th…thanks Lyle and anyone else who served.
Thank you.
Props to all that have served.
So much respect for you all.
Perhaps Columbus would be a perfect trading partner for Colorado. Let Duchene and Nick Holden go in exchange for Boone Jenner, Dalton Prout and Alexander Wennberg.
The Islanders should try to get him for Okposo and Dal Colle and then move him to wing with Tavares.
If Marleau is serious about New York maybe he would be open to the Isles. Going the other way would center around okposo. the Isles do have the space if they want to spend and could make use of a LW. I do not see Montreal being interested. Marleu is LW and right now we have Pacioretty and Fleicshman who is has fit in amzingly with the Habs. The need is to replace Semon on RW. Iginla fits that bill for better. He on the 1st line means they can move Gllagher down and rebuild the EGG line which really worked well in the past. Plus Iggy is cheaper. No idea what the trade would look like but Semin would have to be involved solely for Cap reasons and not for player value at all.
Nah, Marleau is 36 and his best years are behind him. He has Rangers written all over him.
The Rangers of 98-04 maybe.
Have you ever heard of Brad Richards, Marty St. Louis or Dan Boyle? They are all of a much more recent vintage than 2004.
Where are they now? Other than Boyle…Richards was 31 when he came to NY….How many teams have a 31-35 year old guy playing for them today? How many teams currently have players signed until 36-37-38? Agreed on Boyle but thats about it. Richards, St. Louis are both guys that helped NY reach the finals. Both are gone!
NYR4LIFE, I stand corrected. Obviously the careers of St Louis and Richards were on the upswing when the Rangers acquired them. Keep drinking that KOOL AID.
Duchesne would be a great addition to many teams.
Why? Avs could be planning to move MacKinnon to C
D is what they need. 2C don’t go on the market often.
Though I’m a Canuck fan the Ducks n Leafs could be suitors n a good C for many years helps both. I’m sure may teams would enter in as well for a skill set n wheels he has.
What do you think about Patrick Marleau (36) to the Pittsburgh penguins for Chris Kunitz(36). They both are proven scorers who need a change of scenery as long as San jose eats a little bit of salary… Marleau $6.6 Kunitz $3.85…….. i think it would help both teams Patrick could add speed and scoring and play with Sidney and Kunitz could be fed all day by one of the best passes of all tome Joe Thorton..thoughts. I’m a Penguins fan
John, I could be wrong but I don’t see that trade being much of a help to either team really. Neither Marleau nor Kunitz is a young kid that just needs a change of scenary. Not to say that neither could benefit in the short time but in the long run it probably won’t make much of a difference.
why would san jose want kunitz, for that matter why would anyone want kunitz…? he’s lived off crosby for years, and now he’s infected sid with his malaise…..
Bill, Kunitz had one 35 goal season with Crosby. The rest of his years in Pittsburgh were very comparable to the amount of goals he scored in Anaheim before becoming a Penguin. After about 6 years playing together Crosby has a bad season and it’s Kunitz fault now? C’Mon man.
come on atomic, Kunitz cant skate anymore, his legs are gone and he cant backkcheck because of it. he has 2 points all season, playing with Crosby and Malkin, depending on what Johnson decides, Kunitz is no more than a cap dump at this point….why would San Jose want that unless they were tanking and since they traded their 1st to Boston, we can rule that out….. face it Kunitz and Scuderi, are dead weight at this point
Bill, no argument from me that his best years are behind him and I didn’t say anyone should pick him up. I am just saying that I don’t agree that he wouldn’t have had a career without Crosby. My only point was that his goal numbers were similar in Anaheim to numbers he put up in Pittsburgh, other than that 35 goal season.
kunitz Is a plugger now n nothin more tbh.
Pitt has not the right assets to get Marleau IMO