Following the buzz over yesterday’s unexpected trade activity, check out the latest on Jonathan Drouin plus a look at possible blueline targets for the Oilers.
Latest Drouin rumors.
Trade speculation still brewin’ over Jonathan Drouin.
TSN.CA: Bob McKenzie weighed in on the recent drama over disgruntled winger Jonathan Drouin’s future with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He suggests it would be best for all involved if a fair-value deal could be worked out by next week. He doesn’t believe Lightning GM Steve Yzerman will just give Drouin away to resolve an uncomfortable situation. After speaking with a number of hockey executives, the consensus is it would be difficult to put a player back in the lineup who has publicly voiced a desire not to be there. He also notes Drouin has almost no leverage in this situation.
McKenzie claims there are “upwards of a dozen NHL teams with varying degrees of interest” in the young winger. “Alphabetically listed, I’d say: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Columbus, Montreal, Nashville, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Vancouver and Winnipeg, among others.” He said he’d be surprised if Drouin were dealt to an Eastern Conference club, especially a division rival. McKenzie also believes the Lightning could be the best return within the next week or 10 days, rather than at the trade deadline or at the NHL draft in June.
CTV’s Brian Wilde reports via Twitter that a “strong source” confirms the Canadiens “are aggressively pursuing Drouin.”
DETROIT FREE PRESS: Helene St. James suggests the Red Wings should look into a trade for Drouin, believing he could make a good fit alongside Wings rookie star Dylan Larkin. She recommends offering up “righty-shooting Alexey Marchenko and Ryan Sproul”, plus adding forward Tomas Jurco to the package.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McKenzie makes a lot of terrific points and I recommend reading the entire piece at the link provided above. I disagree that the Lightning’s best yield for Drouin could come within the next seven-10 days. Given the high number of teams with limited cap space for this season and next, an affordable, promising talent like Drouin will still attract considerable interest and fetch a decent return at the trade deadline or at the draft.
None of his Lightning teammates or coach Jon Cooper voiced any displeasure over Drouin’s trade request. Publicly, at least, they seem like they would welcome him back once he’s finished his stint in the minors.
As for the Canadiens, I don’t doubt they’re making inquiries,but given the intense playoff rivalry between the two clubs in recent years, I’ll be very surprised if Yzerman dealt him to the Habs. The Wings could look into Drouin as well, but they’re an organization that tends to rank player character quite highly. They might not like dealing with a player who allows his agent to publicly demand a trade.
Possible Oilers blueline targets.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: David Staples cites a prediction from WFAN/CBS New York columnist Dan Friedman suggesting the New York Islanders will trade defenseman Travis Hamonic to the Edmonton Oilers this year. Staples notes the Isles want a comparable defenseman in return, which would mean parting with Oscar Klefbom, something the Oilers don’t want to do. While the Oilers seem a logical destination for Hamonic, who requested a trade to a Western-Canadian team for personal reasons to be closer to his Manitoba home, Staples doesn’t see that move happening this season. Perhaps at the draft, when the Oilers can use their first-round pick as trade bait.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: With Johnny Boychuk sidelined four-to-six weeks with an injured left shoulder, Hamonic’s not going anywhere this season.
Jonathan Willis examines a thin list of right-shooting free-agent defensemen the Oilers could pursue this summer. The depth drops significantly beyond Winnipeg’s Dustin Byfuglien, as Willis list includes San Jose’s Dallas’ Jason Demers, Montreal’s Tom Gilbert, Boston’s Kevan Miller and former Flyer-now-LA King Luke Schenn. He feels the Oilers will have to go the trade route to resolve this issue.
San Jose’s Jason Demers?
Fixed.
We miss Daddy in SJ
Yeah I was gonna say, I wish it was San Jose’s Jason Demers, why must you tease us sad Shark fans that way Lyle!? 😉
Helen is distracted or something. It’s a ridiculous proposition. The Wings don’t need another likely talented F but not power fwd size type of player. Marchenko is arguably our most consistently good D man on the roster. Kind of reminds me of Vladdy. The other rumor is Drouin and Stamkos. That’s at least interesting.
It would seem to me Edmonton has to make a move fairly soon seeing they are top heavy on forwards and need defence, before it gets to late and have too many teams to get by with fewer games left in season!
Chris Pronger couldn’t get Edmonton in the playoffs at this stage.
FYI the Oilers are only 4 points from a playoff spot.
FYI They’re not making the playoffs.
FYI, never said they will.
And of course you wouldn’t.
seeing a team that is only 4 points out of a playoff spot and saying that a player like Pronger couldn’t get them into a playoff spot at this stage with 41 games remaining AND with players like McDavid, Yakupov, and Klefbom are due to return… Come on, you can see the error of you post.
They’re not making the playoffs.
Flames fan Arnie?
Ya I doubt Edmonton makes the playoffs…but Ill give them a bit of credit they were not eliminated by december this year….so theres that. They are getting better, wonder what happens this year with them because I think there will be some pretty big changes.
Seeing that the Oilers are only 4 points from the playoffs and both McDavid and Yak are both about a week or less from returning there is no panic on making a move. Sekera’s play has improved a lot the past 15 – 20 games and Klefbom is also due to return soon.
As an Oiler fan at the beginning of the season I just wanted to see the Oilers in a fight for a playoff spot till at least mid February. The need for Edmonton is still a top pairing D-Man, but from what I have heard from the Edmonton sports media (Jason Gregor from TSN1260 plus others) PC will address that in the offseason.
I agree kevjam mcdavid and yak will comeback scoring goals and if they could somehow land harmonic they will be in the playoff hunt right till the end
Yeah, as much as I would love the Oilers to get Hamonic it would most likely cost them Klefbom or Nurse. Seeing that those 2 potential are greater than Hamonic I would not like that move. Now if PC can get Snow to take Eberle that I could live with. Also there are a few very interesting FA D-Men this offseason. Big Buff would look very good in the Oiler blue and orange.
Islanders are in pretty bad shape. I would think that they would take on a forward a couple of weeks ago given their struggles to score, pref a left wing though. With Johnny going down the Islanders probably need to look for another Defenseman via trade to compete for a playoff spot. It’ll be interesting to watch them over the next couple of months, Snow has always been a GM willing to make deals
I agree lyle with the habs lighting rivalry that it isn’t likely to happen but they way mtl is looking right now I could see bergevin having to overpay for some scoring. after all like around drouin is a hometown boy in mtl so he must be going there just makes sense! lol
The Oilers, can trade today for Kevin Miller, for prospect Martin Gernat or wait until the off season and sign him for nothing.
McKenZie suggesting the Canucks or Flames would want to swap Horvat or Bennett for Drouin is just nonsense. All Drouin has done in his pro career is prove the error of being drafted at #3.
Drouin – 6 goals in 89 games
Horvat – 18 goals in 109 games
Bennett -5 goals in 39 games
I think Drouin is worth a mid to late first / second tier prospect or roster player. Certainly not an elite prospect.
I believe Drouin is better than what we have seen so far. Those numbers should be better when he moves on, though he has to change his approach when he changes his mailing address.
It’s possible, but I also think it’s very possible that he could ultimately have a ceiling as a mediocre offensive producer. His AHL production suggests to me 2nd or even 3rd line NHL potential.
If he develops the right attitude and learns a two-way game, he could still be quite valuable at that. Obviously, that’s questionable at this stage.
you hit the nail on the head when it comes to the right attitude. I can think of alotta guys that took the root to the minors knowing they would need to work hard and ride the busses. Drouin seems to have an issue with doing this. Not good
I would be interested to know the goal of Edmonton this year and next. Is it to make the playoffs? If that’s the case Mark Streit would be a fit. If Luke Schenn can bring a 3rd, Jordan wheel, and the offload of Vinny’s contract. Got to think Streit can bring a late first or a early 2nd or a decent prospect.
Depending on how the Flyers work a deal I could see them getting both for Streit….if they take about equal money back or hold a significant portion of his comtract closer to the deadline I could see Streit possibly getting a second and a prospect. Wouldnt be unhearrd of that a team gave up a boatload for an offensive d man at the deadline, look at Yandle, Streit may not get kind of return but still a second and a prospect is close.
Lombardi is a smart GM. Philadelphia must have allowed him to speak directly to Lecavalier to facilitate this since the situation is so complicated. If things go well for Vinny I wonder if he could retire and then sign with an NHL team after? This situation makes me think of Eric Staal. Perhaps a GM on a contender may be able to convince him to take on a lesser role in the case he can’t get back to a higher level. And also to get Carolina to keep some cap hit. I see him as being a great gamble for a team at either centre or wing.
And Drouin needs a solid horsewhipping. There is no way he would fetch a return such as any of the other 9 picks around him at this stage. Maybe that should tell him something.
Yes you are correct, Lombardi said Vinny’s retirement was a must before any deal was to be finalized. As for him retiring and coming back, there are rules in place to prevent this from happening, he will be gone at seasons end for good, as a player anyways.
I think sutter will really help schenn! but I think vinny is done will hurt more than help but you never know he might want to go out with a bang and a cup
My second favourite team is the Kings (Leafs first). I think this was a good depth move for the Kings. Luke Schenn has never had a chance to develop properly. Played too early with Leafs, thrown into Philly with little structure / instruction. I bet he is going to be Darryls project, and that is a good thing. As for Vinny, put in the right role and situation, he still has great skill, perhaps not as much speed, and he did not forget how to play the game. I look forward to seeing what he can do.
Vinnie couldn’t retire and then come back. But he could void his contract-that would result in the same objective. But I agree he probably wont be back. Lombardi and the flyer organization have a history going back when Dean worked for Holmgren (in addition to Hexxy working for the kings)…so if any team was going to swing a deal like this with the flyers the kings make sense.
I know Roberts did it, Lemieux did it..a long time ago..anyone else? I doubt anybody has read the collective bargaining agreement on this, but I wouldn’t expect you to either. I’d rather lay naked in a pit of scorpions than read that.
I’m pretty sure there’s something in the CBA that mentions that you can’t retire and then sign again for for a year or so, or maybe for the same team?
While there is an element of risk when trading for a young player that has demanded a trade before he has proven he’s NHL ready, a change of scenery can work wonders. In 2014 Vancouver traded a 2nd round pick for Sven Baertschi, the 13th pick overall in 2011, who, like Drouin, was a disgruntled young offensive player with an incomplete game. At the time of the trade Baertschi admitted it was time to grow up and work harder to be a 200 foot player. After a year in the AHL where he learned the defensive aspect, he was promoted to regular 2nd line duty this year. His offensive stats weren’t great the first half of the season but he had one of the best Corsi numbers for any Canuck not named Sedin and he was solid in his own zone. He has now picked up his of dense with 4 goals in his last 5 games.
Rychel will be the interesting player to watch – after he is dealt. Frankly, I would be more interested in Kirby than Drouin.
Im with ya there Hanson.
I agree that .Jones is a handsome price to pay for Johansen, but I thoroughly understand why each GM takes the deal. In Nashville they have a team that is full of vets and there thinking is both short and long term…after making the playoffs in the last half dozen nothing has come from it. There is no potential big man centre / scorer. Forsberg is more a wing and he is talented but not capable of dominant play; interesting how the Hawks win on fast push, but all 12 are “cylinders” in the push, and although they have high end scorers they need balance and let’s not fool ourselves Anisimov is not a great centre; just a terrifc all around center who just does all the things, and fits with the wingers, so you accept Artem’s averages in the dot and the fact he isn’t a 30 goal guy.
I never felt Johansen should be gifted a giant contract same as Saad. Johansen has a really good release/hard shot and is a big body and a goal scoring centre. But he wasn’t a one man show of dominate, more he was terrific in most cases after everybody else on the ice helped the play. Remember in the Boston final win how Toews went around Chara and scored? Or Kane’s daily game reads and passes that set up tremendous chances for linemates and dee-men? Johansen isn’t that YET…he may wake up and fill the skates of a first line centre for a playoff bound Nashville with that chorus of good players but they are not going give Johansen a pass from not playing both ends, conditioning, loafing or bone-headedness.
And remember the Preds are probably NOT gonna open the purse and pay a fat re-up deal if he doesn’t show MORE production and that he is an all in fit with their bunch.
It is very correct to assume that Columbus might just have solved long term need for a defender who MAY be there a decade.
But don’t forget he also is going to want a big fat Evander Kane type contract that Johansen signed short term again, based more on potential to be the name and be the big dominant all around fit for a decade.
Jones is pretty solid but still in training and only scratching the surface of his abilities, because I personally believe he has the potential to be a very special player in the league.
But Nashville still has a solid five including the recently re-upped Mattias Ekhorn, and in the salary Cap-era the luxury of a Josi, Weber is only possible when you get your “Harlmarrson” to be reasonable.
Maybe Jones re-sign was seen as one that has a domino effect, and would force a pushing out of one of the others and it is clear Josi & Weber are plug n play RIGHT NOW, not guys you sacrifice for the big centre potential of a Johansen.
So I undertand the trade, was surprised by the guts both teams had to take the step, and maybe the winner of the trade is determined in 7 years, but I think there are few chances to get a big fluid defender even over a big goal scoring centre. Winner, in my humble opinion: Columbus.
Bill-your draft site has Jacob Chychrun #2-I think its consensus that the 2 Finns and Tkachuk are ranked higher than him.
I see habs trading
J. Tinordi 1st round pick 2016 and N Scherback for J Drouin
Your thoughts?
i think Scherbek is going to be good. this might be a slight overpay by the Habs but not a terrible deal by any means
Nope scherbak ain’t going it’ll be Beaulieu , 1st round pick , TINORDI, de la rose
Tampa is looking for right handed Dman also they want a NHL roster Dman which they get in Beaulieu .. Also TINORDI needs a chance , and de la rose is NHL ready .. They better not give scherbak or mccaron up for Drouin .. Yes he’s a great prospect but let’s be honest we don’t need a smallish player we have enough of those .. If you give up any of the two I mentioned plus a First I will loose my s**t ….
habs just traded tokarski to the ducks for frieberg! ducks must be moving Anderson soon?
No Gibson got hurt last night and it didn’t look good, this move shows management must be worried he may be out a little while.
Gibson is back partaking in full practice.
Frank – I see you added in a 1st round pick to the proposal for Drouin you had yesterday, makes more sense now. Still would be surprised if they trade to a conference contender, but you never know.
If Ottawa is to get in on the Drouin scene – and they SHOULD – and if Murray could get off his duff, they should offer Curtis Lazar, Alex Chiasson, Tampa’s choice of EITHER Shane Price, Matt Puempel OR Nick Paul AND a 1st rounder in EITHER the 2016 OR the 2017 entry draft (Ottawa’s choice of year) for Drouin and LW Adam Erne.
now that we’ve seen an awesome 1 for 1 trade in Johansen for Jones we know it can happen (best trade i’ve seen in years, both teams benefit big time)
with the Oilers still needing to upgrade their defense they really should be considering moving RNH. Im a fan but don’t think he’s as good as Ryan Johansen. Who could the Oilers get for RNH? and what teams would want to move a high end dman for a borderline #1 center?
RNH to St. Louis for Kevin Shattenkirk??
I think the oilers would be more interested in a defensive dman shatts isn’t that!
For Hamonic, the closest team to Winnipeg other than the Jets is Minneapolis. Chicago, Calgary and Edmonton are all just a little over 2 hours away by air while Denver is about 2 1/2 hours and Vancouver just over 3 hours. If he wants to be closer to home those are his best bets. Remains to be seen if the Isles could work out a deal with any of those clubs
You heard it hear first I guarentee that harmonic will be traded to Winnipeg .. When byfuglin won’t be resigned they will need a top 4 guy and guess who that will be .. Also Isanders need to wake up take what you can get for harmonic of its offense its offense but make sure it’s a great player of you need a Dman it’s simple get one via free agency coming up or simple trade the great player you received in the deal for one at least you won’t be strapped to west cost Canadian teams only…
Anaheim just traded for Dustin Tokarski from Montreal. Wondering if there is another goalie move Anaheim has on its plate involving Andersen. Gibson pretty much has taken over the number 1 spot from him.
ya I wrote that above im just wondering what team wants/needs Anderson the most right now?
Andersen would look good in Buffalo. Younger, more proven, and less injury prone then Lehner. Don’t know who Buffalo would send back though.
…might be Khudobin who is on the move and Tokarski will fill in down in the AHL? Once Anaheim gets the deal they want, I don’t doubt that Andersen will get traded.
good point angelo I forgot about khubodin
Sorry guys I replied to your earlier post before reading these ones, but Gibson got hurt last night and it looked pretty bad, I bet management knows he will be out for some time, so they brought in Tokarski.
Guessing the big Leaf fan didnt watch the game.
The play didnt look that bad. A little awkward, I thought Kadris skate had cut Gibson. Then maybe a muscle pull.
Hope he gets better soon.
Ehh its been around awhile that the Ducks were thinking of moving on from Khudobin and the combination of that aswell if it was a knee or groin they were worried about after seeing that it might make some sense to get a guy for the Gulls
king.. pretty sure he is back at practice! good comment shticky! lol
Come on Schtick, I thought you knew me better than that by now, of course I didn’t watch a Leafs game. I’ve been forced fed it by CBC/Sportsnet for too many years to be able to stomach any more.
Lol no King yoiu sometimes can ne many things but big Leaf fan isn’t one of em, I was speaking to Bigbear…the post was made before practice.
Never understood the fear of trading within your division or conference. You take the best deal available..period! The fear that he will come back and haunt them is idiotic. You focus on the player you want in return regardles if it is an inter-division trade…whatever makes your team better. If Montreal offers the best package and you are satisfied with the return…u make the trade….Wonder if Boston had that mindset when they traded him to Dallas? That turned out well, didn’t it 🙂
I agree. But perhaps that old sentiment was more applicable in older eras where one player could really turn a teams fortunes. That is not a reality anymore in most cases. Unless you’re trading away someone with true game impact in different areas, like Doughty, McDavid, Lucic, Price, Lundqvist, or a few others that you perhaps don’t want to match up against on a daily basis, most players won’t matter if you face them later or not. A short list for those impact players are so incredibly short that the old saying that you shouldn’t trade within the division is almost null and void.
I wonder about Drouin. Is he really that good? I believe he played with Ehlers and MacKinnon in Juniors. Was his numbers inflated? How good is he really? His mental aspects seems partly suspect to me.
I wouldn’t say his numbers were inflated by Ehlers or MacKinnon. MacKinnon was hurt for a while, before Ehlers got there, their championship year, and he carried the offense at his usual 2 pts per game or whatever. If he had the strength MacKinnon did he may have went first. That’s all I know man.
I know I’m going to get blasted for this but, What would you give for for a 20 yr old Marty St Louis style of player? With the right coaching this kid could do some serious damage in 2years.Leafs (Babcock) or Colorado (Roy) I watched Drouin play beside MacKinnon while he played in Halifax. I wonder if Habs would give up Fucale for Drouin?
It would take a LOT more than Fucale to get Drouin.
I would give up Fucale without hesitation as i don’t think he is that good….TB doesn’t have a need for Fucale as they have Vasilevsky who is a stud goalie in my opinion
I couldn’t agree more with you and George, no way Fucale lands Drouin, not even close. And yes Vasilevski will soon oust Bishop as the #1 in TB.
Goalies seemingly take forever to develop, that being said I am not sure anything suggests that Fucale is anything special. Roll of the dice as most goalies are.
Yes I think they would. Tampa would say no.
With the west coast teams tightening up, moves from LA and Anaheim I wonder what might happen with the Flames and Sharks. The sharks respectively need to make some changes. Matt Neito needs a fresh start. I also think the sharks are in bad need of a second goalie as Martin jones develops his game further. While the defense is not the best I could see the sharks taking a flier and swapping Mirco Mueller for Drouin. Mueller needs more time but should continue developing nicely. If they had to throw in a second round pic, that combo should be sufficient. From what I see the theoretical price for Druin is higher than his stat sheet warrants and teams are going to figure that out soon. He will be a good player but he might not be elite.
As for the flames the biggest question is goaltending. IF they went after jonathan bernier, I think that he could be had for a reasonable price and still give them wins without costing too much. With Huddler out, the flames might need to shore up the rest of the team, as he often seems to kickstart the offense.
The western teams are in a close race, injury and trades could shape the landscape very differently by the trade deadline. I’ll continue to shake my head as the sharks do nothing to improve the team. Heck maybe ill put on my Wild gear and root for a team that knows how to win games at home. I’ll see if tonight they can prove me wrong.
J Shark, what would you offer up for Bernier? His last two seasons of 50+ games are 923 and 913 SV%. This season he has improved to 909 or so I believe after obviously a disaster spell. You would need a strong backup to trust trading for him because he hasn’t shown he can be consistent and yet he has that potential.
If Reimer could re-take the starting role and stay healthy it is possible the Leafs could move Bernier in the expected firesale at the deadline, assuming they’re not in playoff contention by then (which they are heading toward). Shake my head…
As I said the other day in that discussion about whether or not Babcock should be considered for Coach of the Year – the Leafs, with a roster of a lot of cast-offs, have become a cohesive unit and it’s all due to the system he has installed and insists be followed. If they get into the playoffs Babcock will be head to head with Gallant for the honour.
Soooooo then Tippet should be a lock for coach of the year then? Before the season started everyone had the Coyotes as best chance of landing Mathews, right now they actually are in a playoff spot and more points than the leafs.
Lets just stop the ridiculousness, it should be going to Sutter or Trotz, my pick is Trotz.
A coach that can turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse deserves more recognition than a frikken gate-opener for a talent-laden team.
This is an interesting question. There is no way that Calgary will let go of their young assets. And there is no question that Toronto wants to get younger but that wont happen over night.
I think Mikael Backlund is sitting at 3.5+ through 17-18. Bernier is earning 4.1 through 16-17. I could see that being a fair move. It gives Toronto a good top 6 center and Calgary gets a potentially reliable backup. Considering Bernier’s inconsistency the Toronto might have to retain the difference in the salary but that is fairly inconsequential. Calgary is loaded with promising young centers with even a solid bottom 6/depth guy like Bouma.
The key is to not move many pieces. Just the right ones.
Uh..klefbom is worth more than hamonic and quite a bit better so I don’t see how they are comparable. And the 1st round pick is also worth more. All this media hyping up hamonic value is hilarious. He’s not that good. Hamonic is more of what oilers have. They need to pull a deal comparable to the Jones johansen swap. The nuge for a top dman.
Wait! Whaaaaatttt?
First off Klefbom is no where near the overall talent Hamonic has. to say otherwise shows a severe lack of knowledge.
As for the Nuge, Zero chance he lands a #1 d man, even a #2 is questionable. keep dreaming bud.
I think the important thing to realize is that the dmen are going to function as they do on one team, the same way they did on another. Look at Burns on the Sharks. He had two 40+ point seasons with the Wild and had more with less than 30 points. Now he is about to hit the 40 point mark for a third season in SJ.
I think Hamonic on the right team could be a solid addition. Likewise I think Klefbom could add to the right team. The way I see it now they are fairly comparable but if each were to find a sweet spot on a different team in the end either one could end up being excellent. Time is on the side of Klefbom but I would take either in San Jose.
I agree with FireFire. Klefbom and Hamonic are very comparable now. Klefbom will be the better overall defenseman in time. It would be a step backwards for the oiler to make a trade swapping those two. Hamonic would be an excellent addition, but in this tough Western conference Hamonic isn’t what we need (which is a true top pairing guy). I would have loved to get Jones who I believe will be a true #1. Having said that, I think we have that guy in our system in Nurse.
Boston should go after Drouin they really need wings for Bergeron and Krejci. Besides Marchand nobody is really producing except Eriksson and he’s a free agent. They have no top line scoring wings too many second third line type guys. Not sure the cost as Drouin is not a proven top line guy yet just like Connelly.