Latest on the Penguins, Bruins and Red Wings in your NHL rumor mill.
Penguins and Bruins
Marc-Andre Fleury remains the Penguins most rumored trade candidate.
THE BOSTON GLOBE: Fluto Shinzawa reports the Pittsburgh Penguins still need to shed some salary. They’re currently over $2 million above the $73 million salary-cap ceiling and have until the start of 2016-17 to become cap compliant. Shinzawa speculates a rival club could benefit from the Penguins requirement to cut some cap payroll, noting that’s what the New York Islanders did two years ago when they acquired defensemen Johnny Boychuk from the Boston Bruins and Nick Leddy from the Chicago Blackhawks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Penguins will likely place winger Pascal Dupuiso n long-term injured reserve. His playing career was cut short last season due to blood clots, He’s due to earn a cap hit of $3.75 million.
Still, it’s possible GM Jim Rutherford could attempt to ship out a salary via trade.The most obvious trade candidate is goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who lost his starter’s job to Matt Murray in the playoffs. However, there currently isn’t much of a market for goalies. That could change during training camp or preseason. Fleury’s partial no-trade clause is also a factor, along with his $5.75 million annual cap hit through 2018-19.
Shinzawa also notes the Bruins currently have around $66 million invested in their 2016-17 payroll, suggesting they have to build in space for a possible signing of pending unrestricted free agent college winger Jimmy Vesey. He’ll get a base salary of $925K wherever he signs, but could also have up to $2.85 million in bonuses.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Vesey has also been linked to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers. Those clubs also have the cap space to sign Vesey. The Leafs will free up room by placing all-but-retired Nathan Horton on LTIR.
Update on Howard
DETROIT FREE PRESS: Helene St. James recently reported efforts by the Red Wings to trade goaltender Jimmy Howard were unsuccessful. If they should trade Howard at some point, she believes the Wings must replace him with a reliable veteran netminder, as it remains to be seen if Petr Mrazek can handle a full NHL season. She believes it’s possible the Wings could move Howard this season if a rival club loses a goalie to injury, plus they could leave him exposed in next year’s expansion draft.
The very second Holland inked Howard to that cap hit he became untradeable.
Howard, Lehtonen and Niemi. Going to be hard to trade any of them as they are all inconsistant and all overpaid.
And none of them are going to be to content in the role of back-up.
So, this article basically just shows that Fluto Shinzawa doesn’t know how the cap works…? It is really annoying to read someone’s opinion on a topic only to realize that they do not grasp the fundamentals and therefore their “opinion” is basically completely meaningless since it has no basis in reality.
Agreed the Penguins will be cap compliant the day they are supposed to be and can still add Matt Cullen if he decides to come back another year. Obviously if he decides to hang them up and go out on top Oskar Sundqvist is a fine replacement.
From what I understand, Dupuis’ contract has to be counted on the opening day roster, LTIR contracts only give the team breathing room mid season. Meaning Pittsburgh will still have to clear salary to become cap compliant by opening day.
Rutherford is the GM. He says the Pens don’t have to make a trade if they don’t have one that is good for them or makes sense. I believe the GM so I stick to the facts. The Penguins are fine and don’t have to move salary. Once again writers just trying to make stories over nothing.
Not defending Shinzawa but how so? Pittsburgh is above the cap & players can’t be put on LTIR until opening day so Pittsburgh will have to do something before they can submit their 23 man roster the day before the season starts.
Se post below for math.
Shinzawa’s Sunday Hockey Notes column in the Boston Globe is the best year round hockey column in the US. He has a knack for seeing and writing about new trends in hockey from coaching to training to cap management and beyond. I live in the Philadelphia area but make it a point to read his Sunday column every week.
Pascal Dupuiso? Rutherford has made some incredible moves since taking over as the Penguins GM, although I would bet money that Jason Botterill was are responsible or even more so. I think waiting to move MAF is a mistake. Their are lucrative deals to be made with Dallas and possibly Buffalo(Bylsma knows him well) if they are made before the season starts. The closer they get to the expansion draft the more they lose leverage and if they wait long enough it might be the Penguins that have to give up an asset just to get someone to take Fleury. There is no way the world they can allow losing Matt Murray to alas Vegas. Franchise goalies of Murrays caliber and age are a rare commodity. There is 3 I can think of right now(Murray, Jake Allen, Gibson.). They also have 3 very good prospects in the system beyond Murray(Jarry, Gustavson, and Maguire.). So taking on Niemi for 2 seasons as Murrays backup and then letting him walk and letting one of those 3’get real time is an excellent game plan for the love by term. With goaltending and defense being positions of strength they could start drafting forwards again and there will never be a repeat of those awful years at the beginning of the millennium..
Damn big finger and auto correct………….
As far as MAF goes I think they maybe able to move him without having to take a contract back as bad as either Stars goalie and still get something (maybe not much granted the goalie market kinda sucks). I’m not sure why so many Pens fans seem content with the idea of 5 mill dollar terrible backups but…may want to use that extra cap space down the road and it would be more valuable than an extra 3rd round pick or some nonsense
That’s right, Shticky – it’s not in the Pens interest to take $4-5m of almost dead cap back to move MAF, who is still a very good goalie, and they won’t do it.
Murray a frcchise goalie? Not yet.I seem to recall him being outplayed by two other goalie in the playoffs, Andrei Vasilevskiy, 22, and Martin Jones,26. It was only a year ago that overzealous Pens fans were saying Beau Bennett and Evegeni Malkin would form a “dynamic duo.”
Those 3 are good but calling them franchise goalies at the moment is a little premature.
Dallas would love MAF or Bishop regardless of what Jim Nill says. There is no way IMO that either guy gets moved without A Dallas goalie coming back. Neither TB or Pitts want that so we have no movement, yet.
I am not so sure. I would take Nemi as a throw in for MAF. You’d leave him unprotected, it would be a slight discount in cap space and would provide insurance in the event Murray falters. The real question would be what is the main piece coming back for MAF and that is the one thing I can’t come up with.
Here in Dallas fan consent is no way on MAF. Age, salary, and injury concerns have us saying no thanks.
Nothing like the wisdom of long experience. Agree totally.
I agree MAF would fit nicely in Dallas and make them really dangerous if he plays like he did last year before he got hurt.
Without MAF from October to January the Penguins don’t make the playoffs..
Matt Murray is already a franchise goalie? Let him play a full season before assuming that. Jake Allen is a franchise goalie? What has he won?
Frank….you right Murray isn’t a franchise goalie yet. He was outplayed by Jones (who stood on his head for the first time ever) and Valsilevekly is the same as Murray young and will only get better.
Bennett bad reference he was never going to be a dynamic duo with any one couldn’t stay on the Ice.
Penguins don’t need Murray to be Patrick Roy just need him to be steady and he was…he was the last one standing..
agree with Shawn
OLdepunk….cool say no to MAF and you are stuck with the same two inconsistent knuckleheads you had Niemi and Lehtonen….you’ll go 2 rounds tops..
MAF was amazing this year when the Penguins were a mess from October to early January if not for MAF the Penquins don’t sniff the playoffs period.
His salary is $2 million less than what Bishop UFA will be asking for. he just turned 31 he has won 2 Stanley Cups your loss dude you ain’t going nowhere with Niemi and Lehtonene no matter how good that offense is…
What happened to Voynov’s contract and cap hit after his domestic abuse charges? If Kane is found guilty what is the story there?
Guilty of what? At worst it’s classified as a misdemeanor. Claude Giroux had the same problem in Ottawa in 2014
http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/07/02/philadelphia-flyers-star-claude-giroux-arrested-in-ottawa
Non-criminal harassment they say. Giroux wasn’t charged, think they just threw him in the drunk tank for the night.
Because the Ottawa police knew it would just be a waste of taxpayers money. The Buffalo police, on the other hand, don’t seem to care about that. When the other Kane was arrested and charged with rape last year, many in here were prepared to throw him to the wolves too, questioning his character and postulating that the event could very well ruin his career. In the end, the whole thing was tossed out of court (after who knows what expenses) for lack of evidence and questionable conduct by witnesses not to mention the alleged victim’s (and her mother’s) own dubious character, following which Kane went on to have another banner season.
George, are you seriously suggesting that a non-conviction for rape has absolved Kane of questions re his character? What an incredibly low bar you set for hockey players.
Debating anyone’s character who you don’t know is a waste of time. I will go with the evidence on Pat Kane, it was thrown out because of:
Sedita said DNA from a rape kit “lend[s] no corroboration whatsoever to the complainant’s claim,” and that “the physical evidence and the forensic evidence, when viewed in tandem, tend to contradict the complainant’s claim that she was raped on Kane’s bed.”
Sp what should we conclude from what we have to assume was a “through” police investigation and the ultimate decision by the district attorney? That he was guilty as sin but they chose to look the other way because he’s a hockey star? If so, you’ve set an incredibly low bar on the justice system. He had a piece of tail – young unmarried guys t end to seek that out a lot – she chose to cry “rape” in the hopes of a lucrative pay-off and even had her mother manufacture “evidence.” I see that as opportunism. I DO NOT condemn Kane for anything that happened in that instance. I suggest you climb down off your moral high-horse and follow the old Biblical adage “let he who is without sin cast the first stone” – good advice regardless of who actually said it.
should read “thorough ….”
Hold on a second, I don’t want to re-try the rape case here. If the court tossed the case, I’ll take that at face value. You still have an engaged hockey player, boozing it up in public, bringing home other women and exposing himself to exactly the mess he ended up in. And it’s not like this is the first incident with Kane. There’s a history here.
Same deal for the other Kane. You have him getting arrested on a string of minor charges in Buffalo today. In cuffs – not a good look. And this was after the investigation for sexual assault we learned about back in March – separate incident. Pretty clear character issue if there ever was one with a hockey player.
They tossed the case because it was obvious she was making it up, and interfering with the investigation, you should google it, pretty crazy what her and her mother did. Thankfully their is such a thing as physical evidence and DNA.
Dan is right, Patty boy puts himself in bad situations more than most. Fact is hockey players are human and include smart ones, dumb ones, and criminals in similar ratios to the rest of society. They should not be role models or held in a higher esteem than anybody. Not that anyone is saying that on this string, but many people do.
They have a lot to lose though, hence my dumb comment.
Also, if you are a star, teams in all sports look the other way until it gets really bad. Just like other professions, and other folks with plenty of $$.
I would guess plenty of NHL like to party and be with the ladies that are not their wives. They sure have plenty of opportunities.
And some are in the Hockey Hall Of Fame – one whose name rhymes with Gull comes to mind – actually shot in the ass by a wife who was fed up with his physical abuse.
Your right George numerous hof’s have had a fair share of run ins with the law
Including renowned racists Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Cap Anson in baseball’s HofF and, of course, we should never forget that O.J. Simpson remains in the NFL HofF! And still, those unctuous morons in baseball still exclude Pete Rose whose gambling on baseball (NEVER for his own team to lose) pales in comparison.
Oh, and before I forget – “boozing it up in public, bringing home other women and exposing himself to exactly the mess he ended up in…”
Seriously? He was at a legal bar/club – probably having drinks, he’s of legal age – so where does the “boozing it up” come from? Are you a Quaker? If not, what’s he supposed to do, stay home and play video games? And “bringing home other women???” Other as opposed to what? Far as I know he’s not married. A good-looking woman (I’m assuming that – I don’t know) comes on to him (or he to her – it’s a free country) and agrees to go “home” with him. So what? Again, I assume he’s not a monk.
He’s doing what red-blooded young males are doing all over the world at any given time and I doubt many of them, once the hormones start bubbling, pause to give thought that maybe, just maybe, the woman is setting out to “set them up.” Lack of judgement? Maybe. But who the hell are we to pass judgement on that?
It’s not the Buffalo police pressing charges it’s the girls. And on an unrelated topic, yes, it is fair to question Kane’s character. Also, my question was regarding the potential implications of Kane’s charges. But I suppose nobody knows at this point.
How about those Leafs this year.
What about them?
Keep trollin’ trollin’ trollin’ trollin’…
Wheres the thumbs up button ??
They look to be getting Enroth. Nice move there.
Agreed. Another solid player personal decision. He was my favorite UFA goalie.
Same, this is what I had previously suggested would be the preferred option so not claiming so after the fact. The young goalies are all years away if they ever make it. Sparks was out of his depth in his NHL stint last year, Bibeau took a step back int he AHL and the unpronouceable and unspellable one we don’t know about, ditto Woll who has a great name for a goalie but has just been drafted.
Should be a better team than last season & although they finished last last year they played good hockey until they started shutting players down at the 1st sign of a hang nail. They won’t be dead last this season, still bottom 5 but all just part of the rebuild.
The future looks very bright in Toronto & in about 2 or 3 years they should be a playoff contender & in 4 or 5 years a cup contender; maybe, if they can find or develop a future #1/2 Dman to compliment Rielly & Gardner.
Yeah, Toronto is likely to go on big winning and losing streaks as their young guys come into their own. Hiccups are what the Leaf fan base is going to have to learn to tolerate as the teams youth grows.
But the North east isn’t exactly dominating as a division. Tampa Bay and Florida will be at or near the top. It seems ever one else can fall to the bottom if things don’t go their way.
Montreal, Buffalo, Ottawa, Toronto, Detroit – non look like locks to get that 3rd spot all look like they can find themselves at the bottom.
Funny how the power of that division seems to be in such a warm state. Artificial Ice Trumps the real thing it seems.
Striker, they may be slightly better than you suggest. If you just assume league-average goaltending of a 915 next year, that would account for 16 goals of scoring differential. That on it’s own should put them around 25th.
I expect the offense to be improved slightly and the defense to be about the same, net of a number of factors I’ve discussed previously on this forum.
Said the idiot Oiler fan. To funny, an Oiler fan last placev5 out of 7 years trollon on the Maple Weaks…lol
Indeed, Ron. Just sad
Who is the more hockey crazy market ? Montreal and the Habs or Toronto and the Leafs.. ?
Lyle.
Pittsburgh still needs to be cap compliant when they submit their 23 man roster the day before the season starts. Dupuis counts as a roster spot & cap hit until opening day. Capfreindly currently has them 2,757,499 over the cap but shows 24 players. Only 3 are waiver exempt, so lets say Wilson is sent down clearing 625K, that still leaves Pittsburgh 2,132,499 over the cap. The only other 2 players that are waive exempt are Pouliot & Murray who combined make 1,491,666 leaving Pittsburgh 640,833 above the cap if they are sent down for 1/2 a day.
On opening day Dupuis can be placed on LTIR & Pouliot, Murray & Wilson recalled but something has to give before this can happen. Pittsburgh could expose a player like Kunitz or Fehr in hopes that someone would select them to get cap compliant but no guarantee’s either will although if not they could be sent down for 1/2 a day & be brought back up as soon as Pittsburgh can clear Dupuis on LTIR.
That said Pittsburgh would have zero wiggle room for short term injuries. Something has to give in Pittsburgh as you can’t get through the season with no cap space. Moving Fleury is the obvious solution but who needs a goalie now, virtually nobody. Dallas may but Pittsburgh can’t take salary back & even if Dallas ate 1/2 Lehtonen’s or Niemi’s salary’s Pittsburgh won’t want the 2 year terms nor Does Dallas really have the cap space to do so once Nichushkin is resigned & another Dman added to get to the standard 23 man roster. I’m not sure MAF with that D group & forward support defensively would be an upgrade to be honest.
Interesting times.
Striker,
I’ll give you another option. All my numbers are from the armchair GM tool on CapFriendly. I used the pro mode on the Dupuis LTIR move. First demote Kunitz (more on this later), Pouliot, Wilson, Porter and Warsofsky (who probably shouldn’t be on the NHL roster to begin with) to the AHL and recall Sundqvist to the NHL roster. That leaves you with $130,001 in cap space. Then place Dupuis on LTIR. That provides $3,750,000 in Cap relief. You can then recall Kunitz (assuming he wasn’t claimed off waivers) which leaves you with $2,800,000 in cap space to call up three more bodies to fill out the 23 man roster and cover injuries. I recalled Pouliot, Wilson and Porter which left me with $736,667 in cap space. Now about Kunitz (and Porter for that matter), I realize that, by sending them to the AHL, they are being exposed to waivers and may be lost for nothing. But is that really such a big deal? I think not. There will still be a plethora of UFAs with similar talent levels who will be desperate enough for work that they can be signed for less money ($950,000 in cap hit) than Kunitz is making. In the interest of full disclosure; I’m a Penguins fan.
Cliff.
I think we said pretty much the same thing, were on the same page. It can be done but when all is said & done little cap space left to complete the year once everyone is brought back up to ice a 23 man roster. Pittsburgh could choose to carry less than 23 but the NHLPA shun’s on it & it leaves little wiggle room if players come up sick or injured when on the road to allow for call ups.
Something has to give.
Yep best move ever go Leafs
Howie got left out to dry so many times by the subpar D and F’s not tracking back after making totally ill-advised passes across the top of the O zone. He’s not an elite goalie but get him on a team with a good D corps and he will do just fine.
Agreed. Howard’s decline can be directly correlated to Detroit’s player personal across the board & an injury issue, hasn’t been the same since. No position reflects a teams overall D play than in net; see Edmonton. I don’t think Lehtonen & Niemi, are as bad as their #’s show. It’s partly a defensive problem & not just due to their Dman but the entire system & lack of D support by the forwards. Yes a Schneider or Price would mask some of the issue’s but not certain a Fleury would show much better than what they have now. It should be even worse this year as the D wasn’t great in Dallas last year & it has gotten significantly worse.
I should be noted though that Mrazek played significantly better than Howard behind the same group over the last season & a 1/2.
Hahah nothing on the top about the Leafs, new I could get some of you Die hards talking Leafs this year, guess what you got to look up too this year last place baby.
You should be able to tell them how to deal with it with all your extensive experience regarding it over the last decade.
Again thumbs up ! Have to laugh when idiot boy says “new ” instead of “knew. “
He may be correct. Judging from his nickname he is clearly an expert on what it takes to finish last. Always good to see a Soiler wannabe trolling anybody. Make sure you put on your Oiler jammies before mommy gets you a nice glass of warm milk and tucks you in.
This coming from the joke of the NHL for the last 9 years. Give it a rest young fella. Toronto won’t finish last this season nor will it take them as long to rebuild as the Oilers. The management foundation in Toronto since Shanahan took over is as good as any team in the league.
Not sure debating who is worse, Leafs or Oilers, can be won by either side.
Oilers 1 Playoff appearance in last 11 years. Cup final 2006.Pushing to set a record for consecutive years of futility this year. I think they will break the record, but just barely miss the post season. Last won cup in 1990.
Leafs – 1 Playoff appearance in last 11 years, lost in opening round in a brutal gut wrenching defeat. Last won a cup in 1967.
Both teams are building a good pool of prospects and young talent. Both need top tier D-Men which are the most difficult to find and take the longest to develop.
Gotta say the future looks bright for both if they can find that. Big if.
An oiler fan is having a happy moment…… And it’s not draft day?
You know it’s July when you read pretty well all of the posts in today’s blog.
HEY BCLeafFan, I often read every post. Cause I lack a life it seems. 😛
if the b’s don’t trade for a top d it doesn’t matter if Vesey signs or not. They won’t make the playoffs!
Agreed, should trade Krejci and a pick and or prospect for Fowler
As a B’s fan I would love that trade. Probably need to wait until Krejci can prove he is healthy after his surgery. Early signs are positive from what I have read.
Not sure it would need to be that great a prospect or pick, if anything. Krecji is a very good player who is proven in the playoffs. Gives ANA a great 123 down the middle and the offense they need. Proven #1 centers don’t grow on trees.
Fowler is a good D-man, I wouldn’t say very good though. Being young helps.
That would be a ton of $$ ANA would be spending on center ice.
Anaheim has 3 centers now in Getzlaf, Kesler & Rackell. Even if Krejci played LW which he has done previously in his career; earl in his career, Murray isn’t taking on that contract. Not certain he would even if Boston ate 1/2 unless he flipped it after the fact. He won’t want a protectable asset in trade necessarily unless the contract is very team friendly. By the time Anaheim signs Rackell & Lindholm they will be well above their internal cap & something will have to give.
Sure Striker, bring data and facts into the argument!
Don’t watch ANA much and don’t know anybody other than the obvious.
As a fellow B’s fan, do you still think they try and make a move for a D-man before start of the year?
Ray Bark.
No idea really. Murray often surprises me with his player personal decissions. With expansion looming & the # of D under contract with Bieksa potentially having to be protected come the expansion draft unless he waves his NMC it makes sense to move someone. They do potentially need a LW to play with Getzlaf.
That said I would try to address that in the UFA market, protect 8 skaters, Getzlaf, Perry, Kesler, Silfverberg, Fowler, Lindbolm, Bieksa; if un willing to waive, & Vatanen exposing Despres & center Rackell.
Then potentially moving a Dman after the expansion draft.
Yep I should we win the cup in 2 years, but Leafs are looking good.
Hahahahhahaha. Yeah sure.
K Leafs win the Cup in 2 years
Ok Ok. Oilers vs Leafs. 2019 Stanley cup final. It’s going to be a blast.
I’d puke all over myself and have a better time sitting in it than watching that
Then watching McDavid and Matthews battle it out for the cup?
You can paint quite the picture with words Shawn.
Shawn, get over yourself. We all watched and enjoyed seeing your team beat the piss out of Vancouver in 2010. The rematch the following year was one of the best regular season NHL games I’ve seen.
If the Leafs-Oilers ever make it, will be one hell of an exciting final.
Err 2011 anyway.
Leafs in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2019-I guess anything is possible…but this is highly improbable. Fans better hope for substantial growth in Reilly’s game…and a miracle improvement in Gardiners game. Even if this happens, a final 8 team in 3 years is unlikely, considering the Dman prospect pool is empty.
You all know I was joking, right? However a leaf oiler final would be fun.
What’s all this talk about Macdavid and Matthews should not even be in the same conversation
You’re not wrong Matthews shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence as mcdavid
Well, actually you can if the sentence is “there’s a better chance we’ll be talking about Matthews in the same vein as # 1 pick Yakupov than # 1 McDavid.”
@Oil fan; the oilers have been the joke of the league for a long time. Made the worst trade of the off season and you’re going talk s&@t about them all day?! Come on get a grip
About the leafs that is
Oil are lookin good even with that Trade had to be done, but how about those Leafs wish I could trade my Oil line up for there’s lol.
Boy oh boy and me and Striker make the thread look like a school yard? lol
Hey Shticky, you and Striker make the thread look like a classroom. I thought that was understood.
Darn was hoping my comment would be under dan777’s. Next to his comments anything would sound great. As a Nashville fan I can say I’d rather have oilers line up than leafs, even after next season when leafs pick first again. The hall trade was terrible how? As a fantasy league player/GM it’s easy to see why you trade a player where you have excess for a position that you need upgrading, if you want to win that is.