NHL Rumor Mill – April 2, 2022
Could the Islanders make a couple of offseason cost-cutting moves? Were the Bruins close to moving Jeremy Swayman at the trade deadline? Find out in today’s NHL rumor mill.
NYI HOCKEY NOW: Stefen Rosner believes the New York Islanders will have to move out a couple of contracts in the offseason if they intend to add some high-end talent for next season.
New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (NHL Images).
One of them would have to be winger Josh Bailey, who has two years remaining on his contract worth an annual average value of $5 million. Another could be goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who also carries a $5 million cap hit and has a year left on his deal. However, it sounds like the Isles want to keep Varlamov.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Bailey, 32, lacks no-trade protection but the decline in his production over the last couple of seasons could make him difficult to move. The 33-year-old Varlamov garnered interest leading up to the trade deadline but the Isles opted to retain him. His 16-team no-trade list is also a significant sticking point.
Rosner recently suggested inconsistent winger Anthony Beauvillier could become a trade candidate if he doesn’t step up his play over the remainder of this season. Like Bailey, the 24-year-old Beauvillier lacks no-trade protection and is signed through 2023-24 but carries a slightly more affordable cap hit of $4.15 million.
BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: Jimmy Murphy recently reported a rumor linking Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman to the Arizona Coyotes leading up to the trade deadline. The Bruins wanted to acquire defenseman Jakob Chychrun but Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong insisted the 23-year-old Swayman be part of the return. Bruins GM Don Sweeney wouldn’t budge with Armstrong or other Gms interested in Swayman.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s not surprising Sweeney didn’t move Swayman. They still see themselves as Stanley Cup contenders and Swayman’s outperformed Linus Ullmark this season. He’s on a two-way contract through 2022-23 at an affordable $925K so I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere for a while.
Swayman is bruins #1and I can’t see him giving it to Ullmark With his low cap hit in place next year. His raise will correspond with Ullmark’s NMC changing to 16 team NTC
Making it easy to trade him
The Islanders were one team that I thought could lift themselves out their early season funk starting Feb 1, and while they have shown improvement since then, it wasn’t enough as they sit 13 back of a stumbling Washington with a possible 30 points left.
On Jan 31 they sat well down with a record of 37gp 15 wins 16 losses and 6 OT/SO points for 36 points and a mediocre .486 pts %, scoring 89 while giving up 101.
Since Feb 1 they’ve gone 16 11 3 in 30gp for 36 pts and a pts % of .583 – scoring 97 and giving up 82. In those wins were 4 SO including last night’s 3-0 over the NYR (who they also bat 2-1 earlier)
Moving Bailey with his cap hit and term left will require some imaginative dickering on Lou’s part, but I don’t know that their cap situation is all that bad. According to CapFriendly they have $70,244,167 committed to 18, leaving $12,255,833 to sign 5.
I doubt any of their UFAs (Chara, Greene, Aho, Hutton, Schneider) will be brought back, and of their 2 RFAs, the biggest boost will go to RD Noah Dobson, coming off an ELC of $894,167. A 3-year bridge deal might suffice at $3.25 mil per, leaving them just over $9 mil to sign 4. Bellows has done nothing to warrant any kind of major bump so, say, another bridge at $1.25, leaving a bit over $7 mil to sign 3.
Two very possible prospect elevations will be C Aatu Roty and D Robin Salo at minimal cost each ($750,000?) – so that $1.5 mil leaves them about $5.5 to sign 1. And if, by some manipulation, Lou can move Bailey – perhaps by holding back $1.5 for 2 years – he’d have $7.5 mil to go after a free agent.
Agree George
$12M + to sign 5 players is a luxury many GMs would love to have
Only 3 D under contract …. As you have pointed out Dobson to re-up
Interesting case Dobson…. RFA… so less bargaining power…. But he’s putting up the best numbers of any Isle’s D this year ; is a Rightie; plays 21 minutes a game….. Offer Sheet candidate??? I don’t think so, but I’m not 100 % sure…. I think (I stand to be corrected) if GMLL submits a QO then he can’t be Offer Sheeted
He is certainly worth much more than $3.5 M…. This will come down to bargaining
If GMLL is successful at a bridge 3 year…. I think ND could be in for a huge payday in 3 years
Pengy, if Lou can convince Dobson to sign a 3-year bridge, when he comes up for renewal Bailey, Clutterbuck, Martin, Parise will all be UFAs (all late 30s by then and gone) giving him another $8.5 mil (if, indeed, he isn’t successful in moving any of them before then) Parise and his $750,000 is gone after next year. And should be move Beauvillier (who only turns 27 when his deal end in 3 years), that’s another $4.5 mil off the books.
I would think he’d have an easier time moving Beauvillier before then than any of the others.
Hey George, the problem Lou has with Bailey is that there isn’t another Lou out there as another teams GM. I think he’s the only GM that would trade for him. Seems like his type, paid like a star but doesn’t put up points like one would expect.
Jay Beagle should be suspended chicken s**t move can’t wait for the rematch when someone his size grabs him. Boston not moving Swayman unless a star coming back and even than it’s iffy.
Bailey should have been gone years ago. He plays with an egg in his pocket and has not broken it all year. Soft as ice cream he always wants to pass the puck never shoots and is horrible along the boards. Let him go for nothing. Lou is clueless. Enough already.
Except that it isn’t “nothing” for the team that takes him – $5 mil for 2 more years for a player whose stats are declining doesn’t make Lou clueless – but you could apply that tag to whatever GM takes him at full cost.
He MIGHT be able to be dealt somewhere if a good chunk of that $5 mil is withheld. And I stress MIGHT.
Remember, too, that Bailey’s current contract was signed on Feb 23, 2018 by Garth Snow before the job was turned over to Lamoriello in May.
Bailey was not protected in the expansion draft which is also telling .
There must have been some head scratching on both sides if it was a one for one offer Swayman and Chychrun .
No one read anywhere that it was one for one, Armstrong wants many parts, and a goalie is one part that he’d like
Very true SilverSeven. Seattle took RW Eberley instead. a RW who turns 32 in May who costs $5.5 mil off the cap for another 2 years and who has 16g 21a 37 pts in 66 gp – but is a whopping -28.
RW Bailey, meanwhile, turns 33 in October and has 8g 25a 33 pts in 59gp and is a -3 while costing $5 mil off the cap for 2 more years.
What would Boeser fetch from NYI or other teams?