NHL Rumor Mill – August 1, 2022
Could the Avalanche consider Jonathan Toews as a potential replacement for Nazem Kadri? Are the Wild in the market for a forward? Find out in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
COULD TOEWS MAKE A GOOD REPLACEMENT FOR KADRI ON AVS SECOND LINE?
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Adrian Dater recently mused over whether the Colorado Avalanche might consider Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews as a potential replacement for Nazem Kadri.
Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews (NHL Images).
Dater noted Toews’ comments last week about how he doesn’t consider the prospect of a lengthy rebuild with the Blackhawks to be very appealing. He also lamented the turnover of players on their roster over the past few years.
Toews’s contract would be a sticking point. He carries a $10.5 million cap hit for the coming season with a full no-movement clause. The Blackhawks would have to retain half of that cap hit, perhaps in a three-team deal.
The long-time Blackhawks captain is now 34 and his best seasons are behind him. However, Dater suggested that he could have a fine year playing on a good team, citing his faceoff skills, playoff experience and leadership.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Dater said he’s heard nothing that would indicate this could or will happen. Still, it’s an interesting suggestion. It’s anticipated Toews and long-time teammate Patrick Kane could be moved before the 2023 trade deadline. Both would likely prefer moving to a playoff contender.
Toews could be interested if the defending Stanley Cup champions came calling. Whether they will, however, is another matter. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman last month said the Avs had looked into Kane’s availability leading up to last season’s trade deadline. He wondered if they might revisit their interest this season.
WILD SHOPPING FOR A FORWARD
THE ATHLETIC’s Michael Russo recently tweeted that Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin continues to explore the trade market for a forward. If that doesn’t work out, he could turn to free agency. He’s also open to keeping that spot open for internal competition in training camp but doesn’t want a young forward being the 12th or 13th forward.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Wild have $4.3 million in cap space with 20 players under contract for the coming season. Free-agent options that might fit within their limited room include Sonny Milano, Evan Rodrigues, Tyler Motte or Zach Aston-Reese.
Since Sweeney’s Tenure the bruins have been a team that has consistently failed to meet expectations, the exception being the 2019 Stanley Cup run. Sweeney has consistently failed to properly equip his team with pieces to compete. On top of that, his neglect of the Bruins future and mismanagement of future assets is nothing short of a disaster
DRAFTING
the 2015 NHL Draft. Sweeney traded Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton for two 1st & 2nd round picks which ( in addition to the two picks the bruins went into the draft with) he used on Jakub Zboril, Jake Debrusk, Zach Senyshyn,. Sweeney missed on ALL of the following players:
Matt Barzal, Kyle Connor, Thomas Chabot, Evgeny Svechnikov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Brock Boeser, Travis Konecny, Jack Roslovic, Anthony Beauvillier, Sebastian Aho, Roope Hintz, Jordan Greenway, Rasmus Anderson, Vince Dunn, Oliver Kylington, Anthony Cirelli, Mathieu Joseph, Nicholas Roy, Conor Garland, Kirill Kaprizov, Troy Terry, Adam Gaudette, John Marino, Vladislav Gavrikov, Andrew Mangiapane.
It would be the understatement of the century to call the 2015 draft a wash.
Sweeney’s second round picks haven’t been much better than the firsts. Actually Sweeney has actually traded 5 second round picks since the fateful 2015 draft. The Bruins have only had 4 second round picks in the last six drafts.
Sweeney drafted Ryan Lindgren who has turned into an everyday shutdown defenseman for the Rangers, Jack Studnicka who’s failed to live up to expectations, Axel Andersson who was also traded for Backes relief,
Sweeney’s draft history in favor of this one haunting statistic: Don Sweeney has made 43 draft selections as the General Manager of the Boston Bruins and 6 of them are currently on the roster. Don Sweeney has struggled since the day he took over to identify talent and has proven time and time again that when an impact player is on the board, Sweeney can’t differentiate him from Zach Senyshyn for Jakub Zboril.
Free Agency
In his time as general manager Don Sweeney has signed Matt Belesky to a 5 year, $19 million deal, David Backes to a 5 year, $30 million deal, Nick Foligno to a 2 year, $3.8 million deal, John Moore to a 5 year, $13,750,000 deal and Mike Reilly to a 3 year, $9 million deal.
To put all of this in perspective, Sweeney has signed contracts amounting to $79,350,000 for 196 points.
Then Sweeney gave four more draft picks at the 2016 trade deadline, acquiring offensive juggernaut Lee Stempniak for a 2nd and 4th, and John-Michael Liles for Anthony Camara, a 3rd and a 5th. Combined these two players skated 74 games for the Bruins producing 21 points. Once again we see Sweeney’s ability to waste 4 mid-to-high draft picks on players who failed to produce for the team.
Don’t forget the bruin’s 5th To Minny which resulted in Kirill (Will not respond to Bruins PR department Mr. what’s his name and his faithful sidekick Igor)
Just once, you should comment on what’s being reported. Either that or start your own “I Hate Sweeney” blog.
Paul,
right on
PB
I agree. This is about nhl. Not Sweeney. The endless rants of nothingness are not even funny anymore
.
Dater is a bit of a persona non grata in Denver. It feels like some of his posts are meant as trolling as much as attempts at sports journalism.
I’d much rather lose without Toews than win with him. At this stage in his career, how much better would Toews be than say J.T. Compher, anyway? Why deal away assets and pay more for someone who is already on your roster?
Agree with all above, but to content on the actual post… unless you name is Sakic, Briseboi, or Yzerman…. you just described EVERY GM.
Nice post, Rick.
You sure can tell when you put your mind to something.
Sop how’s your Newfie dog doing?
That is a sound assessment chock full of undeniable facts – but Rick, even in the midst of all that the Bruins are annually one of the top teams throughout the season, having years that a bunch of GMs would give their eye teeth for.
This year, losing two top players for the first few months could be hard to overcome in terms of finishing in the top third of the league – but I still wouldn’t write them off just yet.
Hey RWM, I gotta say I actually liked this comment. Well written and persuasive with content (deals) I’d forgotten about. You make a good case that he really does suck as a GM! And as someone who reads more than he comments, everybody on this site likes to talk about their favourites or favourite hates, just maybe not as
much as Rick!
show me on this bear where sweeny hurt you
Now that you’ve got that out of your system, Rick, I look forward to your comments on today’s topics.
Any thoughts on the possibility of the Avalanche looking at Toews as a replacement for Kadri? Any comment on the Wild’s pursuit for a forward?
Thank You Lyle, you would think the Bruins were the only team in the league, LOL!!!….I can’t believe hardly anyone on this site ever talks about the Avalanche? They’re are only 2022 Stanley Cup Champions and most of the chatter in here is ever about them. I don’t know what league you guys are watching? …..Meanwhile, Kadri will be a huge loss if reports are true? Also, lost Burakovksky, that’s a lot of goals missing from the lineup! Concerning to me as an Avalanche fan; however, perhaps something else is cooking in the oven with McFarland . I am not crazy about Towed because if his health but the Avalanche know what they’re doing. So, we will see what transpires? GO AVS!!!!!
It’s so easy to see his name and skip the post. It’s easy and you’re not missing anything. You know I’m right.
Rick, she’s having a hard time with the heat, but other than that, she’s awesome.
Wild should trade for Coyle.
SOP, bet she would like a kiddie pool.
All of those players that you mentioned, 28 or 29 other GMs passed on them also. Get a job, get a life, move out of your mom’s basement, and actually watch an NHL once in a while!
Really brah?
I’ve often wondered why Kyle Dubas hasn’t at least kicked the tires at having Kane and Toews for one year. Hear me out. And of course, keep in mind, this is just me speculating.
If Kyle Davidson is willing to retain 1/2 the salary for both those players, he could get a solid return for both those players. In order to make the money work, Toronto would have to give back: William Nylander, Rasmus Sandin, Justin Hill and Alex Kerfoot.
I would think becoming the 2 puzzle pieces (Teows and Kane) that helps end Toronto’s cup drought, would be enticing to them. After this year they can retire or sign wherever they want.
Remember folks, these are the same 2 guys who helped Chicago win their 1st cup (2010) since 1961. It might be worth it to Dubas to get 2 guys who can help this Leafs squad get past the 1st round.
Kane maybe… Toews is done.
And could wind up being Corey Perry Part Deux – jumping from team to team chasing an elusive cup.
And what makes you think Chicago sees any of Holl, Kerfoot and Sandin as effective ingredients in a total re-build? Nylander, yes. Sandin – possible. But those other 2 are a dime a dozen.
I know people are probably too young to remember the 91 and 92 cup runs for Pittsburgh, but lost in the shuffle of names like Lemieux and Coffey, was a center named Bryan Trottier wasn’t just a former new York Islanders draft pick, he was their number 1 center during the Islanders dynasty. And even though his best years were behind him, I don’t know if Pittsburgh gets their 1st 2 Stanley Cups without him. You’re not bringing Teows in to be what he once was, you bring him in to be a 2 way center behind Matthews and Tavares. You’re paying for experience.
George O. Davidson’s interest in Kerfoot and Holl would be to flip them at the deadline for picks. Heck he could do the same with any one of those pieces. You don’t think he could land a couple of 1st rounders from a contender for Nylander? Holl put up 20 plus points on the back end last year. If Kerfoot and Holl have anywhere near decent seasons, there going to be worth solid returns come deadline day.
I don’t know George. After what we’ve all seen Chicago do this off season I can’t expect anyone of us be able to guess… my thoughts are on the idea of potentially seeing two of the best American players in our generation play together on a line sounds good, real good to me.
Oh, hell, yeah – Kane and Mathews would be a handful all right. And something to see here in the Great White North. But Toews? He’s mainly been subsisting on legend and reputation – but, who knows? One last big kick at the can could work wonders for 1 season.
Bottom line, that would be a trade that would have everyone and his Uncle Finn debating and talking about for weeks – that’s for sure.
An interesting idea. But when you consider that Toronto’s problem, once they reach the playoffs, is a second rate defense, adding Kane and Toews would do nothing to alleviate that problem.
Then there’s that – as Paul says. And if you deal away Holl and Sandin in that package, and the money more or less balances out in terms of cap hit, where do you find 2 D to replace them?> Certainly not from within your system or they would have been up long ago. Nor from the UFA heap of leftovers.
I agree with you Rick.My Bruins are not set up to win now with only 3 top players under 33 yrs old (Pastrnak,McAvoy & Swayman)and really only 1 top prospect(Lysell) their future doesn’t look very promising either.They draft terrible and refuse to do any kind of re-build before the guys getting older have even more diminishing value.I believe the Bruins are in trouble for many years as there isn’t an easy fix for these problems! 2015 was such a disaster draft that may never be recovered from.
Schooners.
Did you forget withers bruins were 1 win away of the cup in 2019? They were a top 10 team in league last year without a real 2nd line ctr They will be good this year. Maybe better then last year depending how it they handle the injuries to start the season. Do not under estimate how good Lindholm is. He is a legit top pair d man and will make Charlie even better
What room would be required for Toews at the deadline with 50% held ? Even at 50 most contenders can not take him or Kane for that matter early in the season. I predict they are both traded at or near the trade deadline. A lot of trade speculation between now and then
If this season unfolds like last, Toews will be had for a much lower cost than Kane. If Drury follows last years script, I can see NY being very interested, especially if Chytil doesn’t make a huge jump this season. I believe Toews was top 5 in face off %. That alone would make him an attractive add. We’ll have to wait and see how he bounces back from whatever ailed him last year.
Toews had to deal with a serious health issue and looked more like his old self in the second half of the year.
The guy’s a proven playoff performer. He’ll be a solid addition at the trade deadline.