NHL Rumor Mill – August 3, 2022
A look at some more possible trade candidates if the Islanders sign Nazem Kadri plus some recent speculation on the Leafs’ Alex Kerfoot in today’s NHL rumor mill.
POTENTIAL ISLANDERS TRADE CANDIDATES IF THEY SIGN KADRI
NEW YORK POST: Larry Brooks acknowledged recent rumors linking Nazem Kadri to the New York Islanders. While he believes the free-agent center would make them a better club, he pointed out he’ll soon turn 32, is seeking a long-term contract, and plays at a position where the Isles are pretty much set with Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson.
New York Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (NHL Images).
Given the Islanders’ limited salary-cap space, Brooks believes they’ll have to make a cost-cutting trade to accommodate Kadri’s contract. He believes center Jean-Gabriel Pageau would make the most sense on paper given his $5 million annual salary-cap hit.
However, Isles general manager Lou Lamoriello gave up a lot to acquire and sign Pageau, who plays a reliable two-way game. The Isles would have to move out a player for pennies on the dollar if the rest of the league believes Lamoriello is in a bind to clear cap space.
Brooks also suggested Josh Bailey or Anthony Beauvillier if the Isles don’t shop Pageau. With Bailey just seven games away from his 1,000th career contest, it’s hard to know whether that’ll factor into any deal. Beauvillier is seven years younger than Kadri and moving him means sacrificing youth from the roster. Dealing either one would also mean sacrificing depth on the wing.
NYI HOCKEY NOW: Stefen Rosner reports some Islanders fans were worried about Oliver Wahlstrom being a trade candidate after he made a minor change to his Instagram bio. However, sources tell him the 22-year-old winger isn’t a player the Islanders want to move.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Lamoriello or Kadri could bring this situation to an end by simply issuing a statement denying the speculation. Their silence stokes rumors that they’ve already got an agreement in place and will officially announce it once the Isles clear sufficient salary-cap space.
This isn’t the first time Lamoriello’s done this sort of thing. He held off announcing the signings of Zach Parise, Kyle Palmieri, Ilya Sorokin, Casey Cizikas and Anthony Beauvillier until days before training camp opened last September. Parise and Palmieri were both unrestricted free agents at the time but they also kept quiet.
I daresay there would be lots of interest in Wahlstrom. Trading him, however, wouldn’t resolve the Islanders’ need to clear salary-cap space for Kadri unless they’re peddling more than one player to do so. Even then, it wouldn’t make much sense to give up on a promising winger after just two seasons just to dump some salary. My guess is Bailey or Beauvillier get shopped.
LATEST ON KERFOOT
THE ATHLETIC: James Mirtle recently wondered if the Toronto Maple Leafs addition of free agent Calle Jarnkrok might make Alex Kerfoot expendable. Jarnkrok signed a four-year contract with an average annual value of $2.1 million. Kerfoot, meanwhile, earns $3.5 million this season and is slated to become a UFA next summer.
Mirtle feels Jarnkrok would be a downgrade from Kerfoot. He’s three years older and his stats suffered following stints last season with the Seattle Kraken and Calgary Flames. Kerfoot may be the better player but he could have value in the trade market.
The Leafs could prefer moving defenseman Justin Holl instead. However, they might not want to do that until they’ve got more clarity on Rasmus Sandin’s contract situation.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: As Mirtle points out, something’s got to give for the Leafs given their salary cap limitations. Jarnkrok’s addition could make Kerfoot the odd man out. Then again, it could be Holl once they get Sandin signed.
I will say it again… Lou is paying his 4th line almost 6million a season. He tinkered a bit with the skill of the team which leaves him where they are on now as well.
Ds. He has indeed over paid for character players. The opposite of what Tampa does. Picks them up for Pennie’s on the dollar
Sounds like he would love to have Nick Foligno on his team….
Lou had better sign his two RFA defenceman before entertaining the idea of adding another older expensive forward. Pageau has modified NM . He has no other choices but Bailey and or Beauvillier if he wants to add Kadri for $7m ish
Mangiapane just inked $5.8 and Kylington $2.5. That cap space goes in a hurry. Maybe we are giving too much credit to the Rumors of Kadri & the Islanders. If a deal is signed doesn’t it have to announced. Or are we talking handshake for $30 million
Pageau can play the wing, fill at center where needed, kill penalties, play 2nd powerplay unit.
Bailey and Beauvillier good for 20 goals and a soft forecheck. He will have to lose a pick to move either in this Cap hell summer for many teams.
Pageau on the trade block???
Stevie will give up Rasmussen and the Blue’s 2nd and the Stars ’24 4th for him!
Lou had to settle for not much for Toews, so to will he for another good roster player. What happened to that top 4 defenseman they have been looking for? Makes you wonder how he had so much success with N.J.!
you mean the guy 9th in Norris voting?
Even with Dobson becoming a player I still think they miss Leddy’s speed back there and breakout passes(but Trotz didnt trust him on D…)
Maybe I am hating on Lou too much this summer but that 2nd GM award with the Isles still has be scratching my head
They brought in Romanov. 2nd D pairing. Where ya’ been?
@Craig
I dont mind the Romanov move
But the team is dying for speed
Even after the Romanov deal, there have been more than a few rumors stating that the Islanders were in the market for a top 4 LD puck mover? I guess you have been on the golf course all summer!
Pre cap, different game. Once the cap was implemented, he drove that team into the ground keeping guys like Elias around too long , too expensive .
Since the cap, Mr Magoo has done nothing. He’s taken the islanders that Snow built to back to back conference finals, added or extended aging players, didn’t retain Tavares (although he tried) and now has them outside looking in.
My only hope is he sticks around long enough to ruin a few more eastern conference teams, just no other south NY teams.
Pittsburgh, Philly, a NJ reunion?
Actually, the islanders would be able to move some of the aging talent back to Lou if he heads back to NJ!
Hughes , Hischier, Bratt for Nelson, Parise and Martin!
Loooooooooooooooooooooou!
You’re an a..!
An honest a..! Sorry I hurt your feelings. You need a hug?
The Captain shows his colors regularly. Just never know what name he’s using. Lol.
Actually Brettzky,
You’d never even know I used another name (one time) if I didn’t own and explain it. Again, the context would have told the person I was replying to it was me.
Were you the guy that was using alt names to further your point?
You’re showing your true colors with that reply. A deep shade of stupid.
Double.Minor
That would be a nice Xmas gift for. Bruins 😎
Weell ffor my pipe dream I’d help out Lou but there needs to be a few many trades in order for this team to be more balanced.
Trying to make this all work.
Ya I know a lot of moving parts but oh How I wish this could be us going forward as the team now owns more grit-depth-and to me anyways it seems like a more balanced line-up right down to goaltending if things ever went south.
Kerfoot
Clifford
to
Nashville for:
Trenin(lw/c)
Jeannot(lw/rw)
Nylander
Sandin signed
Hideby
to Arizona
for:
Chychrun
Crouse
Prosvetov
Robertson
Holl
to
NYI for:
Bailey
Bellows
Romanov
Bunts-Matthews-Marner
Crouse-JT-Bailey
Engval-Kampf-Trenin
Bellows-Jarnkrok-Jeanott
Simmonds
Morgan- Brodie
Muzzin-Chychrun
Gio – Lil
Romanov-Benn
Murray
Samsonov
Prosvetov
still cap complient
lol is all i can say.
Arizona alone would laugh you right off the phone on that call.
They want 4 1st for chy, and have no need for nylander atm. lol then you thru in crouse which to be honest is more valuable than nylander, maybe he doesnt get the points yet but he will go up each year and he isn’t afraid of contact he actually goes after people , something nylander wont ever do.
Also you thru in there best goalie prospect just for shiitz and giggles not sure what your smoking but lay off a bit.
In years past, did RFA contracts hold up the UFA market like they have this summer? I wonder if the Dobson and Romanov contracts would have given Lou as much pause a couple of years ago. With AZ clinging to the cap floor this summer, trading out salary is getting really expensive. It’s starting to become a more obvious net-negative for teams trying to make themselves better in the UFA market.
Generally speaking, the big name UFAs get signed in the first 36 or so hours. Then, for the next week (more or less) the good to very good players (call ’em the B list players) sign contracts where they’re overpaid to some extent because GMs would rather overpay someone than to have the fans think he’s sitting on his hands. Then there’s the long, boring stretch from late July until a couple of days before camps open when a UFA here, an RFA there signs. While this off-season is following that pattern, it does seem to be taking longer for B list and below UFAs and any RFAs to sign contracts. This may be an effect of the flat cap.
That’s the way it’s shaping up for sure. As I’ve posted a couple of time over the past few weeks, there are still upwards of 15 teams either over the cap (well over in a few cases) or with less than the cost of an NHL ELC.
Then there are about 6 with just enough to re-up their RFAs and not much more.
The 12 with varying amounts $3 mil and up seem to be waiting around to see which of the cap-strapped with no LTIRs on which to lean decides to move a player or two before deciding if they’re better than what’s left among the UFAs and determining what it will cost to get them.
Yeah, in past summers, I would have figured that guys like Kadri and Klingberg would have been signed after the first week. I wonder if Anaheim offered Kadri a similar one-year deal. If not, the list of teams that have real cap space to offer him more than ~$4M is pretty short. If the teams with cap space are playing hardball with Lou, maybe this deal doesn’t get done.