NHL Rumor Mill – February 4, 2023
Are the Rangers and Sabres interested in Timo Meier? Are the Bruins and Kings looking at Jakob Chychrun? Could the Predators shop Juuse Saros? Are the Capitals in the market for a defenseman? Find out in today’s NHL Rumor Mill!
RANGERS, SABRES LOOKING AT MEIER
DAILY FACEOFF: In his latest Trade Targets update, Frank Seravalli reports the New York Rangers have made San Jose Sharks winger Timo Meier their top target leading up to the March 3 trade deadline. He reminds us that Sharks general manager Mike Grier knows the Rangers’ organization “inside and out, so they’d make great trade partners”.
Seravalli also indicates the New Jersey Devils would love to acquire Meier and pair him with fellow Swiss forward Nico Hischier. GM Tom Fitzgerald recently said he’s looking at “a top-six winger under team control.”
San Jose Sharks winger Timo Meier (NHL Images)
Meier, 26, is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer and is a year away from unrestricted free agent eligibility. His current annual cap hit is $6 million but he’s earning $10 million in actual salary, which is what it will cost to qualify his rights unless he and his team agree to a contract extension with a lower cap hit.
NHL.COM: In a recent mailbag segment, Dan Rosen expressed his skepticism about the Rangers being “in” on Meier. He doesn’t see how the winger’s next contract would fit within their salary structure next season with Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and K’Andre Miller up for new contracts.
Rosen believes the Rangers would have to include Lafreniere or Chytil plus top prospect Brennan Othmann and their first-round pick to land Meier. He thinks they’d be better off pursuing a rental player.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It wouldn’t surprise me if Drury looked into the Sharks’ asking price for Meier. As Rosen points out, however, this move would take away a significant chunk of their present and future talent. There’s also the high cost of re-signing him when they have several other key players to re-sign. Like Rosen, I think the Devils are a better fit for Meier.
THE BUFFALO NEWS’s Lance Lysowski reported a source said Sabres GM Kevyn Adams’ contact with the Sharks about Meier was merely due diligence just to gauge their asking price. “Nothing serious at this point”.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Adams has also reportedly looked into the cost of obtaining Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun. He’s in a good position to acquire Chychrun or Meier. They’re already well-stocked with good young forwards who are getting better with every week so maybe Adams would put the focus on a defenseman like Chychrun. Speaking of the Coyotes blueliner…
BRUINS, KINGS INTERESTED IN CHYCHRUN?
BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: Jimmy Murphy recently cited Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman saying he wouldn’t be surprised if the Bruins at least looked into acquiring Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun. He also thinks they’ve looked into other left-side blueliners such as Columbus’ Vladislav Gavrikov.
Murphy cited an NHL source saying the Bruins will have to move a roster defenseman if they want Chychrun. He believes GM Don Sweeney’s goal is to add to his roster before the trade deadline without making a significant subtraction.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Murphy believes the odds of the Bruins landing Chychrun are low. I agree with him. Sweeney may have looked into it but the rumored asking price of two first-rounders plus a high-end prospect is expensive enough. Parting with a roster defenseman risks upsetting the Bruins’ strong blueline chemistry.
TORONTO STAR: Nick Kypreos recently reported the Los Angeles Kings remain interested in Chychrun. “They are said to be willing to move defenseman Matt Roy and his $3.125 million cap hit to help make it work,” wrote Kypreos.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I still think the Kings are the logical destination for Chychrun. They have a real need for a skilled top-four left-side defenseman and they have depth in promising young assets to dangle as trade bait. Whether Kings GM Rob Blake feels the same way remains to be seen.
COULD THE PREDATORS SHOP SAROS?
TORONTO STAR: Nick Kypreos believes the Nashville Predators could become sellers if they fall out of playoff contention leading up to the trade deadline. He claimed many believe they’ll shop goaltender Juuse Saros, citing the 27-year-old’s youth and reasonable $5 million cap hit.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I don’t rule out anything if Predators GM David Poile decides to become a seller before March 3. They have promising netminder Yaroslav Askarov in their system. However, I don’t think Poile will turn over the starting duties to the 20-year-old when he’s got Saros under contract through 2024-25.
Maybe that move takes place if Askarov starts challenging Saros for the starter’s job over the next couple of years. I don’t see that happening this season.
LATEST ON THE CAPITALS
WASHINGTON HOCKEY NOW: Sammi Silber recently cited The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek reporting the Capitals are willing to listen to offers for center Lars Eller if it can bring them help on defense.
General manager Brian MacLellan recently said the team’s plans for the trade deadline will depend on their health leading up to March 3. Silber lists the Montreal Canadiens’ Joel Edmundson, Los Angeles Kings’ Matt Roy and the Vancouver Canucks’ Luke Schenn as potential trade targets for the Capitals.
Bruins need depth at center especially looking forward with Bergeron and Krejci ‘s status for next year up in the air. A defenseman would be nice but a center a necessity.
Barry
If both 37 and 46 retire. Then they will need a ctr but if only one retires they won’t. As Zacha will slide to ctr I believe they will look for a 3rd line winger and d depth. No blockbuster this yr. Any top ctr will take key players from rosette as well a prospect pool and draft capital
Not rosette. Roster. Darn autocorrect
Auto-correct is a pain in the rear for sure, Mrbruin4 – but if I’m making typos today it’s probably related to trips to the garbage bin outside where, according to today’s forecast its “Holy-Crap-I-Can’t-Feel-My-Crotch Degrees”
I’m not going outside again until the temperature is above my age (right now -29 with a wind-chill of -38).
When does it get in the 3 digits in Canada?
LOL. Now THAT’S a funny “age” comment.
|Barry I don’t disagree with you; however, I think this year more then any other is an all-in year.
With that said, if he can get a C man great, but i think another winger and a dman are his priority for the playoffs.
Maybe visit Horvat in the off season if NYI don’t get him signed.
If Larkin becomes available he would make a great trade target although Sweeney’s loyalty to his current roster likely won’t allow a trade to take place since the Bruins minor league players and draft position leave very few assets.
George O, too much!!! I grew up in upstate N.Y. for many years before living in Colorado and remember those days. Especially, shoveling snow that just keep blowing back in your face and you actually thought you were making progress. Can’t imagine what you guys are going through with those temps? Maybe, dream that all star break is over and for the Sens in their 1st game back,Debrincat scores on a breakaway ! GO AVS!!!!!!!!!!
Heh. Just to finish off a miserably cold day, one of my son’s car wouldn’t start – needed a new battery, Got that OK – but if you have ever owned a 2018 Ford Focus you know the idiocy of the design under the hood with the battery location being half out where you can get at the front post – and the other half under the dash overhang! Whoever designed that obviously never considered having to change the battery in minus 20s temps.
C’mon George – 29 with a wind chill of -38 is a nice day out here in the prairies.
Yeah, so my granddaughter in Edmonton keeps telling me. And she wonders why I don’t visit from November to April!
There might be another earlier deal. Treliving likes to pull the trigger a couple of weeks out. More time for the player to settle in he claims
Pelletier looks promising and has pedigree . Not saying they trade him but keep him and move another . Mangiapane Dube Ruzicka Lucic prospect M.Phillips .
Caps have a 2023 2nd the Canucks would want for Schenn. If a prospect I’d be curious who they’d offer up.
Gordie, I think the Capitals will be one of the more active teams leading up to – and on – TD Day. Getting both Backstrom and Wilson back in the fold is significant when it comes to their playoff aspirations and, if they went after Schenn it wouldn’t surprise me to see, as part of their offer, Connor McMichael, a LW/C type taken25th overall in Round 1.
I also believe Mantha will be moved. This giant (6′ 5″ 235 lbs taken 20th overall in Round 1 in 2013) played 302 games with Detroit scoring 95g 99a 194 pts for 82-game averages of 26g 27a 53 pts. For some reason he has just never been able to really get untracked since going to Washington with 22g 33a 55 pts in 100 games played (82-game averages of 18g 27a 45 pts),
Costing $5.7 mil off the cap with 1 year to go after this before becoming a UFA, I can see a team like Montreal interested but, whoever does deal for him, it will likely be a real hockey trade with a similar cap hit coming back to Washington.
The Caps also have 6 active pending UFA Fs (Eler, Hathaway, Sheary, Johanssen, Aubé-Kubel and Milano) and 5 pending UFA D (Orlov, Jensen, Van Riemsdyk, Gustafsson, Irwin) and one or two of those could be included in separate deals.
Connor McMichael was exactly who I had in mind. Didn’t wanna get slammed lol
The Vanucks would be highly interested in him imo. 👍
“ Lafreniere or Chytil plus top prospect Brennan Othmann and their first-round pick to land Meier. ”
Yeah, not a chance of that happening.
Essentially 3 first round draft picks for a rental? When’s the last time that happened?
Chytil is on pace for roughly 60 points primary playing on the 3rd line. Meier is on pace for just shy of 80 points playing 1st line / 1st Pp unit. Ny can’t afford to give up a center. Trocheck/ Panarin has not looked good. Chytil should be moved to that 2nd line.
Laffrienere and a 1st maybe. But even that is a bit steep. Othmann? Yeah, pass on that.
Maybe they should throw Fox in the mix? Ridiculous!
Laf, a 1st, Kravsov.
If NYR does not wish to extend Meier, they can simply trade him before July 1 and recoup at least a 1st and a 2nd or the equivalent. If Meier is good in the play-offs I am sure he will warrent more than that or NYR finds a way to keep him. Pretty good insurance for a rental.
Ny does not have the cap space to re-sign Meier, and every Gm in the league knows it. Zero chance of recouping a 1st.
In order to sign him, one of Zibanejad (not happening) Trouba (not happening) Fox (not happening) Trocheck (not happening) Kreider (doubtful) Panarin (not happening) would need to be moved.
Plus Miller, Chytil needing a contract and 4-5 needing to be RW-signed or replaced.
In other words (not happening).
And again, This is still 3 first round picks. Kravstov value is pretty low, but that’s still too high for a rental.
Hard pass.
Getting Meier would be a nice move, but I have to agree 120% with the captain here. I could see Kravstov and a 1st but nothing more than that. Possibly even a 1st with a few prospects as the Ranger’s do have a loaded system right now. I hope that the Ranger’s do not even think about moving Othmann. The Ranger’s management needs to be patient here. They have put together a great young team which I believe will compete for the Cup in the next few years. We Ranger fans are a lot more patient than most people think we are. While winning a cup is always nice, I would rather have a team that in the long-term is constantly fighting for a cup (and maybe winning one) than a team that wins one and then falls into mediocrity or worse in the 40 years afterwards. IMHO, this team, as it is, has the talent to win but they are still a little out of sync right now. If they can get their game together in the playoffs, I think they may go far.
@George
Saros is in the news today ..
Interesting , Don’t U think !!!!
Ken, he’s only in the news because Lyle is giving due diligence to all things related to possible deals popping up in the media. To that end he’s simply relating today what we discussed yesterday thanks only to a post that related a clip of Kypreos indulging in his usual “wishful-thinking” and citing the prerequisite (when there’s nothing tangible) “several sources.” Can’t get any more vague than that.
And all that based on the possibility that Nashville may be ready to toss in the towel on making the playoffs! They currently sit 6 pts back of the first WC holder, Edmonton, with 2 games in hand and 34 games left to play in the schedule, playing at a 0.563 clip.
Lyle also goes on to shoot it down for the essentially the same reasons some of us did yesterday.
Don’t hold your breath on Saros being made available any time soon.
Van should send Schenn and Meyers to WSH for Mantha, Eller and a 2 nd
Then trade Eller to COL for center depth for their playoff run for a 2nd rd pick
Then see if EDM wants Mantha for PJ plus picks.
Van clears cap room and acquires assets and WSH gets their D depth and COL gets center depth
Washington has the attributes to get something a lot better than Meyers.
Mantha 2/5.7m gag
NOPE
Ellet is a maybe asset.
Why would the Canucks do the Caps hard work?
think Hayes to Boston for DeBrusk and C.Smith plus a 2nd works?
Think Hayes can fit in well with bruins but need to retain 2 mil
Maybe a 1st Smitty. And Reilly or Jacob. No way bruins are trading Debrusk. And they have no 2 nd rd picks to offer
Reilly, Smith and a 1st or 2nd would be enough for me to pay. Any more than that, and I’d pass. I like Hayse, but I’d stand firm and wait for the Leafs stars contracts to expire.
Wonder what it would take to get Lindholm out of Cowtown? I’m guessing lots. He’s a fantastic player. I’d include Looch in the deal if there were one to be made. Tre is pretty savvy, so it’s probably just wishful thinking on my part.
Shore deal
1st, Smith and Reilly
Lol
Johnny Z
I highly doubt any team trades a 1st round pick in the off-season for Meier’s negotiating rights.
That’s for sure.
Detroit can offer Bertuzzi, Zadina and a second befor this years deadline?
🤔 Maybe a 5th pick for Meier’s negotiating rights. Thats if he would consider signing with a team❓
i think this will become a trend if the player and team are open to it….
Not quite sure how this would work out, philly look like a Re tool team…
Then get a New GM
Chuck Fletcher has never done well anywhere he has been and philly is a Mess…..🥶⁉️
With the amount of higher end talent potentially available this year at the deadline, I think teams will have more plan B’s and C’s than other years. Meier, Chychrun and the likes would make great plan A’s but at a high cost. I suspect they go cheaper and later in the day as teams will fill out their rosters with plan B’s first. It may also be a year where non contender teams rearrange their roster without blowing it up. I am hoping to see a more entertaining TD with some real plot twists
No way Chychrun ends up in LA unless the price comes way down. Blake is too conservative to give up that much and Durzi has improved greatly at playing the left side.
Also don’t see how they move Roy. They need more defensive help not less.
Trade for Vejmelka and Gostisbehere!
Petterson(retain $2M and to get to cap basement), Turcotte, Kupari, 2023 1st, Pens 3rd for Gostisbehere (1/2 salary) and Vejmelka
Ghost will be back in 3-4 wks and you get a proven goalie! Hopefully Petterson waives to come back to the NHL ha ha
A common mistake when discussing NYR trades is that they need to keep huge future payroll $$ aside to sign all these younger players. IMO some of them need to be moved on from. Either in the trades to acquire someone like Meier, or in separate trades to get 1st/2nd round draft picks back. Laf, Kakko, Chytil & Miller are each tradable to me. I don’t see any of them definitively being the answer to our needs. While they all have some obvious talent and have displayed it in spurts, none have consistently progressed without retracting again. (And I know they’re youngish, but they’r not super young kids anymore. Chytil is in his 6th season, 5th full one) I’d happily use one of them in a package to get Meier. Consequently, giving up a 1st should be reduced to giving up a 2nd or 3rd plus other parts. I wouldn’t include any of them for Kane. I’d only use them to acquire top talent who are still relatively young, like Timo at 26. Without their significantly growing future salaries signing Meier is doable. Goodrow can be an excellent 3rd line center, so keeping Chytil isn’t necessary and he can bring back valuable picks for the upcoming draft, which is supposedly loaded. Plus I’d rather utilize Oth & Cuylle as our 3rd & 4th line left wings of the future instead of trading them.
Good point, Laf and Kravtsov and a 2nd for Meier. Figure out the cap issues in the off season. I am sure that another contract can be moved out when sweetened with a b prospect as NYR has many of them. Then be able to sign Meier for 8 x $8.5.
I definitely would not trade Miller, Kakko or Chytil at this point. Certainly not for a winger who would be a 10 per qualifier. Or even 7-8 per on a long term deal.
And it has zero to do with future contracts and everything to do with the big contracts they already have. I believe
Next year they have 68 million committed to 5 d men, 1 goaltender and 8 forwards. Add a Meier, that 76 million to 15. That’s 7 million to fill out 7-8 players.
Are they using all elc’s on their bottom 6, backup goaltender and 6-7 dmen? Sounds like a terrifying plan.
Goodrow is not the answer at 3rd line center.
Does Meier and a bunch of elc players make the rangers better? Very doubtful. The Rangers have 2 prospects possibly NHL ready. Othmann and Cuylle, maybe Jones but he looked like he took a step backwards this year.
I have zero desire to replay the 90s with over payed players while letting young talent (Kovelov, Zubov, Amonte, Savard etc.) walk out the door.
Johnny z,
As I mentioned above, best of luck convincing Panarin (wanted NY) Trouba (wanted NY) or the rest Zibanejad, Fox (untouchables) and nmc’s waive.
And even better luck finding someone to take Panarin or Trouba at full hits. Good players, but who has that cap space that these players are waiving to go to?
Fair enough. But as I mentioned, I would not trade any of our younger players for old guys like we’ve painfully done in the past. Nobody wants to go back down that road. While having youth is a good thing, nothing says it has to be OUR current youth. IMO some of the kids I’ve mentioned don’t have what it takes to help us win the cup. I’d rather be open to moving them to bring back young veterans who are more physical and play a much better all round game, including defensively. We get very little of that from any of the 4 I mentioned. And no robust scoring to overcome their other deficiencies. Historically, if over a 2 or 3 year span a NHL team assembles about a dozen strong prospects (like we did), that team is incredibly fortunate if 1 or 2 become stars. We’ve gotten that with Fox & Igor. Then if you’re lucky maybe you get 2 more who are in the good/very good range. Maybe we have them with Miller & Chytil, maybe we don’t. Then you’ll have maybe 3 or 4 that become 12 year career depth players. The other 4 or 5 are just up for an occasional cup of coffee or unfortunately never make it at all. That just what the numbers say. Now I’m not saying we absolutely must trade them all. But I’m saying IMO we’ve already got the studs from that multi year group. The rest are questionable and even if they develop further I don’t believe we have any untapped mega stars in our system.
As far as llc’s for our D corps, I’d honestly be ok if we swapped out our entire left side for 3 bigger, more physical stay at home defensemen. I would love to have some better stay at home defenders that won’t break the bank. I love Lindgren’s heart but he needs to be 3 inches taller and 30 lbs heavier to play the type of game he’s trying to play. His injury issues because of his fearlessness will only get worse because he’s not big enough.
The good news is that having too much talent to fit on your team is a good “problem” to have.
Anyone got the skinny on Roy in LA other than being a right-shot D? The kings don’t miss often on D prospects and probably a nice add.
I think Hayes to boston is a good fit and if philly retains some salary they should be able to get a 3 this year and a 2 next year. debrusk has made him self a bruin and a trade would need to knock their socks off.