NHL Rumor Mill – October 3, 2023
Can the Oilers afford to pull off a major early-season trade? What’s the latest on Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews and Bruins blueliner Matt Grzelcyk? Find out in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
CAN THE OILERS AFFORD TO MAKE A BIG EARLY-SEASON DEAL?
THE ATHLETIC: Allan Mitchell looked at what an early-season blockbuster trade by the Edmonton Oilers might look like, including what assets are available and their ideal trade targets.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This is behind a paywall so I won’t give out much of the details. Those of you with an account with The Athletic can read it and form your own opinions. To be clear, Mitchell isn’t saying the Oilers are planning a major trade early in this season. He’s merely looking at several possible trade options (among them: Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck) and how much it would cost the Oilers to pull it off.
Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland (NHL Images)
What I will say is I don’t believe the Oilers have the pieces to pull off a major early-season move to address their remaining roster weaknesses. Some of the potential trade assets (their 2024 first-round pick, winger Dylan Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg) on their own won’t fetch a big return at this stage of the season. Even packaging two or three of them might not be enough to land a consequential star.
Like many teams this season, the Oilers are also maxed out on the salary cap. They currently can’t even accrue any cap space for the March 9 trade deadline. Any deal would have to be dollar-for-dollar unless general manager Ken Holland can bring in a third team to broker a deal and spread the cap dollars around.
Holland will instead likely spend the first half of this season assessing his club’s first-half performance in anticipation of addressing any issues near the trade deadline. That’s when we’ll know which players could be available and the possible cost of acquiring them. By that point, we’ll know if the Oilers even need to make a major move and if they have what it takes to make it happen.
WILL THE AVALANCHE BALK AT A LONG-TERM EXTENSION FOR DEVON TOEWS?
SPORTSNET: In last Friday’s episode of the “32 Thoughts” podcast, Elliotte Friedman said that Devon Toews’ age could be a problem for the Colorado Avalanche in their contract extension talks. The 29-year-old defenseman turns 30 in February and Friedman indicated that the thought around the league is the Avs might be reluctant to sign him to a long-term deal beyond five years.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I must point out that Friedman said this isn’t coming from anyone in Avs management or from the Toews camp. It’s merely speculation at this point.
Even if Toews is willing to accept, say, a three or four-year contract, the average annual value could also be an issue for the Avalanche. Cap Friendly shows them with $10.725 million in cap space for 2024-25 with 13 players under contract. That’s assuming the cap rises to $87.5 million next season.
Toews’ current average annual value is $4.1 million but he’s clearly worth more than that now as Cale Makar’s defense partner. Assuming they can re-sign him for around $7 million annually, they still won’t have much room to fill out the rest of the roster unless team captain Gabriel Landeskog (knee injury) ends up on permanent long-term injury reserve. While that would give the Avs $7 million in additional room for Toews, it would still complicate efforts to re-sign or replace their other UFAs.
LATEST ON GRZELCYK
BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: Jimmy Murphy recently reported a Northeast-based NHL pro scout told him that there are teams interested in Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. The source suggested they contact the Chicago Blackhawks to gauge their interest as the 29-year-old Grzelcyk is better than any of their current left-shot defensemen. They also have the cap space to acquire him.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This was based on whether the Bruins might have to shed a player if a promising youngster such as defenseman Mason Lohrei or forward Matthew Poitras cracks the roster this season. There’s no indication yet that they’re going to start the season with the Bruins let alone if management would trade someone like Grzelcyk to make room for them.
The Ottawa Senators have announced that Jacob Bernard-Docker, Egor Sokolov, Matthew Highmore, and Jacob Larsson will be placed on waivers today (Oct. 3).
Looks like yawl lose more promising players!!
I’m from the South and “yawl” is just never used anytime, anywhere! It’s Y’all
Johnny Z – only if some team claims them. Every year at this time there are a host of players on waivers simply because their teams have run out of options on them – most will clear and report to their farm teams
https://puckpedia.com/transactions
Geez Lyle, i put my thoughts on the bruins in the coffee news.
Interesting it would say teams are interested in Matt Grzelcyk but they should contact Chicago. If teams are interested why not just contact Sweeney.
Side note Forbort has not played in any exhibition games as of date. Is this just a veteran player saying i prefer not to play in preseason games are is there an injury or something we are not aware of.
Gryz isn’t being moved or shopped as Sweeney mentioned earlier this summer. As for Forbert he’s been suffering a lower body injury and will be playing tonight
Bruins should move Gryz just for cap space flexibility
Trade him for a forward- defense has depth without Grzelcyk- forwards have numbers but lack quality.
I hope the Avalanche find a way to resign Toews! He is invaluable to the team’s success. GO AVS!!!!
I don’t see the Oilers making a blockbuster deal. If anything they will make a minor deal to free up a little cap space. As per Cap Friendly, right now the Oilers are over the cap by just under $400K with a 22-man roster. That is with Niemelainen as the 7th d-man and Broberg in the minors. I don’t see it staying that way when the season starts. By replacing Broberg with Niemelainen that will add about another $100k to their cap.
Kev, a trade for goalie Connor Hellebuyck would probably irk a few riverside gamblers. Jack Campbell is having a very good training camp, suggesting he may be Edmonton’s number 1 goalie this season. Betting odds for Jack to the win the Vezina are 125 to 1. Eighty dollar bet would result in a $10,000 payday.
And no, I don’t have any money on Soup winning the Vezina. Even if Jack plays like his best days as a Leaf, the Edmonton D will ensure that Jack’s stats aren’t among the elites.
The Oilers trading for Hellebuyck would be great, but as Lyle said, the Oilers don’t have the assets to pull that off.
The Oilers defensive woes are behind them. Once they acquired Ekholm their advanced defensive stats were in the top third to a quarter of the NHL. In 4 of the 6 preseason games, the Oilers have only given up 1 goal in each of them in regulation.
I won’t put any move on Campbell or Skinner to win the Vezina either, but the odds are that Campbell will bounce back to his career average. This is all the Oilers will need to have a successful season.
Betting odds mean nothing and change every day. All they are is Vegas’s way of making the most money.
I think the Toews extension will come down to how (or how much) Byram performs this year. If Byram can put his injuries behind him, I think Toews will move on and the Avs will retain the younger, cheaper Byram. But if Byram can’t stay healthy, I think the Avs will do whatever they can to retain Toews, but they won’t know that until much later in the season.
I think you make a good point & you’re probably right! At the same time, Toews has said or indicated he maybe open to some sort of discount; however he prefers to have this addressed before the season begins. Does that mean if the Avalanche wait until the end of the season T oews will have more options on the open market and it could possibly be too late? It might behoove the Avalanche to get it done now!
Longtime Isles fan here. George O, any insight on Josh Bailey? Will he make the team? How does he look?
Josh was always a good soldier and was the poster boy for a prospect being rushed to the NHL too soon. That set him back and stunted his development.
However, he did eventually become an All Star, despite the incompetence of the Isles front office.
I’m hoping that he catches on and has a bounce back season. I’m looking forward to his return to the Island.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and predict that he will get a standing ovation. Unlike his former linemate who got what he deserved!!
No specific insight bill, but the fact Sokolov has been put on waivers and Pinto unsigned, the chances of the versatile Bailey sticking improve each passing day. While other PTOs have been released in recent days around the league, he’s still there.
“the incompetence of the Isles front office” as you said, got what y’all should of know was going to happen…it’s as predictable as isles fans ragging on a guy for picking himself over an incompetent front office after dedicating the best years in his short career…that’s pretty foolish and petty.
Bernard-Docker on waivers . He will surely be claimed . And don’t call me Shirley
That is my belief as well. Would be sad to see him go, but Ottawa/Belleville have a LOT of defensemen right now.
theSaint, what surprised me was the optioning of Kleven to Belleville. If Bernard-Docker is claimed, who becomes the 7th D after Chabot, Chychrun, Zub, Branstrom, Hammonic and Sanderson?
Has someone among the rest earned his way to the NHL?
George O ,
Is Bernard-Docker a RD? Did he already have NHL time ? Why was he waived?
I’d take a flyer on Bernard-Docker, a supposed “sure thing” a year ago.
Habs can keep adding RD till they settle on who gets the last chairs.
Given last year’s performance by the young D, the D and skills coaching was paying off.
He’s a cheap contract with an upside, if he isn’t good enough he can be waived.
Managing a young prospect pool is a job and a half, HuGo have a penchant for amassing 1st rounders and seeing if they can improve them.
The advantage of rebuilding is you can take chances and Habs have made some good waiver claims recently.
Guys. First timer here. Being 65 and watching since 1965 I have seen a lot of great stuff and strange stuff as well. Bernard-Docker should get claimed on Wednesday, but I thought the same about Ty Smith. Blackhawks have so little on their left side it seemed a fit, ditto the Canucks to claim a BC kid.