NHL Rumor Mill – November 9, 2023
Possible goalie trade targets for the Oilers plus the latest on Patrick Kane, Noah Hanifin and an update on the Senators in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
POTENTIAL GOALIE TARGETS FOR THE OILERS
SPORTSNET: In his latest “32 Thoughts” column, Elliotte Friedman speculated the Edmonton Oilers could be contemplating their options for a goaltending upgrade.
He noted reports linking the Oilers to St. Louis Blues starter Jordan Binnington but doubts that happens unless they’re giving up on the season. The Blues would have to replace Binnington and his $6 million average annual value and they won’t accept Jack Campbell in return.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I don’t see the Blues giving up on the season. Binnington, meanwhile, has a full no-trade clause. Unless he agrees to waive it, he’s not going anywhere.
The Oilers have talked to the Montreal Canadiens (who don’t need a goalie) about Jake Allen but Friedman doesn’t sense anything imminent there.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canadiens are currently carrying three goalies in Allen, Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau. While they could attempt to move one of them, they won’t want a goalie in return.
The Habs would also likely have to retain half of Allen’s $3.85 million cap hit. However, they only have one salary retention spot left for this season and might prefer to keep that open for later in the season. Allen also has a seven-team no-trade list.
Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (NHL Images).
Friedman mentioned Nashville Predators starter Juuse Saros but believes the asking price would put him out of reach for the Oilers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Saros is signed through 2024-25 and lacks no-trade protection. Back in October, Predators general manager Barry Trotz told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun that he’s already reached out to Saros’ agent to gauge their thoughts about discussing a contract extension.
Unless Saros intends on testing the 2025 free-agent market, I don’t expect Trotz will move him this season.
NHL WATCHER: Speaking of the Predators, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug on the “Got Yer Back” podcast yesterday suggested the Oilers pursue promising Yaroslav Askarov, who has great numbers with their AHL affiliate in Milwaukee. LeBrun, however, considered that to be too risky for the Oilers as Askarov hasn’t proven anything yet at the NHL level.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Trotz acknowledged he considered moving Askarov before the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft in the hope of landing one of the top five selections. However, he’s since said that he intends to hang onto the promising netminder.
NBC SPORTS BOSTON: Nick Goss acknowledged Oilers fans are looking longingly at Bruins goalie (and 2023 Vezina Trophy winner) Linus Ullmark now that Jeremy Swayman is off to a red-hot start in Boston. However, Goss doesn’t think it’s a good idea to move Ullmark unless the return is a top-tier player like Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers are reportedly on Ullmark’s 16-team no-trade list. Besides, the Bruins are off to a great start and have no reason to break up their dominating goalie tandem at this time.
THE LATEST ON PATRICK KANE
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman reports it sounds like eight teams are “somewhat seriously” looking at free agent Patrick Kane. It’s believed the 34-year-old winger will be looking at where he can win this season.
THE ATHLETIC: Chris Johnston listed the New York Rangers (Kane’s previous team), Florida Panthers, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs as the destinations that league sources believe are where he’s most likely to land.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Nothing new here that I (and others) haven’t already gone over in recent weeks. Kane will reportedly start fielding offers from interested teams this month and is expected to make his choice before his anticipated return to action in December.
Of those clubs listed by Johnston, I think the Rangers are Kane’s best bet if he wants to play for a Stanley Cup contender. Whether they want to bring him back or can afford to do so remains to be seen.
MORE HANIFIN SPECULATION
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman believes the San Jose Sharks contacted the Calgary Flames about Noah Hanifin but he doesn’t see them as a fit for the 26-year-old defenseman.
He also wondered about the improving Arizona Coyotes, who have the second-best goal differential in the Central Division and are pushing to make the playoffs. A contract extension from the Coyotes would benefit Hanifin and the Flames in terms of return.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sharks made a move for a defenseman yesterday by acquiring Calen Addison from the Minnesota Wild.
The Coyotes have been a laughingstock for years but their rebuilding process is starting to bear fruit this season. They have a projected $43 million in cap space for next season with 11 active roster players under contract.
The Desert Dawgs can afford Hanifin under Friedman’s scenario. Whether they’d pursue and sign him is a completely different matter.
UPDATE ON THE SENATORS
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman reported the Ottawa Senators have looked at depth defensive options to shore up their battered blueline but their limited cap space makes that difficult. They still intend to bring back center Shane Pinto once his 41-game suspension ends in the New Year and have no intention of trading him.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Speaking of the Senators, there is no truth to a rumor that former NHL coach and Hockey Hall-of-Famer Patrick Roy was spotted in Kanata recently.
cbj looking better this year so far. they need to learn how to close out a game. take some of the pressure off themselves by scoring more. not sold on merzlikins. how would atrade with san jose look. hertl and blackwood to cbj for boqvist merzlikins bemstrom and roslovic look.
Who would be the Jackets’ starting goalie? Blackwood would still be with NJ if he was a reliable starter. And Hertl is both injury prone and wouldn’t fit in the Jackets lines. Finally, while San Jose would jump for joy to get Merzlikins, since he would be a massive upgrade over their current goalies, why would they take Bemstrom, a so-so 3rd liner, Roslovic, possibly the streakiest forward in the NHL, and Boqvist, who can’t beat out a rookie to play and is injury prone? Oh! And totally finally, just because you’re not sold on Merzlikins, just how stoned do you think the entire front office would have to be to agree to trade him, especially for a serious downgrade of a goalie?
Elvis. .897 sv%
Blackwood. .892 %
Serious downgrade?
Chrisms, put it in perspective. Elvis’ is better than last year and he hasn’t been blown out more than once, unlike last year.
Blackwood’s is down from last year and SJ has been competitive in 1 game.
That means Elvis to Blackwood is a serious downgrade.
This year though Blackwood is essentially stopping the same percentage with a lot more rubber thrown at him and a much worse team in front of him. I don’t think calling him a serious downgrade at this point in time is accurate.
Hanefin will be in his hometown B’s uni for opening night of the 2024-25 season, book it now
Jake Allen? really? talk about desperation for any team
Preds probably want a 1st rounder for their goalie prospect, Oilers have to be careful to protect that in case they miss the playoffs. But what other realistic options do they have?
and nobody is talking about the poor/average goaltending the leafs are getting this year, overshadowed by the Oilers. That may continue to be the Leafs undoing
Book it now?? Where have I heard that before regarding movement to the Bruins?
That was the prophetic “Jack Eichel to Boston” trade back when he was arguing with Buffalo on neck surgeries. I still have my Eichel #46 B’s jersey in the box waiting…
George
Don’t go digging in the archives now. Lol. Let him RIP as they say
LOL
I don’t think goaltending is Toronto’s problem. I think the Leafs VERY poor defensive game has been a problem for years.
Not Goaltending.
Not the three defence pairings.
It’s the TEAM defence.
Even if that got sorted out, they are the softest team in the NHL, imo, and have been since the departure of Tucker and Carson. They had a couple years were they had some tough players in their lineup, Orr and Rosehill, but it seems now that any tough players that come in immediately turn soft. Must be something in the water in Toronto. I mean, look at all the colourful flags and pink hair in that city.
I’ve met some pretty tough dudes with pink hair. Hell there’s a couple at my gym. If they could skate I doubt any dude in the nhl would want to tussle with them. I know I wouldn’t. They’d tie me in a knot like popeye on spinach.
Hey Mike,
i think your right Hanefin 100% gos back to His home town Bruins as a UFA on July 1st
That would give them a Great top 4 Defence…
and with that Top duo in Goal they will be hard to beat in the East…
All the Bruin would need is a #1 Centre….❓🤔
Could Noah Hanefin get his team mate and good buddy to go with him to boston AKA
Mr.Elias Lindholm…
I would bet on this right now this will happen✔️✔️
Unless another good team can offer more for Hanifin in terms of $$ (and term) that Boston can’t match in terms of cap space, depending upon other moves/needs necessitated by free-agencies that need to be re-signed or replaced.
Spotting Patrick Roy somewhere in Ottawa is beginning to take on the same demented one-time fixation as seeing Elvis everywhere from Memphis to Bangladesh!
As for Ottawa’s reduced D (Chabot, Zub and Brannstrom) , Chabot is entering week 3 of his estimated 4-6 weeks absence with a broken bone in a hand, Zub was thought to be ready to return for last night’s game in Toronto, but it was decided to give him a few more days. while Brannstrom remains out with his concussion.
With their current cap situation and all 3 due back sooner rather than later, there is NO way they deal other assets to bring in a D with term and any kind of significant cap hit who is better than the 3 replacements who are playing just fine, thank you (Bernard-Docker 25:35 min. last night – Matinpalo (5:50 last night) and Kleven (13:54 last night).
If pointing to one factor that has mainly led to their 6 losses so far, it’s the inconsistent play of their two goalies (Korpisalo and Forsberg), who have given up some game-crushing softies over those losses.
The offense has been good (they’re still on the overall + side).
The acid test will come tonight when they play the second of a back-ts-backs against the red-hot Canucks.
As for the Leafs, if they are indeed looking to bring in fresh blood, forget Patrick Kane. THEY and their overall -3 need a D-man or two.
You blaming the tenders for their loses. The Sens lay out a red carport right down the centre of the ice to their net. They practically hold their arm out to escort the opposition player to their net.
They also are very choppy with the puck. Last night was much better that had clean exist and managed to move the puck around the offensive zone.
Often against better teams they succumb to a heaven for check and have no ability to retrieve a dumped in puck. The best they do is whack at the puck with their sticks there has been no time to settle it, control it and pass it. Just chip it north, chip chip. The puck is like a ping pong ball. Then they give it up at either blue line.
The Sens have issues and goaltending is not one.
Vancouver shall be interesting tonight. They are playing solid. How much will Ottawa be able to have regarding possession time. Will they revert to their habits of chopping away at the puck or will they actually control it and carry it a bit.
They beat bad teams or they beat good teams paying bad.
Funny you mention that George.
To Edmonton: Anton Forsberg and the rest of Bobby Ryan.
To Ottawa: Adam Erne and Beau Akey
I’m fine arranging different details. Time to bring up Maads.
Dark G
In no world would the Oilers do this.
1. You can’t trade a buy out cap hit. Plus the Oilers couldn’t take it on if they could.
2. The Oilers couldn’t take all of Forsbergs cap hit $2.75.
3. Adam Erne is a non problem since he can just be buried in the AHL and not count towards the cap. So no need to trade him and his stats may as well be as bad as the Oilers current goalies.
4. Beau Akey is the Oilers basically 2nd best prospect so they won’t trade him for a goalie who maybe saves 1 more goal every 10 games versus what they have, it just doesn’t make sense.
Not a horrible trade, would open up space for Pinto, but if I am the Sens, I’d be reluctant to give up Forsberg. We’ve seen how important goaltending is in the league this year. Korpisalo hasn’t been outstanding, and although neither has Forsberg, it’s nice to have options at that position (I raise you Boston). The Sens need to make the playoffs this year, and if Korpi goes down, I wouldn’t want to rely on a rookie. Look at what happened last year with the Sens.
Reimer, Rasmusen and Maata (retain $1.5M) for Hyman. Raz is Kenny’s coveted pick, Reimer is playing better than any Oiler G and Maata to bolster the D. Just gotta work on Zach to say “OK”. Season saved for the Oil!
Has anybody heard from pengy lately
No…..⁉️
I have not seen Pengy in the comment for well over a week now
hopfully she went somewhere nice and warm for a Vacation 🤔
She?
I knew pengy wasn’t being completely truthful! She’s catching food for Mr pengy who’s minding the egg.
Swayman is playing better than Ullmark, the Bruins D are giving up a lot of high danger shots.
Boston isn’t trading either goaltender at this point, unless there is an over payment and they think Bussi is ready to be an NHL backup.
Swayman seem to be the real deal if his play continues he’ll want an increase next season.
My only concern isn’t now but come playoff time and if both goalies are still on the roster, will Monty learn from his mistakes. Not something i need to worry about today.
Monty has no mistake with goaltending. That was the least of Boston’s problems. His biggest mistake was letting Bergy back in the lineup. That’s when the issues started. Bruins couldn’t breakout of their zone or into the Fla zone. Stop acting like a goalie change would’ve mad any difference
As a Bruins fan, Monty is my single biggest worry about the Bruins. True, he can coach a team to regular season wins, but I still see a coach who is “jumpy” with his decisions. Take a look at the rate that he changes linemates and that can breed nervousness when things start going bad. It does allow flexibility, but it also does not encourage linemates to develop chemistry to inherently know what the other people on his line are going to do. I also really didn’t like the press conferences last year after they got knocked out, when the media asked him what he would do differently. He replied “probably more peer reviews”. What!!! That tells me you didn’t know what to do and you were going to rely on your senior players to let them figure it out. (Also see Babcock-Marner incident in Toronto on how well that peer review approach went). That is not leadership. Simply put, Monty seems to me to be a coach who is able to maximize results in a regular season season environment, but he is not a leader the players can rely on, nor does he develop the needed line chemistry during the regular season to instill an inner confidence the players would benefit from when times get tough in the playoffs. I think the owner might see this too, as he defended Sweeney and Neely after last year and complimented them on putting together a championship caliber team, but he did not say much about Montgomery, who essentially was handed the keys to a Ferrari, and then proceeded to drive it off a cliff.
🤢
Pretty far fetched the only real mistake was letting Bergy back in the lineup up 3-0.
Re; Edmonton Oilers Goaltending & d
Friedman speculated the Edmonton Oilers could be contemplating their options for a goaltending upgrade.
The big question is what to do with JC and his $5.M contract for 3.5 more season’s…❓
Trade him out with a 2nd round pick and prospect or could it cost them a 1st pick…😳
A number of rebuilding teams have cap space this year….and next season there will be lots
25 yr old Stuart Skinner is the #1 Goaltender in
Edmonton… Each year for the past 3 years
Skinner has been a SLOW Starter, 2 years of AHL & 1 Full year of NHL and now this year
look like he is a perennial slow starter
Re; Jordan Binnington, he is an inconsistent Nut job
& his number were not good last year 2022/23 season or the year before
-Games 61
-GA..3.31.. ❗️
-SV% 0.894
Re; 30yr old Linus Ullmark, we cant aford him they want a top player back like A #29…..⁉️
LU, not going anywhere, him and young 24 yr old Swayman are the best goaltending duo in the NHL.. I can see boston re-signing him for 4 more years
his numbers have been very good in Boston
-Games 49
-GA 1.89
-SV% 0.938
The Oiler’s have got them self into a Big mess in a couple of Areas.
The need to move Campbell out and the Really need to fix the D….
Ceci & Nures are a horable paring, they cant trade the $9.M man, but they could move Ceci at $3.25M…
They need a couple of changes
1/ Good top RD-man
A Back up goaltender
They also need some size and Toughness on the
4th line, its Way to Small and not Physical at all….🤔
PS
hope they get a win in SJ tonight and young Skinner playes well
Well Dark G, Jeff points some of the blame on poor back-checking/puck control and he’s probably right to some degree. But I hold firm to the view that at least two of their losses were the result of deflating soft goals at the most inopportune times.
Part of the problem can also be the tendency of young players to start thinking all they have to do is show up and 5-goal games will follow (as they did in their first several games). Reality has to hit home hard, and this is where veterans like Giroux, Hamonic, Chabot and Tkachuk need to settle them down.
And you’re right re Mads Sogaard. The giant has a 2:20 gaa and 0.932 save % with a 4-2-0 and 1 SO in 7 gp in Belleville. Time to bring him up to stay.
Re; Mads Sogaard.\
The young 22yr old goaltender needs to have one more good year in the AHL to build up his game…
The Worst thing a team can do is bring up a goaltender who is Young and not enough games played in the AHL to build uo his Experience
They Also have Anton Forsberg for 1.5 yr at $$2.75 M per⁉️
Unless he has a good year this year they could trade him at the deadline for a pick to move his salary of the books……🤔
williew, with so many teams up against the cap limit who simply cannot take Campbell and his long deal at that price (or even reduced with something held back), that leaves a small number who do have the cap space and in various stages of re-building where he either won’t go with his M-NTC clauses or who won’t want him with any sweetener. They are stuck with that albatross contract.
Hey George,
If he can’t turn it around he maybe a buyout candidate
If the Oilers can’t trade him out to a rebuilding team…🤔
Sounds like one of thr 4th line fixes could/should have been Klim Kostin.
Hey Iago,
Your 100% Right❗️
Klim Kostin was the 3rd line fix it guy the Oilers Really miss him 100%….👍
He could do everything, Now the have even less team Toughness….
Kane to Boston to ride left wing with Zacha and Pastrnak. Will need to move Debrusk for 1st/2nd rd pick
i think kane the hockey player would be good but he would disrupt the dressing room too much
Chris Johnston believes that the clubs Kane is talking to are the Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, and the Detroit Red Wings. Each of those teams makes sense given Kane’s circumstances. Kane played with the Rangers last year and has a certain level of familiarity with the group. He is from Buffalo and the Sabres are a team that is on the rise and could certainly use another scoring forward. Florida went to the Stanley Cup finals last year and often seems to be a popular destination for free agents. And finally, the Red Wings acquired one of Kane’s favorite players to play with, Alex DeBrincat.
The Klingdenberg ….. only -4 last night. What a disaster.
Oh the humanity.
Lol. That was pretty funny.
Ron, when they signed Klingberg to that 1 year $4.15 mil deal I wondered what they thought they were getting from an offensive standpoint that wasn’t showing up in his stats over the past 3 seasons following his last big output with the Stars. Because one thing is certain, he’s never been confused with the great defensive D-men.
I think they know now that it’s one more example of an old Leafs habit of hoping to capture past lightning in a bottle
https://theathletic.com/5046813/2023/11/09/toronto-maple-leafs-john-klingberg/
The Kane saga feels like an episode of The Bachelor again this season.
He turns 35 in a week and a bit after having a procedure involving the dislocation of the upper end of his thighbone, having it trimmed and capped and cartilage removed prior to having it put back in place.
Does anyone expect him to play again at anywhere near his prime and, if not, what could any team reasonably expect … and at what cost?
He also had a grease fitting installed.
If Mcdavid wants out
Here’s a blockbuster, money works
To Boston 😄
For Grzelcyk, Ullmark, Debrusk, and prospects Lysell and Lohrei. That’s pretty much an overpayment.
You funny man. Ha. Yes. Funny funny man.
Hoo boy.
Sway is in Boston long term if Ullmark isn’t traded durning this season for a legit 1st line center he’s probably leaving next offseason let’s just hope he plays well enough to not lose his trade value …