NHL Rumor Mill – August 3, 2024
Which notable stars could still get traded this summer? Find out in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
NHL NETWORK: Jamie Hersch and Stu Grimson recently looked at several notable NHL stars who could still be traded this summer.
Starting with Mitch Marner, the 27-year-old winger is slated to become an unrestricted free agent next summer unless he and the Toronto Maple Leafs negotiate a contract extension. Grimson believes the Leafs need more grit among their top-six forwards to compete for the Stanley Cup.
Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner (NHL Images).
Grimson doesn’t blame Marner for the Leafs’ ongoing Cup drought but he believes management covets forwards who play a gritty style like Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett. Marner could fetch the type of return that helps them get over the hump.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Marner’s no-movement clause gives him complete control over this situation. If he were to agree to be moved (and that’s a big “if”), it won’t happen until close to the March trade deadline when most of his $10.9 million cap hit for this season has been paid by the Leafs. It also depends on where they are in the standings by then.
Turning to Leon Draisaitl, the Edmonton Oilers center will also become a UFA next July unless he signs an extension before then.
Grimson doesn’t see the Oilers trading Draisaitl, pointing out that the Oilers have an open window for winning the Stanley Cup. He points out the 28-year-old center is a robust complement to team captain Connor McDavid who can also carry the offensive load on the rare occasions when McDavid isn’t scoring.
It’ll take some salary-cap creativity to keep Draisaitl and McDavid together in Edmonton. Nevertheless, Grimson doesn’t expect Draisaitl will be traded.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers have made re-signing Draisaitl the priority and could pay top dollar to keep him in Edmonton. The only question is how long his next deal will be. Some observers believe he’ll want the maximum eight-year contract while others think he could opt for a shorter deal to give him another shot at the UFA market while he’s still in his prime.
Grimson believes there’s a really solid possibility that the Anaheim Ducks could trade Trevor Zegras. He praised the 23-year-old forward’s offensive upside but felt he must improve his defensive play. Grimson also pointed out that Ducks GM Pat Verbeek inherited Zegras when he took over the job. He felt the youngster could be traded for a robust return.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Zegras surfaced in the rumor mill in January after the Ducks shipped defenseman Jamie Drysdale to the Philadelphia Flyers for promising winger Cutter Gauthier. His name was frequently mentioned in media trade chatter though Verbeek denied having trade talks involving Zegras following the March trade deadline.
We can’t rule anything out but if Zegras was going to be traded it would’ve happened weeks ago, possibly during the draft week. Teams may have expressed interest but Verbeek isn’t going to give him away.
Zegras’ future in Anaheim will depend on his performance this season. Verbeek will hang onto him if he breaks out as a franchise player. If he plays well offensively but his defense game is poor, the Ducks GM could consider moving him before the March trade deadline or next summer.
Turning to New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba, Grimson is a fan of the 30-year-old defenseman, praising his physical style and leadership. He doesn’t see the blueliner moving given his value to the identity of the club. Hersch and Grimson cited how close the Rangers came to reaching the Stanley Cup Final last season and doubt they want to mess with their chemistry.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Rangers tried to move Trouba before July 1 to the Detroit Red Wings. to free up his $8 million cap hit and put the savings toward adding depth via free agency. His no-movement clause became a 15-team no-trade list on July 1. Management asked for his list several days ahead of time but Trouba handed it in on July 1.
Any benefit gained in the free-agent market by trading Trouba has passed with all the top UFAs signed away a month ago. They’ve reportedly decided not to move him this season. Management could revisit their attempt to peddle him to Detroit or elsewhere next summer.
WINNIPEG SUN’s Scott Billeck took to social media on Friday reporting there is no truth to an ongoing rumor claiming the Jets offered Cole Perfetti to the Carolina Hurricanes for Martin Necas.
Billeck writes Carolina wanted Perfetti in a possible trade but the Jets didn’t want to move the young forward. Any deal involving Necas wasn’t going to happen because he wouldn’t sign a long-term contract with the Jets.
One sure sign that the Dog Days of August are upon us is the regurgitation, by sports writers, of the same names as “possible” trade commodities led, of course, by Draisaitl and Marner.
There are just 4 teams currently with enough cap to take on either -Anaheim, Calgary, San Jose and Utah – and with all in various stages of a re-build it’s a given that neither would agree to go there – even assuming those teams would stall their re-build by forking over multiple assets for a player that would not get them back into a playoff picture on their own.
Then there are those teams currently in various stages of being over the cap – Washington, Vegas, Philadelphia, Edmonton, Vancouver, Nashville, NYR, NYI (exactly AT the cap), Tampa, Florida – none of whom could take on either without finding a taker for a significant cap of their own.
Much the same applies to the rest of the league, with cap space ranging from just under $2 mil to $9 mil, several of whom also still have key RFAs to re-up.
In short, it just isn’t going to happen any time soon for Marner or Draisaitl – both of whom have full control as to whether or not they’d agree to any proposed trade in the first place, so writers should please just stop including them as click-bait in their periodic “speculation” columns.
Your opening sentence took the words out of my my mouth George: dog days indeed.
I feel for hockey writers trying to come up with content in August but talk about groundhog day …
There’s plenty of chatter in Edmonton.
The kids are extremely vocal voicing their displeasure in regards to the recent hiring of Stan Bowman.
The younger folks are legitimately outraged, or at least seem to be from what I’ve read and heard.
I’ve never seen such backlash from fans over a managerial hiring.
They’ve started petitions and everything!
As we all know though, time heals all. Right?
Which kids are you referring to? Players on the team or fans? Because if it’s the latter, I doubt very much the ownership cares. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have hired Bowman in the first place.
They might soon begin to question their own judgement, Lyle, if this continues to fester within the fan base
https://oilersnation.com/news/ive-canceled-my-subscriptions-oilers-fans-react-with-dismay-over-stan-bowmans-hiring
Meanwhile, if as I suspect, Shoreorrpark means the kids in the community, it’s at least encouraging to see them becoming more aware of the dangers of predators and those who seek to cover their actions by doing nothing, and if their voiced concern filters down to others, all the better.
Tempest in a teacup, George. A few will stop showing up to the games but that will be quickly offset by others willing to snap up those tickets or subscriptions to Oilers games. Until you start seeing huge sections of empty seats at the home games, the Oilers aren’t going to be concerned about it.
The fans, Lyle.
Only online and the crews I work around.
The older guys don’t care, they just want to win.
The younger fellers like to be outraged about all sorts of different things that they have no power over.
Come to think of it, maybe there’s trolling I didn’t pick up on initially as well. Truth in script is tough to decipher sometimes.
I’ll guarantee the ownership doesn’t care about online petitions or internet backlash.
The fans that truly matter to the owner always vote with their wallet.
I haven’t heard a peep about player reactions or musings, so I’m assuming it’s steady as she goes.
This was of course guaranteed to be controversial. And it should be, it’s an important subject.
That said, and not to pick on your words SOP, but yeah, this would be an issue the kids aka the younger generation would be up in arms about. The types that would take to social media expressing outrage who are part of the cancel culture. The self declared arbiters of morality, the internet’s version of stoning.
That’s not to say that none have an intelligent and well thought out perspective. But how often have we seen click bates with “X is outraged by Y.”
As for the effect of all this, I had a quick look at the seasons tickets available for the Oilers. Very few seats available, so I read that a bunch if indignation from social media rabble rousers, not true hockey fans.
If Marner agreed to a trade and the destination, and the Leafs could get the return they wanted Leafs could always agree to retain money on Marner’s contract in any deal to make the transaction much easier!
The retention would only be for the 2024 – 2025 season and could be used to balance the cap hits of any incoming players.
There is no need to wait until the March trade deadline to make a deal.
As a hockey fan of 67 years, I feel Bowman’s inaction, in the face of concrete evidence, knowingly allowed a sexual predator to remain an employee of the Chicago Blackhawks team.
In my humble opinion I can think of few more egregious failures in this type of scenario and I would be appalled if my team hired him.
How is it possible to have confidence in his decision making process.
By the way, I am a 75 year old kid who is un influenced by todays cancel culture.
Normally I believe in second chances but in a case like this, of deliberate inaction by the person in charge, it has the scent of a coverup and I feel the NHL should have banned Bowman for life as he has left a permanent stain on the NHL brand just as it has permanently stained Kyle Beach’s life!
Just my opinion.
Everyone is entitled to theirs whether it agrees with mine or not.
I’m a former sex crimes and child abuse prosecutor in the US., The only reason Bowman was reinstated is because of his surname. But it’s the NHL, and there is Scotty Bowman, one of the greats and then, the continuing denials of CTE. It’s the old boy’s network, at best, myopia in the league office. Whether they figure it’s been long enough, not, it’s not. You had a chance to stop something and you did not. This is not a cancel thing. You should be disqualified, because you acted in your own (then) self interest to win a Stanley Cup. You sold your soul. Live and die with your earlier actions.