NHL Headlines and Rumors – September 15, 2024
Several Capitals face pressure this season, Oilers winger Evander Kane to undergo surgery, plus the latest on the Canucks and Blue Jackets in today’s NHL Headlines and Rumors.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Adam Proteau believes Washington Capitals forwards Alex Ovechkin, Pierre-Luc Dubois and defenseman Jakob Chychrun will feel the heat entering this season.

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (NHL Images)
Ovechkin is chasing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record of 894. Dubois seeks a bounce-back performance after a lackluster 2023-24 campaign with the Los Angeles Kings led to his trade with the Capitals. Meanwhile, Chychrun hopes to re-establish himself as a top-pairing defenseman in his contract year after being traded by the Arizona Coyotes and Ottawa Senators in successive years.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ovechkin is already well-established as a future Hall of Famer and the greatest player in Capitals history. Few fans and pundits will fault the 39-year-old winger if it takes him a couple of seasons to break Gretzky’s goal record.
Dubois and Chychrun have much more at stake. They must silence the growing criticism about their recent performances and prove they still belong among the league’s best players.
THE SCORE: Edmonton Oilers winger Evander Kane is scheduled to undergo sports hernia surgery within the next 10 days or so.
Kane, 33, played through the injury last season. It affected his performance, limiting him to 24 goals and 20 assists in 77 games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kane has a $5.125 million annual salary cap hit through 2025-26. He could end up on long-term injury reserve to start the season. The Oilers could use that cap relief to bolster their roster during his absence but must be cap-compliant when he’s ready to return to action.
CHEK-TV’s Rick Dhaliwal reported Friday that the Vancouver Canucks offered a one-year contract to free-agent goaltender Kevin Lankinen. However, it’s believed worth under $1 million, which is less than the $2 million the 29-year-old netminder earned last season with the Nashville Predators.
THE PROVINCE: Patrick Johnston reports the Canucks also reached out to free-agent goalie Antti Raanta but the 35-year-old is not interested in playing in the NHL anymore.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canucks seek a veteran insurance policy between the pipes in case starter Thatcher Demko hasn’t recovered from a nagging undisclosed injury when the season opens next month. They’re bumping against the $88 million cap ceiling and don’t want to go into LTIR to address the issue. Perhaps they’ll consider a trade if a dollar-in, dollar-out deal can be found.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH’s Brian Hedger reports Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell said he’s down to 10 healthy forwards with Justin Danforth seeing a doctor on Monday for a wrist/hand issue that required offseason surgery.
Waddell indicated he’ll look at pursuing unsigned free-agent veterans to fill the void at forward.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reports Waddell wants to sign players to actual contracts and not professional tryout offers. Portzline listed James van Riemsdyk, Kevin Labanc and Kyle Okposo among the notable UFA forwards still available. He also noted Phil Kessel is looking for an opportunity to play in the NHL after going unsigned last season.
Portzline also noted that Waddell could sign free agents currently on PTO contracts with other clubs.
Waddell also said he’s spoken with the league and the NHL Players’ Association for guidance about how to measure the Blue Jackets’ salary-cap figure for this season following the death of Johnny Gaudreau last month.
I believe I read somewhere E.Kane timeline 16 weeks. Pulling a min Vegas and should be prime for playoffs. Could have had that surgery months ago . Right after playoffs in fact.
I guess another circumvent within the rules.
Not sure where or what your reading silverseven.
He’s due to go in for surgery in the next week and no reasonable timeline on what we know of the injury brings him even close to the playoffs, even the 16 weeks you mention , which would be the max recovery time from everything I’ve read .
Craig,
Re; timetable for EK,
it was Edmonton Media that said it could be
16 weeks/4 months… if it all go’s well and he heals well…..
and yes its a Mini Vegas trick…..
Jeff,
Regarding Ottawas Defence this year,if the
big tought 6.ft4 205 lb LD/man Tyler Kleven makes the team as 3rd paring d
The other teams better keep there Head up as he likes it Rough and Loves to HIT Hard….‼️
with healthy Norris and Chabot its a much stronger team you add in Shane pinto for a full season.. it should be very Good….😁
PS. feel sorry for Jakob Chychrun, he has been bounched around and trade talkes about him for the past 2 season with diffrent teams
No Willie , it is not .
4 months is the top end of recovery and brings him no where near the playoffs, it is not comparable in the slightest with stone and vegas .
Not to mention the fact that the oilers appear to be keeping Kane ON the rosters and not using LTIR so they can accrue cap space . How that is comparable to vegas or circumventing the cap is beyond me .
Wrong at the moment Willie .
They can fit Kane on the roster today and have spoken on many occasions about the desire to maintain flexibility and accrue cap space for the deadline.
Unless they make a major trade requiring that space before the season , which I doubt , it serves no purpose to shift him to LTIR, they would have to clear that space when Kane returns.
As per puck pedia , they have a 22 man roster , including Kane and 945k in cap space today .
Why would they move him to LTIR ?
Bowman said
“This situation gives us more opportunity to hopefully be able to accrue some cap space”
He was talking about not matching the offer sheets.
He went on to talk about Kane , LTIR and accruing space. Also said “won’t be able to accrue much space In a month or so.
Sounds to me like the plan is to start three year with Kane on the roster and accrue
Teams do not accrue when operating in LTIR.
Or maybe he doesn’t give a rats ass about the team and didn’t want the surgery during the summer. Might ruin his travel plans. Probably wanted the surgery on “company time”.
Graig,
No
He will go on LTIR for the 4 months and the oil will save about+$4.M
i think he will be back in Early Feb to get in game shape playing on the 3rd line….
Ok perhaps he could have had the surgery months but I doubt it is cap circumvention. It is normal to hold off any invasive procedure if rehab and physio can fix it. Likely they tried the non surgical route and find it has resulted with the desired outcome and have now decided that surgery is the best alternative.
As far as Chycrhin goes I did not think he played bad for Ottawa. Guy should be fine. Ottawa was weak up the middle with Norris’s injury and Pinto’s suspension. The were soft on the back end regarding D and roster just wasn’t comprised well with two many RHD and Goaltending was not able to steal a game. It remains to be seen if that was an overall team issue but we will find out with Ulmark. I suspect Chychrun will be fine in Washington.
Jeff Noel, just to be clear, Chychrun was a glaring minus 30 last season with Ottawa.
Compare that to the other D who played appreciable games:
Jake Sanderson – +8
Artyem Zub – +5
Eric Brannstrom – +5
Thomas Chabot – minus 3
Jacob Bernard=Docker – minus 7.
Travis Hamonic – minus 10.
@Silverseven if Kane has the surgery in 10 days and it takes about 16 weeks to recover. That means Kane will be back about the end of January. Playoffs start middle of April. Using your math skills please do explain how that compares to Vegas or how it circumvents the cap
OK, if Kane is back before Feb.,
if he does well=the Oil keeps him,
if he falters= he can be traded to half the league ( it would require a sweetener and salary retention) or maybe waived (his NMC expires to a 16 team trade list, I don’t know if the movement clause is still in effect for the rest of the season for being waived). I think they will be compelled to keep him the rest of the season and look to trading him next summer. Just too much drama for me! 😄
For the 2018-19 season in Pittsburgh – the 13th of his career and, at age 31 when his cap hit was $8 mil per – Phil Kessel played in all 82 games and produced 82 points, including 27 goals. To that point in his career he had played 996 games with 357g 466a for 82-game averages of 29g 38a 67 pts. He was also a cumulative minus 86 – an average of -7 per, which wasn’t bad for a player who contributed so much offensively.
However, over his next 3 seasons with Arizona and the last with Vegas in 2022-23 when his cap hit dropped to $1.5 mil – ages 32 to 35 – he played 290 games with 56g 113a 169 pts for 82-game averages of 16g 32a 48 pts and, along with his dwindling offensive output, his defensive game average climbed to minus 17. He then sat out the entire 2023-24 season during which he turned 36.
He certainly was a sniper in his prime, but not having played a game in over a year, what can a team reasonably expect from a fading winger playing bottom 6 minutes, who turns 37 in October, and who has never been known to be in the best of shape?
I suppose either a p.t.o or even a two-way deal at league minimum would be no great risk … but if I were a team needing a winger to play bottom 6 I’d rather give James van Riemsdyk or Cal Clutterbuck a similar look.
Well, someone did look at van Riemsdyk but not as a p.t.o. Columbus just signed him to to a 1-year, $900,000 deal.
Another announcement of note was that 5′ 11′ 185 lbs RD Victor Soderstrom, taken in Round 1 11th overall in 2019 by Arizona, has signed with a team in the Swedish league.
For a first round pick he certainly didn’t get much of a look at the NHL level, getting into just 53 games, with 30 being the most in any one season. Meanwhile, his “seasoning” in the AHL amounted to 170gp with 16g 66a 82 pts and a steady minus factor.
Clearly one Arizona (Utah) would like a do-over for on that draft as, going after him, were the likes of Matthew Boldy 12th, Cole Caufield 15th and Thomas Harley 18th.
Washington should be an interesting team to watch! Two key young players trying to resurrect promising careers! PLD and Chycrun need to make a splash! Can t remember 2 young players with such high expectations being in this place before they are even 30!
Latest on Bruins starting the season without Swayman
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/boston-bruins/latest-news/bruins-provide-new-concerning-jeremy-swayman-update
How about if Swayman is traded to CBJ for a haul?
Swayman + Patrick Brown (roster spot) for Sillenger, Brindley and the Blues 4th
Bruins sign Lankenen for 2 x $2M ( I think this is better than Elvis, for you Bruin fans)
Bruins have cap space, a stronger forward group, and have a tandem that should do well with the team in front of them.
CBJ signs Swayman to 7x$8.25-8.5, gets to the floor and still has room to bring in a guy like Pageau with a sweetener or another vet that would be a cap dump but still reinforce the forward group. They would also have to figure who would back up Swayman, Elvis or Tarosov, but have the space to take their tie doing it.
Johnny Z. You call that a haul! Not a chance with those players!
It is a haul for a goalie
Not really surprised that UFA goalie Kevin Lankinen turned down the Canucks offer of a 1-year deal somewhere south of $1 mil. At the moment the only other UFA goalies of any note are 35 y/o Antti Raanta, and he’s indicated he’s no longer interested in an NHL job, and 31 y/o Malcolm Subban who only has 20 NHL games played dating back to 2020-21, and just 1 this past season with Columbus.
With 32 teams and veteran goalies a bit scarce as UFAs and others who might be available through trade likely costing an asset or two, Lankinen knows demand for his services will probably increase with the first injuries through camp and pre-season.
In fact, if Vancouver suddenly has reason to believe Demko might be out longer than first anticipated, or the Swayman impasse drags on well into camp/pre-season, Boston could come calling.
Stay tuned.
above last paragraph should read
“In fact, if Vancouver suddenly has reason to believe Demko might be out much longer than first anticipated (an article by Eliot Friedman indicates his knee problem might be unfixable –
https://www.marqueur.com/news/index.php?no=426629 – )
the Canucks could up the ante or, the Swayman impasse could drag on well into camp/pre-season, in which case Boston could come calling.
Stay tuned.
NJ expected to sign Kevin Labanc to a p.t.o
https://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/devils_expected_to_sign_longtime_sharks_winger_to_pto/s1_14825_40898501
and will be without D prospect Luke Hughes for 6 – 8 weeks due to shoulder injury
https://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/touted_devils_prospect_to_miss_six_to_eight_weeks_with_shoulder_injury/s1_14825_40883797
Oilers might be leaning towards a trade to shore up RD position
https://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/exploring_options_at_defense_for_oilers/s1_14825_40899223