NHL Rumor Mill – November 19, 2024
Check out the latest on the Penguins and Canadiens in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
MORE MOVES COMING FOR THE PENGUINS?
THE ATHLETIC: Josh Yohe reports hearing more moves are expected for the Pittsburgh Penguins after shipping Lars Ellers to the Washington Capitals last week.
Yohe considers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to be untouchable. While Kris Letang signed a six-year contract in 2022, Yohe believes the 37-year-old defenseman might not object to a trade but moving his contract could be difficult given his age, health history and poor play this season.
Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Letang has a full no-movement clause through 2025-26. Even if he waives it, they’ll have to retain a significant chunk of his $6.1 million average annual value to make him enticing given the issues cited by Yohe.
Yohe thinks Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas would like to move Ryan Graves, Tristan Jarry and Erik Karlsson. However, other clubs likely aren’t interested in them.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Poor play and expensive contracts are the reasons why.
Defenseman Marcus Pettersson and winger Rickard Rakell are most likely to be moved by the March 7 trade deadline. Yohe cites sources claiming the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks have an interest in the 28-year-old Pettersson. He expects other clubs will also covet him, suggesting he’s “as good as gone.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Pettersson is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next July. Recent reports claim there’s been no contract extension talks between the two sides. Unless that changes, he truly will be as good as gone by deadline day.
Yohe also speculates Bryan Rust could become a trade candidate when his no-trade clause reverts to a modified list on July 1 but he doesn’t believe the Penguins are in a hurry to move him.
Shayna Goldman looked at possible moves for the Penguins going forward. She considers Pettersson to be their only real trade chip on defense. Forwards Noel Acciari, Anthony Beauvillier and Blake Lizotte (when healthy) could also hit the trade block. She doesn’t rule out Rakell becoming a trade candidate.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Acciari and Lizotte are signed through next season with affordable cap hits. They shouldn’t be difficult to move but won’t fetch much in return. Beauvillier is a UFA next summer but he’s on his fifth team since 2023.
Rakell still has value as a scorer but his contract remains a sticking point. The 31-year-old winger has an AAV of $5 million through 2027-28 and an eight-team no-trade list. There might have to be some salary retention here to make it work.
CANADIENS COULD MOVE SAVARD BY THE DEADLINE
RG.ORG: Marco D’Amico cited two sources suggesting Montreal Canadiens defenseman David Savard could draw interest leading up to the trade deadline. They point out the thin market for right-shot blueliners, including Cody Ceci and Jan Rutta in San Jose, Dante Fabbro in Columbus, and Erik Johnson in Philadelphia.
The sources indicate that Savard is a top-four right-shot defenseman with Stanley Cup championship experience. They don’t rule out the possibility he could fetch a first-round pick from a Cup contender.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Savard is eligible for UFA status next summer. It’s widely assumed he’ll be moved if the Canadiens are out of playoff contention by March 7.
Crosby / Malkin are the only players of any real value and are aging out , are off the board?
Makes a lot of sense when you don’t think about it.
I’m sure the returns from Accari, Jarry, Letang , Graves etc. will have them back to cup contenders in no time!
Wouldn’t it seem like if they do trade Crosby it will open the flood gates for the rest of them to move on and officially start a rebuild? I know it’s unimaginable but something’s gotta go and at this point, the writing is on the wall unfortunately. Why keep a guy who will only win you games you should lose only to end up picking worse come draft?
One saving grace is they don’t have goaltending so maybe they can offset Crosby’s gains.
Running a hockey team is also a business. Trade Crosby and the building goes empty every night, immediately. Dubas isn’t running a fantasy team. It’s an NHL franchise.
The attendance is already going down. So ultimately, it’s going to be the same result regardless.
Do you see Pittsburgh fans lining up 60 games in to watch them fighting for 25th in the league? I don’t. History says pens fans won’t either.
And any smart , successful “business “, knows how to manage their assets.
Buy high , sell low isn’t working!
Maybe Pens brass and fans are looking to becoming the Sharks of the east? Somehow I doubt that. CO, George and others are not wrong but it is a business so maybe a silver lining would be getting a young overhyped type of return might make the bitter pill of a rebuild more palatable.
Captain Obvious
Re “Buy high , sell low isn’t working”
Fully agree
Dubas buys crap and overpays; Sully then plays that crap disproportionately to performance and never disciplines (sitting and/or press box) of same players
No chance at playoffs now; but stemming the escalation of empty seats numbers can be done with current roster. It’s simple, don’t play (or at the very least make them sit for a period) any 100’ players, any consistent 2 period only players; any players who have complete apathy while on the ice
These moves will have Pens getting less blown leads in the future and perhaps a chance st a fee victories over playoff bound teams
Give fans at least an interest in watching
Heh. That’s more or less (in a nutshell) what I was trying to get across to 8787 (whatever) the other day when he accused me of missing the point when I tried to explain why I think the Penguins are, right now, in the early stages of a re-build.
His thought was that, while they should be, Dubas hasn’t shown any initiative to that end.
That’s because there’s little he CAN do. Crosby stays put of some misguided sense of sentimentality, Malkin stays for likely much the same reason (Penguins for life. yadda yadda) – the rest either have severely limiting clauses in their contracts or, would not bring back anything of significant value that would make the effort worthwhile.
I think Dubas has known this for a while, and more or less began the process when Guentzel went to Tampa, and continued with Eller to Washington.
This is going to be painful to watch … but all fans of Buffalo, Detroit, Ottawa, San Jose, Anaheim, Montreal and a couple of others can say is “suck it up.” And it looks more and more like Boston may be joining the Penguins in that realization – although their D and goaltending are still solid.
George,
Boston need a top 6 goal scoring forward
A LW for the 1st line… and its Not Morgan Geekie who has been playing in that spot, they are set at d & Goaltending,
if the preds keep playing poor they may want to unload players like Jonathan Marchessault LW,
who would be a nice fit in Bostons top line….
who they signed as a UFA if they cant get going
for a top prospect and a 2nd pick maybe..❓
🤔
The Preds will look for Top Prospects in Trades 19-to 23 years old,
Rather than picks, to do a Quick Re-tool
they have 3 picks in the 1st & 2 picks in the 2nd in 2025…..👍
Your still missing my point George
Absolutely they should have started a rebuild
Dubas not only publicly stated at the end of last season that they are NOT rebuilding right now BUT also promised Crosby that he would make the team better.
All his moves however, have made the team worse (much worse in fact) right now.
The Guentzel decision to not re-up was painful but sad to say, logical. An 8 year contract (starting at 30) for $9 M was not the right move knowing that 3 years in the team for sure would definitely be in rebuild then.
Remember coming up to trade deadline there was actually speculation of two firsts plus!
Almost every reporter had speculated at the very least Pens would get a 1st, a good young roster player, and good prospect.
Dubas didn’t even get a 1st, and roster player was Bunting
Dubas retained 25% and got Bunting, 2nd, 5’10”, 179 lb Pomoranev (1 A and -2 in 5 games with WBS, less than 9 minutes O points in NHL) ,the 168 lb Kouvenen (3-6-9 and -6 in 13 Games for WBS). Time will tell on Pomoronov and Koivenen but to be honest, I’m not holding my breath.
Again, should they be in rebuild? Yes. Should rebuild have been started in the summer of ‘23? Yes
Are they in rebuild? No. Dubas committed to NOT doing that and has effectively put Penguins in a Dante’s Inferno of a limbo spiral, with attendance and viewership dwindling.
He didn’t have to go “in for a penny in for a pound” , but refusing to rebuild and then actually blundering and making team worse with every move , is a complete fiasco.
Penguins will end up picking somewhere in the 7th-12th spot
13th-16th will not likely ;could but really not likely) end-up with a player much different AND no matter what, any player 7th-16th is highly unlikely to see the NHL before 27/28 at the earliest.
So why didn’t he use the space he had come July 1st and at least make the team competitive?
He didn’t and is now on pace to ruin the twilight tears of 2 first ballot HHoFers and a third (later ballots) HHoFer; and will prematurely deflate attendance and viewership.
I give up. My opinion is based SOLELY on the fact that they ARE in a re-build but that Dubas’ hands are tied by unmovable and/or unwanted contracts. He can’t trade if no one wants what he’s peddling.
I can’t make it any clearer than that.
Crosby’s sense of sentimentality isn’t misguided.
I can’t make it any clearer George
They are NOT in a rebuild now
They need to be
They should be
They are however NOT in a rebuild . Yet.
Maybe Dubas comes to his senses by July. Maybe.
When he does actually start the rebuild, he’s going to have to sit down with their franchise player first; and if I were Dubas, I’d be wearing kevlar, 4 jocks (one on top of the other) , helmet/mask/cage; throat protector; and goalie pads.
Although the proper way to do it would be in person; but safest way via Teams/Zoom/Skype
C.o.
I think they will unload Marcus Paterson and he will bring back say a young Nils Hoglander 23, who had 20 goals last year and a pick.
They have youngsters coming and we do need to get younger….we have gone from the oldest team to the third oldest team…LOL
Dubas is piling up picks and will continue to do so at this trade deadline…there he has done ok
Graves was good in Colorado and New Jersey and go figure sucks in Pittsburgh. Karlson 101 points in San Jose a defensive Siv in Pittsburgh.
Crosby and Malkin have been good..
The defense has absolutely sucked and Jarry has been well Jarry inconsistent and leaky.
Mc Groarty is coming and has been up, Owen Pickering just made his NHL debut 20, Tritsan Broz is coming, Vasily Ponomarev 22 just came up, Ville Koivunen 21 is coming, Tanner Howe 19 he is a little beast in training camp.
if they can move Karlsson (big if) Ottawa is a spot, he has a home there, he is loved there, he has played has best hockey there, and his best friend is the assistant coach there…maybe
The Penguins will have almost $ 20 million this off season and the cap will again go up a couple million there might be hope for next year at least in the terms of playoffs..
The problem is this slide has really been going on for 7-8 years, and they’ve done very little to help their long term cause. They seem to be stuck in this weird pattern of thinking they can still compete. Regardless of the same result of sliding in the timeframe.
The core is aging, and the prospect pipeline is still one of the worst in the league (ranked 23rd) or worse by everyone out there. Realistically, less than 50% of any team’s prospects will amount to a good NHL player. That number will be far worse for a team ranked 23rd.
Realistically, any decent young prospects in their system will need more years to develop than Crosby / Malkin / Letang and Karlsson have left in the tank.
They are not going to turn this team around until they are willing to trade their aging assets that still have some value.
Pittsburgh should be thinking 5 years down the line rather than now. That window has been slammed shut, boarded up. It should be time for drastic changes.
Ultimately, I think Pittsburgh fears ticket sales dropping more than competing at this point. Although, they are dropping in that area anyway.
One problem with Dubas stock piling draft picks is he can`t draft worth a sh^t. Just look at the years he did the drafting in Toronto, 2019 to 2022, can`t really get much worse than that. Hunter ran the draft up to 2018. Knies is only real exception. Tho Minten still has potential. Handing Dubas draft picks, well good luck
Top 5 takes after 20 games
1- Nate still most dominant forward
2- Makar easily best D man not close
3- Ovi scoring machine at 39 despite injury get well soon
4- Pittsburgh needs to blow it up
5- Swayman needs to start earning his contract
Only 4 teams have reached 20. The rest have 1, 2, 3 or 4 still to go.
The media is really going to just go on and on and on for the next 3 seasons about Crosby wasting the end of his NHL playing career eh? He won his cups, he took the retirement tour contract, get over it.
And now he wants to cement his legacy by retiring from the same team like Mario. Help the team through a rough patch.
Money bag syndrome strikes again with Swayman
Biggest mistake for the Pens E.Karlsson . The beginning of the end
It will be interesting to see,who wins more games,Ullmark orSwayman!