NHL Rumor Mill – February 1, 2025
What’s next for the Canucks after trading J.T. Miller and acquiring Marcus Pettersson? What does a higher salary cap mean for the Leafs’ efforts to re-sign Mitch Marner? What’s the latest on the Bruins and Sharks? Find out in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE CANUCKS?
THE PROVINCE: Patrick Johnston believes the projected hike in the salary cap to $95.5 million means Brock Boeser should hold firm on asking for a significant raise.
The 27-year-old Vancouver Canucks winger is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Contract extension talks between Boeser and management have been reportedly lukewarm.
Vancouver Canucks winger Brock Boeser (NHL Images).
If the Canucks part ways with Boeser via trade or free agency, Johnston believes his replacement will be promising winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki.
NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: James Nichols recently observed rumors suggesting Boeser could become available at the March 7 trade deadline barring a significant turnaround in the Canucks’ fortunes.
If Boeser finishes the season in Vancouver, he could become available in this summer’s free-agent market. Nichols believes the Devils should look into acquiring Boeser because they need a shooter on their first power-play unit.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canucks trading J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers on Friday shifts the focus on Boeser’s future with the club. He carries a $6.65 million cap hit coming off a three-year contract. His production is down this season but he’s not the only Canuck facing that predicament.
Boeser tallied a career-high 40 goals last season and will use that to seek a significant raise on a long-term contract. The skyrocketing increases in the cap starting next season mean the Canucks can afford to re-sign him. Whether they will remains to be seen.
HOW WILL A HIGHER CAP AFFECT THE LEAFS’ EFFORTS TO RE-SIGN MARNER?
THE ATHLETIC: James Mirtle examined the pros and cons of how a rising cap over the next three seasons will affect the Toronto Maple Leafs, especially their efforts to re-sign pending UFAs like Mitch Marner and John Tavares.
On the plus side, it’ll open up more cap space to re-sign those players and to address other roster weaknesses. The downside is the possibility of pending UFAs and their agents negotiating their cap percentage based on substantial cap increases beyond next season.
Mirtle believes the Leafs should be able to re-sign Tavares and restricted free agent Matthew Knies without much difficulty. However, Marner is harder to forecast because of his status among the league’s top forwards. He could get more than $13 million annually on the open market but it remains to be seen how much more.
TORONTO STAR: Kevin McGran speculates Marner could seek a higher average annual value than Auston Matthews’ current team-leading $13.25 million. He also thinks Tavares’ AAV will drop from its current $11 million but not by much, perhaps to $8 million annually.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Leafs will have over $29.6 million in projected cap space for next season with 17 active roster players under contract. They can afford Marner, Tavares and Knies but the trio will take up a significant chunk of that cap room.
Assuming Marner agrees to stay below Matthews’ number and accepts $13 million, Tavares gets $8 million and Knies $5 million, that’ll eat up over $26 million.
WHAT’S BRUIN IN BOSTON?
NBC SPORTS BOSTON: Nick Goss reports Bruins captain Brad Marchand could draw plenty of interest if his struggling club becomes sellers by the March 7 trade deadline. The 36-year-old winger is UFA-eligible this summer.
Marchand said he’s focussing on the day-to-day and isn’t concerned about what management has in store. “They’re going to do what they feel is necessary for the team. And all we can do is worry about our play and what we can control,” he said. The Bruins captain also said he’s not paying attention to media rumors and has no control over that.
If the Bruins intend on retooling for a bounce-back performance next season, Goss believes it would make sense if Marchand stayed put.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Marchand is a heart-and-soul Bruin who wants to stay in Boston. Bruins management would prefer retaining him. However, it will depend on what type of contract he wants and what kind of trade offers the Bruins get for him.
Goss also believes bringing back Trent Frederic would make sense at the right price. His production is down from last season’s 40-point pace but the 26-year-old forward is in his prime and his physical style suits the Bruins. Goss felt a fair contract would be one comparable to Dakota Joshua’s four-year deal with the Canucks worth $3.25 million annually.
If a new contract isn’t possible, Goss believes the Bruins should trade Frederic for a draft pick or a prospect. He considers him too valuable to lose for nothing.
SEVERAL SHARKS COULD SOON BECOME TRADE CANDIDATES
THE MERCURY NEWS: Curtis Pashelka recently reported several San Jose Sharks players are in limbo with the March 7 trade deadline on the horizon.
The Sharks’ list of pending UFAs includes forward Mikael Granlund, Luke Kunin and Nico Sturm, defensemen Cody Ceci and Jan Rutta, and goaltenders Vitek Vanecek and Alexandar Georgiev.
Sharks GM Mike Grier intends to examine his options as the deadline approaches. It’ll depend on what type of return those players could fetch.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Granlund has 45 points in 52 games this season and should exceed last season’s 60-point performance. That production should make him enticing for contenders seeking scoring depth.
Ceci is a right-shot defenseman and they are currently a hot commodity in the trade market. He also has playoff experience, including his run with the Edmonton Oilers to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. Kunin is a versatile two-way forward who could tempt teams seeking a third-line center.
Sweeney must react quickly with Frederic,either sign him or trade him! Don t do what you did with Krug or Debrusk let the. Walk and get nothing in return!
if the B’s miss out on the playoffs I can’t see how Sweeney can keep his job. He has failed at every level in terms of replacing the B’s core that had Bergeron and Krejci, and don’t have much in their system coming up that can be game breakers.
Not sure if Neely feels the wrath as well, but maybe replacing Sweeney will save Neely his own spot.
He hasn’t failed lol he did his job and got the 2 top prizes in FA. It’s not his fault Monty took a nose dive this year. He had the team skip more practices than they actually had. Juggling lines not only every game but almost every shift. You don’t build chemistry like that. Marshy coming back from 3 offseason surgeries Sway holding out. None is his fault. Since he took over only 2 other teams have had more success. 2 GM of the year awards team Canada GM yea he’s terrible 😂😂😂
Paul, agree on a lot of your views. That being said, they have to have to give more opportunities to the young guys though, Sweeney hasn’t addressed their lack of scoring, time to make a sell decision, quit drafting mostly US college, and stop signing 4th liners to one million dollar contracts. Time to build around Swayman, McAvoy and Pasta. Love Marchy but may have to move him for assets
For perspective, a number of legitimate hockey sites rank the Bs prospect pool as # 32. One can get around that through free agency but that’s expensive and only so many players can be signed above ELCs.
LJ, the same conundrum faces the Penguins, who are also ranked in the bottom 3rd of prospect pools by The Hockey Writers.
And yet we keep hearing in here a bunch of names who had some success in college hockey or the AHL as “the future of the Penguins” despite the fact not one has shown anything yet at the NHL level … which is an entirely different kettle of fish for a wide variety of reasons.
Hell, fans of every other team could trot out names of players, some of whom probably have even better records in the various minor leagues, but until they actually make the NHL and start to produce there, that’s all they are – names of prospects.
How can the Bruins expect to go anywhere with Pasternak and Marchand possibly the only 20 plus goal scorer.
Love it when they say the salary cap increase is going help. As mentioned above, Toronto’s projected $29 million cap space is going to go to existing players. Until management learns to work within an internal budget they will always be is the same situation as they are today. If they thought Marner was worth $12.5M before the cap announcement that is what they should stick with. Toronto needs to add players not just give the increases to the existing players. Love Colorado had the balls to make that decision to trade Rantanen. Time for Toronto and other teams to follow suit.
If Tavares seeks anything over 4 for 3 years, let him walk! We already paid him a ton. He’s not going to be any better than he is now. Probably worse. Don’t do what the Leafs of old did and hamstring yourselves with old players with bloated contracts that are past their prime. It’s a young man’s game. Try to get younger, faster and more hungry.
Also, Marner at 12.5 tops!
@ CB
I think its time to let Tavares walk..and use that money elsewhere on multiple quality players down the middle where they significant issues ..
Also they are DESPERATE for a legit true yoing big power forward on top 2 lines …I love knies ..keep him…but regardless of Tavares year this year I think its best to shake things up and start to look at rounding the team out better..have no choice
These guys look flat and have no energy guys…
They really need to address this now ..
If they sign J T ..,IT SHOULD BE LESS than 4 million for 2 years or see you …Imo …
I think marner should sign for exact amount that Matthew’s did so no talking points there or see ya…and use that cap of 22 million between Tavares marner and finally spread it out where we need it in support players 3rd line
They don’t look good
Offer J.T 4mill/2 year contract?
You really are delusional, have you not learned anything in the year or so of posting here?
Every team would want him for so cheap.
I’d trade Marner for a little haul & keep J.T on abit more of a team friendly deal, just not the nonsense you’re spouting off about.
$4mill lmao, 2 years
Didn`t you say that last year and the year before and the year before that and so on. Strange guys like Tavares Crosby Kopitar and Scheifele keep plugging along near the top echelon somehow with the younger faster and the so called more motivated players trying to keep up. Then Marner who`s supposed to be the younger faster more motivated player, you don`t want to pay. CB as you get/got older, are/were you less motivated and are/were you willing to work for less. I know I wasn`t
If the Leafs decide they don’t want to re-up Tavares I hope Staios offers him a contract.
You know George, every year you hear these guys yap get rid of Tavares Reilly. They`re too old too slow, use the money to get younger faster. They talk like these so called younger better faster guys grow on trees and all a good GM has to do is go out and pick them up for free. Free agency is a gold mine, with tons of younger faster better players to choose from. In todays market Tavares gets 7 per no sweat. but hey Toronto can sign multiple Centres for that Tavares money that are better. 31 teams would love to have Knies as their power forward, but he`s just OK in Toronto. Toronto looks flat, which I agree they do. Strangely Tavares and Knies have been injured the past while, I wonder if that might have something to do with it. Can`t, Tavares is no good and Knies is just OK. I think some people listen to those bloggers you see on the internet, fantasy trades, everybody wants to play in Toronto and the cap doesn`t mean anything because they`ll sign for peanuts
For how long and how much money, George, which is the issue that Toronto will be considering as well.
And would he be a difference maker for the Sens in the next couple of years while he still could be one?
Tavares is still about a point a game player and a character guy. But for every Ovechkin who manages to push back against time there is a Stamkos.
Three years ago Ottawa gave 34 y/o Claude Giroux a contract costing $6 mil per off the cap. Since then he’s played 215 games with 66g 111a 177 pts for 82-game averages of 25g 42a 67 pts. Now he’s a pending UFA at age 37.
Tavares, in that same span, has played 204 games, scoring 85g 187a 272 pts for 82-game averages of 34g 75a 109 pts. And he just turned 34.
No, he won’t get anything close to the $11 mil he’s costing now, but if Giroux was worth $6 mil at that age, and they’ve been happy with his production for that price, why wouldn’t they try and land Tavares for the same price and term if the Leafs back off?
Anyway, it’s all probably moot since I can see Tavares re-upping in Toronto at around those same terms.
Yogi, I see where Knies is back in tomorrow in Edmonton
Marner is already grossly overpaid…I like the Jeff comment; giving substantial raises to existing players really doesn’t help much. Again its Toronto and the place is packed…overpriced tickets, hotdogs beer and parking so no need to change on the owners part.and yet they haven’t won anything in 57 years
This guy gets it
No way JT taking 4 mil just do salary comparisons of his production others 7-9 mil unless he wants to give huge discount
While I truly believe the salary cap going up is really good news, I also believe it is not going to be equitable news for some teams. I believe the big market teams will thrive. The smaller market teams will have to live within their means. I believe that somewhat is based on ownership views, are they in it for team championships or are they in it for a profit motive. I do not believe you can paint with a broad brush here, but I do fear in the future of a top-heavy league. A lot of teams today spend to the cap, but it was held artificially low. Let’s see what happens over the next 5 years.
it may be good news short term but not long term. The cap ceiling is approaching the level of the pre-cap times, where you had the haves (biggest markets) and the have nots (mid and small market). The smaller markets won’t be able to afford to spent to the top, and lead to franchises being sold and moved. It will also lead to another lockout that may wipe out a full season again.
players making an AAV for $15M or more will only go to top markets like NY or TOR. Winnipeg will probably fail and have to move again. Markets in Columbus, Nashville, Minnesota and Carolina will struggled to keep up and lead to relocation.
I may sound doom and gloom but the cap amounts are based on earning as a result of broadcast deals and RSN’s. Game ticket income is a very small % of income for teams and the league. With the downfall of RSN’s across all sports, and the long-term viability of sports streaming apps questionable long term, the long term income of the NHL has to be questioned. ESPN will be going DTS (streaming) this year, but at what price? Sports leagues incomes were based on income made primarily from cable TV subscribers, but as those drop and move to streaming, which is an issue in it’s own right. Streaming, as of right now, don’t lock you in, so subscribers enroll/drop out on a monthly basis, so there is no guarenteed/reliable income from streaming. Older aged fans were primarily cable tv subscribers but most aren’t as inclined to move to streaming due to technology, and may choose to just not subscribe.
so let’s all pump the breaks on being positive about the cap ceiling explosion. sorry for the long rant
I admittedly know very little of the economics and don’t care to change that much, but… FWIW I’ve seen other commentators suggest that home date arena and ticket revenue IS actually a big contributor to overall HRR.
Thompson owns the Jets so no problem paying the bills
Righto Marco! Hockey is the one sport that absolutely needs buts in the seats to turn a profit!!!! The TV and streaming revenue are minuscule in comparison to th NFL NBA, and MLB.
As insulting as you are to older people Mike, since I`m one of those people, you should`ve stopped your rant at “it”. I stream NHL games and I`ve been streaming for a few years. You can stream the games by the month or by the year. With the NHL blackouts for cable, streaming is about the only way one can see a variety of teams. While broadcast revenues are increasing in the NHL, ticket sales, merchandize and concession sales are still the leading source of income. Some teams like Toronto Seattle Rangers, tv revenue isn`t even close. Teams like Florida, Dallas NJ Buffalo and Ottawa, ticket prices are a lot less and the % of revenue from broadcasting is higher. The NHL would love it, if broadcast revenue was the no.1 source of revenue and they didn`t have to rely on game to game attendance, like they have to now. That`s why teams like Winnipeg, Ottawa, Columbus, Carolina even Florida are endangered if the fans don`t come to the games, broadcast revenues are still not enough. If you`re worried that streaming doesn`t lock you in because you can pay month to month, cable is month to month too. Us older people Mike aren`t as dumb as you think. We may not use the lingo of the younger generation, but we know how to use a computer
Boston and NYR play twice vs each other this week. Rangers also play Pitt and the surging Blue Jackets. Playoffs start for them today. Zibanejad moving to 3C today from what I saw on X. Honestly wonder if he’s been approached about waiving nmc. Boeser would fit biggest need of last few seasons. Reilly Smith not it. Picking up 2 more young left shot dmen creates an overload. I don’t think Drury is done.
Some of the names below have been popping up in here on a regular basis as potential trades given that they are pending UFAs. I thought I’d list all pending UFAs on those teams either seemingly hard-pressed to make the playoffs this year or vulnerable enough to be fading out of the picture as we approach the trade deadline.
Anaheim: C Robbi Fabbri; LW Brock McGinn; LD Brian Dumoulin
Nashville: C Gustav Nyquist; G Matthew Murray
Buffalo: LS Jason Zucker; LW Jordan Greenway; RD Henri Jokiharju; LD Hacob Bryson; LD Dennis Gilbert; G James Reimer
Tampa: RWCam Atkinson; C Luke Glendening; C Michael Eyssimont; RD Nicklaus Perbix; G Jonas Johansson
Philadelphia: LW Andrei Kuzmenko; C Rodrigo Abois; RD Erik Johnson
Vancouver: RW Brock Boeser; C Pius Suter; LW Drew O’Connor; LW Phillip DiGiuseppe; LD Marcus Pettersson; LD Derek Forbort; RD N. Juulsen; G Kevin Lankonen
Ottawa: C/W Claude Giroux; C/W Nick Cousins (on extended IR); C/LW Mathew Highmore; C Adam Gaudette; RD Travis Hamonic; G Anton Forsberg
Detroit: RW Patrick Kane; RW Christ ian Fischer; C Tyler Motte; RD Jeff Petry (IR); LD William Lagesson; G Alex Lyon
Utah: Alexander Kerfoot; C Nick Bjugstad; C Michael Carcone; LD Ian Cole; LD Olli Maatta; RD Robert Bortuzzo; RD Nick DiSimone; G Karel Vejmelka
San Jose: C Michael Granlund;l C Luke Kunin; C Nico Sturm; C Colin White; RW Walker Duehr; RD Cody Ceci; RD Jan Rutta; G Vitek Vanecek & Alexandr Georgiev
Pittsburgh: C Anthony Beauvillier; LA Matt Nieto; RW Jesse Puljujarvi; LW Bokandjii Imama; LD Matt Grzelcyk; LD Ryan Shea
Chicago: C Ryan Donato; LW Pat Maroon; C Craig Smith; LD Alec Martinez
St. Louis: C Radek Faksa; LD Tyler Tucker; LD Ryan Sutter
Boston: C Brad Marchand; C Trent Frederic; C Vinnie Lettieri; LW Cole Koepke; RW Justin Brazeau; LD Parker Wotherspoonl LD Michael Callahan
Seattle: C Yanni Gourde (now on extended IR); LW Brandon Tanev; RD Cale Fleury; LD Josh Mahura; G Ales Stezka
Montreal: LW Christian Dvorak; RW Joel Armia; C Jake Evans; LW Michael Pazzetta; RD David Savard
NYI: C Brock Nelson; RW Kyle Palmieri; LW Matt Martin; RW Hudson Fasching; LD Mile Reilly; RD Tony DeAngelo; LD Dennis Cholowski; G Jakub Skarek
Calgary: RW Anthony Mantha; C Kevin Rooney; C Clark Bishop; D Justin Kirkland; RD Tyson Barrie; G Dan Vladar
Columbus: C Sean Kuraly; RW Mathieu Olivier; RW Justin Danforth; LW James Van Reimsdyk; RW Kevin Labanc; LD Ivan Provorov; RD Davie Fabbro; LD Jack Johnson
NYR: LW Reilly Smith; LW Jommy Vesey; LD Ryan Lindgren; G Jonathan Quick
Dante Fabbro … not Davie …. and Jimmy Vesey ….sheesh
According to a report out of Dallas, they aquired Grandlund and Ceci for a 25 St and a conditional 3rd
Yep. “Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today that the club has acquired forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Dallas’ first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and a conditional third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.”
As I posted the other day, Yogi, I think there will be a flurry of deals long before the trade deadline day as more and more GMs see the wisdom of taking a page from Lou Lamoriello’s “why wait for Spring … do it now” philosophy.
Some of the teams I list above (like Ottawa, Tampa, NYR, Columbus, etc., won’t start peddling their UFAs as long as they are solidly in the playoff picture … but a lot could happen over the next month to change that dramatically.
The problem there is, the teams that clearly see now that they have no chance of getting in will have already dealt the best of their pending UFAs, so there may not be much of a market left by the deadline.
Now that teams basically know what the cap is going to be over the next three years teams can now go out and acquire players, not only for the short term but a longer term. Something that they haven`t had for quite a few years. Considering how much of a difference that 8th year means to a player for security, I think you`ll see more trades and signing now that the GM`s have some firm numbers to work with. This cap info should make July 1st a very boring day
Heh, ya. As if it wasn’t boring enough after about the first 15 minutes.
I like what Kyle Dubas did in this trade. I’m waiting for 8787 to rip Kyle once again.
We got a huge 6ft 7 defenseman who is physical, plays like it, will clear the crease which we need. we have him for this year next year at only $ 2 million. He can play in top 4 if needed. A defensive defenseman….thank god
We got Danton Heinen who we had before and is a better offensive scorer in the bottom six than we have. depth also signed next year.
We get a conditional 1st round pick either this year depending on how the Rangers finish or next year when the draft is deeper.
We get an 18 year old Swedish forward playing in the top Swedish league now playing against men…has decent stats add him to our prospect pool which is growing.
Look if we really want Marcus we can resign him in the off season….
we will have $29 million for the upcoming off season.
Drew O’Connor solid bottom six player, good penalty killer, has another level and maybe he finds it in Vancouver…good kid
For the record 8787 Koivunen has 14 goals now Ponomarev had a hat Trick and Mc Groarty has beefed up and is heating up.
Next years Penguins line up will be way younger because you will have Owen Pickering 20 Harrison Brunicke 19/20 on defense
Forwards Broz, Mc Groarty, Koivunen, Ponomarev, and Howe
Re Canucks, & SJS trade with Dallas.❗️
looks like i was Wrong on the E.P. Trades and the JT.Millar going back to the NYR….🙈
lots of trades yesterday and today,
All in All the Canucks did well filling uo a Centre $ top 4 d/man getting Marcus Pettersson from the Pens.
SJ & Dallas getting Cody Ceci RD, and getting a good goal scorer in Mikeal Granlund for a 1st pick and 3rd pick👌