NHL Rumor Mill – May 26, 2025
Check out the latest on the Jets, Canucks, and Islanders in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
THE LATEST ON THE JETS’ NOTABLE FREE AGENTS
THE ATHLETIC: Murat Ates recently looked at which Winnipeg Jets players could stay or go during the offseason.
He reported that Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff met with Nikolaj Ehlers’ agent for two hours last Monday. The 29-year-old winger is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Winnipeg Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers (NHL Images).
Ates considered that meeting a positive sign, as Cheveldayoff said that Ehlers was the type of player who could be a Jet for life. However, he also believes the Jets are preparing for a future without the veteran winger.
The Jets have an internal budget for Ehlers, knowing they must also re-sign restricted free agents Dylan Samberg and Gabriel Vilardi. They must also ensure they have sufficient long-term cap space to sign winger Kyle Connor to an extension this summer.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Adam Proteau noted that Ehlers is coming off a solid performance this season, matching a career high for assists (39) and coming within a point of his career high of 64 points (2016-17) in 69 games. He’s completing a seven-year contract with an average annual value of $6 million.
Proteau doesn’t believe the Jets can afford to get into a bidding war to retain Ehlers, citing his injury history and sub-par postseason stats. He think they’d be better off pursuing Vancouver Canucks winger Brock Boeser, who is a six-time scorer of 23-plus goals and put up solid playoff numbers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ehlers’ teammates sang his praises during the club’s end-of-season media availability last week. Cheveldayoff managed to keep Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele in the fold, but they were far more important to the Jets’ success than Ehlers. He also got those two under contract well before their UFA eligibility.
Ensuring sufficient cap room to re-sign Connor is the priority. Cheveldayoff will let Ehlers walk if the winger’s asking price threatens to exceed that internal budget.
UPDATE ON THE CANUCKS
THE PROVINCE: Ben Kuzma recently observed that the Vancouver Canucks will find it tougher to lure UFA talent compared to last year, when they were coming off one of the best season’s in franchise history.
Kuzma noted the Canucks’ primary offseason needs are a second-line center and a top-six winger. However, their struggles this season, including the recent departure of head coach Rick Tocchet and internal drama between Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller that led to the latter’s trade to New York, could make them a less-desirable free-agent destination.
It could also make it difficult for the Canucks to find help in the trade market in an era of no-trade lists and no-movement clauses.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canucks’ difficulties this season will affect management’s efforts to bolster their roster this summer. Nevertheless, they could have a better chance of doing so in the trade market, where there are players who lack no-trade protection. It depends on what they’re willing to offer up as trade bait.
WILL THE ISLANDERS RE-SIGN KYLE PALMIERI?
NYI HOCKEY NOW: Russ Macias believes a big decision facing new Islanders GM Mathieu Darche is whether to sign Kyle Palmieri to an extension.
The 34-year-old winger is UFA-eligible on July 1. Former GM Lou Lamoriello had opened contract extension talks with Palmieri’s representatives, but those discussions were put on hold after Lamoriello was relieved of his duties last month.
Macias believes Darche should retain Palmieri unless his asking price is absurd. He thinks the veteran winger could take a pay cut to stay with the Isles.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It will be interesting to see what changes Darche has in store for the Islanders this offseason, and whether they involve Palmieri. If he keeps the winger, it’ll likely be on a two-year deal for between $3.5 million and $4 million annually.
Lyle, re “The Jets have an internal budget for Ehlers, knowing they must also re-sign restricted free agents Dylan Samberg and Gabriel Landeskog.”
Landeskog is obviously a misprint. Their only other RFAs are Vilardi, Barron and Kupari.
Fixed, thanks!
Keeping players in Winnepeg obviously isn’t as difficult as some people thought when the team moved there.
It still hasn’t been easy. Trouba and Dubois being two notable examples.
Trouba was for family reasons as his wife was doing a medical residency in New York. And PLD was unhappy wherever he went. And it must be noted that the Jets got the better of both those trades. Both Trouba and Dubois were later dumped off by the teams they were traded too. Grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
not to mention Patrick Laine, Evander Kane, Dustin Byfuglien (who left in the middle of a contract). Jack Roslovic
I was a Thrashers’ fan, never thought the Jets would make it in WPG but they have. Credit has to be given to the people running the show. Wish the team had been as good on the ice in ATL as it’s been in Winnepeg.
I thought that Byfuglien left because of an injury, and ankle injury if I remember correctly, and not because of the city. He actually did sign an extension in 2016 to stay in Winnipeg.
Kevjam, the following excerpt is from this January 26,2021 article
https://novacapsfans.com/2021/01/26/report-patrik-laine-revealed-reason-for-leaving-winnipeg-rude-treatment-in-locker-room/
“Jalonen, the reporter from Iltalehti, noticed how the Jets have lost so many players in recent years, including Evander Kane, Jacob Trouba, Dustin Byfuglien, Jack Roslovic and Patrik Laine, all of whom wanted out of Winnipeg. He pointed out that Byfuglien even ended his career in the middle of the contract period. Hence, Jalonen wonders if “there is something rotten in the club led by GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and in the locker room led by Wheeler.”
I like Ehlers but could go down on any shift. If you are not in the lineup doesn’t do much good. Kyle Connor needs to get paid as the top priority
Ehlers is a zone entry machine. They will miss his ability to skate the puck into the opposition’s end.the dump and chance works but part of Winnipeg’s playoff troubles I felt were their decision to chip out or dump the puck all too often. It was an easy play for the opposition to prepare for and possession was often relinquish with this style. Ehlers alleviated that a bit.
Possession leads to opportunity which lead to chances which lead to goals.
I think I heard Yoda say that.
Read an article from a couple days ago about realistic landing spots for Lafreniere if Rangers decided to shop him. Though not mentioned, Winnipeg to me has something NY desperately needs. Samberg would be an excellent partner for Fox. Laf could replace Ehlers and gives them cost certainty for next 7 years. This could be Hall/Larsson part 2
Haven’t thought about that trade in a while Slick62.
That was June 2016, wow, long time already.
So over the last 9 seasons, who has been the better or more valuable player?
Hall had his MVP year in 17/18, but over the years I would argue you would have rather had Larsson. Big, skates, hits, relatively healthy and right shot. Add in a side of nasty and you have a valuable player.
Unfortunate why he had to leave Edmonton, but I also get why he had to do it. That set the Oil back a little bit. Imagine having him their that last 4 years.
Agree. Sometimes the less sexy player is the better value. Rangers need a top pair LD.
Ray Bark,the year that Hall was drafted Tyler Seguin was the second pick although he has been injured much of the last couple of seasons I believe he has had a better career than Hall.Carolina just signed Hall for 3 more years.???
Career-wise their stats are pretty similar on an average basis
in 989gp Seguin has scored 360g 449a 809pts for 82-game averages of 30g 376a 67pts
In 149 playoff games he has 29g 50a 79 pts which works out to 0.2gpg and 0.3apg
In 909gp Hall has scored 284g 455a 739pts for 82-game averages of 26g 41a 67pts
In 52 playoff games he has 16g 19a 35pts which works out to 0.3gpg and 0.4apg
Wonder what the NHL world would look like if there was no movement/no trade clauses.
I bet a lot of players would perform better to ensure they are not traded to the “less desirable locations”
I would expect this would put all teams on a more level playing field. I would also think players would take less money to sigh with the team of there choices.
They should limit amount of no movement clauses/no trade clauses to 3 per team.
Jeff, there are already limits on no-trade and no-movement clauses. Players 27-and-older or those who’ve been in the league for seven or more NHL seasons are the only ones eligible to receive them. So for a considerable period of a player’s career, he lacks no-trade protection.
Besides, even the consensus least desirable locations would have a saturation point in terms of how many deals they could possibly make involving players who would prefer not to go there. And in that sort of open market situation, it would become generally known which players have an aversion to certain locations, so why would a team forge ahead with such a trade anyway? Why bring in a known malcontent?
I always felt the no movement really was to avoid being sent to the minors