NHL Rumor Mill – June 2, 2025
The latest on Mitch Marner, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Marco Rossi in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS INTERESTED IN MITCH MARNER
TORONTO SUN: Steve Simmons reports the Vegas Golden Knights are among the teams eyeing Mitch Marner. The 28-year-old Maple Leafs winger is eligible for unrestricted free-agent status on July 1.
The Golden Knights have around $10 million in cap space this summer. Simmons believes they’ll need much more than that to sign Marner. Nevertheless, he doesn’t dismiss the possibility, pointing out they found a way to get Alex Pietrangelo and Jack Eichel.
VEGAS HOCKEY NOW: Hannah Kirkell listed winger Ivan Barbashev, defenseman Zach Whitecloud, and forward Nicolas Roy as potential cost-cutting trade candidates for the Golden Knights.
Barbashev made $5 million annually for the next three seasons. Whitecloud had three years left and $2.75 million annually, while Roy has two years left with an average annual value of $3 million.
Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Golden Knights have projected cap space of $9.6 million with 18 active roster players under contract next season. Shedding one or two players would free up room to sign Marner if he’s interested in coming to Vegas. However, it won’t leave enough to complete their 23-man roster sufficiently.
THE LATEST ON THE PANTHERS
TORONTO SUN: Steve Simmons claims the word out of Florida is that pending UFA center Sam Bennett would like to remain with the Panthers, and they’d like to keep him if they can make the dollars fit. He also indicated that they don’t have a lot of interest in re-signing UFA-eligible defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
If Bennett’s available, Simmons believes the Maple Leafs will be among his suitors, but they won’t have any interest in Ekblad.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: A year ago, Simmons claimed the Panthers wanted to trade Ekblad and use the savings to re-sign Brandon Montour, who went on to join the Seattle Kraken. It’s believed he wants to stay and could accept a pay cut, but the extent of the cut remains to be seen.
TORONTO STAR: Nick Kypreos wrote last week that the feeling is the Panthers want to re-sign Bennett and Ekblad. They would let Brad Marchand depart via free agency as he’ll be too expensive to retain.
THE WILD AND MARCO ROSSI ARE AT AN IMPASSE IN CONTRACT TALKS
THE ATHLETIC: Michael Russo reports teams are calling the Minnesota Wild about Marco Rossi. The 23-year-old center is a restricted free agent after completing his entry-level contract and lacks arbitration rights.
Contract negotiations are currently at an impasse, but Wild general manager Bill Guerin isn’t in a hurry to trade Rossi. Sources claim the Wild offered up a five-year, $25 million contract last winter and a shorter-term deal last week. Rossi’s camp rejected the five-year deal but reportedly hasn’t made a counteroffer to the latest proposal.
Guerin is downplaying the situation, saying sometimes it takes a little longer for negotiations to work their way through. He dismissed the notion that the Wild don’t like Rossi and want to move him, and denied a Daily Faceoff report claiming he asked the Philadelphia Flyers for Tyson Foerster or one of the Flyers’ late first-round picks for Rossi.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Russo’s colleague, Joe Smith, recently pointed out that trading Rossi would leave a big hole at center that the goal-starved Wild would have to fill. That would be difficult in this year’s trade market, where several teams are seeking second-line centers but few to go around.
Rossi’s lack of arbitration rights gives Guerin leverage in these negotiations. An offer sheet from another club is a possibility, but the Wild have sufficient cap space ($16.5 million) to match.
Guerin must ensure he has sufficient long-term cap space to sign superstar Kirill Kaprizov to a lucrative extension. That would explain why he’s trying to keep Rossi’s AAV at around $5 million.
Tre has done a sign and trade in his past. That extra year is significant if you are talking Marner dollars. Can’t let him walk for zero. Also in Tre”s past
If Nicolas Roy is available, he makes sense for Montreal.
It might, Ian, if the Habs don’t think Reinbacher is ready. I hear he is doing well with Laval.
Ian, Roy is still more of a3-4 line center.His stats bear that out. AS I stated before Pavel Zacha should be your guy.Boston would want young players or draft picks which you have plenty of.
Ian, apologies, I had Roy as a D, so Nicolas, not Matt.
How does Nicolas Roy make sense for the Habs and what does Reinbacher have to do with it.
Roy is a center not a defenseman, producing about 35 pts a season, big guy who plays a big game and if the Habs were looking for a 3C he’d fit.
Rossi and Zacha each score as many assists as Roy does points total.
HF30, if the Habs sign Rossi, the Habs sign Rossi. He is clearly your hobby horse and you can ride him all you want.
The comments attributed to Guerin suggest the Wild intend to sign him, which makes sense as trading him would mean they have to go out and replace him at a time when there are many more buyers than sellers for 2Cs. Rossi has arbitration rights, and arbitrators typically split the difference in decisions so it is unlikely Rossi will be too expensive to resign.
I had not thought of Nicolas Roy but he at 28 and with 2 years at 3 million per Ian might be on to something. I base this in part on your comments that none of the young centers in Laval are playing significant minutes, the implication being they may not be NHL ready.
Have I misunderstood you?
Newhook hasn’t shown he can be an effective centre, Dach has shown he can’t stay in the line up, leaving Suzuki and Evans. The Habs, arguably, need two centers.
So who then? Are there any other centre either via trade or signing that you see for the Habs, other than of course belabouring Rossi?
LJ
Roy would be a good signing as a 3 or 4C, he brings the size and hard game the Habs are looking for.
I mentioned Rossi AND Zacha for 2c.
The prospects in Laval are fine but I think they should be coupled with draft picks.
If Roy is a cap dump, he’ll cost a draft pick.
Zacha would probably cost a 1st round pick and a prospect.
That leaves blue chip prospects like Beck, Kapanen, draft picks available for a RD.
Prospects and draft picks are great but either they step up next year or they are tradable assets.
Sign and trade, yes that would work. And giving Marner to the West would work well for TML, too.
Marner at $13.25M x 8 and OEL and maybe a minor pick for Shea Theadore.
The salary difference between the 2 D-men and VGK cap space would keep Vegas under the cap.
Theadore’s NMC comes effective July 1…..unless he negotiated a NMC from the date of his new contract sign date. Seems like a win-win!
Last summer 2024 rumor Maple Leafs and Golden Knights kicking tires Mitch Marner trade. Maple Leafs wanted Shea Theodore. Golden Knights declined, and instead October 2024 signed Theodore new 7 year deal. Doubt Golden Knights will trade Theodore anytime soon. Appears Golden Knights want sign Marner. Suggesting another way shred salary, maybe trading at least one forward?
I doubt Marner allows a sign and trade.
If he is leaving I would think he wants to see all of his options and suitors. But time will tell. Easy for me to suppose he values options over an extra 10 Mil or so
Why would Marner want to do a sign and trade? Makes no sense for him to do it as he limits his options. The way TML fans treated him on his last shifts would probably not make him want to do that out of what? Loyalty. I highly doubt we’ll see a sign and trade. My bet is that he goes to Vegas or LA as a ufa
What’s in it for Marner?
LJ, “what’s in it for Marner?”… one extra year of pay. What’s in it for a team receiving him for an extra year you might ask? That team gets a lower cap hit and player one more year. What do the Leafs get out of it? A big hole in your top six, lose an all situational 100pt player and some cap space, maybe a pick or throw in player.
Why do non-Leafs fans care?. 🤷
Ron, I agree, that would especially work if Vegas is indeed where he wants to go, adding the enticement of an 8-year deal as opposed to a 7. And that, at least, would give the Leafs a return rather than just letting him walk.
Question then becomes, what would Treleving be happy with? Certainly, Vegas would need to move out some considerable cap to accommodate Marner. Right now they have $9,615,000 in cap reserve to sign 5 with these 18 players committed: 9F: Eichel ($10 mil – NMC); Stone ($9,500,000 NMC); Hertl ($6,750,000 MNTC); Karlsson ($5,900,000 MNTC); Barbashev ($5,000,000); Roy ($3,000,000 MNTC; Kolesar ($2,500,00); Howden ($2,500,000); Dorofeyev ($1,835,000): 7D: Pietrangelo ($8,800,000 NMC); Theodore ($7,425,000 NTC); Hanifin ($7,350,000 NTC); McNabb ($3,650,000 NTC); Whitecloud ($2,650,000); Hutton ($975,000); Korczak ($850,000): 2G: Hill ($6,250,000 MNTC); Schmid ($875,000).
Let’s say a deal goes through and they wind up signing Marner to 8 years at $14 mil per AAV. Now they’re down to 4 to sign but suddenly they’re $4.6 mil OVER the cap, with 4 RFAs still to re-up. Even if a couple are ticketed to the minors, they’d still need to either re-sign a couple of their pending UFAs, or find and sign adequate replacements.
Regardless how they go about making it work, bottom line is, they’d need to move out a big term deal. So, what would satisfy the Leafs?
And I ask that with the thought in mind – it would have to be something significant to the Leafs, since they’d be doing Marner a favour by dealing his rights.
If the return offered by Vegas is viewed as crap, Treleving would likely say “if that is where you’re intent on going, fine … but you’re not gonna get an extra year out of it.”
George, sure, significant for the Leafs, but doesn’t this complicate things for Marner? It likely means reducing the # of suitors for him, where as going straight to market means he gets to field all the offers available without having a third party to please as well.
Depends, I guess, how much Marner values 8 years as opposed to 7.
Not to mention his agent … and his father!
George I don’t think the Leafs have much control. I think all the Marner rumors and such are mainly coming from a thirsty media market and Marners agent. Players don’t like change as much as us fans do. What will Marner do? We don’t know but I’ll bet he would want to re-sign as a first choice but if he moves it will be either Tampa, Dallas, or a Cal team but is there anywhere that he can’t fit in?
As for his type of player, I think he will excel on a team where he’s the offensive star and has his back covered unlike his role in Toronto where he has to defer to himself for everything.
In a possible Treliving defence, its hard to know how much leeway he had regarding these things in Calgary, who like Vancouver always favour playoffs over picks and prospects
Rumor – Penguins next head coach either Mitch Love or DJ Smith.
Around this time is when player’s agents earn their keep. This is when insiders are feed all the tips and information that applies pressure to management to move in the player’s agent’s direction in their negotiations. Getting their crap out there, and Farris is one of, if not the sleaziest agent that believes in bringing his clients to UFA and then litter the media (aka feed content seeking “insiders”) with inside information regarding his players possible moves…which is never correct. 💩💩💩
Johnny Z, there is no way Vegas would trade Theodore in a Marner deal. They can just wait until July 1 and get him for nothing. At best, I would say they would maybe get a second or a prospect. If Vegas wanted to free up cap space using Theodore they would trade him to another team and get a boatload after they signed Marner. That would have been a fair trade at the deadline but not now in my opinion.
Shea has a full NMC on July 1
Panthers added Jones but, still short at RD. Bennett has chance to cash in on a deal far better than one he’s been playing on. I think Florida has better chance signing Ekblad. They have guys that can fill the 2C spot.
Not sure Minny will match an offer sheet if it’s more than what they’ve been offering.
Can they afford both Jones and Ekbland?
I don’t think Ekblad will be too expensive. Chicago retained 2.5 on Jones, so Florida could probably keep both. Forsling also on a reasonable deal as well. Unless they’re willing to part with one of Lundell,Luostarinen, or Verhaeghe, who are all younger than Bennett, I don’t see him getting the bag in Florida.
Vegas… with around $9 million in the pocket I wonder if the Knights try to move Jack Eichel in last year if his contract this offseason .. 28 years old could the Bruins offer them draft picks and prospects ? Or sign and trade Geekie and prospects ?
GMs make some seemingly odd decisions by playing hardball with players that fans around the league can see are valuable.
Carolina and Necas
Ottawa and Pinto
Minnesota and Rossi.
I bet Necas is happy to be traded and that Pinto and Rossi will be happy with their next team.
Hughes and Evans.
That’s the influence of the cap.
Hughes didn’t play hardball with Evans he gave him a very good contract.
It’s what a 3rd or 4thline center like Nicolas Roy is worth.
Pundits were playing him up on account of his high shooting % which obviously came back down to his normal.
The story I read quoted Evans as saying he had his stuff boxed up and was ready to move before deciding he would rather stay than go to market.
Meaning, he believed there was a better deal for him elsewhere, and he was surely not getting that info from “pundits.”
So Hughes clearly gave him his best offer and was willing to let Evans go.
Call this something other than hardball if you want, bottom line, final offer, whatever. It’s all the same meaning.
LJ,
i used the term hardball but it was meant in the context of undervalue.
Habfan30, not sure how you see Pinto as having been the subject of “hardball” negotiations.
In the 2022-23 season leading up to the negotiations he scored 20g 15a 35 points and played all 82 games. Encouraging stats, yes, but hardly eye-opening. Early that summer it also became known to the team that he was under investigation following notification by an NHL betting partner which had flagged issues with Pinto’s account details with the league, in addition to Pinto also being reported to have had connections with a third-party proxy bettor.
That undoubtedly led to a contract dispute during his RFA negotiations, resulting in his missing the 2023 training camp and the opening weeks of the season. Then on October 23, 2023, he received a stiff 41-game suspension by the League for violating their rules on sports gambling.
Pinto, after issuing an apology to the team and fans, and his return to lineup eligibility not allowed until January 21, 2024, signed a 1-year $775,000 deal on January 19. He has subsequently signed a 2-year bridge deal worth $7.500,000 which paid him $2.5 million this past season, and will see him get $5 million this coming season.
His situation in no way resembles that of Rossi.
As far as I’m concerned Pinto is a 2C all day long and has shown it from the get go.
Sens don’t see it or they would have locked him up, nor would they have traded for Cozens who’s signed long term for $7million.
Sens have relegated the guy to 3C and seriously devalued trade propositions and Staios faces an RFA Pinto at the end of the year.
The hope here is that they move Cozens to RW on a line with Tkachuk and Stutzle. Batherson would then move to RW on the 2nd line with Pinto at C and Fabian Zetterlund at LW. Giroux will be re-signed and moved to the 3rd line with Greig at C and Perron at LW. A 4th line could be Gaudette at C, Amadio at RW and Cousins at LW.
That way Staios shores up the RW position without the need to go shopping and instead concentrate on the other need – RD depth. We’ll soon see which way the wind is blowing … but one way or another, Pinto will be here for quite a while.
On another topic have you habfan30, LJ or Howard seen this article that came out on May 7? What do you think of that assessment?
https://puckpedia.com/news/montreals-cap-situation-could-block-big-moves-unless-they-trade-carey-price
Although the circumstances are entirely different, knowing a player could be in for a serious suspension does dictate a team’s position during negotiations.
Alex Formenton was in the midst of a negotiation following the 2021-22 season when he scored 18g 14a 32 points but by then the Senators were keenly aware of the sex scandal, and when all talks were suspended, Formenton signed with a Swiss League club.
Rangers 1st+KReider(1 year lefT) for Rossi.
could Wild then swap that 1st for a second line center?
Please. Pens want that 26 pick!
Guérin values size so while might make some allowances for some small players, he doesn’t want too many. But he also needs a replacement at center if he trades Rossi. I’d love to see my Bruins pick up Rossi for Mittelstadt and some thing else like a second round pick, and a B prospect like Merkilov. Or Maybe Beecher and Mittelstadt for Rossi. If a straight up trade, I would trade Geekie for Rossi one for one. Geekie had good second half of the year, but that was Pasta setting him time and time again (but yes he did produce).
Mittelstadt any good in Boston thus far?
Rossi can create plays…
To me, Mittelstadt is a player that can help a team, but isn’t good enough to be a keystone, especially if you are rebuilding. He seemed to be a hot commodity when he was being shopped at the end of his tenure in Buffalo, but I don’t think he showed enough to stick in Boston. I don’t think he is good enough to be traded for Rossi even up, but maybe if he was part of a package of might work for both.
Lindsay trading a 33 goal scorer on a poor offensive team is not a good choice. Even if he did play with Pasternak. Rossi is an intreging player fora team dying for offense.Maybe Guerin will go back to his Boston roots and make a deal.
Lindsay DS ,Boston has no room at center with Lindholm,Zacha,Minton and Poitras. Unless he plays wing he s boxed out in Boston.Maybe going home to Minnesota be what he needs.
Of all the centers you listed for Boston and where they are at in their careers, Rossi may be the best of the group at least offensively. I like Poitras, but I think his future rests on the wing.
If Vegas has to cut salary to make place for Marner : Nicolas Roy and Ivan Barbashev to MTL.
I would offer MTL First round pick (17th), Alex Newhook and Logan Mailloux.