NHL Rumor Mill – April 20, 2026
Should the Blackhawks make a major move for a scoring winger? What areas could the Rangers look to improve this summer? Find out in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
COULD THE BLACKHAWKS PURSUE MATTHEW KNIES OR JASON ROBERTSON?
VICTORY+: NHL insider Frank Seravalli was asked if the Chicago Blackhawks would make a bold move this offseason by attempting to trade for more than one superstar this summer. For example, would they go after Toronto Maple Leafs winger Matthew Knies and Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson, or only one of them?
Toronto Maple Leafs winger Matthews Knies (NHL Images).
Seravalli thinks going after Knies or Robertson would be a great start for the Blackhawks. He reminded us that he reported several weeks ago that they were among the teams interested in Knies before last month’s trade deadline. He doesn’t think the Maple Leafs were actually planning to move Knies, but were looking for one of those deals where you can accomplish a rebuild in one single trade, which is really hard to do.
The Blackhawks’ interest in Knies indicates what type of player they could be looking for this summer. John Buccigross believes the Blackhawks can afford to be bullish and try to acquire a Matthew Knies or a Jason Robertson.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Maple Leafs ownership made it clear that they intend to retool instead of rebuilding, which suggests they’ll be hanging onto Knies unless someone makes them a mind-blowing offer.
Meanwhile, Stars general manager Jim Nill downplayed the trade rumors that dogged Robertson last summer and maintains his intention to re-sign Robertson this summer. He’s a restricted free agent with arbitration rights who is also a year away from unrestricted free-agent eligibility.
Of the two, Robertson seems the more likely to be available if he seeks more money than the Stars are willing to pay. He lacks no-trade protection, but the Blackhawks might insist on attempting a sign-and-trade deal before committing assets to acquire him.
THE LATEST ON THE RANGERS
THE ATHLETIC: Peter Baugh and Vincent Z. Mercogliano reported last week that New York Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan pointed out that there are two areas of concern that he’d like to see addressed in the offseason.
Sullivan would like to add some puck-moving ability to the Rangers’ blueline. He would also like to improve the bottom-six forwards by adding players who can play certain roles that would lessen the burden on some of their top-six forwards.
GM Chris Drury acknowledged Sullivan’s suggestions. He also left the door open for the addition of a top-six forward.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Those needs could be addressed by whatever they might get by trading center Vincent Trocheck and defenseman Braden Schneider this summer. Both were frequently mentioned as trade candidates this season. It’s believed Drury will remain open to offers for both players.
I would think that if Minny embarrasses Dallas in the 1st round, that there will indeed be a lot of movement in Dallas! Roberson or Knies to the Hawks is exactly what the Hawks need to get a Bedard long-term contract done and a chance at the playoffs. Hoo-boy! Another competitor in the Central!
Question: Both would cost a boatload of prospects/draft capital, do Chicago have that to spare? Im not that into Chicago but it doesnt seem as if they have a boatload of prospects that are interested to a team like Toronto or Dallas, but I could be wrong
I agree with Lyle’s take that, since the Leafs have made it abundantly clear that they will NOT be embarking upon a re-build, but rather a re-tool, it wouldn’t make any sense to deal a young power-F like Knies …. unless someone blows them out of the park with a an offer they can’t refuse.
Seravalli has to know this as well. So, is he suggesting Chicago – a team in the midst of a painfully-slow re-build – should put together a package of some of the best prospects from their highly-ranked prospect pool and one or more of their better roster players in order to obtain a very good up-and-coming power F who would then be joining a roster that, over 82 games just played, didn’t put up all that different a final result than the team Knies was a part of?
A re tool suggests there is enough of a foundation that a few deft moves puts a team genuinely in the hunt. Given the underwhelming UFAs available and the learning curve for prospects (which the Leafs have few of, are Leafs fans going to accept the time line with this approach? Matthew’s is 28 now.
Drury and Sullivan’s comments are mind blowing. More bottom 6? REALLY???
They are littered with bottom sixers now: Kartye, Sheary, Raddysh, Laba, Edstrom, Rempe, Chmelar, Sykora, and Brodzinski.
Heck, even Cuylle should be a LW3 but he’s forced to play up because NYR don’t have a true LW2 or RW2.
They need to fill both of those 2nd line wing spots via the draft or free agency (or if Greentree shows he is ready to jump to the NHL).
Greentree has the NHL body, but his only body of work was in junior, where he dominated. Reminds me of Micheal Rasmussen, but lets hope Liam does better. He should be an interesting watch.
Not sure it’s in the Leafs best interest to trade Knies.
They’re thin on LW already and it doesn’t seem that the coaching staff will give Robertson a legit look at the 2LW spot.
Unless they’re getting back NHL players, not just prospects, it makes zero sense to trade Knies.
The Leafs have plenty of needs up front and on D. They have limited prospects to trade, and limited draft picks that can make a difference
Cmon Foley! Sheary is RW2. Lol
Watch for Drury to acquire his nephew from Colorado. Bottom 6 who kills penalties.
Ha!
Sad, but true!
I think most Ranger fans took these comments way out of proportion.
What Sullivan was saying was he wants guys like Trocheck, Millers , Zibanejad etc off the PK.
Not something I disagree with. I don’t think most teams want their best offensive players killing penalties. And certainly not at the rate the above mentioned are doing so. (8th most pk’s in the league).
Not many realistic options to improve the top 6 on the market. Most of them are 35 or older. The lone exception is Laine. No thanks on that!
NY is going to have to be patient, as will the fan base. They have some good young pieces. Including Culye who barely plays top 6 minutes and is definitely more capable than a 3rd liner.
Let’s not start off another rebuild with an aging 12 million dollar winger and 8 million dman that block the way for younger players.
Realistically, NY is NOT a playoff team next year and certainly not even close to a contender even if they miraculously slip in. I think that’s a minimum of 2-3 years away.
Their young players showed up at the end of the year. Something we’re not used to seeing. Amazing what happens when young players are given opportunities and not constantly trying to drive offense off just Fox and Panarin.
There are no miracle quick fixes through UFA this year. Not even close. All they can do is be patient.
I’d be ok with letting Cuylle develop more as LW2 alongside JT, but that line would need a more offensive finisher for RW.
If they stay healthy, they should battle for a low playoff seed next year with a lineup of:
Laf-Zib-Gabe
Cuylle-JT-(TBD)
Kartye-Laba-(TBD)
Sykora-(TBD)-Chmelar
I left out Trocheck. Will be interesting to see if they push for a trade or start the year with him. Starting the year with him likely pushes Laba to 4C, but it still leaves RW2 and RW3 as big gaps.
Would love to get a top 2 pick in draft to fill RW2 and then give Greentree all of camp to see if he can start as RW3 (or if he needs time in AHL).
Starting a new draft pick and Greentree would have it’s bumps, but it would speed up their development & the retool.
I just don’t trust Drury/Sully to be patient enough for that. I think they both see the NYR record from this past year when all of Zib/Igor/JT/Troch/Fox were healthy together and they will think NYR can contend now.
Drury and Sullivan spoke highly of Schneider. Seemed pretty happy with his development or maybe just trying to up his value. Acquiring an impact player in top 6 would push better players into bottom 6. LD and a scoring RW should be priority. Drafted Gonchar last year and he’s coming off a good year in OHL. 51 pts in 65 games. Looked good in camp last year. Good puck mover but needed to add some weight. Buffalo top 4 all LH. When you finish with 3rd worse record, have to figure you’re playing 3/4 guys that wouldn’t have a spot on a good team.
Chicago is a young team that will be the next team on the rise and they aren’t going to trade four quarters for a dollar to get Robertson or Knies.
It’s time for patience and trust in the prospects and draft pool rather than emptying it at this stage.
Robertson and Knies have value (other than their own teams) to clubs that are reaching their window of opportunity with available assets, dealing from strength.
Chicago is moving Nazar?Rinzel? Of course not.
Dallas or TML are replacing with Mikheyev or Bertuzzi? Of course not