NHL Rumor Mill – August 7, 2026
What’s the latest on Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrik Laine? Find out in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
THE SICK PODCAST: Nick Lariviere cited Jimmy Murphy and Shayne Gaumond discussing the possibility of Vladimir Tarasenko being a free-agent option for the Montreal Canadiens.
Former Minnesota Wild winger Vladimir Tarasenko (NHL Images).
Murphy and Gaumond believe the 34-year-old Tarasenko could be a good fit with the Canadiens, who need second-line depth. Murphy cited the winger’s versatility as the best “plug-in” piece for the Habs.
However, Murphy’s Eye Test podcast co-host Pierre McGuire disagrees, saying he doesn’t believe Tarasenko would have a spot among the Canadiens’ top six.
Lariviere acknowledged Tarasenko lacks the speed of Canadiens’ second-line winger Alex Newhook. However, he believes the veteran’s pure skill and experience could make him a good short-term fit alongside fellow Russian Ivan Demidov on the Habs’ second line.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s no secret the Canadiens seek a suitable linemate for the talented Demidov, preferably a center. Trade rumors have linked them to Toronto Maple Leafs power forward Matthew Knies and Columbus Blue Jackets winger Kirill Marchenko.
Canadiens management has been unwilling to bring in aging veterans, preferring players in their mid-to-late 20s that would mesh well with their young core. If they wanted Tarasenko, they probably would’ve signed him by now.
THE MONTREAL GAZETTE: Herb Zurkowsky reports former Canadiens winger Patrik Laine has been linked to several NHL clubs this summer.
Laine, 28, is an unrestricted free agent coming off a four-year contract worth an average annual value of $8.7 million. The sniper spent the past two seasons with the Canadiens, with injuries limiting him to 57 regular-season games.
Zurkowsky noted that Laine had been linked to the New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and, more recently, the Philadelphia Flyers. He believes a team could land the former 44-goal scorer for around $1.5 million on a one-year deal.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Laine’s skating has slowed, his defensive game is weak, and he’s become more of a power-play specialist at this stage of his career. Still, his powerful shot could land him with a team seeking additional scoring while playing with the man advantage. Whether it’ll be with one of the clubs mentioned by Zurkowsky remains to be seen.
Tarasenko and Laine are both intriguing.
Laine – How does a team find a way to balance the cons to have the pros thrive? Still has a great shot but isnt top 6 any longer on a good team and doesnt have the skill sets to be particularly useful in the bottom 6. If he wants to remain an NHLer he is going to figure out a way to reinvent himself (and that is not easy to do either).
Tarasenko, you have to think its more about salary and term. Yea he is slowing but unlike Laine he is a more versatile option in your lineup. If he was willing to sign at a lower aav for 1 year…you’d have to think he’d be off the board already. This feels similar to Roslovic last season. Useful player that maybe the agent has mis read the market on? Idk.
I’m guessing there’s a few teams willing to get Laine on cheap deal. Like a lot of these guys, he’s looking at best deal. Can’t believe he’s washed up at age 28. Buffalo had 21st ranked PP. both Tuch and Byram played about a minute and a half per game on PP and both are gone. Sabres GM Kekalainen is guy that brought Laine to CLB and gave him last contract. Seems like a good fit. Hard to imagine a 28 yo athlete not putting in the work to get back to where he was or at least close. These should be prime years.
Tarasenko was terrible with the Wings 2 seasons ago. He had many chances to score and was snake-bit that whole year producing only 11 goals in 80 games.
Can’t say I’m surprised that neither Laine nor Tarasenko have yet to land jobs, as both have severe defensive limitations that, over the course of a season, can over-shadow any significant contributions.
But the fact none among Eeli Tolvanen, Michael Bunting and Logan Stanley have been yet signed does surprise me a bit.
The 6′ 186lb LW Bunting is the oldest of the 3, but he’s only 31 and, over 418gp, has 82-game averages of 21g 28a 49 pts.
6′ 7″ 230lbs LD Logan Stanley is just 28, and while not an offensive threat in any way, he will get you around 4 goals 14 assists while providing a big body presence on D.
And then there’s 27y/o 5′ 10″ 185lbs left-shot RW Eeli Tolvanen who, over his 423gp has 82-game average of 18g 19a 37pts.
Surely some teams somewhere could use a bottom 6 F and 3rd pairing D like those 3.
I think Tolvanen holdup is about term and money, as is he wants to much for to long, give it 4-6 weeks and he will be signed
I don’t get the Laine debate across the league including Montreal, especially now when he can be signed to a league minimum performance laden contract.
Many teams carry players getting 5-8 minutes a game because they fill a specific role, usually physicality.
Why not give Laine those minutes as a powerplay specialist and select offensive zone draws?
Yvan Cournoyer did it for his first few seasons of his career, getting almost exclusively powerplay minutes, scoring 20 goals a year because Toe Blake didn’t trust his defensive game.
I get HF30.
Not a Laine expert, but from what I can tell what he does is bang pucks at the net from his spot on the off wing on the PP. No good at anything else.
If anyone should understand his value it’s the Habs. Their PP got better last year when he wasn’t there for the 52 games he was the year before.
Teams average between 5-7 minutes of PP time a game. So say 6 as the #.1st group gets max 4 minutes.
Most teams play their regular 4th line guys a minimum of 10 minutes, unless they are injury call ups from the minors. Some teams, like the Habs were 12 minutes for a MTL regular forward, Veleno as 12:05.
Laine out there trying to check for 8 minutes is a problem, especially on the road when the other team gets last change.
Sounds like a good guy, but it’s PTO time and maybe Europe if that doesn’t work out.
IMO I think most teams start playing the 4th line more, not less.
Ahhh yes … the Roadrunner… I’ll never forget an antsy crowd in a game the Habs were losing at home in one of his early seasons’ games as they began chanting “nous voulons Cournoyer … nous voulons Cournoyer ….” (“we want Cournoyer” for the non-bilingual).
At one point Toe Blake went to him seated on the bench, tapped him on the shoulder, leaned over and said “Yvan, better go see what they want ….”
Cournoyer himself told this story often some years later after he became a regular under Ruel to emphasize that, if you wanted to play every day for the Habs, you’d better become a two-way player.
Lol George. Many moons ago just after the Canada Cup I was at a charity celebrity golf tourney. One of the Tee gifts I got (was expensive entry fee lol) was a Canada Cup Jersey autographed by Cournoyer & Marcel Dionne. Still hanging on my wall in my poker room haha. Was able to sit by him at the banquet after. Super nice guy.
That’s flippin’ awesome Potlicker.
Dionne was great.
Hf30, last year around this time you were singing the praises of Laine for his off season workouts and his preparation leading up to the season. Unfortunately due to circumstances that are no fault of his it hasn’t worked out. In baseball he would be considered a Cy Young candidate,that is all goals and no assists. A coach once said to me that you can’t make the club if you are always recuperating in the whirlpool. In other words you can’t make the club if you are always in the tub!
When you put it that way HF30, I don’t get why Laine isn’t signed either. The average power play time (with no goals scored) is about 8 minutes.
One example, MacDermid of the Sens, averaged well below 8 minutes per game the past 5 years and scored a total of 2 goals. The past 4 years he hasn’t scored at all. He gets paid over a million bucks a year for that …
LJ, if you check Puckpedia you’ll see that MacDermid is listed among the Belleville Fs. Yeah, they pay him $1,150,000 but not for any anticipated goal-scoring prowess. He’s there as a call-up IF teams start to take liberties in terms of “intimidation tactics.” Right now, that $1,150,000 has no effect on Ottawa’s cap.
Meanwhile, the Cup champion Hurricanes are, however, paying $875,000 off their cap for Nicolas Deslauriers and his 0 goals for much the same reason, and San Jose just finished forking over $1,350,000 for the last of a 3-year deal originally handed out to Ryan Reaves by Toronto for what amounted to 7 goals at the cost of $4,050,000 total off their caps. For much the same reason.
George: Ok, but MacDermid is listed on the Sens team website and yes you have added some good examples of, shall we say, niche players. What the both of us have done is give proof to HF30’s point: surely Laine is worth a minimum contract and a regular if limited role.
He is, and as I posted elsewhere, most current speculation is that he will sign – close to training camp – a deal that will pay him a fairly low 1-year base salary combined with performance bonuses, etc.
Laine won’t play 40 games.
Great shot , Big man made of peanut brittle
At this point I’d imagine that Laine needs to play a year in Europe to prove that he still has enough speed to play at the NHL level, he’s still young enough to do that and come back the following year, even though his buddy Jesse did the same, played well, especially in the WHC and hasn’t had a sniff. He has the range to play 3/4 line too. Teams are more willing to trust their own young prospects these days rather than recycle older players with bad habits.
Hf30, last year around this time you were singing the praises of Laine for his off season workouts and his preparation leading up to the season. Unfortunately due to circumstances that are no fault of his it hasn’t worked out. In baseball he would be considered a Cy Young candidate,that is all goals and no assists. A coach once said to me that you can’t make the club if you are always recuperating in the whirlpool. In other words you can’t make the club if you are always in the tub!
Lol George. Many moons ago just after the Canada Cup I was at a charity celebrity golf tourney. One of the Tee gifts I got (was expensive entry fee lol) was a Canada Cup Jersey autographed by Cournoyer & Marcel Dionne. Still hanging on my wall in my poker room haha. Was able to sit by him at the banquet after. Super nice guy.
The one-timer from just outside the circle is the wheelhouse for the powerplay.
All season long the Habs powerplay was setting up guys in that spot, Demidov, Slaf, Bolduc, Caufield getting on one knee to drive it and the puck rarely went in.
We wonder why they keep missing when it looks so easy but that’s what Stamkos used to do, Ovechkin does and Laine can still do it. These guys have the timing down perfectly, the velocity, they thread the needle.
His last season he played 52 games, had 20 goals, 15 on the pp.
I have no idea what he’s doing this summer but he worked like a dog last summer.
Habfan30, a bit of checking reveals that Laine “has been active on the ice and working hard on his conditioning this offseason to prove his health.”
Meanwhile, teams are “performing due diligence on his physical state after a 2025–26 season where he was limited to just 5 games with the Montreal Canadiens due to core-muscle surgery, though he later maintained he was cleared and cautious about returning.”
“Insider” speculation is that, at some time close to the opening of camp, he will sign a one-year deal at somewhere between $850K and $2 million base coupled with high performance and games-played bonuses.
There could very well be a handshake deal in place from a team that requires putting someone on LTIR after the season starts to either open a active roster spot or the extra $$.
Can someone verify, most likely George ;), don’t performance bonuses get tacked on to the next years cap?
Heh. Trying to completely understand the ins and outs of that convoluted mess is futile, Steve. But for whatever it’s worth, here’s the “official” line as to how incentive clauses added to low base salaries impact the cap:
“Incentive-laden conditions—known as performance bonuses—do factor into the NHL salary cap structure, but they are handled separately from a player’s base average annual value (AAV).
How Performance Bonuses Work in the Cap
• The Base Cap Hit: A player’s standard AAV (base salary plus signing bonuses divided by years) counts against the cap immediately. Performance bonuses do not count against regular-season cap space right away.
• The 7.5% Cushion: Teams can include performance bonuses up to a maximum cushion of 7.5% of the upper cap limit. If the total earned or potential bonuses fit under this cushion during the regular season, they do not restrict daily cap spending.
• Overage Carryover: If a player achieves their incentives and pushes the team past the salary cap limit (or deeper into an overage), the unabsorbed bonus amount carries over as a penalty counting against the following season’s salary cap.
Who Can Have Performance Bonuses?
Under the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), performance bonuses are strictly restricted to specific player types to prevent cap circumvention:
• Players signing Entry-Level Contracts (ELCs)
• Players signing a one-year contract after age 35
• Players signing a one-year contract coming off a long-term serious injury (minimum 400 games played).”
I’ve never seen so many injuries for one guy, even at 1.1 mill you’re taking a risk. You might be seeing Laine in the European circuit in a year or two. When he first started he was a deadly sniper sad to see someone with that talent slide so far. Don’t touch him Donny, we need a number one centre.
So George, based on what you posted, a performance contract for Laine(he fits in the 3rd criteria) would be able to have maybe the following:
-games played
-goals
lets say base salary 2mil with bonuses extra 5mil just to make it easy. The team needs to have to have the 2 available on the cap and the 5 would go under the 7.5% but if achieved any overflow would then go to next year.
If that’s the case there could very well be a couple teams waiting until they are cap compliant that might go for it knowing that if he hits those marks thats a good thing for them and it’ll be easier to add that in to the cap next year when it goes up.
Kick that bucket down the road so to speak.
That’s likely the thinking, Steve … and I could see several teams looking at that just to boost their pp, including Ottawa (and although I hope not, if they were going to go down that risk-taking road, I’d sooner it be Laine than giving Tarasenko a second shot here. He can definitely shuffle off to Europe as far as I’m concerned.)