Sunday NHL Rumor Roundup – August 9, 2026
Which players could get eight-year contracts before the Sept. 16 deadline? Will the Canadiens move on from Samuel Montembeault? Find out in the Sunday NHL Rumor Roundup.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Pittsburgh Penguins’ signing Ville Koivunen to an eight-year contract extension prompted Eric Cruickshank to ponder which NHL players could also get eight-year deals before the Sept. 16 deadline.
On that date, the maximum term for teams re-signing players drops to seven years.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The maximum term for signing unrestricted free agents will also drop on that date from seven years to six.
Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (NHL Images).
Cruickshank listed five players who could get eight-year deals before Sept. 16, with Adam Fantilli of the Columbus Blue Jackets topping his list.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blue Jackets would probably love to get the 21-year-old Fantilli under contract for eight seasons. He’s their first-line center and will play a critical role in the club’s development.
Fantilli could prefer a shorter term closer to five years at an average annual value of around $15 million. That will ensure he gets a chance at a more lucrative deal while still in his prime.
Detroit Red Wings forward Marco Kasper, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Conor Geekie, Edmonton Oilers prospect Matthew Savoie, and Montreal Canadiens winger Zachary Bolduc could also become candidates for eight-year contracts.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Those players would fall under the same category as Koivunen of the Penguins.
Eyebrows were raised when the Penguins signed him to such a lengthy term despite his limited NHL experience. However, general manager Kyle Dubas justified it by saying they were betting on him developing into a top-six forward.
The same principle could apply to Kasper, Geekie, Savoie, and Bolduc. Whether their respective teams are willing to make those gambles remains to be seen.
THE MONTREAL GAZETTE: Brendan Kelly believes the Canadiens must move on from Samuel Montembeault and trade him as soon as possible.
Montembeault, 29, is in the final season of his contract with a cap hit of $3.15 million. His struggles last season cost him the starter’s job to Jakub Dobes, and he was relegated to third-stringer behind promising Jacob Fowler.
Kelly noted that the Canadiens stubbornly stuck with Montembeault, hoping he’d be able to regain his form. He believes they cannot make the same mistake this season, insisting that they try to trade him to another club and stick with the young tandem of Dobes and Fowler.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It was assumed the Canadiens would trade or buy out Montembeault this summer. The buyout period has passed, and if they were peddling him, it appears that there weren’t any takers.
Montembeault’s struggles last season hurt his value in the trade market. They’ll have to give him some playing time and hope he does well enough to become enticing to another team. Until they can find a suitable trade partner for him, they might have to send the promising Fowler to their AHL affiliate to ensure the 22-year-old gets sufficient playing time.
Failing that, the Canadiens could keep Dobes and Fowler as their tandem and send Montembeault to the minors. It’ll free up a bit of extra cap space for them ($1.225 million) while providing him with more time and less pressure to work on his game.
From this distant vantage point it would seem to be counterproductive to send Fowler to Laval in the hope that Montembeault can regain his form in Montreal. I mean, how long would they be prepared to wait if they give him early-season starts in which he continues to struggle? In the Atlantic you don’t want to be frittering away points at any stage of the season, but especially in the early going.
I doubt there’s another team that would be prepared to add a $3,150,000 cap hit – and give up any asset in the process – to take the same early chances that he can bounce back.
He turns 30 in October so he still has time to get his head straight and show that he can be consistently good … somewhere in the AHL. So the best bet in his case would appear to be to demote him to Laval and give him the bulk of the starts there. I doubt he’d get claimed off waivers, but if he was, either way they clear just over $2 mil off the cap – better used elsewhere.
Simply send Sam to the Oilers. Bowman loves
reclaimation goaltenders ie Jarry.
Then in a short time Sam and Tristan can join
Campbell on the bought out list and everybody
will be happy in Oilerland.
Monty only has 1 year left on his contract……you would have to re-sign him to buy him out. 😉
Alan, based upon metrics and the simple – but often just as revealing – eye-test, the Oilers were among 4 teams perceived to have had annoyingly inconsistent goaltending issues last season, especially early when they found themselves at – or very close to – rock bottom in league save percentages. Much the same was occurring in Ottawa and St. Louis. With Ullmark’s early head issues and the inability of young Merilainen to string 3 good periods together – never mind complete games – the Senators were spinning their wheels in the standings, while the Blue, by late November, possessed a graphically horrible 3.84 ga average with Binnington front and center. Then there were the Canucks whose goaltending woes started off bad … and then tapered off from there leading to a league-worst 3.84 gaa.
Each is obviously hoping there’s no repeat of that with Demko-Lankinen in Vancouver, Ullmark-Ersson-Merilainen in Ottawa, Binnington-Hofer in St. Louis and Stanley Cup champion Andersen – Levi – Jarry in Edmonton. I doubt any would therefore even give Montembeault a second glance, and I just don’t see any other team that might be prepared to take a chance. Not until – and if – he puts up some decent numbers over a measurable stretch in the AHL.
Must be very slow in the rumor business if we’re citing Brendan Kelly.
I don’t see Bolduc getting 8 years. Likely around 3 years,
The Oilers signed Trent Frederic to an eight year
contract. It is an albatross contract. Now you expect
them to sign Matt Savoie to another one. Of the two
Matt deserves it more.Still that leaves the Oilers with
Freddy. GET RID OF FREDDIE FIRST, once that is done sign Matt.
Add FraserMinten and Marat Khunutdinov of Boston to that list of young players eligible for the 8 year contract status!
What happens if Carolina can’t sign Nikishin by whatever the deadline is in September? If he is not traded does he become a free agent? I think his asking price is too high and hopefully he will agree to a bridge deal. I think Carolina is pushing it thinking that a team has to take Kotkaniemi along with Nikishin in a trade agreement. Kotkaniemi will go down as one of the worst moves the team has ever made. I’m not sure why any team would want him.
snuffy53, here’s the official line:
“If the Carolina Hurricanes and RFA defenseman Alexander Nikishin fail to reach a contract agreement, he cannot become a UFA, nor can he sign with another NHL team via an offer sheet. Because Carolina extended a qualifying offer, they retain his exclusive NHL rights indefinitely.
The exact consequences depends entirely on three specific critical dates:1. September 15, 2026: The Contract Term Deadline
Under the newly ratified CBA, September 15, 2026 is the final day a player can sign an 8-year maximum contract extension with their current club. If signed by Sept. 15: Nikishin can secure his reported goal of a maximum 8-year term.
If unsigned by Sept. 16: When the new CBA provisions take full effect on September 16, the maximum term available drops to a 7-year limit. This strips away a year of contract security, giving Nikishin a strong incentive to settle before this date.
2. December 1, 2026: The RFA Signing Deadline
If the stalemate extends into the regular season, the hard deadline under standard NHL rules is December 1 at 5:00 PM ET. If unsigned by Dec. 1: Nikishin will be ineligible to play in the NHL for the remainder of the 2026–27 season.
3. Future Scenarios if a Hard Stalemate Persists
If the two sides reach an absolute impasse over his salary demands the situation will transpire in one of two ways:
A Trade Out of Carolina: General Manager Eric Tulsky has engaged in trade discussions with teams like the St. Louis Blues and the New York Rangers. Because Nikishin holds no arbitration rights, a trade is the most viable escape hatch. Rumors indicate Carolina has attempted to package Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s contract in these talks, which has slowed negotiations.
A Holdout: Nikishin’s only individual leverage is to sit out and refuse to play. Because he was previously released from his KHL contract with SKA St. Petersburg to make his NHL jump, a holdout means he would remain completely sidelined from North American professional hockey until a contract or a trade is finalized.”
As for Kotkaniemi, over the course of 518 career gp, the 26 y/o 6’ 3” 215lbs left-shot C has posted 82-game averages of 12g 20a 32pts … hardly what is expected of a player taken 3rd overall (in 2018). And certainly not when compared to another left-shot C taken 5th overall the year before, and who is also available through trade – soon-to-be 28 y/o 6’ 2” 175lbs Elias Pettersson of Vancouver who, over his 545 career gp, has 82-game averages of 30g 46a 76 points.
But then again, whereas Pettersson has had the benefit of playing on Vancouver’s top lines, coupled with lots of pp time, the same cannot be said of Kotkaniemi whose play has been confined to the bottom lines … when he’s not a healthy scratch … and very little pp time. Plus, Pettersson is getting $11,600,000 off the cap with 6 more years to run, by the end of which he’ll be approaching 35, while Kotkaniemi’s annual cap hit is a much more friendly $4,820,000 with 4 years to run, at the end of which he’ll just be turning 31. And who knows what his production could become with better line-mates on the top 2 lines, and increased pp time?
Centers being what they are – i.e., damned hard to find – if I had no other choices and desperately needed a top 2 C, I’d rather take a chance on the bigger Kotkaniemi than the comparative rake and costlier Pettersson.
KK played second line when acquired by Carolina George. This from the Carolina Daily:
“Kotkaniemi, who recently played his 300th NHL game, has been centering wingers Teuvo Teravainen and Martin Necas, which offers a nice contrast.”
Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/article273021265.html#storylink=cpy
KK was given chances at 2C before being demoted. His biggest issue, according to the Athletic, was consistency.
Given the coaching and the GM the ‘Canes have, and the players they have brought it, KK has had ample opportunity to both grow, and get with the program. He’s only a better gamble than Pettersson given, as you say, his cap hit. Size has nothing to do with it – he doesn’t use it.
Thank you so much for your response Mr. George. I had no clue about the whats and wherefors. I love hockey but do not pay much attention to the business side. All I know as a die hard Hurricanes fan we had an amazing year. I did not see it coming the way it played out. 4-0
4-0 4-1 4-2.
Sam Montembeault has to stay with the Habs to split duties with Dobes and Fowler needs to get regular starts in Laval.
Montembeault had a consistent rise in his game since coming to Montreal until this past season.
He finished the previous season with a hamstring/groin injury which causes a goalie to have doubts, causes some cheating in mobility and can mess with his head.
Excuses, but when he went down to Laval (willingly) he was much better under the tutelage of Marco Marciano, on return to the Habs he played well then took a dip again under Eric Raymond who has since been fired.
For whatever reason, Montembeault who did well with Raymond in the past floundered with him and reacted well to Marciano.
The Habs should let him rebound and put them in a jam of needing to choose between 3 good goalies and having a high value trade chip.
With 1 year left on a team friendly contract selling him low is poor asset management.
Agreed. George has a good point about not peeing away precious points in the Atlantic, but Fowler has played a total of 38 games in the AHL, and 17 NHL games. Better to let him get playing time in the AHL at this point in his career — providing Montembeault can find his game and be a reliable backup. Moving him later in the season would be easier.
That’s not necessarily true. Remember that the AHL plays less games than the NHL. Therefore any split between him and the backup goalie could potentially result in less starts than as a backup in the NHL. Remember that.Dobes Is still young and could potentially play between 45 and 55 games. In an 84 games season that leaves a lot of games to play for a good backup. And also as stated earlier a great place to lose momentum and standing when goaltending is an issue.
An AHL season is 72 games. A back up NHL goalie would play a max of 30 games.
LJ, and as I said. peeing them away in the early going. Three-quarters of the way through you can drop 2 or 3 games in a row without falling behind 3 or 4 teams. But do that in Oct and Nov and you could find yourself with 5 or 6 teams to climb over pretty quickly … and that, of course, can prolong the climb since not all of them are going to cooperate by all suddenly going on losing streaks of their own.
Ottawa discovered that last season when Ullmark’s absence and Merilainen’s inability to string 2 wins together had many doubting they could pull it off at one point. And it was tough … until Ullmark got back to form and they went on an unbeaten 9 game streak.
Maybe Montembeault can bounce back like that IF he gets off to a shaky start … but then again, maybe not. As I posted, how long do they wait for the turnaround to begin if a shaky beginning proves to be the case, and do they, in the meantime, keep giving him the starts?
HF30: you are usually the one to come up with suggestions for the Habs. I avoid influencers and such on social media as a dog and pony show, but I did see one suggesting the Habs might offer Pavol Regenda a PTO. For your amusement …
LJ,
I’ve never seen Regenda play and have found no positive information on him that would make him a fit on the Habs especially as his skating is below 50 percentile in skating.
Habs style is pace and he doesn’t have any.
N.B. That’s what makes Florian Xhekaj’s promotion to the Habs questionable as well.
eeeek! Right on both counts.
There was a rumour there about bruins interested in Bo Horvat now that would be an excellent addition he’s fast, great scorer got good size super shot. Lohrei, Poitras a number one, and a second.
Boston fans keep pushing these two, Lohrei, Poitras and you expect to get a first line winger. Just face it no one wants your players with issues and to value them that high is funny. You have to give to get those types of players and neither move the needle. Geekie, Hagens & 1st think along those lines.