NHL Free Agents & Trade Candidates – Tampa Bay Lightning
NHL Free Agents & Trade Candidates – Tampa Bay Lightning
NHL Rumor Mill – April 25, 2020
NHL Rumor Mill – April 25, 2020
More Alex Pietrangelo conjecture plus some recent Devils speculation in today’s NHL rumor mill.
THE LATEST ON PIETRANGELO
STLTODAY.COM: In his latest Q&A live chat with his readers, Jim Thomas was asked how the St. Louis Blues could free up sufficient salary-cap room to re-sign team captain Alex Pietrangelo, who becomes an unrestricted free agent in the off-season. He feels the most likely scenario is trading goaltender Jake Allen and buying out the final season of veteran forward Alexander Steen’s contract.
What can the St. Louis Blues do to free up salary-cap space to re-sign Alex Pietrangelo? (Photo via NHL Images)
Thomas doesn’t consider buying out Justin Faulk as an option, in part because it would be more costly to the Blues for much longer than buying out Steen or Tyler Bozak. He also speculated the re-signing of Marco Scandella means at least two players must come off the current roster to re-sign Pietrangelo and doesn’t see Jaden Schwartz being moved in a cost-cutting deal.
If Pietrangelo wants the biggest possible deal, Thomas speculates the blueliner could move on. Despite the possibility of a flat cap next season, he feels there will be enough teams willing to pay big bucks for Pietrangelo. Thomas doubts the Toronto Maple Leafs will be among them, as they have over $76.9 million invested in next season’s cap payroll.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Pietrangelo wants to stay in St. Louis and the Blues want to keep him, but he also wants to be paid what he considers fair market value. Reports throughout this season suggest that’s over $9 million annually.
If he’s unwilling to come down from that or the Blues can’t free up sufficient cap room, he’ll be playing elsewhere next season. Unless the Leafs shed a considerable amount of salary, he won’t be coming to Toronto.
DEVILS
NORTHJERSEY.COM: Abbey Mastracco believes the New Jersey Devils could attempt to bring in a short-term veteran winger or two to bridge the gap until those in their farm system are ready to join the roster.
THE ATHLETIC (subscription required): In a recent mailbag segment, Corey Masisak suggested the Devils could attempt to add an impact defenseman in the off-season. He thinks they’ll try to do that via the trade route, like the New York Rangers last summer when they acquired Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets. If they shop one of their first-round picks, Masisak felt it could be for that impact blueliner or a first-line winger.
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs are two cap-strapped clubs the Devils could target in the trade market. The Lightning might be forced to part with winger Alex Killorn or Ondrej Palat to re-sign Mikhail Sergachev. Leafs wingers Kaspari Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson could be available, but Toronto would have to include something else if they want the Devils’ third first-rounder.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Killorn and Palat have no-trade protection and probably won’t waive it to join a rebuilding club. Kapanen and Johnsson lack such protection and would be more viable trade options.
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 11, 2020
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 11, 2020
Game recaps, injury updates, latest additions to the 2020 NHL All-Star Game, and more in today’s morning coffee headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: An overtime goal by Jared McCann lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-2 decision over the Colorado Avalanche. Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist, tying Jaromir Jagr for the third-most assists (640) in franchise history. Teammate Dominik Kahun collected three assists.
Evgeni Malkin ties Jaromir Jagr for third in assists among the Pittsburgh Penguins all-time leaders. (Photo via NHL Images)
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Petr Mrazek kicked out 32 shots to shut out the Arizona Coyotes 3-0. Warren Foegele, Lucas Wallmark, and Martin Necas were the goal scorers. Hurricanes goalie Antti Raanta left the game with a lower-body injury and didn’t return. He recently returned from a lower-body injury suffered on Jan. 4 against Philadelphia.
Dylan Larkin tallied the only goal in the shootout as the Detroit Red Wings edged the Ottawa Senators 3-2. Winger forward Tyler Bertuzzi scored and collected an assist, as did Senators forward Colin White. The Sens are winless in their last six games (0-4-2).
HEADLINES
TSN: Arizona Coyotes winger Taylor Hall avoided supplemental discipline for his knee-on-knee hit on Tampa Bay Lightning winger Ondrej Palat on Thursday. Palat is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
SPORTSNET: San Jose Sharks winger Tomas Hertl and Vegas Golden Knights winger Max Pacioretty will replace Logan Couture and Jakub Silfverberg at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game in St. Louis. Couture recently fractured an ankle while Silfverberg is anticipating the birth of his first child during the All-Star break.
MONTREAL GAZETTE: Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher is consulting a physician after experiencing headaches following Thursday’s 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. He recently returned after missing four games with a concussion. Canadiens defenseman Ben Chiarot will miss tonight’s game against the Senators with a lower-body injury.
TORONTO SUN: Friday’s AHL game between the Toronto Marlies and Texas Stars was forfeited to the Stars after Marlies assistant coach Rob Davison experienced a medical emergency in the dressing room before game time. Davison was immediately transported to a local hospital and was evaluated while remaining under medical supervision. The episode left the Marlies’ players in such a state of shock that they couldn’t participate in the game. The Marlies are the primary farm club of the Maple Leafs.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Here’s hoping Davison will be all right and make a swift recovery. No word yet as to what the medical emergency was.
SPORTSNET: Speaking of the Maple Leafs, they re-signed defenseman Martin Marincin to a one-year contract extension worth $700K.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Chris Johnston first reported Marincin’s re-signing on Twitter. The reactions of some Leafs followers in Johnston’s Twitter thread were, shall we say, less than enthusiastic.
CBS SPORTS: The Anaheim Ducks sent forward Troy Tery to their AHL affliliate in San Diego for a conditioning stint.
SPORTSNET: Sonny Sachdeva interviewed the founders of Cap Friendly on how the site came about and its rapid rise as an invaluable site for tracking NHL salaries.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The good folks at Cap Friendly did a fine job replacing the seminal CapGeek.com after that site’s founder, the late Matthew Wuest, was forced to suspend operations in early 2015 due to health reasons. Since then, they’ve been my go-to site for all things related to the NHL’s salary cap, providing invaluable insight on individual player contract details, team salary-cap information, and much more.