NHL Rumor Mill – September 4, 2021
NHL Rumor Mill – September 4, 2021
Are the Senators getting closer to sign Brady Tkachuk? Are they still in the market for a forward? What’s the latest on the Oilers’ contract talks with Kailer Yamamoto? Check out the latest in today’s NHL rumor mill.
OTTAWA SUN: Bruce Garrioch reports Senators general manager Pierre Dorion confirmed contract discussions with Brady Tkachuk’s agent are continuing and progress was being made. That news comes following yesterday’s announcement of Drake Batherson’s new six-year contract.

Ottawa Senators winger Brady Tkachuk (NHL Images).
The expectation is they’ll get a deal in place to allow Tkachuk to attend training camp later this month. Garrioch believes the Senators want to get the 21-year-old winger signed to a long-term contract and award him the captaincy at the end of camp.
Garrioch suggests Andrei Svechnikov is a strong comparable. The young Carolina Hurricanes winger recently signed an eight-year deal worth an annual average value of $7.75 million. He also dismissed the notion of a club attempting to sign Tkachuk to an offer sheet as the Senators would simply match it.
TSN: Shawn Simpson reports via Twitter a source tells him the Tkachuk camp is getting frustrated. The winger is staying positive but can’t understand why it’s taking so long to get a deal in place. “I asked what had been offered, and it was termed that they have not received a legitimate offer from the Sens,” said Simpson.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It sounds like each side has a different spin on this situation. You’ve got Dorion saying everything’s going well and what appears to be a source from Tkachuk’s side claiming otherwise.
Plenty of time remains for them to hammer out a deal before training camp. I agree with Garrioch that the Senators would match any offer for Tkachuk. They’ve got over $24 million in projected cap space.
Garrioch also reports the Senators are still trying to acquire another forward. Dorion has held talks with several teams about acquiring a high-end winger. Failing that, they’ll look to within the organization to address that issue.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Internet speculation linked the Senators to San Jose Sharks winger Tomas Hertl last month. Garrioch claimed back then that there was nothing to that chatter. Maybe Dorion’s changed his mind. He has a trade history with Sharks GM Doug Wilson. Hertl, however, has a three-team trade list and the Senators might not be on it.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Jim Matheson wondered how much Oilers winger Kailer Yamamoto will receive after the Philadelphia Flyers signed Joel Farabee to a six-year, $30 million contract. The pair have almost identical stats, with the 21-year-old Farabee tallying 59 points in 107 NHL games while the 22-year-old Yamamoto has 52 points in 105 contests.
Matheson reports the Oilers and the Yamamoto camp are still grinding away toward a bridge deal. It’ll likely be a one- or two-year contract with an annual average value in the $2 to $2.5 million range.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: As Matheson points out, the Oilers don’t have the cap space to sign Yamamoto to anything comparable to Farabee’s deal even if they wanted to. With Yamamoto coming off his entry-level contract his only leverage is to stage a holdout but I doubt he’s going to go that far. He’ll take the bridge deal and look toward a more lucrative contract down the road.