NHL Rumors – Alex Pietrangelo, Braden Holtby, Taylor Hall, and more
Anthony Scultore
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As teams get eliminated and the offseason begins for everyone except the eight teams remaining, NHL rumors start to pick up. If you are someone like me who absolutely loves this stuff, then The Daily Goal Horn is your new home for hockey.
NHL rumors swirling around Alex Pietrangelo
The season is over for the defending Stanley Cup Champions and their captain Alex Pietrangelo. As a member of the St. Blues for his entire 12 year career, he was visibly emotional after getting eliminated.
“It’s not a fun situation to be in, especially when you’ve been somewhere your whole career, but it is what it is,” Pietrangelo told reporters. “I guess my only thought was just to get home, see my kids and see where the future takes us.”
Where that future will take them is unclear. When asked about if he’ll be back in St. Louis next season he said, “I’m not going to answer that. We’ll find out soon.”
The problem for the Blues is simple, they are capped strapped and Pietrangelo is likely to get a deal in the $9 million dollar range. That would be a $2.5 million increase to his current cap hit, which St. Louis doesn’t have.
Another big issue is Alex’s age. At 30, a seven year term is a lot to ask for any NHL team. There’s no doubt that next season he will be worth every penny of that potential $9 million, but that won’t be the case at age 37.
My best guess is that the Blues will move out players in order to keep their captain and fans happy. Per The Fourth Period, they believe they’ll look to move Jake Allen, Alex Steen, and Tyler Bozak.
NHL rumors on Braden Holtby
The Caps were eliminated by the Isles and Braden Holtby appears to be moving on. When asked if he played his last game in Washington he said, “Certainly a chance it is.”
Stanley Cup winning goaltenders are not often on the market when free agent frenzy begins. This summer it looks like there will be one by the name of Braden Holtby. The Washington Capitals goaltender is coming off a deal with a cap hit of $6.1 million and would need to consider giving the cap strapped Caps a hometown discount if he wants to stay.
The problem for the 30-year-old backstop is Ilya Samsonov. At 23 years old he is not only younger and cheaper, but also outplayed Holtby this past regular season. Which means Braden will need to be updating his equipment and getting a new paint job on his goalie helmet this offseason.
Expect the Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, and Edmonton Oilers to go all out for Holtby.
NHL rumors have Taylor Hall ready to leave the desert
It has been a rough time in Arizona these past few weeks. They basically had their GM, John Chayka quit on them after the team refused to let him interview for the Devils GM job. The Yotes were then bounced from the post season, and now it could get even worse if Taylor Hall doesn’t sign before the Free Agency bell rings.
In early August, Arizona’s Owner and COO were handling the negotiations with Hall. If the Yotes can’t come to at least a hand shake agreement with him, they will need to trade his rights at the draft in October.
After getting eliminated, Taylor Hall was asked about free agency. In particular what he was looking for in a team, “I’d say it’s pretty much all winning,” Hall said. “I don’t think the money’s going to be what it was maybe before COVID or before the season, but that’s fine. I think we get paid a lot of money to play a game, and we’ll see what happens.”
My educated guess has Hall becoming a UFA when the offseason begins. A return to Edmonton or Calgary for the Alberta native is in the cards.
NHL rumors have the Habs opens for business
The Canadiens went further than anyone could’ve thought. Now that the season is over, Habs GM, Marc Bergevin is in good position to add to his club with over $16 million in cap space.
“We put ourselves in a good position to look around; if anything becomes available, we should be looking into that,” he told reporters in his end-of-the-season media conference conducted over Zoom on Saturday. “But also the cap situation, with what’s happening with the pandemic, we have to be careful.”
Bergevin via The Fourth Period
It is expected the Canadiens will be very busy this summer in the free agent marker, but also with trades. There are rumors swirling they will talk with Pittsburgh about Max Domi. Could Kris Letang be headed back the other way? Stay tuned.