NHL Rumors: Busy Trade Deadline expected, Senators sale, and more
Anthony Scultore
|
The NHL Rumors continue to buzz across the league but actual trades look like they’ll have to wait until the March 3 deadline. At least for any of the major contenders getting involved.
That’s because 22 out of 32 teams have less than a million dollars in cap space per CapFriendly. As you would expect, they include top contenders like the Bruins, Golden Knights, Maple Leafs, Avalanche, Penguins, and Stars. All of those teams are expected to be players for rentals like Patrick Kane, Bo Horvat, and Jonathan Toews.
NHL Rumors: Busy Trade Deadline expected
This week, the Board of Governors meetings was held in Florida where several general managers anonymously weighed in on the trade market.
“It’s impossible to get a trade done right now,” one GM told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski and Emily Kaplan. “Nobody can get anything done.”
Of course that isn’t slowing down rampant speculation of where players like Kane will land. The Blackhawks superstar is making $10.5 million on his contract and even if 50% is retained, no contenders can afford him right now.
Most teams are waiting for what little space they have right at the moment to accrue in order to take on salary.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman had that made perfectly clear to him by one GM when discussing some trade possibilities. “What kind of calculator are you using? None of this stuff is mathematically possible.”
Thanks to the flat cap and the current parity in the NHL, general managers are probably bursting at the seams to make a trade. All this is potentially leading to one of the craziest and busiest trade deadlines in recent memory.
NHL Rumors: Ducks in on Jesse Puljujarvi
Once again it appears Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi could be on the move and it may the Ducks that trade for him.
According to Jim Matheson, Ducks GM Pat Verbeek has been scouting the Oilers leading him to believe Puljujarvi is his trade target.
The Ducks, if they want to deal with the Oilers, might be thinking of a test drive with Puljujarvi until the end of the season, when his contract is up and if they like what they see, they could re-sign him for less than his $3 million. The Oilers, as we all know, want to clear up some cap space ($3 million) to likely go after a defensive D man at the trade deadline.
Edmonton Journal
Puljujarvi, 24, is struggling mightily this season with just six points in 30 games. After showing some promise last season with 36 points in 65 contests, the former 4th overall selection in 2016 appears to need a fresh start.
NHL Rumors: Senators sale
The Ottawa Senators are still searching for a buyer but it sounds like the NHL would really like to see actor Ryan Reynolds as part of any group with interest.
At the Board of Governors meetings, commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed he had spoken to Reynolds regarding his interest in buying the team.
“(Reynolds) very much impressed us,” Bettman said, according to ESPN. “If we can figure out a way to have him included, I think that would be great for the Senators and great for the league.”
According to Chris Johnston on TSN’s Insider Trading over a dozen interested parties have already asked about the Senators.
“Gary Bettman mentioned more than 12 interested parties have signed non-disclosure agreements that allows them to get in and look at the books of the Ottawa Senators,” Johnston noted. “Obviously very important as basically the bidders are still getting lined up. We don’t have bidders in a formal manner just yet and that’s expected to happen at some point early in January.”
