NHL Rumors: Coyotes eviction averted, Blackhawks exploring trades, and should Rangers pursue Patrick Kane?
Anthony Scultore
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The Arizona Coyotes have made more news this season off the ice than they have on it. From possible relocation, to denying a report that they were selling, it’s been really busy.
Yesterday, Katie Strang of The Athletic reported that the City of Glendale notified the Coyotes that they will lock them out of their home, Gila River Arena by December 20th due to $1.3 million in taxes owed.
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NHL Rumors: Coyotes avoid eviction?
“We have already launched an investigation to determine how this could have happened and initial indications are that it appears to be the result of an unfortunate human error,” the Coyotes said in a statement. “Regardless, we deeply regret the inconvenience this has caused. We will make sure that by tomorrow morning, the Arizona Coyotes are current on all of our bills and owe no state or local taxes whatsoever.”
There should be more on this developing story today.
Blackhawks listening to offers
This has not been a very good season for the Chicago Blackhawks, who hoped that the money spent this offseason in trades and signings would turn things around.
The NHL rumor mill has already placed Dylan Strome and Marc-Andre Fleury as trade bait candidates. Recently, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period added another name to the mix.
“In addition to Strome, there is a defenseman on this club who’s in the final year of his contract in Calvin de Haan,” Pagnotta said. “For teams looking to shore up their blueline and bring in somebody that can stabilize that backend, Calvin de Haan is going to be a player that a lot of teams are going to be looking at closer to that deadline.”
The 30 year-old rearguard makes $4.45M against the cap and will be a UFA at season’s end. He has no points in 23 games and a -10 rating, so I’m not sure how big the market will be for him.
Rangers pursue Patrick Kane?
Longtime Rangers beat writer Larry Brooks proposed an interesting question yesterday: “Would you trade for Patrick Kane if you were the Rangers?”
Let’s be clear, the entire premise of the article is speculation. That’s made clear by Brooks.
Understand, there is no word that the Blackhawks are interested in moving Kane, the 33-year-old winger whose contract expires at the same time as Chicago captain Jonathan Toews. But management of this disgraced organization will likely have to face the reality that dealing Kane — who has a no-move clause — will become necessary in order to jump-start a necessary reconstruction. Question is, would the move be more beneficial next year or now?
NY Post
In truth the real question is how far will Chris Drury go if the Rangers are at the trade deadline and feel they can win the Stanley Cup?
Brooks’ proposal is akin to the 1994 Rangers basically sacrificing their future to win just one Cup. Players like Doug Weight and Tony Amonte were jettisoned to acquire aging vets or grinders in order to obtain hockey’s holy grail that eluded them for 54 years.
This isn’t the same, and trading players like Kaapo Kakko as suggested makes no sense at all.
