NHL Rumors: Flyers trying to move Jakub Voracek; Jets want Jamie Oleksiak; and Kirill Kaprizov negotiations
Anthony Scultore
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The Philadelphia Flyers are apparently looking to ship out big Jakub Voracek and his large contract. It won’t be an easy move since the 31 year-old still has three years on a deal with an AAV of $8.25 million. For the Flyers, he has no limitations on where he can be dealt, but with a flat cap, it will be hard to get a trade done without some level of salary retention.
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NHL Rumors: Flyers shopping Jakub Voracek
The winger will be 32 next month and has been on a slow decline over the last three seasons. He scored 9 goals and 43 points in 53 games last season, but can still play top six minutes for any hockey club.
Elliotte Friedman in his latest blog noted that the two sides believe a change is needed. His report also suggests that Voracek will be left exposed by the Flyers in the hopes his old coach Dave Hakstol opts to select him in the Seattle Expansion Draft. That scenario still appears unlikely as Ron Francis is going to want a level of cap flexibility heading into free agency.
The Flyers could attempt to make a trade with Seattle, same as the Penguins did with the Golden Knights when Vegas selected Marc-Andre Fleury. Pittsburgh used a 2nd round pick to incentivize the selection, what would the Flyers do to ensure the same?
Winnipeg Jets still eyeing Jamie Oleksiak
This 28 year-old pending UFA defenseman was sought after heavily at the deadline. It was rumored that Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff aggressively pursued Oleksiak at last year’s trade deadline. He was also very frustrated that he was unable to land him in a deal.
It’s believed that the Dallas Stars are waiting for the expansion draft to pass before locking Oleksiak up. However, if they fail to do so the Jets are ready to make him a great offer to come to Winnipeg.
What’s the latest on Kirill Kaprizov?
The Minnesota Wild and Kirill Kaprizov supposedly met last week to restart negotiations. At this time, no concrete word has come out about that scheduled meeting. This is an odd situation where the team wants to go a full 8 years but the player is only interested in a bridge deal.
Why? Is the reigning rookie of the year looking to play elsewhere in the NHL? Is he leaving his options open to return home to Russia and play in the KHL? Your guess is as good as mine.
Michael Russo who covers the Wild for The Athletic was recently on Frank Seravalli’s podcast and believes the two sides will meet in the middle.
“Both sides are going to have to compromise,” Russo started to explain. “Billy Guerin needs to understand Kaprizov doesn’t want to sign a longterm deal. Kaprizov has to understand that Minnesota waited five years for him to get here – they will have to settle on a 4-5 year deal.”
Russo also speculated that the Wild offer was around $9 million over the span of 8 years which Kaprizov rejected. Ultimately, this could be similar to the bridge contract Matthew Barzal got with the Islanders.
